Five Dynasties · Royal Family Member

Empress Dowager Shulü 述律

Shùlǜ

Died AD 947

Passages: 15
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Dowager Shulü as a royal family member and ruler. This record brings together 15 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Empress Dowager Shulü	述律	Shùlǜ
Title	Empress Dowager Shulü	述律	Shùlǜ
Personal name	Shulü	述律	Shùlǜ

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Value: female
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0042

Roles

Royal Family Member
Ruler

Life and dates

Death

Place: Mount Muye · After Western Year: AD 947
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0055

Attested activity

Western Interval: Start: AD 926 · End: AD 947 · Source Date: Text: Chronology stated or entailed by s0042, s0055
Strongly inferred · xinwudaishi:073:s0042, xinwudaishi:073:s0055

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Kin of Emperor Shizong (世宗)
Kinship Term: grandmother / 祖母
Spouse of Abaoji (阿保機)
Kinship Term: husband / 夫
Parent of Yaogu (堯骨)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological
Parent of Yelü Bei (耶律倍)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological

Career and standing

Status: empress dowager
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0034, xinwudaishi:073:s0041
Action: imprisoned by Wuyu · Places: Zuzhou, Puma Mountain
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0039, xinwudaishi:073:s0111
Action: killed more than one hundred generals after Abaoji’s death
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0042, xinwudaishi:073:s0043

Places and affiliations

Polities: liao, Khitan
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0033

Works and attributed material

Statement: warned Deguang that conquering China would bring disaster
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0051, xinwudaishi:073:s0053

Events and relationships

Event: marched against Wuyu in an attempt to depose him · Kind: historical-event · Action: marched against Wuyu in an attempt to depose him
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0035

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: clever and pitiless · Provenance: Mode: source-text
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0041
Attribute: severed one wrist after Zhao Siwen challenged her
Explicit · xinwudaishi:073:s0045, xinwudaishi:073:s0050

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 73Volume 73: Appendix on the Four Barbarians 2: Khitan 2 · 15 passages

兀欲已立，先遣人報其祖母述律。 Once enthroned, Wuyu first reported to his grandmother Shulü.

述律怒曰：「我兒平晉取天下，有大功業，其子在我側者當立，而人皇王背我歸中國，其子豈得立邪？」 Empress Dowager Shulü raged: "My son conquered Jin and won the realm with great merit; the son at my side should rule, yet the Human Emperor's heir forsook me for China—how can his son take the throne?"

以翰林學士徐台符、李澣從行，與其祖母述律相距于石橋。 Hanlin academicians Xu Taifu and Li Huan went with him and confronted his grandmother Shulü at Shiqiao.

述律所將兵多亡歸兀欲。 Much of Shulü's army deserted to Wuyu.

兀欲乃幽述律於祖州。 Wuyu imprisoned Empress Dowager Shulü at Zuzhou.

述律為人多智而忍。 The empress dowager was clever and pitiless.

大將趙思溫，本中國人也，以材勇為阿保機所寵，述律後以事怒之，使送木葉山，思溫辭不肯行。 General Zhao Siwen, a Chinese by birth whom Abaoji favored for courage and skill, later angered her over some affair; when she ordered him to Mount Muye he refused.

述律曰：「爾，先帝親信，安得不往見之？」 She said, "You were the late emperor's intimate—will you not go to him?"

思溫對曰：「親莫如后，后何不行？」 Siwen answered, "No one was closer than the empress—why does the empress not go?"

述律曰：「我本欲從先帝于地下，以子幼，國中多故，未能也。 She said, "I meant to follow him underground, but the heir was young and the state unsettled, so I could not.

初，德光之擊晉也，述律常非之，曰：「吾國用一漢人為主可乎？」 When Deguang marched on Jin she had often objected: "Can our nation be ruled by a single Han?"

德光死，載其尸歸，述律不哭而撫其尸曰：「待我國中人畜如故，然後葬汝。」 When Deguang died and his body was brought home, she did not weep but stroked the corpse: "When our people and herds are restored, then I will bury you."

又二日，至赤崖，翰與兀欲相及，遂及述律戰于沙河。 Two days on to Red Cliff, where Han joined Wuyu and they battled Empress Dowager Shulü on the Sha River.

述律兵敗而北，兀欲追至獨樹渡，遂囚述律于撲馬山。 Shulü was beaten and fled north; Wuyu chased her to Dushu Ford and imprisoned her at Puma Mountain.

嶠所目見囚述律、葬德光等事，與中國所記差異。 Qiao's eyewitness account of imprisoning Shulü, burying Deguang, and the like differed from Chinese records.