Empress Dowager Wei (韋太后)

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Dowager Wei as a consort and royal family member. This record brings together 7 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Empress Dowager Wei	韋太后	Wei Taihou
Title	empress dowager	太后
Title	Empress Dowager	太后
Title	Empress Dowager	皇太后
Title	Empress Dowager Wei	韋太后
Title	Empress Wei	韋太后
Title	Grand Empress Dowager	太母
Surname	Wei	韋	Wéi

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · songshi:144:s0128, songshi:469:s0088

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 紹興奉迎太母 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1142 · End: AD 1142
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:144:s0170
Source Date: Text: 迎太后 · Western Year: AD 1142
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:469:s0053
Source Date: Text: 韋太后宅 · Western Year: AD 1142
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:469:s0088
Source Date: Text: 高宗將迎韋太后 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1127 · End: AD 1162
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:144:s0128

Family

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

Parent of Gaozong (高宗)
Kinship Term: empress dowager / 太后 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son · Relationship State: active

Places and affiliations

Polity: Song / 宋 · Relation: served
Explicit · songshi:144:s0128

References in the histories

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

History of Song, Chapter 144Volume 144 Treatises 97: Ceremonial Guards 2 · 3 passages

Open chapter

高宗將迎韋太后於郊，因製常行儀仗，用黃麾仗二千二百六十五人。 When Emperor Gaozong prepared to welcome Empress Dowager Wei at the suburbs, he established routine traveling ceremonial regalia using 2,265 men of the yellow-command guard.

紹興奉迎太母，極意備禮，然猶曰太后天性樸素，不敢過飾儀從。 During Shaoxing's welcome of the Grand Empress Dowager, every effort was made to observe full protocol, yet officials noted her plain nature and dared not over-adorn her escort.

中興後，皇太后既尚簡素，後尤簡焉。 After the Restoration, with the empress dowager already favoring simplicity, the empress's escort was simplified still further.

History of Song, Chapter 469Volume 469 Biographies 228: Eunuchs 4: Shao Chengzhang, Lan Gui Kanglu, Feng Yi, Zhang Quwei, Chen Yuan, Gan Bian, Wang Deqian, Guan Li, Dong Songchen · 4 passages

Open chapter

及迎太后，命充都大主管。 When the empress dowager was escorted home he was made chief superintendent of the reception.

太后既還宮，珪奏應幹補授恩，乞聽慈寧宮施行。 After her return Gui memorialized to shower favors on the palace staff and asked that Cining Palace issue the appointments itself.

及事覺，益坐驗視不實，送昭州編管，尋以與皇太后連姻得免。 When the fraud was exposed he was banished to Zhao Prefecture for false testimony, then pardoned through kinship with the empress dowager.

初為韋太后宅提點官，累遷至安德軍承宣使、帶禦器械，又遷內侍省押班。 He began as superintendent of Empress Wei’s household, rose to Commissioner of Ande Army with Bearer of the Imperial Arms, then Escort Leader.