Empress Dowager Wuming (武明皇太后)

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Dowager Wuming as a consort and royal family member. This record brings together 11 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 Wuming	武明皇太后	Wǔmíng huángtàihòu
Title	Empress Dowager	皇太后
Title	Empress Dowager Wuming	武明皇太后
Title	Grand Empress Dowager	太皇太后

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Title only
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · beiqishu:006:s0002

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 乾明元年 · Western Year: AD 560
Explicit · beiqishu:006:s0054, beiqishu:006:s0064
Source Date: Text: 皇建二年 · Western Year: AD 561
Explicit · beiqishu:006:s0149
Source Date: Text: 魏元象元年 · Western Year: AD 538
Explicit event contextual date · beiqishu:006:s0002, beiqishu:006:s0003

Family

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

Spouse of Gao Huan (高歡)
Kinship Term: empress / 后 · Union Category: primary-marriage
Parent of Emperor Xiaozhao (孝昭帝)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: mother
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Parent of Gao Yang (高洋)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological
Parent of Prince Zhan of Changguang (長廣王湛)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true
Explicit · beiqishu:006:s0150, beiqishu:006:s0151

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: actor · Action: deposed young ruler and ordered Xiaozhao to succeed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 乾明元年 · Western Year: AD 560
Explicit · beiqishu:006:s0064

Source notes

From: Grand Empress Dowager / 太皇太后 · To: Empress Dowager / 皇太后 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 皇建元年 · Western Year: AD 560
Explicit · beiqishu:006:s0066

References in the histories

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

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 6Volume 6 Annals 6: Emperor Xiaozhao · 11 passages

Open chapter

幼而英特，早有大成之量，武明皇太后早所愛重。 Even as a boy he was remarkable, showing early promise of greatness, and Empress Dowager Wuming had cherished him from the start.

皇太后日夜啼泣，文宣不知所為。 The Empress Dowager wept day and night, and Emperor Wenxuan did not know what to do.

帝入至昭陽殿，幼主、太皇太后、皇太后並出臨御坐。 The prince entered Zhaoyang Hall. The young emperor, the Grand Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager all came out to the throne.

太皇太后又為皇后誓，言帝無異志，唯去逼而已。 The Grand Empress Dowager also swore on the empress's behalf that the prince harbored no treasonous design and had acted only to remove those who had been coercing the throne.

太皇太后尋下令廢少主，命帝統大業。 The Grand Empress Dowager soon issued an order deposing the young emperor and commanding him to take up the imperial succession.

詔奉太皇太后還稱皇太后，皇太后稱文宣皇后，宮曰昭信。 An edict restored the Grand Empress Dowager to the title of Empress Dowager, gave the former empress dowager the title Empress Wenxuan, and named her residence Zhaoxin Palace.

性至孝，太后不豫，出居南宮，帝行不正履，容色貶悴，衣不解帶，殆將四旬。 He was deeply filial. When the empress dowager fell ill and moved to the Southern Palace, the emperor walked unsteadily, his face gaunt and drawn; he slept in his clothes without removing his belt for nearly forty days.

太后所苦小增，便即寢伏閤外，食飲藥物盡皆躬親。 Whenever the empress dowager's illness worsened even slightly, he would immediately bed down outside her chamber and personally attend to all her food, drink, and medicine.

太后常心痛不自堪忍，帝立侍帷前，以爪掐手心，血流出袖。 When the empress dowager was often racked with unbearable heart pain, the emperor would stand in attendance before her curtain, digging his nails into his palms until blood ran down his sleeves.

太后視疾，問濟南所在者三，帝不對。 The empress dowager came to see him in his illness and three times asked where the Prince of Jinan was; the emperor did not reply.

太后怒曰：「殺之耶？ The empress dowager said angrily, "Did you kill him?