Empress He (何皇后) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress He 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 He	何皇后	He Huanghou
Title	Empress	皇后
Title	Empress	皇后	Huánghòu
Title	Empress Dowager	太后
Title	Empress Dowager	太后	Tàihòu
Title	Empress Dowager	皇太后	Huángtàihòu
Descriptive kinship	Empress He	皇后
Title	Empress He	皇后何氏
Surname	He	何	Hé

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · houhanshu:115:s0101, houhanshu:118:s0086

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Manner: executed · Authority Person Id: Dong Zhuo (董卓)
Explicit · houhanshu:118:s0055, houhanshu:118:s0092

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 中平元年 · Western Year: AD 184
Explicit event contextual date · houhanshu:115:s0101, houhanshu:115:s0100
Source Date: Text: 中平元年 · Western Year: AD 184
Explicit · houhanshu:118:s0086, houhanshu:118:s0087, houhanshu:118:s0089

Family

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

Sibling of He Jin (何进)
Kinship Term: elder brother / 兄 · Subject Relative Age: elder · Subject Role: elder-brother · Object Role: sister · Shared Parentage: full
Kinship Term: elder brother / 兄 · Shared Parentage: full · Subject Relative Age: younger · Subject Role: younger-sister · Object Role: elder-brother
Sibling of He Miao (何苗)
Kinship Term: elder brother / 兄 · Shared Parentage: full · Subject Relative Age: younger · Subject Role: younger-sister · Object Role: elder-brother
Sibling of Zhu Miao (朱苗)
Kinship Term: elder half-brother (different father) / 异父兄 · Subject Relative Age: elder · Subject Role: elder-brother · Object Role: sister · Shared Parentage: maternal-half · Parentage: biological
Spouse of Emperor Ling (灵帝)
Kinship Term: empress / 皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Relationship State: active
Parent of Son of Empress He (皇太后之子)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son

Places and affiliations

Label: Eastern Han / 汉 · Relation: under
Strongly inferred · houhanshu:115:s0101

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: regent · Action: held government after Ling's death while brothers grasped power
Explicit · houhanshu:118:s0089
Kind: political · Role: regent · Action: hesitated-blocking-purge
Explicit · houhanshu:115:s0123

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: dynastic ruin issued from the He clan for twenty or thirty years · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · houhanshu:118:s0093

References in the histories

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Book of Later Han, Chapter 115Volume 104: Five Elements Part Two · 2 passages

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皇后兄何进，异父兄朱苗，皆为将军，领兵。 Empress He’s brother He Jin and her half-brother Zhu Miao each held generalships and led armies.

到六年，灵帝崩，大将军何进以内宠外嬖，积恶日久，欲悉纠黜，以隆更始冗政，而太后持疑，事久不决。 By Zhongping 6 the emperor was dead; He Jin meant to purge palace favorites of long standing, but the dowager hesitated and the coup stalled.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 118Volume 107: Five Elements Part Five · 5 passages

Open chapter

后董卓戮太后，被以不孝之名，放废天子，后复害之。 Then Dong Zhuo murdered the empress dowager on a charge of filial impiety, deposed the boy emperor, and later murdered him as well.

先是立皇后何氏，皇后每斋，当谒祖庙，辄有变异不得谒。 Empress He had already been raised to the throne's side; each time she fasted to worship at the ancestral shrine, some uncanny sign appeared and the visit had to be called off.

遣兵外讨角等，内使皇后二兄为大将统兵。 The court dispatched armies to crush Zhang Jiao while installing the empress's two brothers as commanding generals at the capital.

其年，宫车晏驾，皇后摄政，二兄秉权。 That same year the emperor died; the empress ruled in his stead while her brothers seized real authority.

皇太后母子遂为太尉卓等所废黜，皆死。 The empress dowager and the boy emperor were then deposed by Dong Zhuo and his allies, and both perished.