Empress Qin'ai (欽哀皇后)

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Qin'ai as a consort, royal family member, and ruler. This record brings together 29 passages from 9 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Empress Qin'ai	欽哀皇后	Qīn'āi huánghòu
Title	empress	後
Title	Empress Dowager	皇太后
Title	Empress Dowager	太后
Posthumous name	Empress Dowager Qin'ai	欽哀皇后	Qin'ai
Title	Empress Dowager Qin'ai	欽哀後	Qin'ai
Title	Empress Dowager Qin'ai	欽哀
Title	Empress Dowager Qin'ai	太后
Title	Empress Dowager Qin'ai	欽哀皇后
Posthumous	Empress Qin'ai	欽哀皇后	Qīn'āi huánghòu
Temple	Empress Qin'ai	欽哀皇后
Title	Empress Qin'ai	欽哀皇后
Title	Empress Qin'ai	欽哀
Posthumous	Empress Qin'ai	欽哀皇后
Title	Grand Empress Dowager	太皇太后
Descriptive kinship	his mother
Personal name	Qin'ai	欽哀	Qin'ai
Posthumous	Qin'ai	欽哀	Qīn'āi
Temple	Qin'ai	欽哀	Qin'ai
Posthumous name	Qin'ai	欽哀
Personal	Qinai	欽哀	Qinai
Title	the empress dowager	太后
Personal	Xiao Noujin	蕭耨斤

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · liaoshi:021:s0028, liaoshi:062:s0002, liaoshi:065:s0108, liaoshi:087:s0048, liaoshi:088:s0113, liaoshi:091:s0052, liaoshi:097:s0079, liaoshi:109:s0042, liaoshi:109:s0048, liaoshi:112:s0123

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member
Ruler

Life and dates

Death

Action: died · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 清寧三年十二月己巳 · Reign Id: liao-qingning · Regnal Year: 3 · Western Year: AD 1057
Explicit · liaoshi:021:s0108

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 清寧元年 · Reign Id: liao-qingning · Regnal Year: 1 · Western Year: AD 1055
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:021:s0028, liaoshi:021:s0050
Source Date: Text: 太平十一年 · Reign Id: liao-taiping · Regnal Year: 11 · Western Year: AD 1031
Explicit · liaoshi:087:s0048
Source Date: Text: 太平十一年 · Reign Id: liao-taiping · Regnal Year: 11 · Western Year: AD 1031
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:088:s0113
Source Date: Text: 清寧三年 · Reign Id: liao-qingning · Regnal Year: 3 · Western Year: AD 1057
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:021:s0107, liaoshi:021:s0108
Source Date: Text: 清寧四年 · Reign Id: liao-qingning · Regnal Year: 4 · Western Year: AD 1058
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:021:s0120, liaoshi:021:s0121
Source Date: Text: 欽哀為皇太后稱制 · Western Year: AD 1031
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:097:s0079
Source Date: Text: 聖宗崩 · Western Year: AD 1031
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:112:s0123
Source Date: Text: 興宗即位 · Western Year: AD 1031
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:062:s0002
Source Date: Text: 重熙三年 · Western Year: AD 1034
Explicit · liaoshi:087:s0054
Source Date: Text: 重熙元年 · Western Year: AD 1032
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:062:s0010, liaoshi:062:s0028
Source Date: Text: 重熙初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1032 · End: AD 1034
Explicit · liaoshi:109:s0048
Source Date: Text: 重熙十三年 · Western Year: AD 1044
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:091:s0052
Source Date: Text: 開泰七年 · Western Year: AD 1018
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:065:s0108
Source Date: Text: 開泰八年 · Western Year: AD 1019
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:109:s0041, liaoshi:109:s0042

Family

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

Parent of Yanmuqin (巖母菫)
Kinship Term: bore / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: parent · Object Role: child · Object Birth Order: 2
Parent of Shuogu (槊古)
Kinship Term: bore / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: parent · Object Role: child · Object Birth Order: 3
Kin of Xingzong (興宗)
Kinship Term: empress dowager / 皇太后 · Subject Role: empress-dowager · Object Role: emperor
Parent of Xingzong (興宗)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: mother
Kinship Term: Empress Dowager / 皇太后 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Kinship Term: mother and son / 母子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Kin of Yelü Longxu (耶律隆緒)
Kinship Term: empress dowager / 皇太后
Spouse of Yelü Longxu (耶律隆緒)
Kinship Term: empress / 皇后 · Union Category: marriage · Subject Role: empress · Object Role: emperor
Kinship Term: empress / 皇后 · Union Category: marriage · Subject Role: wife · Object Role: husband · Relationship State: active
Parent of Chongyuan (重元)
Kinship Term: younger son / 少子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son · Object Birth Order: 2

Kinship Role: brothers · Note: 昆弟專權 · Quantity: plural
Explicit · liaoshi:062:s0002

Career and standing

Title: Empress Qin'ai / 欽哀皇后 · Action: posthumously-honored
Explicit · liaoshi:021:s0120
Status: regent · Action: assumed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 重熙初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1032 · End: AD 1034
Explicit · liaoshi:109:s0048
Status: regent · Action: assumed · Label: assumed regency / 稱制
Explicit · liaoshi:097:s0079
Status: regent · Action: assumed
Explicit · liaoshi:087:s0050
Status: banished · Action: entered
Explicit · liaoshi:062:s0007
Status: ill · Action: fell-ill
Explicit · liaoshi:021:s0107
Status: grand-empress-dowager · Action: honored-as
Explicit · liaoshi:021:s0028

Places and affiliations

Polity Id: liao · Relation: active-in
Explicit · liaoshi:062:s0002
Polity Id: liao · Relation: associated-with
Explicit · liaoshi:109:s0048
Polity Id: liao · Relation: served
Explicit · liaoshi:021:s0120, liaoshi:097:s0079
Polity Id: liao · Relation: subject-of
Strongly inferred · liaoshi:065:s0108
Place: Qingzhou / 慶州 · Relation: exiled-to-guard-tombs · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 重熙初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1032 · End: AD 1034
Explicit · liaoshi:109:s0049
Place: Qing Mausoleum / 慶陵 · Relation: buried-at
Explicit · liaoshi:021:s0121
Place: Qingzhou / 慶州 · Relation: banished-to
Explicit · liaoshi:062:s0007
Place: Qingzhou / 慶州 · Relation: exiled-to · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 重熙三年 · Western Year: AD 1034
Explicit · liaoshi:087:s0056

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Xingzong (興宗) · Quoted: true · Statement: You deserved death a thousand times over, yet I once saved your life. I asked for no reward—why have you driven us mother and son apart! / 汝負萬死，我嘗營救。不望汝報，何為離間我母子耶！
Explicit · liaoshi:109:s0050, liaoshi:109:s0051
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Statement: The former emperor said Jue would surely prove a great man — and so it has come to pass. · Other Person Id: Yelu Jue (耶律玦)
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0074

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: subject · Action: escorted-back-to-court
Explicit · liaoshi:062:s0008
Kind: political · Role: perpetrator · Action: murdered · Other Person Id: Ren'ade (仁德皇后)
Explicit · liaoshi:087:s0049
Kind: political · Role: intercessor · Action: pleaded-to-spare · Other Person Id: Zhao Anren (趙安仁)
Explicit · liaoshi:109:s0044
Kind: political · Role: actor · Action: plotted-deposition
Explicit · liaoshi:062:s0007
Kind: political · Role: plotter · Action: sought-to-depose-emperor-and-enthrone-younger-son · Other Person Id: Xingzong (興宗) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 重熙初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1032 · End: AD 1034
Explicit · liaoshi:109:s0048
Kind: legal · Role: intercessor · Action: spoke so that Paizhe was beaten and released · Other Person Id: Xiao Paizhe (蕭朮哲)
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0052
Relation: rival-of · Person Id: Ren'ade (仁德皇后)
Explicit · liaoshi:109:s0042

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · liaoshi:065:s0108

References in the histories

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

History of Liao, Chapter 21Volume 21 Annals 21: Daozong 1 · 5 passages

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庚午，尊皇太后為太皇太后。 On gengwu day the Empress Dowager was honored as Grand Empress Dowager.

戊子，應聖節，上太皇太后壽，宴群臣、命婦，冊妃蕭氏為皇后。 On wuzi day, the Responding Sage Festival, longevity was wished for the Grand Empress Dowager; ministers and titled wives were feasted; consort Xiao was invested Empress.

戊辰，太皇太后不豫，曲赦行在五百里內囚。 On wuchen day the Grand Empress Dowager fell ill; partial amnesty for prisoners within five hundred li of the imperial halt.

己巳，太皇太后崩。 On jisi day the Grand Empress Dowager died.

五月庚午朔，上大行太皇太后尊謚曰欽哀皇后。 On the gengwu new moon of the fifth month the posthumous honorific for the late Grand Empress Dowager was Empress Qin'ai.

History of Liao, Chapter 62Volume 62 Treatises 32: Punishment and Law 2 · 5 passages

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興宗即位，欽哀皇后始得志，昆弟專權。 When Xingzong came to the throne, Empress Dowager Qin'ai finally had her way, and her brothers seized control of the government.

馮家奴等希欽哀意，誣蕭浞卜等謀反，連及嫡後仁德皇后。 Feng Jianu and others, eager to please Qin'ai, framed Xiao Hubu and his associates for treason and dragged in the legitimate empress, Ren'ade.

欽哀後謀廢立，遷於慶州。 When Qin'ai plotted to depose the emperor and enthrone another, she was banished to Qingzhou.

郡王貼不家奴彌裏吉告其主言涉怨望，鞫之無驗，當反坐，以欽哀皇后裏言，竟不加罪，亦不斷付其主，僅籍沒焉。 Miliji, a slave of Prince Junwang Tiebu, accused his master of disloyal speech; the charge could not be proved and the accuser should have been punished in turn, but at Qin'ai's private word he escaped punishment, was not returned to his master, and only had his property confiscated.

寧遠軍節度使蕭白強掠烏古敵烈都詳穩敵魯之女為妻，亦以後言免死，杖而奪其官。 Xiao Bai, commissioner of Ningyuan Army, forcibly took Dile's daughter as his wife; he too was spared death on the empress's word, beaten, and dismissed from office.

History of Liao, Chapter 65Volume 65 Tables 3: Princesses · 1 passage

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欽哀皇后生二女： Born to Empress Qin'ai, two daughters:

History of Liao, Chapter 87Volume 87 Biographies 17: · 7 passages

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十一年，帝不豫，欽哀召孝先總禁衛事。 In the eleventh year, when the emperor fell ill, Empress Qin'ai summoned Xiaoxian to take overall charge of the palace guard.

興宗諒陰，欽哀弒仁德皇后，孝先與蕭浞卜、蕭匹敵等謀居多。 While Emperor Xingzong was in mourning, Qin'ai murdered Empress Rende; Xiaoxian, together with Xiao Fubu, Xiao Pidi, and others, played the leading part in the plot.

及欽哀攝政，遙授天平軍節度使，加守司徒，兼政事令。 When Qin'ai took the regency, he received a remote appointment as Military Commissioner of the Tianping Army, was made Acting Minister of Education, and served concurrently as Chief Councilor.

孝先以椒房親，為太后所重。 As a kinsman of the empress's clan, Xiaoxian enjoyed the Empress Dowager's special favor.

三年，太后與孝先謀廢立事，帝知之，勒衛兵出宮，召孝先至，諭以廢太后意。 In the third year the Empress Dowager and Xiaoxian plotted to depose the emperor and enthrone another. When the emperor learned of it, he ordered the palace guards out of the palace, summoned Xiaoxian, and told him of his plan to depose the Empress Dowager.

遷太后於慶州。 The Empress Dowager was sent away to Qingzhou.

會伐夏，孝友與樞密使蕭惠失利河南，帝欲誅之，太后救免。 During a campaign against Xia, Xiaoyou and Commissioner Xiao Hui were defeated south of the Yellow River. The emperor wished to put them to death, but the Empress Dowager intervened and spared them.

History of Liao, Chapter 88Volume 88 Biographies 18: Xiao Dilie, Yelu Pennu, Xiao Paiya, Yelu Zizhong, Yelu Yaozhi, Yelu Honggu, Gao Zheng, Yelu Delu, Da Kangyi · 2 passages

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先是，欽哀與仁德皇后有隙，以匹敵嘗為後所愛，忌之。 Earlier, Qinai and Empress Rendé had been at odds. Because Pike had once been favored by the empress, Qinai resented him.

及欽哀攝政，殺之。 When Qinai took the regency, she had him killed.

History of Liao, Chapter 91Volume 91 Biographies 21: Yelu Hanba, Yelu Tanggu, Xiao Paizhe, Yelu Jue, Yelu Pulidu · 2 passages

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稍遷西南面招討都監，坐事下獄，以太后言，杖而釋之。 He was gradually promoted to southwest pacification superintendent; for an offense he was imprisoned, but at the empress dowager's word he was beaten with the staff and released.

入見太后，後顧左右曰：「先皇謂玦必為偉人，果然。」 On audience with the empress dowager, she looked back at those beside her and said, "The former emperor said Jue would surely prove a great man — and so it has come to pass."

History of Liao, Chapter 97Volume 97 Biographies 27: Yelu Wotela, Hai Li, Dou Jingyong, Yelu Yinji, Yang Ji, Zhao Hui, Wang Guan, Yelu Xisun · 1 passage

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及欽哀為皇太后稱制，喜孫尤見寵任。 When Empress Dowager Qin'ai assumed regency, Xisun was especially favored and trusted.

History of Liao, Chapter 109Volume 109 Biographies 39: Music and Imperial Officials · 5 passages

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初，仁德皇后與欽哀有隙，欽哀密令安仁伺皇后動靜，無不知者。 Earlier Empress Rende and Empress Dowager Qin'ai were estranged; Qin'ai secretly set Anren to spy on the empress's every move, and nothing escaped him.

仁德欲誅之，欽哀以言營救。 Rende sought to have him executed, but Qin'ai interceded for him.

重熙初，欽哀攝政，欲廢帝，立少子重元。 Early in the Chongxi era Empress Dowager Qin'ai served as regent, sought to depose the emperor, and planned to enthrone her younger son Chongyuan.

帝與安仁謀，遷太后慶州守陵，授安仁左承宣、監門衛大將軍，充契丹漢人渤海內侍都知，兼都提點。 The emperor conspired with Anren, sent the empress dowager to Qingzhou to tend the imperial tombs, and appointed Anren Left Commissioner of Announcement and Grand General of the Gate Guards, making him superintendent of Khitan, Han, and Bohai inner attendants and chief intendant as well.

會上思太后，親馭奉迎，太后責曰：「汝負萬死，我嘗營救。 When the emperor missed his mother and went in person to escort her back, the empress dowager reproached him: "You deserved death a thousand times over, yet I once saved your life.

History of Liao, Chapter 112Volume 112 Biographies 42: Rebellious Officials 1 · 1 passage

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聖宗崩，欽哀皇后稱制，密謀立重元。 After Shengzong's death, Empress Dowager Qin'ai ruled as regent and secretly plotted to set Chongyuan on the throne.