Sui and Tang · Consort

Empress Wei 韋氏

Wei shi

Died AD 710

Passages
19
Chapters
8
Histories
3

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Wei as a consort, royal family member, and ruler. This record brings together 19 passages from 8 chapters across 3 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Empress Wei 韋氏 Wei shi
Title Consort Wei 韋庶人 Wei shuren
Title Deposed Consort Wei 韋庶人
Title Empress Wei 韋庶人
Title Empress Wei 皇后
Title Empress Wei 韋氏 Wéi shì
Title Empress Wei 韋后 Wei Hou
Title Empress Wei 韋皇后
Personal name Empress Wei 韋后
Title Empress Wei 韋後 Wéi Hòu
Title Empress Wei 韋後
Title Empress Wei 韋后
Clan Wei 韋氏 Wei
Surname Wei 韋 Wéi
Surname Wei 韋 Wei

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Female

Roles

  • Consort
  • Royal Family Member
  • Ruler

Life and dates

Death

  • Manner: execution · Authority Person Id: Xuanzong (玄宗) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 誅韋皇后 · Western Interval: Start: AD 710 · End: AD 710
    Explicit · xintangshu:022:s0067

Attested activity

Family

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

  • Spouse of Zhongzong (中宗)
    Kinship Term: empress / 后 · Union Category: primary-marriage
    Kinship Term: Empress Wei / 韋氏 · Union Category: marriage · Relationship State: active
    Kinship Term: empress / 後 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Subject Role: empress · Object Role: emperor · Relationship State: active
  • Spouse of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (中宗)
    Kinship Term: empress / 皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: wife · Object Role: husband · Relationship State: active

Career and standing

Places and affiliations

Events and relationships

  • Kind: political · Role: power-holder · Action: issued-slanted-seal-appointments
    Explicit · xintangshu:045:s0136

Source notes

References in the histories

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

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 27Volume 23 Treatises 3: Rites 3 · 1 passage
Open chapter
履冰又上奏曰：臣聞夫婦之道，人倫之始。尊卑法於天地，動靜合於陰陽，陰陽和而天地生成，夫婦正而人倫式序。自家刑國，牝雞無晨，四德之禮不愆，三從之義斯在。即《喪服四制》云：「天無二日，土無二王，國無二君，家無二尊，以一理之也。故父在為母服周者，見無二尊也。」准舊儀，父在為母一週除靈，再周心喪。父必三年而後娶者，達子之志焉。豈先聖無情於所生，固有意於家國者矣。原夫上元肇年，則天已潛秉政，將圖僭篡，預自崇先。請升慈愛之喪，以抗尊嚴之禮，雖齊斬之儀不改，而几筵之制遂同。數年之間，尚未通用。天皇晏駕，中宗蒙塵。垂拱之末，果行聖母之偽符；載初之元，遂啟易代之深釁。孝和雖名反正，韋氏復效晨鳴。孝和非意暴崩，韋氏旋即稱制。不蒙陛下英算，宗廟何由克復？《易》云：「臣弒其君，子弒其父，非一朝一夕之故。」其斯之謂矣。臣謹尋禮意，防杜實深，若不早圖刊正，何以垂戒於後？所以薄言禮教，請依舊章，恩敕通明，蒙付所司詳議。且臣所獻者，蓋請正夫婦之綱，豈忘母子之道。諸議多不討其本源，所非議者，大凡只論罔極之恩；喪也寧戚；禽獸識母而不識父；秦燔書後禮經殘缺，後儒纘集，不足可憑；豈得與伯叔母服同，豈得與姑姊妹制等；三王不相襲禮，五帝不相沿樂；齊斬足為升降，歲年何忍不同：此並道聽途說之言，未習先王之旨，又安足以議經邦理俗之禮乎？臣請據經義以明之。所云「罔極之恩」者，春秋祭祀，以時思之。君子有終身之憂，霜露之感，豈止一二周之服哉！故聖人恐有朝死而夕忘，曾鳥獸之不若，為立中制，使賢不肖共成文理而已。所云「喪也寧戚」者，孔子答林放之問。至如太奢太儉，太易太戚，皆非禮中。苟不得中，名為俱失，不如太儉太戚焉。毀而滅性，猶愈於朝死夕忘焉。此論臨喪哀毀之容，豈比於同宗異姓之服？所云「禽獸識母而不識父」者，禽獸群居而聚筜，而無家國之禮，少雖知親愛其母，長不解尊嚴其父。引此為諭則亦禽獸之不若乎！所云「秦燔書後禮經殘缺，後儒纘集，不足可憑」者，人間或有遺逸，豈亦家戶到而燔之？假若盡燔，苟不可信，則墳黃都謬，庠序徒立，非聖之談，復云安屬？所云「與伯叔姑姊服同」者，伯叔姑姊有筵杖之制、三年心喪乎？所云「五帝不相沿樂，不相襲禮」，誠哉是言！此是則天懷私苞禍之情，豈可復相沿樂襲禮乎？所云「齊斬足為升降」者，母齊父斬，不易之禮。按《三年問》云：「將由修飾之君子與，三年之喪，若駟之過隙，遂之，則是無窮也。然則何以周也？曰：至親以周斷。是何也？曰：天地則已易矣，四時則已變矣，其在天地之者，莫不更始焉，以是象之也。然則何以三年？曰：加重焉耳。」故父加至再周，父在為母加三年心喪。今者還同父沒之制，則尊厭之律安施？《喪服四制》又曰：「凡禮之大體，體天地，法四時，則陰陽，順人情，故謂之禮。」訾之者是不知禮之所由生。非徒不識禮之所由制，亦恐未達孝子之通義。臣謹按《孝經》，以明陛下孝治之合至德要道，請論世欲訾禮之徒。夫至德謂孝悌，要道謂禮樂。「移風易俗，莫善於樂，安上治民，莫善於禮。」又《禮》有「無體之禮，無聲之樂。」按《孝經援神契》云：「天子孝曰就，就之為言成也。天子德被天下，澤及萬物，始終成就，則其親獲安，故曰就也。諸侯孝曰度，度者法也。諸侯居國，能奉天子法度，得不危溢，則其親獲安，故曰度也。卿大夫孝曰譽，譽之為言名也。卿大夫言行佈滿，能無惡稱，譽達遐邇，則其親獲安，故曰譽也。士孝曰究，究者以明審為義。士始升朝，辭親入仕，能審資父事君之禮，則其親獲安，故曰究也。庶人孝曰畜，畜者含畜為義。庶人含情受朴，躬耕力作，以畜其德，則其親獲安，故曰畜也。」陛下以韋氏構逆，中宗降禍，宸衷哀憤，睿情卓烈。初無一旅之眾，遂殄九重之妖，定社稷於阽危，拯宗枝於塗炭。此陛下孝悌之至，通於神明，光於四海，無所不通。使諸侯得守其法度，卿大夫得盡其言行，士得資親以事君，庶人得用天而分地。此陛下無體之禮，以安上理人也。上元以來，政由武氏，文明之後，法在凶人。賊害宗親，誅滅良善，勳階歲累，酺赦年頻。佞之則榮華，正之則遷謫。神龍、景雲之際，其事尤繁；先天、開元之間，斯弊都革。此陛下之無聲之樂，以移風易俗也。臣前狀單略，議者未識臣之懇誠。謹具狀重進，請付中書門下商量處分。臣言若讜，然敢側足於軒墀；臣言不忠，伏請竄跡於荒裔。 Lu Lubing again submitted a memorial: Your servant has heard that the way of husband and wife is the beginning of human relations. Honored and lowly take law from Heaven and earth; movement and stillness accord with yin and yang. When yin and yang are harmonious, Heaven and earth generate and complete; when husband and wife are correct, human relations are thereby ordered. From regulating the family to governing the state, the hen has no morning cry; the rites of the four virtues do not fail, and the obligation of the three followings is here. The Four Mourning Systems says: "Heaven has no two suns, earth has no two kings, the state has no two rulers, and the household has no two honored ones; these are ordered by one principle. Therefore when the father is alive, one wears one-year mourning for the mother, showing that there are not two honored ones." According to the old ritual, when the father was alive, for the mother one removed the spirit seat after one cycle and observed inner mourning for two cycles. That the father must wait three years before marrying again expresses the son's intent. How could the former sages have had no feeling for the one who gave birth, when they were certainly intent on household and state? Looking back, in the first year of Shangyuan, Zetian had already secretly taken hold of government. Planning usurpation, she first honored her ancestors. She requested raising compassionate mourning to oppose the rites of reverence; although the forms of trimmed and unhemmed mourning were not changed, the system of mats and seats became the same. For several years it still was not generally used. The Heavenly Emperor died, and Zhongzong suffered dust and exile. At the end of Chuigong, the false tally of the Sage Mother was indeed carried out; in the first year of Zaichu, the deep provocation for changing dynasties was opened. Although Xiaohe was called a return to correctness, the Wei clan again imitated the morning cry. Xiaohe suddenly died contrary to expectation, and the Wei clan immediately took charge. Had it not been for Your Majesty's heroic planning, how could the ancestral temples have been restored? The Changes says: "When a minister murders his ruler or a son murders his father, it is not the cause of one morning or one evening." This is what it means. Your servant has carefully sought the meaning of ritual, and its guard and prevention are truly deep. If we do not early plan to cut and correct this, how can we transmit warning to later times? Therefore I briefly spoke of ritual teaching and requested following the old statutes. The gracious edict was penetrating and clear, and I received referral to the responsible offices for detailed deliberation. What your servant submitted was a request to correct the bond of husband and wife; how could it forget the way of mother and son? Most deliberations do not examine the root and source. What they criticize generally only discusses boundless grace, that in mourning one should prefer grief, that birds and beasts know their mothers but not their fathers, that after Qin burned the books the ritual classics were damaged and later Confucians compiled them and are not reliable, that how could it be the same mourning as for paternal uncles' wives, how could it equal the rules for paternal aunts and sisters, that the Three Kings did not inherit one another's rites and the Five Emperors did not follow one another in music, and that trimmed and unhemmed garments are enough for increase and reduction while one cannot bear for the years to differ. These are all words heard on the road, not practiced in the former kings' intent. How are they enough to discuss the rites that order the state and regulate custom? Your servant requests to rely on classic meaning to clarify it. As for what is called "boundless grace," spring and autumn sacrifices remember it by season. A gentleman has lifelong grief and the feeling of frost and dew; how could it stop with one or two cycles of mourning dress? Therefore sages feared that some would have a morning death and evening forgetfulness, worse than birds and beasts, and established a middle regulation, so that worthy and unworthy together completed pattern and principle. As for what is called "in mourning, prefer grief," this is Confucius answering Lin Fang's question. As for too extravagant and too frugal, too easy and too grief-stricken, all are not within the ritual mean. If one cannot attain the mean, both are called losses, though too frugal and too grief-stricken are better. Destroying oneself and extinguishing one's nature is still better than morning death and evening forgetfulness. This discusses the appearance of grief and self-damage when facing mourning; how can it be compared to mourning dress for the same lineage and different surnames? As for "birds and beasts know the mother but not the father," birds and beasts live in flocks and gather without the rites of household and state. When young, they may know to love their mothers, but when grown they do not understand honoring their fathers. If this is cited as an analogy, are we not worse than birds and beasts? As for "after Qin burned the books, the ritual classics were damaged, and later Confucians compiled them, so they cannot be relied upon," among people there may have been texts left or lost; did Qin burn them from house to house? Suppose they were all burned. If they cannot be trusted, then the ancient classics are all mistaken, schools stand in vain, and to what does talk that rejects the sages belong? As for "the same mourning as paternal uncles' wives and paternal aunts and sisters," do paternal uncles' wives, paternal aunts, and sisters have a system of mats and staffs or three years of inner mourning? As for "the Five Emperors did not follow one another in music and did not inherit one another's rites," true indeed are these words! This was Zetian's feeling of harboring selfishness and wrapping disaster; how could one again follow her music and inherit her rite? As for "trimmed and unhemmed are enough for increase and reduction," trimmed for mother and unhemmed for father is unchanging ritual. According to Questions on Three Years: "Is it because of cultivated gentlemen? Three years of mourning is like a team of four horses passing a crack; if one extended it, it would be endless. Then why stop with one year? It says: the closest kin are cut off by a year. Why is this? It says: Heaven and earth have already changed; the four seasons have already changed; among what is within Heaven and earth, nothing has not begun anew, and this is used to model it. Then why three years? It says: weight is added." Therefore for the father it is increased to two full cycles, and while the father is alive, for the mother it is increased by three years of inner mourning. If now it is returned to the rule for when the father has died, where will the law of honored suppression be applied? The Four Mourning Systems also says: "In general, the great body of ritual embodies Heaven and earth, takes law from the four seasons, follows yin and yang, and accords with human feeling; therefore it is called ritual." Those who criticize this do not know from what ritual is born. Not only do they not understand from what ritual is made; I also fear they have not grasped the general obligation of a filial son. Your servant has carefully examined the Classic of Filial Piety to make clear that Your Majesty's filial governance accords with utmost virtue and the essential way, and I request to discuss those in the age who wish to criticize ritual. Utmost virtue means filial piety and fraternal respect; the essential way means rites and music. "For changing customs, nothing is better than music; for securing superiors and governing the people, nothing is better than ritual." Also, the Ritual has "formless ritual and soundless music." According to the Filial Piety apocryphon Yuan Shen Qi: "The Son of Heaven's filial piety is called completion; completion means accomplishing. When the Son of Heaven's virtue covers All Under Heaven and his grace reaches the myriad things, beginning and end are accomplished, and then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called completion. A feudal lord's filial piety is called measure; measure means law. When a feudal lord resides in his state and can uphold the Son of Heaven's laws and measures, not becoming endangered or overflowing, then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called measure. A minister or great officer's filial piety is called reputation; reputation means name. When a minister or great officer's words and conduct spread fully and can have no evil name, and his reputation reaches far and near, then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called reputation. A shi's filial piety is called investigation; investigation takes clarity and examination as its meaning. When a shi first enters court, leaves his parents and enters service, and can examine the rite of using the father as resource to serve the ruler, then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called investigation. A commoner's filial piety is called storing up; storing up takes containing and preserving as its meaning. When a commoner contains feeling and receives simplicity, personally plowing and laboring in order to store up his virtue, then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called storing up." Because the Wei clan plotted rebellion and Zhongzong suffered disaster, Your Majesty's imperial heart was grieved and angered, and your sagely feeling was outstanding and fierce. At first you had not even one brigade of troops, yet you destroyed the monster in the ninefold palace, fixed the altars of soil and grain in danger, and rescued the imperial branches from mire and ashes. This is the utmost of Your Majesty's filial piety and fraternal respect, penetrating to spirits and brightness, shining over the four seas, with nothing it does not reach. It lets feudal lords keep their laws and measures, ministers and great officers exhaust their words and conduct, shi use kinship to serve the ruler, and commoners use Heaven and divide earth. This is Your Majesty's formless ritual, by which you secure superiors and order the people. Since Shangyuan, government came from the Wu clan; after Wenming, law lay with cruel people. They harmed imperial kin, killed the good, accumulated merit ranks every year, and frequently held feasts and amnesties. To flatter them brought glory; to correct them brought demotion and exile. During Shenlong and Jingyun, these affairs were especially numerous; between Xiantian and Kaiyuan, these abuses were all reformed. This is Your Majesty's soundless music, by which you changed customs. Your servant's previous statement was brief, and the debaters did not understand my earnest sincerity. I have carefully prepared this statement and present it again, requesting that it be sent to the Secretariat-Chancellery for deliberation and disposition. If your servant's words are honest, then I dare stand beside the palace steps. If your servant's words are not loyal, I humbly request exile to the distant borders.
Old Book of Tang, Chapter 85Volume 81 Biographies 31: Cui Dunli, Lu Chengqin, Liu Xiangdao, Li Jingxuan, Li Yiyan, Sun Chuyue, Le Yanwei, Zhao Renben · 3 passages
Open chapter
Old Book of Tang, Chapter 130Volume 126 Biographies 76: Li Kui, Li Han, Chen Shaoyou, Lu Yue, Pei Xu · 1 passage
Open chapter
Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 102Volume 102 Book of Later Jin 4: Emperor Yin Annals 2 · 1 passage
Open chapter
New Book of Tang, Chapter 22Volume 22 Treatises 12: Rites and Music 12 · 2 passages
Open chapter
New Book of Tang, Chapter 45Volume 45 Treatises 40: Selecting and Appointing Officials 2 · 1 passage
Open chapter
New Book of Tang, Chapter 113Volume 113 Biographies 38: Tang, Zhang, Xu · 3 passages
Open chapter
中宗始郊，國子祭酒祝欽明等知韋後能制天子，欲迎諂之，即奏以皇后亞獻，安樂公主終獻，又四時及列帝誕日，遣使者詣陵如事生。 When Emperor Zhongzong first performed the suburban sacrifice, National University Libationer Zhu Qinming and others, knowing Empress Wei could dominate the emperor, sought to flatter her. They memorialized that the empress perform the secondary offering and Princess Anle the final offering, and that envoys be sent to the imperial tombs in all four seasons and on successive emperors' birth anniversaries as though the dead were still living.
New Book of Tang, Chapter 121Volume 121 Biographies 46: Liu, Zhong, Cui, and the Two Kings · 7 passages
Open chapter