Empress Xiao (孝皇后)

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Xiao as a consort, family member, and royal family member. This record brings together 13 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 Xiao	孝皇后	Xiào huánghòu
Personal name	Chen Daozhi	陳道止	Chen Daozhi
Title	Empress Xiao	孝皇后	Xiào huánghòu
Posthumous name	Empress Xiao	孝皇后	Xiao Huanghou
Temple name	Empress Xuanxiao	宣孝陳皇后	Xuanxiao Chen Huanghou
Title	Grand Lady of the Duke of Jingling's state	竟陵公國太夫人
Descriptive kinship	Imperial mother	皇妣
Given		道止	Daozhi
Surname		陳	Chen

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · nanqishu:002:s0067, nanqishu:020:s0010

Roles

Consort
Family Member
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Place: magistrate's quarters / 縣舍
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0021

Age

Age: 73 · Reckoning: sui
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0021

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 建元元年 · Western Year: AD 479
Explicit event contextual date · nanqishu:020:s0023
Source Date: Text: 建元元年六月丙寅 · Western Year: AD 479
Explicit event contextual date · nanqishu:002:s0067
Source Date: Text: 昇明三年 · Western Year: AD 479
Explicit event contextual date · nanqishu:020:s0022

Family

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

Descendant of Chen Jiao (陳矯)
Kinship Term: descendant / 後 · Generation Distance: 2
Parent of Emperor Gao of Qi (齊高帝)
Kinship Term: bore / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Kinship Term: imperial mother / 皇妣 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Child of Chen Zhaozhi (肇之)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: daughter · Object Role: father
Spouse of Emperor Xuan (宣皇帝)
Kinship Term: imperial parents / 皇考/皇妣 · Union Category: marriage · Relationship State: active
Spouse of Emperor Xuan (宣帝)
Kinship Term: married / 嫁 · Union Category: marriage · Relationship State: active
Child of Lady Hu (胡氏)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: daughter · Object Role: mother

Kinship Role: sons · Count: 3
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0017

Career and standing

Title: Grand Lady of the Duke of Jingling's state / 竟陵公國太夫人 · Action: posthumously-granted · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 昇明三年 · Western Year: AD 479
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0022
Label: Empress Xiao / 孝皇后 · Action: posthumously-honored · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 建元元年 · Western Year: AD 479
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0023

Places and affiliations

Polity Name: Southern Qi / 南齊 · Relation: honored-by
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0023
Place: Dongyang in Linhuai / 臨淮東陽
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0010

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0017, nanqishu:020:s0018, nanqishu:020:s0020

Events and relationships

Kind: omen · Role: dreamer · Action: dreamed-hemp-porridge
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0014

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: filial and foresighted · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · nanqishu:020:s0091

References in the histories

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

Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 2Volume 2 Annals 2: Emperor Gao of Southern Qi 2 · 1 passage

Open chapter

丙寅，追尊皇考曰宣皇帝，皇妣爲孝皇后，妃爲昭皇后。 Day bingyin: the imperial father was styled Emperor Xuan, the imperial mother Empress Xiao, the consort Empress Zhao.

Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 20Volume 20 Biographies 1: Empresses and Consorts · 12 passages

Open chapter

宣孝陳皇后諱道止，臨淮東陽人，魏司徒陳矯後。 Empress Xuanxiao Chen Daozhi came from Dongyang in Linhuai commandery and was descended from Chen Jiao, minister of works of Wei.

后少家貧，勤織作，家人矜其勞，或止之，后終不改。 The family was poor in her girlhood, and she wove and worked without rest. Relatives pitied her toil and tried to make her stop; she never changed her ways.

太祖年二歲，乳人乏乳，后夢人以兩甌麻粥與之，覺而乳大出，異而說之。 When Xiao Daocheng was two, his wet nurse could not supply enough milk. The empress dreamed that someone handed her two bowls of hemp porridge; she awoke to find her milk abundant, and she wondered at the omen.

宣帝從任在外，后常留家治事教子孫。 Emperor Xuan was posted away from home while the empress stayed behind to run the household and instruct the children and grandchildren.

有相者謂后曰：「夫人有貴子而不見也。」 A physiognomist told the empress, "My lady has a son of great rank, yet I have not laid eyes on him."

后歎曰：「我三兒誰當應之。」 She sighed. "I have three sons—which of them can it be?"

宣帝殂後，后親自執勤，婢使有過誤，恕不問也。 After Emperor Xuan's death she herself saw to the work of the household; when maidservants blundered, she pardoned them without question.

太祖雖從官，而家業本貧，爲建康令時，高宗等冬月猶無縑纊，而奉膳甚厚，后每撤去兼肉，曰：「於我過足矣。」 Though Xiao Daocheng held office, the family had always been poor. When he was magistrate of Jiankang, Gaozong and the others still went without padded silk in winter, while the food sent in was lavish—the empress would remove the extra meat and say, "For me this is already too much."

昇明三年，追贈竟陵公國太夫人，蜜印，畫青綬，祠以太牢。 In Shengming year 3 she was posthumously enfeoffed Grand Lady of the Duke of Jingling's state, with honey seal and painted green cord, and honored with the great offering.

建元元年，追尊孝皇后。 In the first year of Jianyuan she was posthumously honored as Empress Xiao.

孝、昭二后，竝有賢明之訓，不得母臨萬國。 The Xiao and Gao empresses both bore wise instruction, yet never ruled the realm as mothers of the state.

贊曰：宣武孝則，識有先知。 In praise: Empress Xuanxiao, filial and correct—she saw what was coming before it came.