Empress Yuan of Xiaozhao (元氏)

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Yuan of Xiaozhao as a consort and royal family member. This record brings together 8 passages from 2 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Empress Yuan of Xiaozhao	元氏	Yuan
Changed name	Buliugu	步六孤	Buliugu
Title	consort of the Yuan clan	妃元氏
Title	Empress Yuan of Xiaozhao	孝昭皇后元氏
Descriptive kinship	His consort of the Yuan clan
Title	Princess Consort of Changshan	常山王妃
Surname	Yuan	元	Yuan
Clan	Yuan	元氏	Yuán

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · beiqishu:009:s0085, suishu:036:s0142

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Manner: sudden · Statement: died suddenly; empress suspected Lady Yun
Explicit · suishu:036:s0142

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: Qi fall to Sui chancellor era · Western Interval: Start: AD 577 · End: AD 580
Strongly inferred · beiqishu:009:s0094, beiqishu:009:s0095
Source Date: Text: Xiaozhao reign · Western Interval: Start: AD 560 · End: AD 561
Strongly inferred · beiqishu:009:s0088
Source Date: Text: 仁壽前 · Western Interval: Start: AD 581 · End: AD 600
Explicit event contextual date · suishu:036:s0142

Family

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

Spouse of Yang Yong (楊勇)
Kinship Term: consort / 妃 · Union Category: primary-marriage
Child of Yuan Man (元蠻)
Parentage: biological
Kinship Term: daughter / 女 · Parentage: biological
Spouse of Emperor Xiaozhao (孝昭帝)
Kinship Term: installed as empress / 立為皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage
Union Category: primary-marriage

Career and standing

Status: empress · Action: installed
Explicit · beiqishu:009:s0088

Places and affiliations

Place: east of the mountains / 山東 · Relation: returned-to
Explicit · beiqishu:009:s0095
Place: Shuncheng Palace / 順成宮 · Relation: demoted-to
Explicit · beiqishu:009:s0091

Events and relationships

Kind: personal · Role: victim · Action: humiliated by eunuchs over medicine · Other Person Id: Prince Zhan of Changguang (長廣王湛)
Explicit · beiqishu:009:s0090

Source notes

To: Buliugu / 步六孤 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天保末 · Western Interval: Start: AD 559 · End: AD 560
Explicit event contextual date · beiqishu:009:s0087

References in the histories

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

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 9Volume 9 Biographies 1: Empresses and Consorts · 7 passages

Open chapter

孝昭元后 Empress Yuan of Xiaozhao

孝昭皇后元氏，開府元蠻女也。 Empress Yuan of Xiaozhao was the daughter of Yuan Man, a Commissioner with Protocol Equal to the Three Excellencies.

初為常山王妃。 At first she was Princess Consort of Changshan.

天保末，賜姓步六孤。 At the end of the Tianbao era, she was granted the surname Buliugu.

孝昭即位，立為皇后。 When Xiaozhao took the throne, she was installed as empress.

始渡汾橋，武成聞后有奇藥，追索之不得，使閹人就車頓辱。 As the procession first crossed the Fen Bridge, Wucheng heard that the empress possessed a wondrous medicine. When his pursuit failed to obtain it, he sent eunuchs to her carriage to subject her to gross humiliation.

武成既殺樂陵王，元被閟隔，不得與家相知。 After Wucheng killed the Prince of Leling, Empress Yuan was shut away in isolation and could no longer communicate with her family.

Book of Sui, Chapter 36Volume 36 Biographies 1: Empresses and Consorts · 1 passage

Open chapter

時皇太子多內寵，妃元氏暴薨，后意太子愛妾雲氏害之。 At that time the crown prince kept many concubines. His consort of the Yuan clan died suddenly, and the empress suspected that the prince's beloved concubine, Lady Yun, had caused her death.