Later Empress Fu (後符後)

Overview

The translated histories identify Later Empress Fu as a consort and royal family member. This record brings together 10 passages from 4 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Later Empress Fu	後符後	Fu
Descriptive kinship	daughter of Fu Yanqing	符彥卿女
Title	Dowager of Zhou	周太后	Zhōu tàihòu
Title	empress	皇后
Title	Empress	皇后
Title	Empress Fu	皇后符氏
Title	Empress Lady Fu	皇后符氏
Personal name	Fu	符氏	Fu
Surname	Fu	符	Fú
Title	Lady Fu	符後
Personal	Lady Fu	符氏
Title	Lady Fu	皇后符氏
Descriptive kinship	younger sister of Empress Xuanyi	后妹

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:119:s0084, jiuwudaishi:121:s0107, xinwudaishi:012:s0141, xinwudaishi:020:s0046

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 世宗即位 · Western Year: AD 954
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:121:s0116
Source Date: Text: 國初 · Western Year: AD 960
Explicit · xinwudaishi:020:s0048
Source Date: Text: 後立皇后符氏 · Western Year: AD 959
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:020:s0046, xinwudaishi:020:s0044
Source Date: Text: 显德六年六月 · Western Year: AD 959
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:012:s0141
Source Date: Text: 漢乾祐中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 948 · End: AD 950
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:121:s0110, jiuwudaishi:121:s0111
Source Date: Text: 顯德六年 · Western Year: AD 959
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:119:s0084

Family

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

Child of Guo Wei (郭威)
Kinship Term: adoptive father / 養父 · Parentage: adoptive · Subject Role: adoptive-father · Object Role: adoptive-daughter
Child of Fu Yanqing (符彥卿)
Kinship Term: daughter / 女 · Parentage: biological
Kinship Term: daughter / 女 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: daughter
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological
Spouse of Emperor Shizong (世宗)
Kinship Term: empress / 皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Relationship State: active
Union Category: primary-marriage
Kinship Term: installed as empress / 立皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Relationship State: active
Union Category: primary-marriage
Spouse of Shizong (世宗)
Kinship Term: empress / 皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage
Kinship Term: empress / 皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Relationship State: formed
Child of Mother of Empress Xuanyi
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: daughter
Child of Mother of the Fu empresses (符氏之母)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological
Sibling of Empress Xuanyi Fu (宣懿皇后符氏)
Kinship Term: younger sister / 女弟 · Subject Relative Age: younger · Shared Parentage: full
Kinship Term: younger sister / 妹 · Subject Relative Age: younger · Shared Parentage: full
Kinship Term: younger sister / 女弟 · Subject Relative Age: elder · Shared Parentage: full
Spouse of Li Chongxun (李崇訓)
Union Category: marriage · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Source Work: Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties / 五代史補

Career and standing

Status: empress · Action: installed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:119:s0084
Status: dowager · Action: styled · Label: Dowager of Zhou / 周太后
Explicit · xinwudaishi:020:s0048

Places and affiliations

Place: Western Palace / 西宮 · Relation: moved-to
Explicit · xinwudaishi:020:s0048

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Source Work: Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties / 五代史補
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:121:s0112, jiuwudaishi:121:s0117

Events and relationships

Kind: escape · Role: survivor · Action: preserved herself at fall of Hezhong · Place: Hezhong / 河中 · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Source Work: Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties / 五代史補
Textual variant · jiuwudaishi:121:s0112, jiuwudaishi:121:s0114

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: extraordinary; refused tonsure · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Source Work: Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties / 五代史補
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:121:s0114, jiuwudaishi:121:s0117

Source notes

Statement: Hezhong escape narrative also told of Xuanyi in main biography · Other Person Id: Empress Xuanyi Fu (宣懿皇后符氏)
Uncertain · jiuwudaishi:121:s0098, jiuwudaishi:121:s0112

References in the histories

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

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 119Volume 119 Book of Later Zhou 21: Shizong Annals 6 · 1 passage

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癸未，立魏王符彥卿女為皇后，仍令所司擇日備禮冊命。 On guiwei, the daughter of Fu Yanqing, Prince of Wei, was installed as empress, and the responsible offices were ordered to choose a day for the investiture ceremony.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 121Volume 121 Book of Later Zhou 23: Biographies 1: Empresses and Consorts · 5 passages

Open chapter

〈（案：世宗有後符後，即宣懿之女弟也，薛史不為立傳，未免闕略。 (Note: Shizong later had another consort, Lady Fu, the younger sister of Empress Xuanyi; Xue's History gives her no separate biography, which is a regrettable omission.

《五代史補》：世宗皇后符氏，即魏王彥卿之女。 The 《Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties》 states that Empress Fu of Shizong was the daughter of Prince of Wei Yanqing.

後知高祖與其父有舊，城破之際，據堂門而坐，叱諸軍曰：「我符魏王女也，魏王與樞密太尉，兄弟之不若，汝等慎勿無禮。」 Knowing the High Ancestor and her father were old associates, when the city fell she sat in the hall doorway and shouted at the soldiers, "I am the daughter of Prince of Wei Fu; the Prince of Wei and the Grand Preceptor are as close as brothers—you must not treat me with disrespect."

既免河中之難，其母欲使出家，資其福壽，後不悅曰：「死生有命，誰能髡首跣足以求茍活也！」 After she escaped the disaster at Hezhong, her mother wished to have her take Buddhist orders to secure blessings and long life; the lady refused angrily: "Life and death are fated—who would shave her head and go barefoot merely to cling to life!"

世宗素以後賢，又聞命不以出家為念，愈賢之，所以為天下母也。）〉 Shizong had always known her for her virtue, and when he heard she would not take orders merely to prolong life, he esteemed her all the more—thus she became mother of the realm.)〉

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 12Volume 12 Later Zhou Annals 3: Shizong, Emperor Gong · 1 passage

Open chapter

六月癸未，立皇后符氏，符氏无国爵，不曰立符氏为皇后，嫌同于不正也。盖其位先定而后娶，故书曰「立皇后符氏」，文理宜然，无褒贬也。 On guiwei in the sixth month Empress Lady Fu was enthroned. She held no state title, so the annals avoid saying “installed Lady Fu as empress” lest it seem irregular. Her status had been settled before the wedding, so the phrasing “installed Empress Lady Fu” is formally correct and carries no judgment.

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 20Volume 20: Shizong of Later Zhou's Family · 3 passages

Open chapter

後立皇后符氏， Later, another Lady Fu was established as empress,

后妹也。 The new empress was her younger sister.

國初，遷西宮，號周太后。 At the dynasty's founding she was moved to the Western Palace and styled Dowager of Zhou.