Yuan · Royal Family Member

the Empress Dowager 皇太后

Attested AD 1334 - AD 1341

Passages: 3
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

the Empress Dowager was a Royal Family Member.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 1341 明年，改元至正
Dated from the passage context · History of Yuan 182, passage 183
AD 1334 明年甲戌
Dated from the passage context · History of Yuan 182, passage 171

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Parent of the emperor (帝)
mother and son 母子 · Claimed parentage
Directly stated · History of Yuan 182, passage 171

Career and standing

Empress Dowager 皇太后
AD 1334 明年甲戌 · Held
Directly stated · History of Yuan 182, passage 171
Grand Empress Dowager 太皇太后
AD 1334 明年甲戌 · Proposed
Directly stated · History of Yuan 182, passages 171-172
Noted
AD 1341 明年，改元至正 · Vacant seat · Mode speech Speaker Youren (有壬)
Directly stated · History of Yuan 182, passage 183

Events and relationships

Title elevation discussed
Ritual · Honorand
Directly stated · History of Yuan 182, passages 171-173

References in the histories

History of Yuan, Chapter 182Volume 182 Biographies 69: Zhang Qiyan, ŌUyang Xuan, Xu Youren, Song Ben, Xie Duan · 3 passages

帝詔群臣議上皇太后尊號為太皇太后，有壬曰：「皇上於皇太后，母子也，若加太皇太后，則為孫矣，非禮也。」 The emperor ordered the ministers to discuss granting the empress dowager the title Grand Empress Dowager. Youren said: "The emperor and the empress dowager are mother and son. If she becomes Grand Empress Dowager, he becomes her grandson in title, which violates proper ritual."

眾弗之從，有壬曰：「今制，封贈祖父母，降於父母一等，蓋推恩之法，近重而遠輕，今尊皇太后為太皇太后，是推而遠之，乃反輕矣，豈所謂尊之者邪！」 The assembly would not listen. Youren said: "Under current law, honors granted to grandparents rank one grade below those granted to parents. Favor is meant to weigh most heavily on those nearest. Making the empress dowager a grand empress dowager pushes the honor outward and actually makes it lighter. Is that what honoring her means!"

明年，改元至正，有壬極論帝當親祠太廟，母后虛位，徽政院當罷，改元命相當合為上詔，冗職當沙汰，錢糧當裁節，如此之類，不一而足。 The next year the era name was changed to Zhizheng. Youren argued forcefully that the emperor should sacrifice at the ancestral temple in person, that the empress dowager's seat should not be left vacant, that the Huizheng Office should be abolished, that the change of era and appointment of chancellors should be issued in one supreme edict, that redundant offices should be cut, and that spending on money and grain should be reduced—proposals of this kind, and more besides.