Xuanzong (玄宗) | 24 Histories

Overview

Xuanzong was a ruler.

PeriodSui and Tang

IdentityHistorical · Male

Roles

Found in

Life and dates

Death

AD 762 玄宗崩
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 50

Attested activity

AD 743 天寶二年
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 113, passages 18, 22
AD 762 玄宗崩
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 50
AD 756 玄宗幸蜀
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 97

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Parent of Suzong (肅宗)
heir apparent 太子
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 113, passages 50, 97

Places and affiliations

Tang 唐
Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 22

Works and attributed material

Edict · Author · With Zhang Yi (張倚)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passages 25-26

Events and relationships

Personally tested candidates
AD 743 天寶二年 · Examination · Examiner · At Hua'e Tower 花萼樓
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 22

References in the histories

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 113Volume 109 Biographies 59: Feng Gang, Ashinashe'er, Qibi Heli, Heichi Changzhi, Li Duozuo, Li Siye, Bai Xiaode · 6 passages

Open chapter

玄宗大集登科人，禦花萼樓親試，登第者十無一二； Xuanzong convened all the newly accredited candidates and personally examined them at the Hua'e Tower; fewer than one or two in ten of those already listed as passed could meet the test.

玄宗崩，肅宗詔晉卿攝冢宰。 When Xuanzong died, Suzong ordered Jinqing to serve as regent during the mourning.

伏讀國家起居註，亦於禮部檢見舊敕，恭惟太宗、高宗、、大行皇帝在位之日，皆有國哀，視事不輟，以為君臨天下，難徇常情。 I have reverently read the court diary and old edicts in the Ministry of Rites: Taizong, Gaozong, and the late emperor, whenever the realm mourned, never ceased to govern, holding that a ruler of all under Heaven cannot indulge ordinary private feeling.

遵大行皇帝遺詔，便合聽朝。 if you follow the late emperor's testament, you should take the throne at once.

昨二十日，陛下於大行皇帝柩前即位，是承先帝遺顧之言，亦前代不易之典。 Only yesterday, on the twentieth, Your Majesty took the throne before the late emperor's bier—fulfilling his final charge and following an immemorial precedent.

玄宗幸蜀，至益昌郡，遙詔太子充天下兵馬元帥，以冕為御史中丞兼左庶子，為之副。 When Xuanzong fled to Shu and reached Yichang, he issued a distant edict making the heir apparent commander of all armies under heaven, with Mian as vice censor-in-chief and left subordinate of the heir as his deputy.