Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties · Prince of Qinghe and Statesman

Yuan Yi 元懌

Attested AD 497 - AD 520

Passages: 21
Chapters: 2
Histories: 1

Overview

Yuan Yi was a prince of Qinghe and Statesman.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Xuanren	宣仁	Xuanren
Posthumous name	Wenxian	文獻	Wenxian

Life and dates

Death

Age Value: 34 · Reckoning: Sui · killed under false charges by Yuan Cha and Liu Teng 遂害之
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 143

Attested activity

AD 520 正光元年七月
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 143
AD 497 太和二十一年
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 106
AD 500 to AD 520 清河王懌
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 91, passage 22

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Sibling of Yuan Yue (元悅)
brother 兄弟 · Full siblings
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 27, passage 6
Child of Emperor Xiaowen (孝文皇帝)
father 父
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 6
Child of Lady Luo (羅夫人)
mother 母
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 6
Parent of Yuan Chan (元亶)
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 168

Key source chapters

Career and standing

grand marshal 太尉
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 124
palace attendant 侍中
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 107
vice director of the masters of writing 尚書僕射
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 107
General of Chariots and Cavalry 車騎將軍
Held
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 22
Grand Tutor 太傅
Held
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 22
Prince of Qinghe 清河王
Enfeoffed
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 106

Show 1 more source-backed claim

Prince of Qinghe 清河王
Held
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 22

Works and attributed material

Records of Manifest Loyalty 顯忠錄
Relation Author · Extent twenty scrolls 二十卷
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passage 142
Memorial · Author
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passages 130-135
Speech · Speaker · With Emperor Xuanwu of Wei (魏宣武帝)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passages 116-122
Speech · Speaker · With Gao Zhao (高肇)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passages 114-115

Assessments and attributes

Assessment greatly favored and admired Yuan Yue · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 22
Assessment loyal yet slandered · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Wei 27, passages 142, 191

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 14

References in the histories

Search passages

History

21 passages

Book of Wei, Chapter 27Volume 22: Emperor Xiaowen's Five Princes · 19 passages

羅夫人生清河文獻王懌、汝南文宣王悅。 Lady Luo bore Yi, Prince of Qinghe (posthumous Wenxian), and Yue, Prince of Runan (posthumous Wenzuan).

及在州謀逆，愉遂殺長史羊靈引及司馬李遵，稱得清河王密疏，云高肇謀殺害主上。 While he was in the province he rose in rebellion. Yu killed chief clerk Yang Lingyin and marshal Li Zun, claiming a secret letter from the Prince of Qinghe that Gao Zhao meant to murder the emperor.

清河王懌，字宣仁。 Qinghe Wang Yi, styled Xuanren.

懌才長從政，明於斷決，割判眾務，甚有聲名。 Yi excelled in administration, decided cases with clarity, cut through piled business, and won wide renown.

司空高肇以帝舅寵任，既擅威權，謀去良宗，屢譖懌及愉等。 Gao Zhao, the emperor's uncle by marriage, already held unchecked power and sought to purge the princes, repeatedly denouncing Yi, Yu, and others.

懌恐不免。 Yi feared he would not escape.

懌因侍宴酒酣，乃謂肇曰：「天子兄弟，詎有幾人，而炎炎不息。 When wine had deepened at a feast Yi told Zhao, "The emperor's brothers are few—why does your flame never die down?

詔懌裁門下之事。 An edict put Gate-and-Chamber business in Yi's hands.

懌表諫曰：「臣聞律深惑眾之科，禮絕妖淫之禁，皆所以大明居正，防遏姦邪。 Yi remonstrated: "Law punishes deluding the people; rites forbid demonic excess—all to keep the throne upright and bar wickedness.

靈太后以懌肅宗懿叔，德先具瞻，委以朝政，事擬周霍。 Empress Dowager Ling, seeing Yi as Xiaoming's honored uncle and a man all eyes followed, entrusted government to him on the model of the Duke of Zhou and Huo Guang.

懌竭力匡輔，以天下為己任。 Yi labored to steady the state and took the realm as his charge.

懌裁之以法，每抑黜之，為叉所疾。 Yi checked him with law and repeatedly humiliated him; Cha came to hate him.

叉黨人通直郎宋維希叉旨，[7]告懌謀反，禁懌門下，訊問左右及朝貴，貴人分明，乃得雪釋焉。 Cha's man Song Wei, eager to please, [7] accused Yi of treason; they sealed his staff and questioned attendants and nobles until the truth cleared him.

懌以忠而獲謗，乃鳩集昔忠烈之士，為顯忠錄二十卷，以見意焉。 Slandered though loyal, Yi compiled Records of Manifest Loyalty in twenty scrolls to declare his mind.

正光元年七月，叉與劉騰逼肅宗於顯陽殿，閉靈太后於後宮，囚懌於門下省，誣懌罪狀，遂害之，時年三十四。 In the first year of Zhenguang, seventh month, Cha and Liu Teng seized Xiaoming in Xianyang Hall, walled the dowager in the rear palace, jailed Yi in the Gate and Chamber office, forged charges, and killed him at thirty-four.

夷人在京及歸，聞懌之喪，為之劈面者數百人。 Barbarians in the capital and those returned, hearing of his death, lacerated their faces in mourning—several hundred men.

及清河王懌為元叉所害，悅了無讎恨之意，乃以桑落酒候伺之，盡其私佞。 When Qinghe Wang Yi fell to Yuan Cha, Yue bore no grudge; he courted Cha with mulberry-fall wine and shameless flattery.

臨拜日，就懌子亶求懌服玩之物，不時稱旨。 On the day of appointment he asked Yi's son Chan for his father's robes and curios; Chan displeased him.

清河器識才譽，以懿親作輔，時鐘屯詖，始遘牆茨之逼。 Qinghe had capacity, insight, talent, and reputation, and as an excellent kinsman served as assistant, but the age fell into hardship and crookedness, and he first met the pressure of the wall-thorns.

Book of Wei, Chapter 91Volume 85: Men of Letters: Yuan Yue, Pei Jingxian, Lu Guan, Feng Su, Xing Cang, Pei Bomao, Xing Xin · 2 passages

後遷車騎將軍、太傅、清河王懌文學，雅為懌所愛賞。 He was later appointed literary aide to Prince Yi of Qinghe, who also held the posts of general of chariots and cavalry and grand tutor, and Yi greatly favored and admired him.

懌之文表多出於躍。 Most of Yi's official documents and memorials were written by Yue.