1
周人尊祖之詩曰：「厥初生民，時維姜嫄。」 蓋推本后稷之所自出，以為王跡之所由基也。 宋之興，雖由先世積累，然至宣祖功業始大。 昭憲杜后實生太祖、太宗，內助之賢，母範之正，蓋有以開宋世之基業者焉。 觀其訓太祖以《無逸》治天下，至於豫定太宗神器之傳，為宗社慮，蓋益遠矣。 厥後慈聖光獻曹后擁佑兩朝，宣聖烈高后垂簾聽政，而有元祐之治。 南渡而後，若高宗之以母道事隆祐，孝宗奉明慈怡愉之樂，皆足以為百王法程。 宋三百餘年，外無漢王氏之患，內無唐武、韋之禍，豈不卓然而可尚哉。 昭憲垂裕之功，至是茂矣。 舊史稱昭憲性嚴毅，有禮法。 《易》之《家人》上九曰：「有孚，威如，終吉。」 其是之謂歟。 作《后妃傳》。
In the Zhou hymn honoring their ancestors we read: "When mankind first arose, the one was Lady Jiang Yuan." Thus they traced their descent back to the origins of Hou Ji, treating it as the foundation on which the royal mandate was laid. Though the Song rise drew on generations of accumulated effort, it was not until the achievements of Grand Progenitor Xuanzu grew truly great. Empress Zhaoxian of the Du clan actually bore both Taizu and Taizong; in the worth of her support within the household and the rectitude of her example as a mother she plainly helped lay the foundations of the Song dynasty. Consider how she taught Taizu to rule the realm by the precepts of "Against Dissipation," and even laid plans in advance for Taizong to receive the imperial succession—her foresight for the dynasty's altars reached still further. Later, Empress Cisheng Guangxian of the Cao clan upheld two reigns, and Empress Xuanshenglie Gao ruled from behind the curtain—bringing forth the governance of the Yuanyou era. After the court moved south, Gaozong's treating Empress Longyou with a son's devotion and Xiaozong's devotion to Bright Kindness and Pleasant Ease stand as models worthy of the hundred sage-rulers of antiquity. For more than three hundred years Song knew none of the Han Wang family's external domination nor the internal disasters of Tang's Wu and Wei—surely this is outstanding and worthy of admiration. By then the abundant legacy left by Empress Zhaoxian had fully flourished. The old histories describe Empress Zhaoxian as stern and disciplined, observant of ritual propriety. The top line of "The Family" in the Book of Changes reads: "With inner sincerity, awe-inspiring authority—in the end, good fortune." Is this not exactly what is meant? Thus was composed the "Biographies of Empresses and Consorts."
2
太祖母昭憲杜太后
Grandmother of the Throne: Empress Zhaoxian Dowager Du
3
太祖母昭憲杜太后，定州安喜人也。 父爽，贈太師。 母範氏，生五子三女，太后居長。 既笄歸於宣祖。 治家嚴毅有禮法。 生邕王光濟、太祖、太宗、秦王廷美、夔王光贊、燕國陳國二長公主。
The Grandmother of the Throne, Empress Zhaoxian Dowager Du, was a native of Anxi in Ding Prefecture. Her father Shuang was posthumously ennobled as Grand Preceptor. Her mother was of the Fan clan; she bore five sons and three daughters, and the Empress Dowager was the eldest. After she came of age she was married to Grand Progenitor Xuanzu. She ran the household with stern discipline and strict observance of ritual propriety. She bore Prince of Yong Guangji, Taizu, Taizong, Prince of Qin Tingmei, Prince of Kui Guangzan, and the two elder princesses of Yan and Chen.
4
建隆二年，太后不豫，太祖侍樂餌不離左右。 疾亟，召趙普入受遺命。 太后因問太祖曰：「汝知所以得天下乎？」 太祖嗚噎不能對。 太后固問之，太祖曰：「臣所以得天下者，皆祖考及太后之積慶也。」 太后曰：「不然，正由周世宗使幼兒主天下耳。 使周氏有長君，天下豈為汝有乎？ 汝百歲後當傳位於汝弟。 四海至廣，萬幾至眾，能立長君，社稷之福也。」 太祖頓首泣曰：「敢不如教。」 太后顧謂趙普曰：「爾同記吾言，不可違也。」 命普於榻前為約誓書，普於紙尾書「臣普書」。 藏之金匱，命謹密宮人掌之。
In the second year of Jianlong the Empress Dowager fell ill; Taizu waited on her with food and medicine and never left her side. When her illness grew critical she summoned Zhao Pu to receive her final instructions. The Empress Dowager then asked Taizu, "Do you know how you came to win the empire?" Taizu sobbed and could not answer. The Empress Dowager pressed him again. Taizu said, "I won the empire solely through the accumulated blessings of my forebears and of Your Majesty." The Empress Dowager said, "That is not so. It was precisely because Emperor Shizong of Zhou left a child on the throne. If the Zhou house had had a mature ruler, would the empire ever have become yours? When your time comes you must pass the throne to your younger brother. The realm is vast and state affairs are countless; to place a mature ruler on the throne is a blessing for the dynasty." Taizu bowed his head to the ground and wept. "I shall not fail to obey," he said. The Empress Dowager turned to Zhao Pu. "You too must record my words," she said. "They must not be disobeyed." She ordered Pu to draft a sworn covenant at her bedside; at the foot of the document Pu wrote, "Written by your subject Pu." The document was placed in a golden coffer and entrusted to trustworthy palace women for safekeeping.
5
太后崩于滋德殿，年六十，諡曰明憲。 葬安陵，神主祔享太廟。 乾德二年，更諡昭憲，合祔安陵。
The Empress Dowager died in Zide Hall at the age of sixty and was given the posthumous title Mingxian. She was buried at Anling, and her spirit tablet was installed for joint sacrifice in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. In the second year of Qiande her posthumous title was changed to Zhaoxian, and she was enshrined together at Anling.
6
孝惠賀皇后
Empress Xiaohui of the He Clan
7
孝明王皇后
Empress Xiaoming of the Wang Clan
8
孝明王皇后，邠州新平人。 彰德軍節度饒第三女。 孝惠崩，周顯德五年，太祖為殿前檢點校，聘后為繼室。 后恭勤不懈，仁慈禦下。 周世宗賜冠帔，封琅邪郡夫人。
Empress Xiaoming of the Wang clan was a native of Xinping in Bin Prefecture. She was the third daughter of Rao, military commissioner of the Zhangde Army. After Empress Xiaohui's death, in the fifth year of Xiande of Zhou, while Taizu was inspector-in-chief of the Palace Front Office, he took her as his successor consort. The Empress was respectful and tireless in her duties, and governed those below her with benevolence. Emperor Shizong of Zhou granted her cap and veil and ennobled her as Lady of Langye Commandery.
9
太祖即位，建隆元年八月，冊為皇后。 常服寬衣，佐禦膳，善彈箏鼓琴。 晨起，誦佛書。 事杜太后得驩心。 生子女三人，皆夭。 乾德元年十二月崩，年二十二。 有司上諡，翰林學士竇儀撰哀冊文。 二年四月，葬安陵之北。 神主享於別廟。 太平興國二年，祔享太廟。
When Taizu took the throne, in the eighth month of the first year of Jianlong she was invested as Empress. She habitually wore simple, loose garments, helped supervise the imperial meals, and was skilled at the zither, drum, and qin. Each morning she rose early to recite Buddhist scriptures. In serving Empress Dowager Du she won her heartfelt affection. She bore three children, all of whom died in infancy. She died in the twelfth month of the first year of Qiande at the age of twenty-two. The responsible offices proposed a posthumous title, and Hanlin academician Dou Yi composed the lamentation eulogy. In the fourth month of the second year she was buried north of Anling. Her spirit tablet was enshrined for sacrifice in a separate temple. In the second year of Taiping Xingguo her spirit tablet was installed for joint sacrifice in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
10
孝章宋皇后
Empress Xiaozhang of the Song Clan
11
太平興國二年，居西宮。 雍熙四年，移居東宮。 至道元年四月崩，年四十四。 有司上諡，權殯普濟佛舍。 三年正月，祔葬永昌陵北。 命吏部侍郎李至撰哀冊文，神主享於別廟。 神宗時，升祔太廟。
In the second year of Taiping Xingguo she took up residence in the Western Palace. In the fourth year of Yongxi she moved to the Eastern Palace. She died in the fourth month of the first year of Zhidao at the age of forty-four. The responsible offices proposed a posthumous title, and her body was provisionally interred at the Puji Buddhist lodge. In the first month of the third year she was buried in joint sepulture north of Yongchang Mausoleum. He ordered Vice Minister of Personnel Li Zhi to compose the lamentation eulogy, and her spirit tablet was enshrined for sacrifice in a separate temple. Under Shenzong her spirit tablet was elevated for joint enshrinement in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
12
淑德尹皇后
Empress Shude of the Yin Clan
13
太宗淑德尹皇后，相州鄴人。 滁州刺史廷勳之女。 兄崇珂，保信軍節度。 太宗在周時娶焉。 早薨。 及帝即位，詔追冊為皇后，並諡，葬孝明陵西北。 神主享於別廟，后升祔太廟。
Taizong's Empress Shude of the Yin clan was a native of Ye in Xiang Prefecture. She was the daughter of Tingxun, prefect of Chuzhou. Her elder brother Chongke was military commissioner of the Baoxin Army. Taizong married her while he was still serving the Zhou regime. She died young. When Taizong took the throne, an edict posthumously invested her as Empress and granted her a posthumous title; she was buried northwest of Xiaoming Mausoleum. Her spirit tablet was enshrined in a separate temple; later she was elevated for joint enshrinement in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
14
懿德符皇后
Empress Yide of the Fu Clan
15
明德李皇后
Empress Mingde of the Li Clan
16
太宗崩，真宗即位。 至道三年四月，尊后為皇太后，居西宮嘉慶殿。 咸平二年，宰相請別建宮立名，從之。 四年宮成，移居之，仍上宮名曰萬安。 景德元年崩，年四十五。 諡明德。 權殯沙台。 三年十月，祔葬永熙陵。 禮官請以懿德、明德同祔太宗廟室，以先後為次，從之。
When Taizong died, Zhenzong ascended the throne. In the fourth month of the third year of Zhidao the Empress was honored as Empress Dowager and took up residence in Jiqing Hall of the Western Palace. In the second year of Xianping the chief ministers asked that a separate palace be built and given its own name, and the request was granted. In the fourth year the palace was completed and she moved there; she also proposed that the palace be named Wan'an. She died in the first year of Jingde at the age of forty-five. She was given the posthumous title Mingde. Her body was provisionally interred at Shatai. In the tenth month of the third year she was buried in joint sepulture at Yongxi Mausoleum. The ritual officials asked that Empresses Yide and Mingde be jointly enshrined in Taizong's temple chamber in order of precedence, and the request was granted.
17
元德李皇后
Empress Yuande of the Li Clan
18
李賢妃，真定人，乾州防禦使英之女也。
Consort Li the Worthy was a native of Zhending and the daughter of Ying, defense commissioner of Qian Prefecture.
19
真宗即位，追封賢妃，又進上尊號為皇太后。 有司上諡曰元德。 咸平三年，祔葬永熙陵。 以中書侍郎、平章事李沆為園陵使。 車駕詣普安院攢宮，素服行禮，拜伏嗚咽。 命駕部郎中、知制誥梁周翰撰哀冊。 神主祔別廟。
When Zhenzong took the throne, she was posthumously enfeoffed as Worthy Consort and further honored as Empress Dowager. The responsible offices proposed the posthumous title Yuande. In the third year of Xianping she was buried in joint sepulture at Yongxi Mausoleum. Vice Director of the Secretariat and Grand Councilor Li Hang was appointed commissioner of the imperial mausoleum. The emperor went in person to the temporary palace at Pu'an Monastery, performed the rites in plain mourning garments, and bowed prostrate, weeping aloud. He ordered Liang Zhouhan of the Imperial Transport Office, drafter of imperial documents, to compose the lamentation eulogy. Her spirit tablet was installed for sacrifice in a separate temple.
20
大中祥符元年，追贈后父英檢校太尉、安國軍節度、常山郡王，母魏國太夫人。 大中祥符三年，禮官趙湘請以后祔太宗廟室。 真宗曰：「此重事也，俟令禮官議之。」 六年秋，宰相王旦與群臣表請后尊號中去「太」字，升祔太廟明德之次，從之。
In the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu the Empress's father Ying was posthumously enfeoffed as acting Grand Marshal, military commissioner of the Anguo Army, and Prince of Changshan Commandery; her mother as Grand Lady of Wei. In the third year of Dazhong Xiangfu the ritual official Zhao Xiang asked that the Empress be jointly enshrined in Taizong's temple chamber. Zhenzong said, "This is a weighty matter. Let the ritual officials deliberate on it first." In the autumn of the sixth year Grand Councilor Wang Dan and the officials memorialized asking that the character "Grand" be removed from the Empress's honored title and that she be elevated for joint enshrinement in the Imperial Ancestral Temple after Mingde; the request was granted.
21
章懷潘皇后
Empress Zhanghuai of the Pan Clan
22
真宗章懷潘皇后，大名人，忠武軍節度美第八女。 真宗在韓邸，太宗為聘之，封莒國夫人。 端拱二年五月薨，年二十二。 真宗即位，追冊為皇后，諡壯懷，葬永昌陵之側，陵名保泰。 神主享於別廟，舊制后諡冠以帝諡。 慶曆中，禮官言，「孝」字連太祖諡，「德」字連太宗諡。 遂改「壯」為「章」，以連真宗諡云。
Zhenzong's Empress Zhanghuai of the Pan clan was a native of Daming and the eighth daughter of Mei, military commissioner of the Zhongwu Army. While Zhenzong was still at the Han residence, Taizong betrothed her to him and enfeoffed her as Lady of Ju. She died in the fifth month of the second year of Duangong at the age of twenty-two. When Zhenzong took the throne, she was posthumously invested as Empress with the posthumous title Zhuanghuai and buried beside Yongchang Mausoleum in a tomb named Baotai. Her spirit tablet was enshrined in a separate temple. By established custom an empress's posthumous title was prefixed with her husband's temple name. During the Qingli era the ritual officials observed that the character xiao linked to Taizu's temple title and the character de linked to Taizong's temple title. They therefore changed zhuang to zhang so that her title would link with Zhenzong's temple name.
23
章穆郭皇后
Empress Zhangmu of the Guo Clan
24
章穆郭皇后，太原人，宣徽南院便守文第二女。 淳化四年，真宗在襄邸，太宗為聘之。 封魯國夫人，進封秦國。 真宗嗣位，立為皇后。 景德四年，從幸西京還，以疾崩，年三十二。
Empress Zhangmu of the Guo clan was a native of Taiyuan and the second daughter of Shouwen, deputy of the Southern Bureau of the Palace Secretariat. In the fourth year of Chunhua, while Zhenzong was still at the Xiang residence, Taizong betrothed her to him. She was enfeoffed as Lady of Lu and later advanced to Lady of Qin. When Zhenzong succeeded to the throne, she was made Empress. In the fourth year of Jingde, on the return from accompanying the emperor to the Western Capital, she died of illness at the age of thirty-two.
25
后謙約惠下，性惡奢靡。 族屬入謁禁中，服飾華侈，必加戒勖。 有以家事求言於上者，后終不許。 兄子出嫁，以貧欲祈恩賚，但出裝具給之。 上尤加禮重。
The Empress was modest and gracious to those below her and detested extravagance by nature. When relatives came to the palace to pay homage in lavish dress, she always admonished them. If anyone sought to speak to the emperor on family affairs, the Empress never allowed it. When her brother's son married, he wished to beg imperial favor because of poverty, but she gave him only trousseau and furnishings. The emperor treated her with exceptional respect.
26
及崩，上深嗟悼。 禮官奏皇帝七日釋服，特詔增至十三日。 太常上諡曰壯穆。 靈駕發引，命翰林學士楊億撰哀冊。 葬永熙陵之西北，神主享於別廟。 以后弟崇儀副使崇仁為壯宅使、康州刺史，侄承慶、承壽皆遷官。 大中祥符中，封后母高唐郡太夫人梁氏萊國太夫人。 仁宗即位，升祔真宗廟室，改諡章穆。
When she died, the emperor mourned her deeply. The ritual officials proposed that the emperor lay aside mourning after seven days, but a special edict extended the period to thirteen days. The Court of Imperial Sacrifices proposed the posthumous title Zhuangmu. When the funeral procession set out, he ordered Hanlin academician Yang Yi to compose the lamentation eulogy. She was buried northwest of Yongxi Mausoleum, and her spirit tablet was enshrined for sacrifice in a separate temple. The Empress's younger brother Chongren, deputy commissioner of the Chongyi Office, was appointed commissioner of the Zhuangzhai estate and prefect of Kangzhou; her nephews Chengqing and Chengshou were all promoted. During the Dazhong Xiangfu era the Empress's mother, Grand Lady of Gaotang Commandery of the Liang clan, was enfeoffed as Grand Lady of Lai. When Renzong took the throne, she was elevated for joint enshrinement in Zhenzong's temple chamber and her posthumous title was changed to Zhangmu.
27
章獻明肅劉皇后
Empress Zhangxian Mingsu of the Liu Clan
28
章獻明肅劉皇后，其先家太原，後徙益州，為華陽人。 祖延慶，在晉、漢間為右驍衛大將軍； 父通，虎捷都指揮使、嘉州刺史，從征太原，道卒。 后，通第二女也。
Empress Zhangxian Mingsu of the Liu clan: her family originally came from Taiyuan, later moved to Yizhou, and became natives of Huayang. Her grandfather Yanqing served between the Jin and Han regimes as Grand General of the Right Xiaowei Guard; her father Tong was commander-in-chief of the Tiger Swift Army and prefect of Jiazhou; he died on campaign against Taiyuan. The Empress was Tong's second daughter.
29
自章穆崩，真宗欲立為皇后，大臣多以為不可，帝卒立之。 李宸妃生仁宗，后以為己子，與楊淑妃撫禮甚至。 后性警悟，曉書史，聞朝廷事，能記其本末。 真宗退朝，閱天下封奏，多至中夜，后皆預聞。 宮圍事有問，輒傅引故實以對。
After Empress Zhangmu's death, Zhenzong wished to make her Empress; many chief ministers opposed it, but he established her in the end. Consort Li the Imperial bore Renzong; the Empress took him as her own son and, together with Consort Yang the Gracious, raised him with the utmost care. The Empress was quick-witted and well read; when she heard of court affairs she could recall them from beginning to end. When Zhenzong left court to review memorials from across the realm, often until midnight, the Empress was always informed beforehand. When palace matters were questioned, she would cite historical precedents in reply.
30
天禧四年，帝久疾居宮中，事多決於后。 宰相上寇凖密議奏請皇太子監國，以謀泄罷相，用丁謂代之。 既而，入內都知周懷政謀廢后殺謂，復用凖以輔太子。 客省使楊崇勳、內殿承制楊懷吉詣謂告，謂夜乘犢車，挾崇勳、懷吉造樞密使曹利用謀。 明日，誅懷政，貶准衡州司馬。 於是詔皇太子開資善堂，引大臣決天下事，后裁制於內。
In the fourth year of Tianxi the emperor was long ill and confined to the palace; many affairs were decided by the Empress. Grand Councilor Kou Zhun secretly memorialized asking that the crown prince oversee the state; when the plot leaked he was dismissed and Ding Wei replaced him. Thereafter Palace Intendant Zhou Huaizheng plotted to depose the Empress, kill Ding Wei, and restore Kou Zhun to assist the crown prince. Commissioner Yang Chongxun of the Reception Bureau and Inner Hall Attendant Yang Huaiji informed Ding Wei; that night Wei rode in a calf cart with them to Military Affairs Commissioner Cao Liyong to plot. The next day Huaizheng was executed and Kou Zhun was demoted to military aide of Hengzhou. An edict then ordered the crown prince to open the Hall of Nurturing Goodness, summoning chief ministers to decide state affairs while the Empress ruled from within.
31
真宗崩，遺詔尊后為皇太后，軍國重事，權取處分。 謂等請太后御別殿，太后遣張景宗、雷允恭諭曰：「皇帝視事，當朝夕在側，何須別御一殿？」 於是請帝與太后五日一御承明殿，帝位左，太后位右，垂簾決事。 議已定，太后忽出手書，第欲禁中閱章奏，遇大事即召對輔臣。 其謀出於丁謂，非太后意也。 謂既貶，馮拯等三上奏，請如初議。 帝亦以為言，於是始同御承明殿。 百官表賀，太后哀慟。 有司請制令稱「吾」，以生日為長寧節，出入御大安輦，鳴鞭侍衛如乘輿。 令天下避太后父諱。 群臣上尊號曰「應元崇德仁壽慈聖太后」，御文德殿受冊。
When Zhenzong died, his testamentary edict honored the Empress as Empress Dowager and empowered her to decide provisionally on weighty military and state affairs. Ding Wei and others asked the Empress Dowager to hold court in a separate hall. She sent Zhang Jingzong and Lei Yungong to say, "When the emperor conducts affairs of state he should be at my side morning and evening—why need a separate hall?" They then proposed that the emperor and Empress Dowager attend Chenming Hall every five days, the emperor seated on the left and the Empress Dowager on the right, with a curtain drawn between them to decide affairs. After the plan was settled, the Empress Dowager suddenly produced a handwritten note saying she wished only to review memorials within the palace and summon chief ministers for great affairs. This scheme came from Ding Wei, not from the Empress Dowager herself. After Ding Wei was demoted, Feng Zheng and others memorialized three times asking to return to the original plan. The emperor spoke in favor of it as well, and they began jointly to attend Chenming Hall. The officials memorialized their congratulations, but the Empress Dowager grieved in mourning. The responsible offices asked that edicts address her as "I," that her birthday be made the Changning Festival, that she ride the Great Peace imperial carriage when going out, and that guards attend her with the same ceremony as the emperor. They ordered the realm to observe taboo on the Empress Dowager's father's name. The officials submitted the honored title "Empress Dowager Responding to the Primordial, Honoring Virtue, Benevolent in Longevity, Merciful and Sagely," and she received investiture at Wende Hall.
32
天聖五年正旦，太后御會慶殿。 群臣及契丹使者班廷中，帝再拜跪上壽。 是歲郊祀前，出手書諭百官，毋請加尊號。 禮成，帝率百官恭謝如元日。 七年冬至，天子又率百官上壽，范仲淹力言其非，不聽。 九月，詔長寧節百官賜衣，天下賜宴，皆如乾元節。
On New Year's Day of the fifth year of Tiansheng the Empress Dowager held court at Huiqing Hall. Officials and Khitan envoys formed ranks in the hall while the emperor bowed twice and knelt to offer birthday wishes. Before the suburban sacrifice that year she sent a handwritten note instructing officials not to request an additional honored title. When the rites were completed, the emperor led the officials in respectful thanks as on New Year's Day. On the winter solstice of the seventh year the emperor again led officials to offer birthday wishes; Fan Zhongyan strongly objected, but was not heeded. In the ninth month an edict ordered that on the Changning Festival officials receive gift garments and banquets be held throughout the realm, all as on the Qianyuan Festival.
33
是歲崩，年六十五。 諡曰章獻明肅，葬於永定陵之西北。 舊制皇后皆二諡，稱制，加四諡自后始。 追贈三世皆至太師、尚書令、兼中書令，父封魏王。
That year she died at the age of sixty-five. She was given the posthumous title Zhangxian Mingsu and buried northwest of Yongding Mausoleum. By established custom empresses received two posthumous titles; the addition of four titles while ruling as regent began with her. Three generations of forebears were posthumously enfeoffed as Grand Preceptor, Director of the Department of State Affairs, and concurrent Director of the Secretariat; her father was enfeoffed as Prince of Wei.
34
初，仁宗即位尚少，太后稱制，雖政出宮闈，而號令嚴明，恩威加天下。 左右近習亦少所假借，宮掖間未嘗妄改作。 內外賜與有節，柴氏、李氏二公主入見，猶服髲鬀。 太后曰：「姑老矣。」 命左右賜以珠璣帕首。 時潤王元份婦安國夫人李氏老，髮且落，見太后，亦請帕首。 太后曰：「大長公主，太宗皇帝女，先帝諸妹也； 若趙家老婦，寧可比耶？」 舊賜大臣茶，有龍鳳飾，太后曰：「此豈人臣可得？」 命有司別制入香京挺以賜之。 賜族人御食，必易以釦器，曰：「尚方器勿使入吾家也。」 常服絁繻練裙，侍者見仁宗左右簪珥珍麗，欲效之。 太后戒曰：「彼皇帝嬪御飾也，汝安得學。」
When Renzong first took the throne he was still young, and the Empress Dowager ruled as regent. Though government issued from the inner palace, her commands were stern and clear and her authority extended across the realm. Those close to her were seldom indulged, and within the palace quarters there was never reckless alteration or construction. Grants within and outside the palace were restrained; when the two princesses of the Chai and Li clans came to audience they still wore wig coiffures. The Empress Dowager said, "Your aunt is old." She ordered attendants to bestow pearl and jade headcloths on them. At the time the wife of Prince of Run Yuanfen, Grand Lady of An of the Li clan, was old and her hair was falling out; when she saw the Empress Dowager she too asked for a headcloth. The Empress Dowager said, "The Grand Elder Princess is Emperor Taizong's daughter, the former emperor's sisters; how can an old woman of the Zhao house be compared?" Tea formerly granted to chief ministers bore dragon and phoenix ornament. The Empress Dowager said, "How can subjects obtain this?" She ordered the responsible offices to prepare a separate grade of fragrant Jingting tribute tea for granting to them. When granting kinsmen imperial food, she always had it served in studded vessels, saying, "Let no imperial workshop vessels enter my house." She regularly wore plain silk skirts. When attendants saw Renzong's attendants wearing jeweled hairpins and earrings of rare beauty, they wished to imitate them. The Empress Dowager admonished them: "Those are the emperor's consorts' ornaments—how dare you imitate them?"
35
先是，小臣方仲弓上書，請依武后故事，立劉氏廟，而程琳亦獻《武后臨朝圖》，后擲其書於地曰：「吾不作此負祖宗事。」 有漕臣劉綽者，自京西還，言在庾有出剩糧千餘斛，乞付三司。 后問曰：「卿識王曾、張知白、呂夷簡、魯宗道乎？ 此四人豈因獻羨餘進哉！」
Earlier the minor official Fang Zhonggong memorialized asking that, following Empress Wu's precedent, a Liu clan temple be established, and Cheng Lin also presented a picture of Empress Wu holding court. The Empress threw the book to the ground and said, "I will not do this thing that betrays our ancestors." There was a transport official named Liu Chuo who, returning from the capital west, said that at the granary there was more than a thousand hu of surplus grain and asked to deliver it to the Three Departments. The Empress asked, "Do you know Wang Zeng, Zhang Zhibai, Lü Yijian, and Lu Zongdao? Would these four men advance by presenting surplus tribute!"
36
后稱制凡十一年，自仁宗即位，乃諭輔臣曰：「皇帝聽斷之暇，宣詔名儒講習經史，以輔其德。」 於是設幄崇政殿之西廡，而日命近臣侍講讀。
The Empress ruled as regent for eleven years in all. From Renzong's accession she instructed the chief ministers: "In the emperor's leisure from hearing and deciding affairs, summon renowned scholars to lecture on the classics and histories to assist his cultivation." A lectern was then set up in the western gallery of Chongzheng Hall, and each day near ministers were ordered to attend lectures and readings.
37
丁謂、曹利用既以侮權貶竄，而天下惕然畏之。 晚稍進外家，任內宮羅崇勳、江德明等訪外事，崇勳等以此勢傾中外。 兄子從德死，姻戚、門人、廝役拜官者數十人。 御史曹脩古、楊偕、郭勸、段少連論奏，太后悉逐之。
After Ding Wei and Cao Liyong were demoted and banished for abusing their power, the realm stood in wary awe of her. In her later years she somewhat advanced her maternal kin, employing inner-palace officials Luo Chongxun and Jiang Deming to inquire into external affairs; they thereby bent power within and without the court. When her brother's son Congde died, several dozen in-laws, disciples, and servants received offices. Censors Cao Xiugu, Yang Jie, Guo Quan, and Duan Shaolian memorialized in criticism, and the Empress Dowager expelled them all.
38
太后保護帝既盡力，而仁宗所以奉太后亦甚備。 上春秋長，猶不知為宸妃所出，終太后之世無毫髮間隙焉。 及不豫，帝為大赦，悉召天下醫者馳傳詣京師。 諸嘗為太后謫者皆內徙，死者復其宮。 其后言者多追詆太后時事，范仲淹以為言，上曰：「此朕所不忍聞也。」 下詔戒中外毋輒言。
The Empress Dowager had done her utmost to protect the emperor, and Renzong in turn served her with complete devotion. Though the emperor grew to maturity, he still did not know he was born of Consort the Imperial; to the end of the Empress Dowager's life there was not the slightest rift between them. When she fell ill, the emperor proclaimed a great amnesty and summoned physicians from across the realm by urgent relay to the capital. All who had formerly been demoted by the Empress Dowager were recalled inward; the dead had their offices restored. Afterward many spoke in condemnation of affairs during the Empress Dowager's regency; Fan Zhongyan raised the matter, and the emperor said, "This is what I cannot bear to hear." An edict was issued warning officials within and without the court not to speak rashly on the matter.
39
於是泰甯軍節度使錢惟演請以章獻、章懿與章穆並祔真宗室。 詔三省與禮院議，皆以謂章穆皇后位崇中壺，已祔真宗廟室，自協一帝一后之文； 章獻明肅處坤元之尊，章懿感日符之貴，功德莫與為比，謂宜崇建新廟，同殿異室，歲時薦饗，一用太廟之儀，仍別立廟名，以崇世享。 翰林學士馮元等請以奉慈為名，詔依。 慶曆五年，禮院言章獻、章懿二后，請遵國朝懿德、明德、元德三后同祔太宗廟室故事，遷祔真宗廟。 詔兩制議，翰林學士王堯臣等議，請遷二后祔，序于章穆之次，從之。
Thereupon Military Commissioner Qian Weiyan of the Taining Army asked that Empresses Zhangxian, Zhangyi, and Zhangmu be jointly enshrined in Zhenzong's temple chamber. An edict ordered the Three Departments and the Ritual Court to deliberate. All held that Empress Zhangmu, honored in the central palace, was already enshrined in Zhenzong's temple chamber, conforming to the pattern of one emperor and one empress; Zhangxian Mingsu occupied the honor of the Kun origin and Zhangyi was touched by the nobility of the sun's omen—their merit and virtue were beyond compare. They proposed that a new temple be grandly established with the same hall but separate chambers, seasonal offerings using the Imperial Ancestral Temple's rites, and a separate temple name to honor perpetual sacrifice. Hanlin academician Feng Yuan and others proposed the name Fengci; the edict approved. In the fifth year of Qingli the Ritual Court proposed that Empresses Zhangxian and Zhangyi follow the precedent of Empresses Yide, Mingde, and Yuande jointly enshrined in Taizong's temple chamber, and be transferred for joint enshrinement in Zhenzong's temple. An edict ordered deliberation by the two academies. Hanlin academician Wang Yaochan and others proposed transferring the two empresses for joint enshrinement after Zhangmu; the proposal was approved.
40
李宸妃
Consort Li the Imperial
41
李宸妃，杭州人也。 祖延嗣，仕錢氏，為金華縣主簿； 父仁德，終左班殿直。 初入宮，為章獻太后侍兒，莊重寡言，真宗以為司寢。 既有娠，從帝臨砌臺，玉釵墜，妃惡之。 帝心卜：釵完，當為男子。 左右取以進，釵果不毀，帝甚喜。 已而生仁宗，封崇陽縣君； 復生一女，不育。 進才人，後為婉儀。 仁宗即位，為順容，從守永定陵。 章獻太后使劉美、張懷德為訪其親屬，得其弟用和，補三班奉職。
Consort Li the Imperial was a native of Hangzhou. Her grandfather Yansi served the Qian house as registrar of Jinhua County; her father Rendé ended his career as Left Company Palace Duty Attendant. When she first entered the palace she was a maid of Empress Zhangxian, grave and sparing of speech; Zhenzong appointed her Chamberlain of the Bedchamber. When she became pregnant, she accompanied the emperor to the terrace by the steps; a jade hairpin fell, and the consort regarded it as ill-omened. The emperor divined in his heart: if the hairpin is whole, the child will be a boy. Attendants picked it up and presented it; the hairpin was indeed unbroken, and the emperor was greatly pleased. Thereupon she bore Renzong and was enfeoffed as Lady of Chongyang County; She later bore a daughter who did not survive. She was promoted to Talented Lady and later to Attendant of Graceful Appearance. When Renzong acceded to the throne, she was given the rank of Gentle Countenance and assigned to attend Yongding Mausoleum. Empress Dowager Zhangxian sent Liu Mei and Zhang Huaidé to seek out her relatives; they found her younger brother Yonghe and appointed him to the Three-Rank Attendant Service.
42
初，仁宗在繈褓，章獻以為己子，使楊淑妃保視之。 仁宗即位，妃嘿處先朝嬪御中，未嘗自異。 人畏太后，亦無敢言者。 終太后世，仁宗不自知為妃所出也。
Earlier, while Renzong was still in swaddling clothes, Empress Zhangxian took him as her own son and had Consort Yang the Gracious nurse and watch over him. After Renzong acceded, the consort lived quietly among the consorts of the previous reign, never distinguishing herself. People feared the empress dowager, and none dared speak of the matter. Throughout the empress dowager's lifetime, Renzong did not know that he was the consort's own son.
43
明道元年，疾革，進位宸妃，薨，年四十六。
In the first year of Mingdao, as her illness worsened, she was elevated to Imperial Consort; she died at forty-six.
44
初，章獻太后欲以宮人禮治喪于外，丞相呂夷簡奏禮宜從厚。 太后遽引帝起，有頃，獨坐簾下，召夷簡問曰：「一宮人死，相公云云，何歟？」 夷簡曰：「臣待罪宰相，事無內外，無不當預。」 太后怒曰：「相公欲離間吾母子耶！」 夷簡從容對曰：「陛下不以劉氏為念，臣不敢言； 尚念劉氏，是喪禮宜從厚。」 太后悟，遽曰：「宮人，李宸妃也，且奈何？」 夷簡乃請治用一品禮，殯洪福院。 夷簡又謂入內都知羅崇勳曰：「宸妃當以后服殮，用水銀實棺，異時勿謂夷簡未嘗道及。」 崇勳如其言。
At first, Empress Dowager Zhangxian wished to bury her outside the palace with the rites accorded an ordinary palace woman, but Chancellor Lü Yijian memorialized that the funeral rites ought to be generous. The empress dowager abruptly had the emperor rise; a moment later she sat alone behind the curtain and summoned Yijian, asking: "Why all this talk from the Chancellor over one palace woman's death?" Yijian said: "I hold the chancellorship at Your Majesty's pleasure; there is nothing within or without the palace that does not fall within my charge." The empress dowager said angrily: "Does the Chancellor mean to come between me and my son!" Yijian calmly replied: "If Your Majesty gives no thought to the Liu clan, I dare not speak of it; but if Your Majesty still holds the Liu clan in mind, then the funeral rites ought to be generous." The empress dowager understood at once and said: "The palace woman is Consort Li the Imperial—what, then, is to be done?" Yijian then requested that first-rank rites be observed and that she lie in state at Hongfu Chapel. Yijian also told Inner Palace Director-in-Chief Luo Chongxun: "The Imperial Consort ought to be enshrouded in an empress's garments, with mercury poured into the coffin—do not say later that Yijian never spoke of this." Chongxun did as he said.
45
後章獻太后崩，燕王為仁宗言：「陛下乃李宸妃有所生，妃死以非命。」 仁宗號慟頓毀，不視朝累日，下哀痛之詔自責。 尊宸妃為皇太后，諡莊懿。 幸洪福院祭告，易梓宮，親哭視之，妃玉色如生，冠服如皇太后，以水銀養之，故不壞。 仁宗歎曰：「人言其可信哉！」 遇劉氏加厚。 陪葬永定陵，廟曰奉慈。 又即景靈宮建神御殿，曰廣孝。 慶曆中，改諡章懿，升祔太廟。 拜用和為彰信軍節度使、檢校侍中，寵賚甚渥。 既而追念不已，顧無以厚其家，乃以福康公主下嫁用和之子瑋。
Later, after Empress Dowager Zhangxian died, the Prince of Yan told Renzong: "Your Majesty was born of Consort Li the Imperial; she did not die a natural death." Renzong broke into wailing grief until he nearly collapsed; for many days he did not hold court and issued an edict of mourning in which he blamed himself. He honored the Imperial Consort as Empress Dowager, with the posthumous title Zhuangyi. He went to Hongfu Chapel to sacrifice and mourn, had the inner coffin opened, and wept over her in person; the consort's complexion was as in life, her cap and robes those of an empress dowager—preserved with mercury, and thus undecayed. Renzong sighed and said: "How can one trust what people say!" Thereafter he treated the Liu clan with redoubled favor. She was buried beside Yongding Mausoleum; her temple was named Fengci. A spirit-image hall was also built at Jingling Palace, named Guangxiao. During the Qingli era her posthumous title was changed to Zhangyi, and she was enshrined in the Grand Ancestral Temple. Yonghe was appointed military commissioner of the Zhangxin Army and honorary palace attendant, with favors and gifts lavish beyond measure. Still he could not stop mourning her; finding no further way to enrich her family, he gave Princess Fukang in marriage to Yonghe's son Wei.
46
楊淑妃
Consort Yang the Gracious
47
楊淑妃，益州郫人。 祖瑫，父知儼，知儼弟知信，隸禁軍，為天武副指揮使。
Consort Yang the Gracious was a native of Pi in Yizhou. Her grandfather was Tao; her father was Zhiyan; Zhiyan's younger brother Zhixin served in the palace guard as deputy commander of the Heavenly Martial Army.
48
妃年十二入皇子宮。 真宗即位，拜才人，又拜婕妤，進婉儀，仍詔婉儀升從一品，位昭儀上。 帝東封、西祀，凡巡幸皆從。 章獻太后為修儀，妃與之位幾埒。 而妃通敏有智思，奉順章獻無所忤，章獻親愛之。 故妃雖貴幸，終不以為己間，后加淑妃。 真宗崩，遺制以為皇太后。
The consort entered the prince's palace at age twelve. When Zhenzong acceded she was appointed Talented Lady, then Handsome Fair Lady, and advanced to Attendant of Graceful Appearance; an edict also raised Attendants of Graceful Appearance to the second court rank, above Bright Appearance. When the emperor performed the eastern feng and western sacrifices, she accompanied him on every imperial tour. When Empress Zhangxian held the rank of Attendant of Cultivation, the consort's rank was nearly equal to hers. The consort was quick-witted and perceptive, deferring to Empress Zhangxian without giving offense, and Zhangxian held her dear. Therefore, though the consort was honored and favored, she never came between them; later she was elevated to Gracious Consort. When Zhenzong died, his final testament made her Empress Dowager.
49
始，仁宗在乳褓，章獻使妃護視，凡起居飲食必與之俱，所以擁佑扶持，恩意勤備。 及帝即位，嘗召其侄永德見禁中，欲授以諸司副使。 妃辭曰：「小兒豈勝大恩，小官可也。」 更命為右侍禁。
At the beginning, while Renzong was still at the breast, Empress Zhangxian had the consort nurse and watch over him; in all his rising, sleeping, eating, and drinking she was constantly at his side—embracing, supporting, and holding him up with tireless kindness. After the emperor acceded, he once summoned her nephew Yongde to the inner palace and wished to appoint him deputy commissioner of a bureau. The consort declined, saying: "A young boy cannot bear such great favor—a minor office will suffice." He then appointed him Right Palace Guard Attendant.
50
章獻遺誥尊為皇太后，居宮中，與皇帝同議軍國事。 閣門趣百僚賀，御史中丞蔡齊目臺吏毋追班，乃入白執政曰：「上春秋長，習知天下情偽，今始親政事，豈宜使女后相繼稱制乎？」 乃詔刪去遺誥「同議軍國事」語，第存后號。 奉緡錢二萬助湯沐，后名其所居宮曰保慶，稱保慶皇太后。
Empress Zhangxian's testament edict honored her as Empress Dowager to dwell in the palace and deliberate state and military affairs jointly with the emperor. The Gate Office urged the hundred officials to offer congratulations; Censor-in-Chief Cai Qi signaled the bureau clerks not to join the ranks, then entered to inform the chief ministers: "The emperor has come of age and knows the truth and falsehood of affairs under Heaven; he has just begun to govern in person—is it fitting that empresses succeed one another in regency?" An edict was then issued deleting from the testament the phrase "deliberate state and military affairs jointly"; only the empress dowager title was retained. She was granted twenty thousand strings of silk cash for her maintenance; the empress dowager named her residence palace Baoqing and styled herself Empress Dowager Baoqing.
51
景祐三年，無疾而薨，年五十三。 殯於皇儀殿。 帝思其保護之恩，命禮官議加服小功。
In the third year of Jingyou she died without illness at the age of fifty-three. She lay in state in the Hall of Imperial Rites. The emperor, recalling her protective kindness, ordered the rites officials to debate granting the lesser mourning of xiaogong.
52
初，仁宗未有嗣，后每勸帝擇宗子近屬而賢者，養于宮中，其選即英宗也。 英宗立，言者謂禮慈母于子祭，于孫止，請廢后廟，瘞其主園陵。 英宗弗欲遽也，下有司議，未上，會帝崩，遂罷。 后父祖皆累贈至一品，知信贈節度使。 知信子景宗，見《外戚傳》。
At first, as Renzong had no heir, the empress dowager repeatedly urged the emperor to choose among close clansmen someone worthy and raise him in the palace—the one chosen was Yingzong. When Yingzong acceded, memorialists cited the rite that a nurturing mother receives sacrifice from the son but not from the grandson, and requested abolishing her temple and burying her spirit tablet at the imperial tombs. Yingzong was unwilling to act hastily; the matter was sent down to officials for debate but not yet submitted when the emperor suddenly died, and the proposal was dropped. The empress dowager's father and grandfather were both posthumously advanced to first rank; Zhixin was posthumously made military commissioner. Zhixin's son Jingzong is treated in the "Biographies of Imperial Affines."
53
沈貴妃
Consort Shen the Noble
54
沈貴妃，宰相倫之孫，父繼宗，光祿少卿。 大中祥符初，以將相家子被選。 初為才人，曆美人、婕妤、充媛，至德妃。 為人淑儉不華，帝亦以妃家世故，待之異眾。 長秋虛位，帝欲立之，有從中沮之者，不果。 嘉祐末，進貴妃。 熙寧九年薨，年八十三。 許出殯其家，車駕臨奠，輟視朝三日，諡昭靜。
Consort Shen the Noble was the granddaughter of Chancellor Lun; her father Jizong was vice director of the Directorate of Imperial Regalia. At the beginning of the Dazhong Xiangfu era she was chosen as a daughter of a general-minister household. She began as Talented Lady, passed through Beautiful Lady, Handsome Fair Lady, and Replete Beauty, and reached Virtuous Consort. In person she was modest, frugal, and unadorned; the emperor also, on account of her family's standing, treated her differently from the others. With the chief consort's seat vacant, the emperor wished to make her empress, but someone dissuaded him from within, and it did not come to pass. At the end of the Jiayou era she was advanced to Noble Consort. In the ninth year of Xining she died at the age of eighty-three. She was permitted to lie in state at her family home; the imperial carriage came to offer sacrifice; court was suspended for three days; her posthumous title was Zhaojing.
55
郭皇后
Empress Guo
56
仁宗郭皇后，其先應州金城人。 平盧軍節度使崇之孫也。 天聖二年，立為皇后。
Empress Guo of Renzong: her forebears were natives of Jincheng in Ying Prefecture. She was the granddaughter of Chong, military commissioner of the Pinglu Army. In the second year of Tiansheng she was established as empress.
57
初，帝寵張美人，欲以為后，章獻太后難之。 后既立，而頗見疏。 其后尚美人、楊美人俱幸，數與后忿爭。 一日，尚氏於上前有侵后語，后不勝忿，批其頰，上自起救之，誤批上頸，上大怒。 入內都知閻文應因與上謀廢后，且勸帝以爪痕示執政。 上以示呂夷簡，且告之故，夷簡亦以前罷相怨后，乃曰：「古亦有之。」 后遂廢。 詔封為淨妃、玉京沖妙仙師，賜名清悟，居長樂宮。
At first the emperor favored Lady Zhang the Beautiful and wished to make her empress, but Empress Zhangxian objected. Once the empress was established, she was rather estranged. Later Lady Shang the Beautiful and Lady Yang the Beautiful were both favored and repeatedly quarreled with the empress. One day Lady Shang spoke before the emperor in words offensive to the empress; the empress, unable to contain her rage, struck her on the cheek; the emperor rose to intervene and the empress accidentally struck his neck; the emperor was greatly angered. Inner Director Yan Wenyin thereupon plotted with the emperor to depose the empress and urged him to show the claw marks to the chief ministers. The emperor showed them to Lü Yijian and told him the reason; Yijian also, bearing a grudge against the empress from an earlier dismissal from the chancellorship, said: "There are precedents in antiquity." The empress was then deposed. An edict enfeoffed her as Pure Consort, Transcendent Master of Jade Capital's Sublime Wonder, granted her the name Qingwu, and she dwelt at Changle Palace.
58
於是中丞孔道輔、諫官御史范仲淹、段少連等十人伏閣言：「后無過，不可廢。」 道輔等俱被黜責。 景祐元年，出居瑤華宮，而尚美人亦廢于洞真宮入道，楊美人別宅安置。 又賜后號金庭教主、沖靜元師。 后帝頗念之，遣使存問，賜以樂府，后和答之，辭甚愴惋。 帝嘗密令召入，后曰：「若再見召者，須百官立班受冊方可。」 屬小疾，遣文應挾醫診視，數日，乃言后暴薨。 中外疑閻文應進毒，而不得其實。 上深悼之，追復皇后，而停諡冊祔廟之禮。
Thereupon Censor-in-Chief Kong Daofu, remonstrating officials and censor Fan Zhongyan, Duan Shaolian, and ten others submitted at the palace gate: "The empress is without fault and cannot be deposed." Kong Daofu and the rest were all dismissed and censured. In the first year of Jingyou she was sent out to dwell at Yaohua Palace; Lady Shang the Beautiful was also deposed to Dongzhen Palace to enter the Way; Lady Yang the Beautiful was housed in a separate residence. She was further granted the titles Patriarch of the Golden Court and Primordial Master of Tranquil Purity. The emperor rather missed her and sent envoys to inquire after her and gifted her lyrics; the empress replied in verse, her words deeply sorrowful. The emperor once secretly ordered her summoned in; the empress said: "If I am summoned again, the hundred officials must stand in formation and I must receive an investiture document—only then." When she suffered a minor ailment, Wenyin was sent with a physician to examine her; after several days it was reported that the empress had suddenly died. Within and without the court suspected Yan Wenyin of administering poison, but the truth could not be established. The emperor deeply mourned her, posthumously restored her as empress, but suspended the rites of posthumous title, investiture document, and enshrinement.
59
慈聖光獻曹皇后
Empress Cisheng Guangxian of the Cao Clan
60
慶曆八年閏正月，帝將以望夕再張燈，后諫止。 后三日，衛卒數人作亂，夜趙屋叩寢殿。 后方侍帝，聞變遽起。 帝欲出，后閉閤擁持，趣呼都知王守忠使引兵入。 賊傷宮嬪殿下，聲徹帝所，宦者以乳嫗歐小女子始奏，后叱之曰：「賊在近殺人，敢妄言耶！」 后度賊必縱火，陰遣人挈水踵其后，果舉炬焚簾，水隨滅之。 是夕，所遣宦侍，后皆親剪其發，諭之曰：「明日行賞，用是為驗。」 故爭盡死力，賊即禽滅。 閤內妾與卒亂當誅，祈哀幸姬，姬言之帝，貸共死。 后具衣冠見，請論如法，曰：「不如是，無以肅清禁掖。」 帝命坐，后不可，立請，移數刻，卒誅之。
In the intercalary first month of the eighth year of Qingli the emperor was about to hang lanterns again on the full-moon evening; the empress remonstrated and stopped it. Three days later several guard soldiers mutinied and at night broke through roofs and knocked on the sleeping quarters. The empress was attending the emperor when she heard the disturbance and rose at once. The emperor wished to go out; the empress closed the door, held him fast, and urgently called Director Wang Shouzhong to lead troops in. The rebels wounded palace ladies below the hall; the sound reached the emperor's quarters; a eunuch reported that a wet nurse was striking a little girl; the empress rebuked him: "Rebels are killing people nearby—how dare you speak falsely!" The empress surmised the rebels would set fire and secretly sent men with water to follow them; they indeed raised torches and burned the curtains, and the water extinguished the flames as they came. That evening, for every eunuch attendant she dispatched, the empress personally cut a lock of her hair and instructed them: "Tomorrow rewards will be given—take this as proof." Therefore they strove with all their might to the death, and the rebels were captured and destroyed. Palace women within the pavilion who had joined the soldiers in the mutiny deserved execution; they begged favored consorts for mercy; a consort told the emperor and he pardoned them from joint death. The empress came before him in full court dress and requested they be judged according to law, saying: "Without this there is no way to purge and cleanse the inner palace." The emperor ordered her to sit; she would not; she stood and petitioned for many moments; in the end they were executed.
61
張妃怙寵上僭，欲假后蓋出遊。 帝使自來請，后與之，無靳色。 妃喜，還以告，帝曰：「國家文物儀章，上下有秩，汝張之而出，外廷不汝置。」 妃不懌而輟。
Consort Zhang, relying on favor, overstepped protocol and wished to borrow the empress's ceremonial canopy to go out touring. The emperor had her come in person to ask; the empress lent it willingly, showing not the slightest reluctance. The consort was delighted and went back to tell him. The emperor said, "The state's ritual regalia and ceremonial norms observe strict ranks from high to low. If you unfurl it and go out, the outer court will not receive you." The consort took offense and gave up the idea.
62
英宗方四歲，育禁中，后拊鞠周盡； 迨入為嗣子，贊策居多。 帝夜暴疾崩，后悉斂諸門鑰置於前，召皇子入。 及明，宰臣韓琦等至，奉英宗即位，尊后為皇太后。
When Yingzong was only four, he was raised within the inner palace, and the empress nursed and tended him with complete devotion; and when he was installed as heir apparent, her counsel carried great weight. The emperor died suddenly of a violent illness one night. The empress collected all the keys to the gates and laid them before her, then summoned the princes inside. At daybreak the chief ministers Han Qi and others arrived, enthroned Yingzong, and honored her as empress dowager.
63
帝感疾，請權同處分軍國事，御內東門小殿聽政。 大臣日奏事有疑未決者，則曰：「公輩更議之。」 未嘗出己意。 頗涉經史，多援以決事。 中外章奏日數十，一一能紀綱要。 檢柅曹氏及左右臣僕，毫分不以假借，宮省肅然。
When the emperor fell ill, he asked that she share authority over military and state affairs; she held court from the small hall at the Inner East Gate. When ministers presented business each day and something remained undecided, she would say, "You gentlemen should discuss it further." She never imposed her own views. Well versed in the classics and histories, she often drew on them when deciding matters. Dozens of memorials arrived daily from inside and outside the court, and she could grasp the gist of every one. She kept strict rein on the Cao clan and on palace attendants and servants, granting not the slightest indulgence, and the inner court grew solemn and disciplined.
64
明年夏，帝疾益愈，即命撤簾還政，帝持書久不下，及秋始行之。 敕有司崇峻典禮，以弟佾同中書門下平章事。 神宗立，尊為太皇太后，名宮曰慶壽。 帝致極誠孝，所以承迎娛悅，無所不盡，從行登玩，每先后策掖。 后亦慈愛天至，或退朝稍晚，必自至屏扆候矚，間親持饍飲以食帝。 外家男子，舊毋得入謁。 后春秋高，佾亦老，帝數言宜使入見，輒不許。 他日，佾侍帝，帝復為請，乃許之，因偕詣后閤。 少焉，帝先起，若令佾得伸親親意。 后遽曰：「此非汝所當得留。」 趣遣出。
The following summer, as the emperor recovered, she ordered the screen withdrawn and handed back power. The emperor long withheld the decree before finally issuing it—not until autumn. She instructed the responsible offices to elevate court ceremony and made her younger brother Yi an associate grand councillor of the Secretariat-Chancellery. When Shenzong took the throne, she was honored as grand empress dowager, and her residence was named the Hall of Celebrated Longevity. The emperor was profoundly filial: in receiving, escorting, and delighting her he held nothing back, and on outings he always walked before and after to steady her arm. The empress returned his affection in full measure. If he came back from court late, she would go to the screen herself to watch for him, and sometimes brought food and drink to feed him with her own hands. By longstanding rule, no man of her maternal clan might enter to pay his respects. The empress was elderly and Yi was old as well; the emperor repeatedly urged that he be allowed an audience, but she always refused. One day, while Yi was attending the emperor, the emperor pleaded again and she relented; they went together to her apartments. Before long the emperor rose first, as if to give Yi a chance to speak freely as kin. The empress cut in: "You ought not to stay here." She ordered him out at once.
65
晚得水疾，侍醫莫能治。 元豐二年冬，疾甚，帝視疾寢門，衣不解帶。 旬日崩，年六十四。 帝推恩曹氏，拜佾中書令，進官者四十餘人。
In her later years she contracted edema, and none of the attending physicians could cure it. In the winter of the second year of Yuanfeng her illness turned grave; the emperor kept vigil at her chamber door and did not unfasten his belt even to sleep. Ten days later she died, at the age of sixty-four. The emperor extended favors to the Cao clan, appointing Yi director of the Secretariat and promoting more than forty others.
66
初，王安石當國，變亂舊章，后乘間語神宗，謂祖宗法度不宜輕改。 熙甯宗祀前數日，帝至后所，后曰：「吾昔聞民間疾苦，必以告仁宗，因赦行之，今亦當爾。」 帝曰：「今無他事。」 后曰：「吾聞民間甚苦青苗、助役，宜罷之。 安石誠有才學，然怨之者甚眾，帝欲愛惜保全之，不若暫出之於外。」 帝悚聽，垂欲止，復為安石所持，遂不果。
Early on, while Wang Anshi held power and overturned established regulations, the empress took occasion to tell Shenzong that the laws of the ancestors should not be altered lightly. A few days before the Xining ancestral rites, the emperor visited her. She said, "Whenever I heard of hardships among the people I always told Renzong, and he would grant an amnesty accordingly. You should do the same now." The emperor replied, "There is nothing of the kind just now." She said, "I hear the people are greatly burdened by the Green Sprouts and Corvée Exemption policies—they should be abolished. Wang Anshi has genuine talent, but many resent him. If you mean to protect him, you would do better to send him away from court for a time." The emperor listened, startled, and was on the point of stopping—but Wang Anshi swayed him again, and nothing came of it.
67
帝嘗有意于燕薊，已與大臣定議，乃詣慶壽宮白其事。 后曰：「儲蓄賜予備乎？ 鎧仗士卒精乎？」 帝曰：「固已辦之矣。」 后曰：「事體至大，吉凶悔吝生乎動，得之不過南面受賀而已； 萬一不諧，則生靈所系，未易以言。 苟可取之，太祖、太宗收復久矣，何待今日。」 帝曰：「敢不受教。」
The emperor once set his mind on recovering Yan and Ji. After settling the plan with his chief ministers, he went to the Hall of Celebrated Longevity to tell her. She asked, "Are the treasury stores and disbursements ready? Are the armor, weapons, and troops in fighting trim?" The emperor said, "All of that has already been prepared." She said, "The stake is enormous. Fortune and misfortune spring from action; success would mean no more than receiving congratulations as sovereign— but if anything goes wrong, countless lives hang in the balance, and the cost is beyond words. If it could be taken, Taizu and Taizong would have recovered it long ago. Why wait until today?" The emperor said, "I shall heed your teaching."
68
蘇軾以詩得罪，下御史獄，人以為必死。 后違預中聞之，謂帝曰：「嘗憶仁宗以制科得軾兄弟，喜曰：『吾為子孫得兩宰相。』 今聞軾以作詩系獄，得非仇人中傷之乎？ 捃至於詩，其過微矣。 吾疾勢已篤，不可以冤濫致傷中和，宜熟察之。」 帝涕泣，軾由此得免。 及崩，帝哀慕毀瘠，殆不勝喪。 有司上諡，葬於永昭陵。
Su Shi gave offense through his poetry and was thrown into the censorate prison; many assumed he would die. The empress, confined to her sickbed, heard of it and told the emperor, "I remember when Renzong recruited the Su brothers through the draft examination. He said with delight, 'I have secured two chancellors for my descendants. Now I hear that Su Shi is imprisoned for his poems. Surely enemies have slandered him? To dredge up a case from mere poetry—the offense is very slight. My illness is already grave. You must not let injustice and excess disturb the balance of the realm. Examine this carefully." The emperor wept, and Su Shi was spared. When she died, the emperor grieved himself nearly to death and could barely bear his mourning. The responsible offices proposed her posthumous title, and she was buried at Yongzhao Mausoleum.
69
張貴妃
Consort Zhang
70
張貴妃，河南永安人也。 祖穎，進士第，終建平令。 父堯封，亦舉進士，為石州推官卒。 時堯封史堯佐補蜀官，堯封妻錢氏求挈孤幼隨之官，堯佐不收恤，以道遠辭。 妃幼無依，錢氏遂納于章惠皇后宮寢。 長得幸，有盛寵。 妃巧慧多智數，善承迎，勢動中外。 慶曆元年，封清河郡君，歲中為才人，遷修媛。 忽被疾，曰：「妾姿薄，不勝寵名，原為美人。」 許之。 皇祐初，進貴妃。 后五年薨，年三十一。 仁宗哀悼之，追冊為皇后，諡溫成。 追封堯封清河郡王，諡景思。 而堯佐因緣僥倖，致位通顯云。
Consort Zhang was a native of Yong'an in Henan. Her grandfather Ying passed the jinshi examination and ended his career as magistrate of Jianping. Her father Yaofeng also passed the jinshi examination and died while serving as judicial assistant of Shizhou. At the time Yaofeng's uncle Shi Yaozuo was appointed to an office in Shu. Yaofeng's widow, Lady Qian, asked to bring the orphaned children to join him, but Yaozuo refused to take them in, citing the long journey. Left alone as a child, the girl was placed by Lady Qian in the quarters of Empress Zhanghui. When she came of age she won the emperor's favor and enjoyed great affection. Clever and shrewd, skilled at winning favor, she wielded influence that reached both within and beyond the court. In the first year of Qingli she was enfeoffed as Lady of Qinghe Commandery; within the year she became a Talented Lady and was then promoted to Cultivated Beauty. When she suddenly fell ill, she said, "Your servant's station is low and cannot bear a lofty title; I ask only to remain a Beautiful Lady." Her request was granted. At the beginning of Huangyou she was promoted to Honored Consort. Five years later she died, at the age of thirty-one. Renzong mourned her deeply and posthumously enfeoffed her as empress, with the posthumous title Wencheng. Yaofeng was posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of Qinghe Commandery, with the posthumous title Jingsi. Yaozuo, meanwhile, parlayed his connection into high office—a rise owed to sheer opportunism, it is said.
71
苗貴妃
Consort Miao
72
周貴妃
Consort Zhou
73
周貴妃，開封人。 生四歲，從其姑入宮，張貴妃育為女。 稍長，遂得侍仁宗，生兩公主。 帝崩，妃日一疏食，屏處一室，誦佛書，困則假寐，覺則復誦，晝夜不解衣者四十年。 公主下嫁錢景臻、郭獻卿。 連進至賢妃，徽宗立，加貴妃。 曆五朝，勤約一致。 啟壽藏于周氏塋南，傍建僧屋，費緡錢六萬，皆貯儲奉賜。 郭公主先亡，詔許出外第，與親戚相往來。 年九十三薨，諡昭淑。
Consort Zhou was a native of Kaifeng. At the age of four she entered the palace with her aunt; Consort Zhang raised her as her own daughter. When she grew older she came to attend Renzong and bore two princesses. After the emperor's death she ate one plain meal a day, shut herself in a single room, and recited Buddhist scriptures—dozing when weary, resuming when awake—for forty years she did not undress day or night. The princesses married Qian Jingzhen and Guo Xianqing. She rose in succession to Virtuous Consort, and when Huizong took the throne she was further promoted to Honored Consort. She lived through five reigns, steadfast in frugality throughout. She opened a longevity vault south of the Zhou family cemetery and built a monks' hall beside it at a cost of sixty thousand strings of cash, all drawn from stored stipends and imperial gifts. After Princess Guo died, an edict allowed her to live in an outer residence and receive visits from relatives. She died at the age of ninety-three and was given the posthumous title Zhaoshu.
74
楊德妃
Consort Yang De
75
楊德妃，定陶人。 天聖中，以章獻太后姻連，選為御侍，封原武郡君，進美人。 端麗機敏，妙音律，組紃、書藝一過目如素習。 父忠為侍禁，仁宗欲加獎擢，辭曰：「外官當積勞以取貴，今以恩澤徼幸，恐啟左右詖謁之端。」 帝悅，命徙居肅儀殿。 贈其祖貴州刺史，而官其叔弟五人。 積與郭后不相能，后既廢，妃亦遣出。 后復召為婕妤，曆修媛、修儀。 熙寧五年薨，年五十四。 贈德妃。
Consort Yang De was a native of Dingtao. During the Tiansheng era, through kinship with Empress Dowager Zhangxian, she was chosen as an imperial attendant, enfeoffed as Lady of Yuanwu Commandery, and promoted to Beautiful Lady. Graceful and quick-witted, she excelled at music, embroidery, and calligraphy; anything she saw once she handled as if she had practiced it for years. Her father Zhong was a palace guard. When Renzong wished to reward and promote him, he declined: "An official outside the palace should earn rank through merit. To seek advancement by favor would open the door to importunate pleading at court." The emperor was pleased and ordered her moved to the Hall of Solemn Rites. He posthumously enfeoffed her grandfather as prefect of Guizhou and appointed five of her uncles and younger brothers to office. Over time she fell out with Empress Guo; after the empress was deposed, the consort was sent out of the palace as well. The empress later recalled her as Lady of Handsome Fairness, and she rose through Cultivated Beauty and Cultivated Dignity. In the fifth year of Xining she died, at the age of fifty-four. She was posthumously enfeoffed as Virtuous Consort.
76
馮賢妃
Consort Feng Xian
77
宣仁聖烈高皇后
Empress Xuanren Shenlie of the Gao Clan
78
英宗宣仁聖烈高皇后，亳州蒙城人。 曾祖瓊，祖繼勳，皆有勳王室，至節度使。 母曹氏，慈聖光獻后姊也，故后少鞠宮中。 時英宗亦在帝所，與后年同，仁宗謂慈聖，異日必以為配。 既長，遂成昏濮邸。 生神宗皇帝、岐王顥、嘉王頵、壽康公主。 治平二年冊為皇后。
Empress Xuanren Shenlie of the Gao clan, consort of Yingzong, was a native of Mengcheng in Bozhou. Her great-grandfather Qiong and grandfather Jixun both served the dynasty with distinction, rising to the rank of military commissioner. Her mother was a Cao, elder sister of Empress Cisheng Guangxian, so the future empress was raised in the palace from childhood. Yingzong was also at court then, the same age as she; Renzong told Empress Cisheng that the two were destined to be matched. When they came of age, they were married at the residence of the Prince of Pu. She bore Emperor Shenzong, Prince Hao of Qi, Prince Yun of Jia, and the Princess of Shoukang. In the second year of Zhiping she was enfeoffed as empress.
79
后弟內殿崇班士林，供奉久，帝欲遷其官，后謝曰：「士林獲升朝籍，分量已過，豈宜援先后家比？」 辭之。 神宗立，尊為皇太后，居寶慈宮。 帝累欲為高氏營大第，后不許。 久之，但斥望春門外隙地以賜，凡營繕百役費，悉出寶慈，不調大農一錢。
The empress's younger brother Shilin, an Inner Hall honored officer, had long served at court. When the emperor wished to promote him, she declined: "Shilin already holds a place at court; his share is more than enough. How can I measure against the families of empresses past and present?" She refused. When Shenzong took the throne, she was honored as empress dowager and took up residence at Bao Ci Palace. The emperor repeatedly wanted to build a grand mansion for the Gao clan, but the empress would not allow it. In the end he allotted only vacant land outside Wangchun Gate. Every cost of construction and labor came from Bao Ci Palace—not a single coin from the state treasury.
80
元豐八年，帝不豫，浸劇，宰執王珪等入問疾，乞立延安郡王為皇太子，太后權同聽政，帝頷之。 珪等見太后簾下。 后泣，撫王曰：「兒孝順，自官家服藥，未嘗去左右，書佛經以祈福，喜學書，已誦《論語》七卷，絕不好弄。」 乃令王出簾外見珪等，珪等再拜謝且賀。 是日降制，立為皇太子。 初，岐、嘉二王日問起居，至是，令毋輒入。 又陰敕中人梁惟簡，使其妻制十歲兒一黃袍，懷以來，蓋密為踐阼倉卒備也。
In the eighth year of Yuanfeng the emperor fell gravely ill. Chief ministers Wang Gui and others came to inquire after him and asked that the Prince of Yan'an be made crown prince and the empress dowager govern jointly behind the screen; the emperor nodded assent. Wang Gui and the others met the empress dowager behind the screen. Weeping, she stroked the prince and said, "This child is filial. Since His Majesty fell ill he has never left his side. He copies Buddhist scriptures for blessing, loves calligraphy, has already recited seven scrolls of the Analects, and has no taste for idle play." She then had the prince come out from behind the screen to meet Wang Gui and the others, who bowed twice in thanks and congratulation. That same day an edict was issued making him crown prince. Previously the princes of Qi and Jia had visited daily to inquire after the emperor's health; now they were forbidden to enter at will. She also secretly instructed the eunuch Liang Weijian to have his wife sew a yellow robe for a ten-year-old boy and bring it concealed on her person—a quiet safeguard against a hurried succession.
81
哲宗嗣位，尊為太皇太后。 驛召司馬光、呂公著，未至，迎問今日設施所宜先。 未及條上，已散遣修京城役夫，減皇城覘卒，止禁庭工技，廢導洛司，出近侍尤亡狀者。 戒中外毋苛斂，寬民間保戶馬。 事由中旨，王珪等弗預知。 又起文彥博於既老，遣使勞諸途，諭以復祖宗法度為先務，且令亟疏可用者。
When Zhezong succeeded to the throne, she was honored as grand empress dowager. She summoned Sima Guang and Lü Gongzhu by express courier. Before they arrived, she asked what reforms should come first. Before any formal list could be submitted, she had already dismissed laborers repairing the capital, reduced imperial-city scouts, halted palace artisans, abolished the Office of the Luoyang Canal, and expelled the worst of the close attendants. She warned officials throughout the realm against harsh levies and eased the people's obligation to supply registered household horses. These orders came directly from her; Wang Gui and the others had no advance notice. She also recalled Wen Yanbo, though he was already old, sent envoys to greet him along the road, told him that restoring the laws of the ancestors was the first priority, and ordered him to recommend capable men at once.
82
從父遵裕坐西征失律抵罪，蔡確欲獻諛以固位，乞復其官。 后曰：「遵裕靈武之役，塗炭百萬，先帝中夜得報，起環榻行，徹旦不能寐，聖情自是驚悸，馴致大故，禍由遵裕，得免刑誅，幸矣。 先帝肉未冷，吾何敢顧私恩而違天下公議！」 確悚慄而止。
Her father's younger cousin Zunyu had been punished for misconduct on the western campaign. Cai Que, seeking to flatter his way into favor, asked that Zunyu's office be restored. The empress said, "In Zunyu's campaign at Lingwu a million people were ruined. The late emperor received word at midnight, rose and paced beside his bed, and could not sleep until dawn. The shock wore on him until it brought on his death. The blame lies with Zunyu—sparing him execution was mercy enough. The late emperor's body is scarcely cold. How dare I show private favor and defy the judgment of the realm!" Cai Que withdrew, shaken.
83
光、公著至，並命為相，使同心輔政，一時知名士匯進于廷。 凡熙寧以來政事弗便者，次第罷之。 於是以常平舊式改青苗，以嘉祐差役參募役，除市易之法，逭茶鹽之禁，舉邊砦不毛之地以賜西戎，而宇內復安。 契丹主戒其臣下，復勿生事於疆場，曰：「南朝盡行仁宗之政矣。」
When Sima Guang and Lü Gongzhu arrived, both were made chancellors and charged to govern in concert; distinguished scholars of the day flooded into court. Every policy of the Xining era that had proved burdensome was repealed in turn. The Green Sprouts system was restored to the old Ever-Normal granary model, the Corvée Exemption was revised along Jiayou lines, the Market Exchange law was abolished, tea and salt restrictions were eased, and barren border garrison lands were granted to the Western tribes—and the realm settled again. The Khitan ruler warned his ministers not to provoke trouble on the frontier, saying, "The Southern Court is restoring the policies of Renzong in full."
84
蔡確坐《車蓋亭詩》謫嶺表，后謂大臣曰：「元豐之末，吾以今皇帝所書佛經出示人，是時惟王珪曾奏賀，遂定儲極。 且以子繼父，有何間言？ 而確自謂有定策大功，妄扇事端，規為異時眩惑地。 吾不忍明言，姑托訕上為名逐之耳。 此宗社大計，奸邪怨謗所不暇恤也。」
Cai Que was banished to the far south over the Carriage-Pavilion Poem. The empress told the chief ministers, "At the end of Yuanfeng I showed others the Buddhist scriptures the present emperor had copied. Only Wang Gui offered congratulations then, and the succession was settled. A son succeeding his father—what grounds for quarrel could there be? Yet Cai Que claimed credit for fixing the succession, stirred up trouble without cause, and laid groundwork to confuse matters later. I could not bring myself to say this openly; I banished him only on the pretext of slandering the throne. This was a matter of dynastic survival; I had no time to worry about the grumbling of the wicked."
85
廷試舉人，有司請循天聖故事，帝后皆御殿，后止之。 又請受冊寶於文德，后曰：「母后當陽，非國家美事，況天子正衙，豈所當御？ 就崇政足矣。」 上元燈宴，后母當入觀，止之曰：「夫人登樓，上必加禮，是由吾故而越黃制，於心殊不安。」 但令賜之燈燭，遂歲以為常。
At the palace examination, officials asked to follow the Tiansheng precedent of having both emperor and empress hold court; the empress refused. They also asked that she receive the seal and regalia at Wende Hall. She said, "An empress dowager presiding in person is no credit to the state—and the Son of Heaven's main hall is no place for her to sit. Chongzheng Hall will suffice." At the Lantern Festival banquet her mother was to come and watch. She forbade it: "If my lady climbs the tower, His Majesty must add ceremony. Because of me imperial protocol would be breached, and I would be deeply uneasy." She had only lanterns and candles sent to her instead, and that became the yearly custom.
86
侄公繪、公紀當轉觀察使，力遏之。 帝請至再，僅遷一秩，終后之世不敢改。 又以官冗當汰，詔損外氏恩四之一，以為宮掖先。 臨政九年，朝廷清明，華夏綏定。
Her nephews Gonghui and Gongji were due for promotion to regimental commissioner; she firmly blocked it. The emperor pleaded again and again; they gained only one step in rank, and for the rest of her life he did not dare alter it. When official ranks proved redundant and due for trimming, she issued an edict cutting maternal-kin favors by one quarter, beginning with the inner palace as her own example. She governed for nine years; the court was clear, and the realm was calm and secure.
87
宋用臣等既被斥，祈神宗乳媼入言之，冀得復用。 后見其來，曰：「汝來何為？ 得非為用臣等遊說乎？ 且汝尚欲如曩日，求內降干撓國政耶？ 若復爾，吾即斬汝！」 媼大懼，不敢出一言。 自是內降遂絕，力行故事，抑絕外家私恩。 文思院奉上之物，無問巨細，終身不取其一。
Song Yongchen and others, having been dismissed, persuaded Shenzong's wet nurse to intercede for them, hoping to be restored to office. When the empress saw her arrive, she said, "Why have you come? Surely you have come to plead for Yongchen and the others? Do you still mean, as in the old days, to seek private edicts from within and interfere in state affairs? If you try that again, I will have you beheaded!" The wet nurse was terrified and did not dare utter a word. From then on private inner edicts ceased; she enforced precedent strictly and checked favoritism toward her own kin. Of the gifts presented by the Wensiyuan, great or small, she accepted not one in all her life.