Chu Lingqu (褚令璩) was an

empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Southern Qi Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succeede ...

dynasty. Her husband was

Xiao Baojuan Xiao Baojuan (蕭寶卷) (483–501), né Xiao Mingxian (蕭明賢), commonly known by his posthumously demoted title of Marquess of DonghunThe term "Donghun" (東昏) does not denote a place, but a derogatory description of Xiao Baojuan. Historica ...

. Chu Lingqu came from an aristocratic family, as the daughter of the official Chu Cheng (褚澄), a younger brother of

Chu Yuan Chu Yuan (褚淵) (435–482), courtesy name Yanhui (彥回), formally Duke Wenjian of Nankang (南康文簡公), was a high-level official of the Chinese dynasties Liu Song and Southern Qi. Background Chu Yuan was from an aristocratic family. ...

, who served as a high-level official during late

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...

and later served as prime minister for Southern Qi's founding emperor, Emperor Gao. Xiao Baojuan's father Emperor Ming took Chu Lingqu to be the wife of Xiao Baojuan, who was then

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

, in 495, and she thereafter carried the title of Crown Princess. She was not favored by Xiao Baojuan, who was, according to the ''

History of Southern Dynasties The ''History of the Southern Dynasties'' () is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. It contain 80 volumes and covers the period from 420 to 589, the histories of Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang dyn ...

'', carrying on an

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

uous affair with his sister the Princess Shanyin. However, after Emperor Ming died in 498 and was succeeded by Xiao Baojuan, Xiao Baojuan did create Crown Princess Chu empress. She continued to be not favored, however, and she bore him no children. (His favorite was Consort Pan Yunu, and his only known son Xiao Song (蕭誦) was born of Consort Huang, who died shortly after giving birth to Xiao Song. Empress Chu might have raised Xiao Song as her own son.) Xiao Baojuan was a violent ruler who executed officials whimsically, and this eventually drew a number of rebellions, the last of which, by the general

Xiao Yan Emperor Wu of Liang () (464 – 12 June 549), personal name Xiao Yan (蕭衍), courtesy name Shuda (叔達), childhood name Lian'er (練兒), was the founding emperor of the Chinese Liang dynasty, during the Northern and Southern dynasties perio ...

, overthrew him, as he was assassinated within the capital

Jiankang Jiankang (), or Jianye (), as it was originally called, was capital city of the Eastern Wu (229–265 and 266–280 CE), the Jin dynasty (317–420 CE) and the Southern Dynasties (420–552), including the Chen dynasty (557–589 CE). Its walls ...

in 501 as Xiao Yan sieged it. Once Xiao Yan entered the capital, he had Xiao Baojuan posthumously demoted to the title of Marquess of Donghun, and he had both Empress Chu and Crown Prince Song demoted to commoner status. Nothing further is known in history about her, including when she died.

References

* ''

Book of Southern Qi The ''Book of Qi'' (''Qí Shū'') or ''Book of Southern Qi'' (''Nán Qí Shū'') is a history of the Chinese dynasty Southern Qi covering the period from 479 to 502, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories of Chinese history. It was written by ...

'', vol. 20. * ''

'', vol. 1

* ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

'', vols.

140 140 may refer to: * 140 (number), an integer * AD 140, a year of the Julian calendar * 140 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * ''140'' (video game), a 2013 platform game * Tin King stop Tin King () is an at-grade MTR Light Rail stop ...

, 141,

144 144 may refer to: * 144 (number), the natural number following 143 and preceding 145 * AD 144, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century AD * 144 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 144 (film), ''144'' (film), a 2015 Indian com ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chu, Lingqu, Empress Chu Lingqu, Empress