Empress Ashina (阿史那皇后, personal name unknown) (551–582) 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

Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were a Proto-Mongolic ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. They originated from the Donghu people who splintered into the ...

-led Chinese

Northern Zhou dynasty Zhou (), known in historiography as the Northern Zhou (), was a Xianbei-led dynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the Northern dynasties of China's Northern and Southern dynasties period, it succeeded the Western Wei dynasty an ...

. She was the daughter of Göktürk's

Muqan Qaghan Muqan Qaghan (Old Turkic: 𐰢𐰆𐰴𐰣𐰴𐰍𐰣 Muqan qaγan, Chinese:木桿可汗/木杆可汗, Pinyin: mùgǎn kěhàn, Wade-Giles: mu-kan k'o-han or 木汗可汗, mùhàn kěhàn, mu-han k'o-han, personal name: 阿史那燕都, āshǐn� ...

, and her husband was Emperor Wu.

Biography

She was born in 551, shortly before her grandfather Tumen (Bumin Qaghan), initially a vassal of

Rouran The Rouran Khaganate, also Juan-Juan Khaganate (), was a tribal confederation and later state founded by a people of Proto-Mongolic Donghu origin.*Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000)"Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organizati ...

, declared independence from Rouran and establishing a separate Göktürk state as its Illig Qaghan. Göktürk soon conquered most of Rouran, taking over as the main power over the steppes to the north of the Chinese states

Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...

and

Eastern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Eastern Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei dynasty. One of the Northern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period, the Eastern Wei ...

(and their successor states, respectively Northern Zhou and

Northern Qi Qi, known as the Northern Qi (), Later Qi (後齊) or Gao Qi (高齊) in historiography, was a Chinese imperial dynasty and one of the Northern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It ruled the eastern part of northern China ...

). Because of this,

Yuwen Tai Yuwen Tai () (505 – 21 November 556According to Yuwen Tai's biography in ''Book of Zhou'', he died aged 52 (by East Asian reckoning) on the ''yihai'' day of the 10th month of the 3rd year of the reign of Emperor Gong of Western Wei. This corre ...

, the paramount general of Western Wei, made repeated alliance overtures to Tujue, and initially, Ashina Qijin, who took over the throne in 554 after the death of his brother, the

Issik Qaghan Issik Qaghan (Chinese: 乙息記可汗 Yǐxījì kěhàn; personal name: Ashina Keluo 阿史那科罗) was the second ruler of the Turkic Khaganate. Name His name is reconstructible in Middle Chinese as *''kʰuâ-lâ'', which is transliterated ...

, agreed to give a daughter to him in marriage, but soon revoked the agreement. After Yuwen Tai's death in 556, his son

Yuwen Jue Emperor Xiaomin of Northern Zhou ((北)周孝閔帝) (542 – early November 557), personal name Yuwen Jue (宇文覺), nickname Dharani (陀羅尼), was the founder of the Xianbei-led Northern Zhou dynasty of China, ruling as Heavenly Prince ('' ...

seized the throne from

Emperor Gong of Western Wei Emperor Gong of Western Wei ((西)魏恭帝) (537 – April 557Volume 167 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'' indicated that Emperor Gong was killed between the ''jiawu'' day of the 2nd month and the ''gengzi'' day of the 3rd month of the 1st year of the ''Yong ...

in spring 557, ending Western Wei and establishing Northern Zhou as its Emperor Xiaomin, and subsequently, after Emperor Xiaomin's younger brother Emperor Wu took the throne in 560, he resumed the marriage overture with Tujue, and Ashina Qijin agreed. In 565, Emperor Wu sent a delegation of 120 people led by his brother Yuwen Chun (宇文純) the Duke of Chen to Tujue to escort Ashina Qijin's daughter back to Northern Zhou, but Ashina Qijin again revoked his offer and instead considered an alliance with Northern Qi, detaining Yuwen Chun and the rest of the delegation. In or before 568, a major storm inflicted damage on Ashina Qijin's royal tent, and Ashina Qijin took this as a sign of divine disapproval on his revocation of the marriage offer, and so permitted Yuwen Chun to escort his daughter to Northern Zhou. In 568, when she arrived at the Northern Zhou capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

, Emperor Wu personally welcomed her and created her his empress. Empress Ashina was said to be beautiful and appropriate in her actions, and Emperor Wu honored her but was said to not favor her, until his niece Lady Dou (the daughter of his sister the Princess Xiangyang and the official Dou Yi (竇毅) the Duke of Shenwu), around 572, reminded him of Tujue's power and that he still had to face the rivals Northern Qi and Chen dynasty, and that he needed to show the empress greater favor to appease her home state. He agreed. However, they had no children together. In 578, Emperor Wu died, and his son

Yuwen Yun Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou (北周宣帝) (559 – 22 June 580), personal name Yuwen Yun (宇文贇), courtesy name Qianbo (乾伯), was an emperor of the Xianbei-led Northern Zhou dynasty of China. He was known in history as an erratic and wa ...

(by Consort Li Ezi) took the throne as Emperor Xuan. He honored both Empress Ashina and his mother Consort Li as

empress dowager Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere. The title was also g ...

s. In 579, after Emperor Xuan had passed the throne to his son Emperor Jing and taken for himself the atypical title ''Tianyuan Shanghuang'' (天元上皇, a variation of ''

Taishang Huang In Chinese history, a ''Taishang Huang'' or ''Taishang Huangdi'' is an honorific and institution of a retired emperor. The former emperor had, at least in name, abdicated in favor of someone else. Although no longer the reigning sovereign, ther ...

'' (retired emperor)), he honored her as "Empress Dowager Tianyuan" (天元皇太后 (''Tianyuan Huang Taihou''), later 天元上皇太后 (''Tianyuan Shang Huang Taihou'')). After he died in 580, Emperor Jing honored her as grand empress dowager. She survived Northern Zhou's usurpation by Emperor Xuan's father-in-law Yang Jian in 581 (as Yang Jian established

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

as its Emperor Wen), and while Yang Jian killed most of Northern Zhou's

imperial house A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...

, she was not harmed. She died on 23 April 582 and was buried with honors due an empress with her husband Emperor Wu on 29 April 582.

Tomb

Her tomb was found in 1993 on Chenma village,

Xianyang Xianyang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now integrated into the Xi'an metrop ...

. The tomb was raided numerous times by looters, but several of artifacts, including her golden seal were recovered by Shenyang police. Empress Ashina's golden seal is the earliest known seal in existence, made in 579–580 with inscription "Empress Dowager Tianyuan" (天元皇太后) in

large seal script The large seal script or great seal script () is a traditional reference to Chinese writing from before the Qin dynasty (i.e. before 221 BCE), and is now popularly understood to refer narrowly to the writing of the Western and early Eastern Zhou ...

.Imperial Mausoleum, (2016) Royal Treasure , Northern Zhou Dynasty Empress Dowager Seal, Imperial Mausoleum Culture Research Association
(in Chinese)

Notes

References

* ''

Book of Zhou The ''Book of Zhou'' (''Zhōu Shū'') records the official history of the Xianbei-led Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties of China, and ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. Compiled by the Tang dynasty historian ...

'', vol. 9. * ''

History of Northern Dynasties The ''History of the Northern Dynasties'' () is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. The text contains 100 volumes and covers the period from 386 to 618, the histories of Northern Wei, Western We ...

'', vol. 14. * ''

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. 169, 170,

171 Year 171 (Roman numerals, CLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Herennianus (or, less frequently, year 92 ...

, 173,

174 Year 174 ( CLXXIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallus and Flaccus (or, less frequently, year 927 '' Ab urbe condi ...

. , - style="text-align: center;" , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashina, Empress Göktürk people Northern Zhou empresses 551 births 582 deaths Sui dynasty people Chinese grand empresses dowager 6th-century Chinese women 6th-century Chinese people