Empress Yujiulü (郁久閭皇后, personal name unknown) (525–540), formally Empress Dao (悼皇后, literally "the untimely-dead empress"), was an empress 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 th ...

-led Chinese Western Wei dynasty — a branch successor state of Northern Wei. Her husband was Emperor Wen. She was a daughter of the Chiliantoubingdoufa Khan of Rouran,

Yujiulü Anagui Yujiulü Anagui ( Rouran: Anakay; ; pinyin: Yùjiǔlǘ Ānàguī) (?–552) was ruler of the Rouran (520–552) with the title of Chiliantoubingdoufa Khagan (敕連頭兵豆伐可汗). First reign His reign started with troubles. First rebellion ...

(郁久閭阿那瓌). In 538, with Western Wei fighting constant wars with

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 We ...

and suffering from Rouran invasions,

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, requested Emperor Wen to depose his wife Empress Yifu and marry a daughter of Rouran's khan. Emperor Wen was forced to agree, and he sent Yuan Fu (元孚) the Prince of Fufeng to Rouran to invite her to be his empress. Yujiulü Anagui gave Western Wei 700 carts full of goods as

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

, along with 10,000 horses and 2,000 camels. As her train encountered that of Yuan Fu's, Yuan Fu requested that she turn her face from facing east (the honored direction pursuant to Rouran customs) to south (the honored direction pursuant to Chinese customs). She made the response: When she arrived at Chang'an in spring 538, Emperor Wen created her empress. In 540, she was pregnant when Rouran launched a major attack on Western Wei — causing the Western Wei officials to believe that the attack was launched because she was jealous of the former Empress Yifu, who was by then a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

nun. Emperor Wen, under pressure, ordered Empress Yifu to commit suicide. Later in the year, when Empress Yujiulü herself was about to give birth, she heard unusual barking noises in the palace, and she suspected them as from the spirit of Empress Yifu. She therefore grew depressed, and she died either during or shortly after childbirth. When Emperor Wen subsequently died in 551, he was buried with her, although eventually Empress Yifu was buried with him.

References

* ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song (960–1127), Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959&n ...

'', vol. 158. * ''

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 ...

'', vols.

1

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yujiulu, Empress Northern Wei empresses 525 births 540 deaths Place of birth unknown 6th-century Chinese women 6th-century Chinese people Deaths in childbirth Yujiulü clan