Sima Lingji () (570s to 630s) was, briefly, 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

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 and ...

of China. Her husband was Emperor Jing, the final emperor of the dynasty. Sima Lingji was the daughter of the Northern Zhou general Sima Xiaonan () the Duke of Yingyang (荥阳公); it is not known who her mother is. Sima Xiaonan was a son of Sima Ziru (司马子如). In August 579, Emperor Jing's father, the

retired emperor Retired Emperor, Grand Emperor, or Emperor Emeritus is a title occasionally used by the monarchical regimes in the Sinosphere for former emperors who had (at least in name) abdicated voluntarily to another member of the same clan, usually their s ...

Emperor Xuan, took Sima Lingji to be his son Emperor Jing's wife. Sima Lingji's age at that time was not recorded in history, but Emperor Jing was six years old at the time. Emperor Xuan died in summer 580, and the official Yang Jian, the father of Emperor Xuan's wife Empress

Yang Lihua Yang Lihua (; 561–609) was an empress of the Xianbei-led Chinese Northern Zhou dynasty, and later a princess of Sui dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou (Yuwen Yun), and her father was Yang Jian who later usurped the Northe ...

, seized power as

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

. The general

Yuchi Jiong Yuchi Jiong (尉遲迥) (died 11 September 580''gengwu'' day of the 8th month of the 2nd year of the ''Daxiang'' era, per Emperor Jing's biography in ''Book of Zhou''), courtesy name Bojuluo (薄居羅), was a general of the Xianbei-led Western We ...

, suspicious of Yang's intentions, rose against Yang, and Empress Sima's father Sima Xiaonan and another general, Wang Qian (), rose in support. Sima Xiaonan, then the governor of Xun Province (, roughly modern

Xiaogan Xiaogan () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Hubei province, People's Republic of China, some northwest of the provincial capital of Wuhan. According to the 2020 census, its population totaled 4,270,371, of whom 988,479 lived in the built ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

), also offered to submit to Chen dynasty, along with the nine provinces he controlled. Yuchi was soon defeated, however, as was Sima, and Sima fled to Chen. Yang then had Empress Sima deposed and reduced to commoner in rank. In 581, Yang Jian had Emperor Jing yield the throne to him, ending Northern Zhou and establishing

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). He soon had Emperor Jing and the other members of Northern Zhou's imperial Yuwen clan put to death. Sima Lingji was not put to death, and, at a later unknown date, married the provincial governor Li Dan (). Nothing further was recorded in history about her, other than she was still alive during the early reign of the second emperor of the succeeding

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

Emperor Taizong of Tang Emperor Taizong of Tang (28January 59810July 649), previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder of the dynasty ...

(r. 626–649). As for Sima Xiaonan, he surrendered to Sui when Chen fell in February 589. As he was a sworn brother of Emperor Wen's father Yang Zhong, Emperor Wen treated him like an uncle and did not punish him further. Indeed, Emperor Wen explicitly pardoned Sima when the two met at Chang'an. Sima Xiaonan died at home shortly after.(初，杨忠之迎消难，结为兄弟，情好甚笃。隋文每以叔礼事之。及陈平，消难至京，特免死，配为乐户。经二旬放免。犹被旧恩，特蒙引见。寻卒于家。) ''Zhou Shu'', vol.21

Ancestry

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sima, Lingji Northern Zhou empresses 6th-century births 7th-century deaths Sui dynasty people Tang dynasty people 7th-century Chinese women 7th-century Chinese people 6th-century Chinese women 6th-century Chinese people