commandery
In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...
of China, located in modern southern
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
and northern
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
.
The commandery was created during
Emperor Gaozu of Han
Emperor Gaozu of Han (256 – 1 June 195 BC), born Liu Bang () with courtesy name Ji (季), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning in 202–195 BC. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was Emper ...
Western Han
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
, it administered 18 counties, namely Ye (鄴), Guantao (館陶), Chiqiu (斥丘), Sha (沙), Neihuang (內黃), Qingyuan (清淵), Wei (魏), Fanyang (繁陽), Yuancheng (元城), Liangqi (梁期), Liyang (黎陽), Jipei (即裴), Wushi (武始), Hanhui (邯會), Yin'an (陰安), Ping'en (平恩), Hangou (邯溝) and Wu'an (武安). The population was 909,655, or 212,849 households in 2 AD. By 140 AD, four counties (Jipei, Wushi, Hanhui, Hangou) had been resolved, whereas a new county, Quliang (曲梁), was added. The population was 695,606, or 129,310 households.
In late Eastern Han dynasty, Wei Commandery became the center of the Wei Kingdom, fief of
Cao Cao
Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate Grand chancellor (China), grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the End of ...
, who expanded the commandery, increasing the total number of counties to 29. New official posts, Colonel of the East (東部都尉) and Colonel of the West (西部都尉) were created to assist in administering the territory. After the establishment of the
dynasty, these areas became new commanderies Yangping (陽平) and Guangping (廣平), respectively. At the unification of Jin dynasty in 280 AD, the commandery had 8 counties, and a population of 40,700 households.
Under the
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 ...
which moved the capital to Ye, Wei Commandery was briefly renamed Wei Yin (魏尹), similar to how
Jingzhao Jingzhao ( zh, 京兆) was a historical region centered on the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an.
Han dynasty
In early Han dynasty, the governor of the capital Chang'an and its vicinities was known as ''You Neishi'' (), and the region was also ...
was named during the Han dynasty. 13 counties were recorded in the ''
Book of Wei
The ''Book of Wei'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Wei Shu'', is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 5 ...
'', namely Ye (鄴), Linzhang (臨漳), Fanyang (繁陽), Lieren (列人), Changle (昌樂), Wu'an (武安), Linshui (臨水), Wei (魏), Pingyi (平邑), Yiyang (易陽), Yuancheng (元城), Chizhang (斥章) and Guixiang (貴鄉), with a total population of 438,024, or 122,613 households. The commandery was abolished in early
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 ...
.
In Sui and
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
dynasties, Wei Commandery became an alternative name of Xiang Prefecture (相州, centered around modern-day
Anyang
Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively.
It had a ...
) until 742. Afterwards, the name was applied to Wei Prefecture (魏州) to the north of Xiang.''
New Book of Tang
The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...