Empress Song (Song dynasty)

Chinese empress consort (952–995)

Empress Song (952–995 CE) was a Chinese empress consort of the Song dynasty, married to Emperor Taizu of Song.^[1][2]

She came from a royal family. Her maternal grandfather was Later Han's first emperor Liu Zhiyuan. Her paternal grandmother was a daughter of Later Tang's first emperor Li Cunxu.

After her husband' s death, it was unclear who should be the next emperor, as Emperor Taizu had not made clear plans for the succession, nor had he trained his potential successors. According to chronicles of the time, Empress Song, therefore, ordered that one of the princes (her husband's sons) be sent for - Zhao Defong.^[3] Instead, the eunuch she sent (a man named Wang Ji'en) brought back Taizu's brother, Zhao Guangyi, the Prince of Jin, who had been manoeuvring to take the throne, and who Wang Ji'en felt would be more suited to ruling.^[3]

Upon seeing Zhao Guangyi, she acquiesced to his appointment, possibly afraid that he might harm her and her son if she refused. He took the throne as Emperor Taizong.^[1]

Titles

• During the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Later Jin (28 November 936 – 28 July 942):
  • Lady Song (宋氏; from 952)
• During the reign of Emperor Taizu of Song (4 February 960 – 14 November 976):
  • Empress (賀氏; from 968)
• During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song (15 November 976 – 8 May 997)
  • Empress Xiaozhang (孝章皇后; from 995)

Ancestry

Notes

1. Deng, Xiaonan (2021-08-30). The Ancestors' Instructions Must Not Change: Political Discourse and Practice in the Song Period. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-47327-0.
2. Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (2014-01-06). Emperor Huizong. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-72642-0.
3. Brown, Kerry (2017-12-27). Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography. Berkshire Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-933782-61-4.