Sima Maoying

Posthumous name
	Princess of Yingyang (営 dương vương phi )

Sima Maoying
Tư mã mậu anh
Sima Maoying; Tư mã mậu anh
Empress consort ofLiu Song dynasty
Tenure	26 June 422 – 7 July 424
Successor	EmpressYuan Qigui
Born	393? or 403/4?
Died	439; Jiankang,Liu Song
Spouse	Emperor Shao of Song
Posthumous name
Posthumous name
	Princess of Yingyang (営 dương vương phi )
Father	Emperor Gong of Jin
Mother	EmpressChu Lingyuan

Sima Maoying(Chinese:Tư mã mậu anh;393?^[1]or 403/4?^[2]– 439) was a princess of theEastern Jin dynasty(with the titlePrincess Haiyan( hải diêm công chủ )) and anempress consortof theLiu Song dynasty.Her father wasEmperor Gong of Jin,and her husband wasEmperor Shao of Song.

Life

Sima Maoying was a daughter of Emperor Gong and his wife,Chu Lingyuan.She must have been created princess during her father's brief reign (419–420), and it was also at that time that she married Liu Yifu (the future Emperor Shao), then theheir apparentto the powerful general Liu Yu (the futureEmperor Wu of Song). In 420, her father-in-law forced her father to yield the throne to him, ending Jin and establishing Liu Song. He created Liu Yifucrown prince,and she therefore carried the title of crown princess. In 421, he had her father killed. In 422, after Liu Yu died, Liu Yifu took the throne as Emperor Shao, and she was created empress.

However, in 424, officials whom Liu Yu had left in control of the government deposed Emperor Shao, believing him to be unfit to be emperor, demoting him to the title of Prince of Yingyang ( doanh dương vương ). Empress Sima was therefore also demoted to Princess of Yingyang. Soon, the officials had Liu Yifu killed. They replaced him with his capable brotherLiu Yilong(as Emperor Wen), and Emperor Wen, in 432, posthumously had his nephew Liu Lang ( lưu lang ) (a son of his brother Liu Yigong ( lưu nghĩa cung ) the Prince of Jiangxia) adopted into Liu Yifu's line as his son and created Liu Lang the Prince of Nanfeng ( nam phong vương ). The former Empress Sima therefore carried the title Princess Dowager of Nanfeng. She died in 439.

Notes

^This year is according to Lady Sima's biography inBook of Song,but a late-Qing era commentator to theBook of Song,Zhang Senkai ( trương sâm giai ), commented in hisJiao Kan Jithat this would make her some 13 years older than her husband, which seemed rather unlikely even for a political marriage, and commented that it was far more likely she was born around the same time as her husband. It should also be noted that this birth year would mean that she was born when her father was only seven years old and her mother nine years old, so it appeared that Zhang was quite likely correct in his skepticism. (《 giáo khám ký 》 vân: “Án thiếu đế tử niên thập cửu, tắc phi vu thời diệc đương nhị thập tả hữu. Hậu thập lục thất niên chí nguyên gia thập lục niên tốt, ứng niên tam thập lục thất, bất ứng tứ thập thất, nghi hữu ngộ.” )
^Zhang Senkai is of the opinion that Sima Maoying's true birth year is around this period as this would make her 36-37 years old (by East Asian reckoning) at the time of her death. In addition, one possible reason why this period was not used as her birth year was thatHuan Xuanusurped the Jin throne during this period, making Sima's birth more lowly as her father's title at the time was "Duke of Shiyang County" ( thạch dương huyện công ), which is lower in rank than "Prince of Langye".

Chinese royalty
Preceded by None (dynasty founded)	Empress of Liu Song 422–424	Succeeded by EmpressYuan Qigui
Preceded by EmpressChu LingyuanofJin	Emperor of China(Southern) 422–424	Succeeded by EmpressYuan Qigui
Preceded by EmpressChu LingyuanofJin	Emperor of China(Henan) 422–423	Succeeded by Empress HelianofNorthern Wei

[1] This year is according to Lady Sima's biography inBook of Song,but a late-Qing era commentator to theBook of Song,Zhang Senkai ( trương sâm giai ), commented in hisJiao Kan Jithat this would make her some 13 years older than her husband, which seemed rather unlikely even for a political marriage, and commented that it was far more likely she was born around the same time as her husband. It should also be noted that this birth year would mean that she was born when her father was only seven years old and her mother nine years old, so it appeared that Zhang was quite likely correct in his skepticism. (《 giáo khám ký 》 vân: “Án thiếu đế tử niên thập cửu, tắc phi vu thời diệc đương nhị thập tả hữu. Hậu thập lục thất niên chí nguyên gia thập lục niên tốt, ứng niên tam thập lục thất, bất ứng tứ thập thất, nghi hữu ngộ.” )

[2] Zhang Senkai is of the opinion that Sima Maoying's true birth year is around this period as this would make her 36-37 years old (by East Asian reckoning) at the time of her death. In addition, one possible reason why this period was not used as her birth year was thatHuan Xuanusurped the Jin throne during this period, making Sima's birth more lowly as her father's title at the time was "Duke of Shiyang County" ( thạch dương huyện công ), which is lower in rank than "Prince of Langye".

[1]

[2]