Yuan Zhao
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| Yuan Zhao Nguyên chiêu | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor ofNorthern Wei | |||||||||
| Reign | April 2[1]– May 17, 528 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Empress Regnant Wutai[note 1] | ||||||||
| Successor | Emperor Xiaozhuang | ||||||||
| Born | 526 | ||||||||
| Died | May 17, 528 | ||||||||
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| House | Yuan | ||||||||
| Dynasty | Northern Wei | ||||||||
Yuan Zhao(Chinese:Nguyên chiêu) (526[2]– May 17, 528[3]), also known in historiography asYouzhu of Northern Wei( Bắc Nguỵ ấu chủ; literally "the young lord" ), was briefly anemperorof theXianbei-led ChineseNorthern Weidynasty.
Background
[edit]Yuan Zhao was a son of Yuan Baohui ( nguyên bảo huy ) the Prince of Lintao, who was a grandson ofEmperor Xiaowen(via his son Yuan Yu ( nguyên du )) and therefore cousin toEmperor Xiaoming,the reigning emperor at the time of Yuan Zhao's birth in 526.
Reign
[edit]In 528, Emperor Xiaoming was poisoned to death by his motherEmpress Dowager Huafter trying to curb her power and trying to kill her lover Zheng Yan ( Trịnh nghiễm ). Emperor Xiaoming was sonless, and while Empress Dowager Hu initially tried to pretend thatEmperor Xiaoming's daughter,by hisconcubineConsort Pan, was actually a son, she soon realized that she could not carry on the deception, and she named Yuan Zhao emperor—selecting him due to his young age so that she could control him.
The generalErzhu Rong,with whom Emperor Xiaoming had conspired against Empress Dowager Hu, refused to recognize Yuan Zhao as emperor, quickly descending on the capitalLuoyangwith his troops and declaring a son of Emperor Xiaowen's brotherYuan Xie,Yuan Ziyou,emperor (as Emperor Xiaozhuang). Less than two months after Yuan Zhao was declared emperor, Erzhu had captured Luoyang and put Empress Dowager Hu and Yuan Zhao under arrest. After Empress Dowager Hu tried, unsuccessfully, to defend her actions before Erzhu, Erzhu had her and Yuan Zhao thrown into theYellow Riverto drown.
Legacy
[edit]Traditional historians treat Yuan Zhao ambiguously, and subsequent Northern Wei emperors never explicitly officially declared whether he was an emperor or not. He was not given an imperialposthumous nameortemple name,but neither was his imperial status declared null. The official history of Northern Wei, theBook of Wei,written during the succeedingNorthern Qi,did not list Yuan Zhao in its imperial biographies (and indeed, did not have a biography for him or his father at all), listing the events during his brief reign under the biography of Emperor Xiaoming, but used the termbeng( băng ) to describe his death,[4]a term reserved for the deaths of emperors and empresses.
Ancestry
[edit]| Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei(454–476) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei(467–499) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Empress Si (d. 469) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Yuan Yu (488–508) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Lady Yuan | |||||||||||||||||||
| Yuan Baohui (503–528) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Yang Gui | |||||||||||||||||||
| Empress Yang (481–509) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Yuan Zhao (526–528) | |||||||||||||||||||
Notes
[edit]- ^Empress Dowager Hu initially declared Emperor Xiaoming's "son" (actually a daughter) emperor, but almost immediately after admitted that she was actually female and declared Yuan Zhao emperor instead. Emperor Xiaoming's unnamed daughter was therefore arguably an "emperor" and his successor, but is not commonly regarded as one.
References
[edit]- ^yimaoday of the 2nd month of the 1st year of theWutaiera, per Emperor Xiaoming's biography inBook of Wei
- ^History of the Northern Dynastiesindicated that Yuan Zhao was 2-3 years old (by East Asian reckoning) when he ascended the throne. ( toại lập Lâm Thao vương tử chiêu là chủ, năm thủy nhị, ba tuổi, thiên hạ ngạc nhiên. )Bei Shi,vol.13
- ^According to Emperor Xiaoming's biography inBook of Wei,Empress Dowager Hu and Yuan Zhao died on thegengziday of the 4th month of the 1st year of theWutaiera of his reign. This corresponds to 17 May 528 on the Julian calendar. ([ võ thái nguyên niên hạ tháng tư ] canh tử, Hoàng Thái Hậu, ấu chủ băng. )Wei Shuvol.09.
- ^Book of Wei,vol. 9.
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