Emperor Gong of Sui
| Yang You | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor of Sui Dynasty (Western) | |||||||||
| Reign | 18 December 617-12 June 618 | ||||||||
| Successor | Claim extinguished | ||||||||
| Born | 605 | ||||||||
| Died | 14 September 619 | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| House | Sui Dynasty | ||||||||
| Father | Yang Zhao, Crown Prince Yuande | ||||||||
| Mother | Crown Princess Wei | ||||||||
| Full name | |
|---|---|
|
Family name: Yang (楊, Yáng) Given name: You (侑, You) |
|
| Posthumous name | |
| Gōng (恭) |
Emperor Gong of Sui (隋恭帝) (605 – 14 September 619), personal name Yang You (楊侑), was an emperor of the Chinese Sui Dynasty. Traditionally, he was considered the last emperor of the dynasty because he was the one who formally yielded the throne to the founding emperor to the succeeding Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of Tang (Li Yuan), although after him, his brother Yang Tong claimed the throne and continued to do so until 619. Li had rebelled against the rule of Yang You's grandfather Emperor Yang of Sui in 617 and captured the capital Chang'an later that year, seizing Yang You and declaring him emperor, although only the commanderies under Li's control recognized him as emperor; the rest of the commanderies continued to recognize Emperor Yang as emperor. In 618, after news arrived that Emperor Yang had been killed by the general Yuwen Huaji, Li had the young emperor yield the throne to him. The former emperor died the following year, probably on the new emperor's orders.
Yang You was born in 605, as a son of Yang Zhao, the son and crown prince of Emperor Yang. His mother was Yang Zhao's wife, Crown Princess Wei. He was probably the youngest of Yang Zhao's three sons—he was clearly younger than Yang Tan (楊倓), born in 603, and probably younger than Yang Tong, whose birth year is unknown, based the order in which they were eventually created imperial princes. However, under Confucian principles of succession, he would have been considered Yang Zhao's proper heir, as his mother was Yang Zhao's wife, while Yang Tan's and Yang Tong's mothers were concubines.
Yang Zhao died in 606. However, Emperor Yang did not create Yang You or either of his brothers crown prince to replace Yang Zhao, leaving matters ambiguous as to whether one of them, or Yang Zhao's younger brother Yang Jian the Prince of Qi, would inherit the throne eventually. He created the three sons of Yang Zhao imperial princes, and Yang You received the title of Prince of Dai. As Emperor Yang did not often stay in the capital Chang'an, starting 613, he made the eight-year-old Yang You nominally in charge of Chang'an, although he left the official Wei Wensheng (衛文昇) in actual charge of the city. Later that year, when the general Yang Xuangan rebelled and attacked the eastern capital Luoyang, it was Wei who led troops from Chang'an to aid Luoyang's defenses.
...
Wikipedia