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Emperor Xianzong of Tang

Tang Xianzong
Tang Xianzong.jpg
Emperor of Tang Dynasty
Reign September 5, 805 – February 14, 820
Coronation September 5 805
Predecessor Emperor Shunzong
Successor Emperor Muzong
Born March 17, 778
Died February 14, 820 (aged 41)
Full name
Era name and dates
Yúanhé (元和): January 25, 806 – February 9, 821
Posthumous name
Emperor Zhangwu (章武皇帝) (short)
Emperor Zhaowen Zhangwu
Dasheng Zhishen Xiao
(昭文章武大聖至神孝皇帝) (full)
Temple name
Xiànzōng (憲宗)
Dynasty Tang Dynasty
Full name
Era name and dates
Yúanhé (元和): January 25, 806 – February 9, 821
Posthumous name
Emperor Zhangwu (章武皇帝) (short)
Emperor Zhaowen Zhangwu
Dasheng Zhishen Xiao
(昭文章武大聖至神孝皇帝) (full)
Temple name
Xiànzōng (憲宗)
Tang Xianzong
Chinese
Literal meaning "Constitutional Ancestor of the Tang"
Li Chun
Chinese
Literal meaning (personal name)

Emperor Xianzong of Tang (March 17, 778 – February 14, 820; r. 805 – 820), personal name Li Chun, né Li Chun (李淳), was an emperor of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. He was the eldest son of Emperor Shunzong, who reigned for less than a year in 805 and who yielded the throne to him late that year.

Once emperor, Emperor Xianzong set out to curb the power of the military governors (Jiedushi), and, when they would not heed his orders, he waged wars against them. His initial campaigns were quite successful, and Xianzong's army defeated warlords such as Liu Pi, Yang Huilin (楊惠琳) in 806 and Li Qi in 807. In 813, after the submission of one of the key holdouts, Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) under Tian Xing, Emperor Xianzong appeared poised to reunite the empire, many parts of which had effectively been ruled independently by regional warlords. Xianzong's first setback was in 813 when he failed to defeat military governor Wang Chengzong. However, by 817, after the defeat of Li Shidao and Wang's submission, all of the empire was under imperial authority again. Later historians referred to Emperor Xianzong's reign as the Yuanhe Restoration (元和中興).

Emperor Xianzong's reign briefly stabilized Tang from the destructive forces of the military governors, but saw the rise of the power of eunuchs. Emperor Xianzong himself was allegedly murdered by the eunuch Chen Hongzhi (陳弘志) in 820. (There were nagging suspicions, never proven, that Xianzong's wife Consort Guo and her son Li Heng (who succeeded Xianzong as Emperor Muzong) were involved.)

Li Chun was born in 778, during the reign of his great-grandfather Emperor Daizong, at the Eastern Palace (i.e., the palace of his grandfather, then-Crown Prince Li Kuo). His father Li Song was Li Kuo's oldest son, and he himself was Li Song's oldest son. His mother was Li Song's concubine Consort Wang. When Li Chun was five or six, by which time Li Kuo was emperor (as Emperor Dezong), there was an occasion when Emperor Dezong held Li Chun on his lap and asked, "Who are you, such that you are in my lap?" His response of, "I am the third Son of Heaven" surprised Emperor Dezong, who thereafter showed him much favor.


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