Empress Wang Xianyuan
| Wang Xianyuan | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empress consort of Liu Song | |||||
| Reign | 454-464 | ||||
| Predecessor | Empress Yin Yuying | ||||
| Successor | Empress Lu | ||||
| Born | 427 | ||||
| Died | October 9, 464 (aged 37) | ||||
| Spouse | Emperor Xiaowu of Liu Song (m.443) | ||||
| Issue |
Liu Chuyu, Princess Kuaiji (446-465) Liu Ziye, Emperor Qianfei (449-466) (451-466) |
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| Father | Wang Yan | ||||
| Posthumous name | |
|---|---|
| Empress Wenmu |
Wang Xianyuan (王憲嫄) (427 – October 9, 464), formally Empress Wenmu (文穆皇后, literally "the civil and solemn empress"), was an empress of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song. Her husband was Emperor Xiaowu (Liu Jun).
Wang Xianyuan came from a noble family, as her father Wang Yan (王偃) was a great-great-grandson of the famed Jin prime minister Wang Dao. His father Wang Gu (王嘏) was a minister during Jin, and his mother was Princess Poyang, the daughter of Emperor Xiaowu of Jin. Wang Yan's wife was also a princess—Liu Rongnan (劉榮男), the Princess Wuxing, daughter of Liu Song's founder Emperor Wu. (It is not clear whether she was Wang Xianyuan's mother.)
Wang Xianyuan married Liu Jun in 443, when he was the Prince of Wuling under his father Emperor Wen, and she therefore carried the title Princess of Wuling. She was much favored by Liu Jun, and they had at least six children—his two oldest sons Liu Ziye and Liu Zishang (劉子尚), and daughters Liu Chuyu, Liu Chupei (劉楚佩), Liu Chuxiu (劉楚琇), and Liu Xiuming (劉脩明).
After Liu Jun's older brother Liu Shao the Crown Prince assassinated their father Emperor Wen in 453 and took over the throne himself, Liu Jun started an uprising, and later that year captured and killed Liu Shao, taking the throne himself as Emperor Xiaowu. During the campaign, Princess Wang remained at his defense post Xunyang (尋陽, in modern Jiujiang, Jiangxi) and did not accompany him in attacking the capital Jiankang, although upon his victory she and his mother Consort Lu Huinan were welcomed to the capital, and Princess Wang was created empress. In 454, he created her son Liu Ziye crown prince.
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