Empress Zhangsun
| Empress Zhangsun | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empress consort of the Tang Dynasty | |||||
| Reign | 4 September 626 – 28 July 636 | ||||
| Born | 601 Chang'an, Sui China |
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| Died | 28 July 636 (aged 34/35) Chang'an, Tang China |
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| Burial | Zhaoling | ||||
| Spouse | Emperor Taizong of Tang | ||||
| Issue |
Li Chengqian, Prince Min of Hengshan Li Tai, Prince Gong of Pu Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong Li Lize, Princess Changle Princess Chengyang Li Mingda, Princess Jinyang Princess Xincheng |
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| Father | Zhangsun Sheng | ||||
| Mother | Lady Gao | ||||
| Posthumous name | |
|---|---|
| Empress Wendeshunsheng 文德順聖皇后 "the civil, virtuous, serene, and holy empress |
Empress Zhangsun (長孫皇后, personal name unknown) (601 – 28 July 636), formally Empress Wendeshunsheng (文德順聖皇后, literally "the civil, virtuous, serene, and holy empress") or, in short, Empress Wende (文德皇后), was an empress of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. She was the wife of Emperor Taizong and the mother of Emperor Gaozong. She was of Xianbei origin and well educated.
The future Empress Zhangsun was born in 601. Her father was the Sui Dynasty general Zhangsun Sheng (長孫晟), and her mother was Zhangsun Sheng's wife Lady Gao, the daughter of the official Gao Jingde (高敬德). She had at least four older brothers—Zhangsun Sheng's oldest son Zhangsun Xingbu (長孫行布, who was killed in 604 while resisting the rebellion of Emperor Yang of Sui's brother Yang Liang the Prince of Han), Zhangsun Heng'an (長孫恆安), Zhangsun Anye (長孫安業), and Zhangsun Wuji. (Zhangsun Wuji was also born of Lady Gao, while Zhangsun Anye was not; who Zhangsun Xingbu's and Zhangsun Heng'an's mothers were was not recorded in history.) Zhangsun Sheng died in 609, and Zhangsun Anye, instead of raising his younger brother and sister, expelled them, as well as his stepmother Lady Gao, from the Zhangsun household and sent them back to Lady Gao's brother Gao Shilian, and Gao Shilian raised them. The future Empress Zhangsun was said to be studious and proper in her actions. In 614, she married Li Shimin, the second son of the general Li Yuan the Duke of Tang. (Li Shimin was 15, and she was 13.)
In 617, Li Yuan, aided by Li Shimin and his older brother Li Jiancheng, among others, rebelled at Taiyuan (太原, in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), and later that year captured the capital Chang'an, declaring Emperor Yang's grandson Yang You the Prince of Dai emperor (as Emperor Gong). In 618, after news arrived that Emperor Yang had been killed in a coup at Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) led by the general Yuwen Huaji, Li Yuan had Emperor Gong yield the throne to him, thus establishing the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan became the first Tang ruler, Emperor Gaozu. He appointed his son, Li Shimin, as the Prince of Qin, his wife as the Princess of Qin. The couple would eventually have three sons – Li Chengqian, Li Tai, and Li Zhi – and at least three daughters, who were later named the Princesses Changle, Jinyang, and Xincheng.
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