This article is part of the War of the Eight Princes series.

Eight Princes
Sima Liang
Sima Wei
Sima Lun
Sima Jiong
Sima Ai
Sima Ying
Sima Yong
Sima Yue
Other key figures
Emperor Hui
Emperor Huai
Empress Yang Zhi
Jia Nanfeng
Yang Xianrong
Sima Yu
Yang Jun
Wei Guan
Zhang Hua

Yang Xianrong (羊獻容) (died 322), formally (as honored by Han Zhao) Empress Xianwen (獻文皇后, literally "the wise and civil empress") was an empress—uniquely in the history of China, for two different empires and two different emperors. Her first husband was Emperor Hui of Jin, and her second husband was Liu Yao of Han Zhao. Also unique was the fact that she was deposed four and restored four times as the empress of Jin (five, if one counts a brief usurpation by Sima Lun against her husband in 301).

Yang Xianrong was from Taishan Commandery (roughly modern Tai'an, Shandong). Her father was the mid-level official Yang Xuanzhi (羊玄之). Her maternal grandfather was the general Sun Qi (孫旂), a distant relative of Sun Xiu (孫秀), the chief strategist for Sima Lun the Prince of Zhao. Therefore, after Sima Lun and Sun overthrew Empress Jia Nanfeng in 300, Sun had Yang Xianrong selected as the new empress. Little is known about how her relationship with her developmentally disabled husband (save her words to her second husband, referred to below) was. After Sima Lun briefly usurped the throne in 301 but was then defeated by Sima Jiong the Prince of Qi and Sima Ying the Prince of Chengdu, both Sun Xiu and Sun Qi were killed, along with their clans. Empress Yang's father Yang Xuanzhi was, however, promoted. (He would die in fear in 303, however, as his friendship with Sima Ai the Prince of Changsha was used as an excuse for Sima Ying and Sima Yong the Prince of Hejian to attack Sima Ai.)

As Emperor Hui continued to be a pawn of the princes during the War of the Eight Princes, Empress Yang herself appeared to have had little influence. She was, however, frequently used as an excuse for certain conspirators' actions, and during the span from 304 to 306 she was deposed four times and restored four times, often in conjunction with her husband's nephew Sima Qin (司馬覃)'s fortunes as crown prince. She was nearly killed after her fourth removal in 305, as Sima Yong, then holding Emperor Hui at Chang'an and leaving her in the capital Luoyang, became convinced that she was easily usable by his opponents as a rubber stamp, and so he ordered that she be forced to commit suicide. The governor of the capital region, Liu Tun (劉暾) offered a petition to save her life, which nearly cost him his own—as Sima Yong ordered to have him arrested, and he was barely able to flee with his life. However, after Liu's intercession, for whatever reason, Sima Yong cancelled the order to have her forced to commit suicide.

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Wikipedia