Empress mother Dong

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Empress mother Dong ( 董 太后 , Dǒng tàihòu or 孝 仁 皇后 , xiào rén huánghòu also called 永樂 太后 , Yǒnglè tàihòu ), (birth name unknown), formally Empress Xiaocheng († 189 ), was an empress mother during the Han dynasty , although she never was empress was. She was the mother of Emperor Ling . She is accused of having contributed to the decline of the Han dynasty through her influence (especially as the emperor's ring grandmother ).

background

The future Empress Mother Dong came from the Hejian commandant's office (roughly today's Baoding , Hebei ). She was the wife of Liu Chang, the hereditary marquis of Jietuding . He owned a small piece of land made up of just one or a few villages. Therefore, despite the nobility of her husband, she hardly lived in abundance. She gave birth to his heir, Liu Hong, in 156. It is not known whether she had other children. By 168, Marquis Chang was dead, and Liu Hong became Marquis of Jietuding .

Life

Empress mother

In 168, after Emperor Huan died without an heir, his widow Dou Miao elected Liu Hong to succeed him for some inexplicable reason. He ascended the throne as Emperor Ling and honored Dou Miao more like a concubine than a dowager empress. In 169, Emperor Ling received his mother in the capital ( Luoyang ) after wiping out the Dou clan and placing the Empress Dowager Dou Miao under house arrest. He made her Empress Mother, although he now also paid more honor to Dou Miao. Empress Mother Dong was not certain of her title until Dou Miao died in 172. From then on she got involved in politics.

Allegedly the Empress Mother encouraged Emperor Ling to sell offices for money. This severely weakened the civil administration of the Han government and corruption in the empire spiraled out of control.

In 181, concubine Wang gave birth to Emperor Ling's second son, Liu Xie . Empress He poisoned her, and Empress Mother Dong took Liu Xie in and raised him personally. That is why he was called Marquise Dong . (He and his brother Liu Bian were given female titles to keep away the evil spirits who had killed Emperor Ling's previous sons.) Empress mother Dong fell in love with Liu Xie and often persuaded Emperor Ling to appoint him crown prince in place of his older brother. This brought her into conflict with her daughter-in-law, Empress He.

Emperor's grandmother

Emperor Ling died in 189 without having designated an heir. Despite the attempts of the eunuch Jian Shuo to raise Liu Xie to emperor, Empress He and her brother He Jin put Liu Bian on the throne. Empress He became the Dowager Empress, and she and He Jin took control of the government. Dong, now the emperor's grandmother, and her nephew Dong Chong formed an opposition at court and often argued with the empress widow He. They even threatened to behead He Jin once. He Jin issued an edict to his sister to banish the Dowager Empress to Hejian (now Baoding , Hebei ) and arrest Dong Chong. Dong Chong died of suicide, and the imperial ring grandmother Dong died shortly afterwards. Most historical accounts cite fear as the cause of death, but some claim that she committed suicide. In the same year, the He clan of Dong Zhuo (no relatives) was overturned, and Liu Xie was made emperor as Han Xiandi . But the decline of the Han dynasty could no longer be stopped, and in 220 Emperor Xian should be forced to hand over power to Cao Pi .