Jiang Jiangui (江簡珪) was an
empress
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
of the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
Liu Song
Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...
dynasty. Her husband was
Emperor Houfei of Liu Song
The Latter Deposed Emperor of Liu Song ((劉)宋後廢帝, also known as Emperor Houfei) (1 March 463 – 1 August 477''wuzi'' day of the 7th month of the 5th year of the ''Yuan'hui'' era, per Liu Yu's biography in ''Book of Song''), also known by ...
(Liu Yu).
Very little is known about her. Jiang Jiangui came from a noble lineage, as her grandfather Jiang Zhiyuan (江智淵) was a famed, albeit not particularly powerful, official during the reign of
Emperor Xiaowu, but who died in fear in 463 after offending Emperor Xiaowu over the issue of the
posthumous name
A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments or ...
for his favorite concubine Consort Yin. Jiang Jiangui's father Jiang Jiyun (江季筠) was a mid-low-level official in the imperial administration as well, but died by 470, when Liu Yu's father
Emperor Ming was selecting a wife for him, who was then
crown prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...
. The superstitious Emperor Ming, however, was told by fortunetellers that despite—or perhaps because of—the Jiang clan's relative weakness at that point, that Jiang Jiangui was the appropriate choice. He therefore selected her to be his son's wife. Her age at that time is not known, but her husband was just seven years old.
After she was married to Liu Yu, she carried the title of crown princess, and after Emperor Ming died and was succeeded by Liu Yu (as Emperor Houfei) in 472, he created her empress. After he was killed by his general
Xiao Daocheng
Emperor Gao of Southern Qi ((南)齊高帝; 427– 11 April 482According to Xiao Daocheng's biography in ''Book of Southern Qi'', he died aged 56 (by east Asian reckoning) on the ''renxu'' day of the 3rd month of the 4th year of the ''Jianyuan'' er ...
in 477, he was posthumously demoted to the title of Prince of Cangwu, and she was accordingly demoted to the title of Princess of Cangwu. It is not known when she died.
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Liu Song empresses