Chu Lingqu (褚令璩) (495 - 502) was an

empress The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

of the

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Southern Qi Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succee ...

dynasty. Her husband was

Xiao Baojuan Xiao Baojuan (蕭寶卷) (483 – 31 December 501), né Xiao Mingxian (蕭明賢), commonly known by his posthumously demoted title of Marquess of DonghunThe term "Donghun" (東昏) does not denote a place, but a derogatory description of Xiao Baoj ...

. Chu Lingqu came from an aristocratic family, as the daughter of the official Chu Cheng (褚澄), a younger brother of

Chu Yuan Chu Yuan (褚淵) (435 – 19 September 482), courtesy name Yanhui (彥回), formally Duke Wenjian of Nankang (南康文簡公), was a high-level official of the Chinese Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties. Background Chu Yuan was from an arist ...

, who served as a high-level official during late

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern dynasties (南朝宋) in historiography, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern dynasti ...

and later served as prime minister for Southern Qi's founding emperor, Emperor Gao; her mother was Princess Lujiang (廬江公主), daughter of

Emperor Wen of Song Emperor Wen of Liu Song ((劉)宋文帝, (Liu) Song Wen-di; 407 – 16 March 453), personal name Liu Yilong (劉義隆), childhood name Che'er (車兒), was an emperor of the Liu Song dynasty of China. He was the third son of the dynastic founder ...

. Xiao Baojuan's father Emperor Ming took Chu Lingqu to be the wife of Xiao Baojuan, 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, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

, on 16 December 495,''ji'mao'' day of the 11th month of the 2nd year of the ''Jian'wu'' era, per vol.140 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'' and she thereafter carried the title of Crown Princess. She was not favored by Xiao Baojuan, who was, according to the ''

History of the Southern Dynasties The ''History of the Southern Dynasties'' is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. It contain 80 volumes and covers the period from 420 to 589, the histories of the Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang, ...

'', carrying on an

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

uous affair with his sister the Princess Shanyin. However, after Emperor Ming died in 498 and was succeeded by Xiao Baojuan, Xiao Baojuan did create Crown Princess Chu empress. She continued to be not favored, however, and the couple had no children. (His favorite was Consort Pan Yunu, and his only known son Xiao Song (蕭誦) was born of Consort Huang, who died shortly after giving birth to Xiao Song. Empress Chu might have raised Xiao Song as her own son.) Xiao Baojuan was a violent ruler who executed officials whimsically, and this eventually drew a number of rebellions, the last of which, by the general Xiao Yan, overthrew him, as he was assassinated within the capital

Jiankang Jiankang (), or Jianye (), as it was originally called, was the capital city of the Eastern Wu (229–265 and 266–280 CE), the Jin dynasty (265–420), Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420 CE) and the Southern Dynasties (420–552), including the Ch ...

in 501 as Xiao Yan sieged it. Once Xiao Yan entered the capital, he had Xiao Baojuan posthumously demoted to the title of Marquess of Donghun, and he had both Empress Chu and Crown Prince Song demoted to commoner status. Nothing further is known in history about her, including when she died.

References

* ''

Book of Southern Qi A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, m ...

'', vol. 20. * ''

History of Southern Dynasties The ''History of the Southern Dynasties'' is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. It contain 80 volumes and covers the period from 420 to 589, the histories of the Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang, ...

'', vol. 1

* ''

Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...

'', vols. 140, 141,

144 144 may refer to: * 144 (number), the natural number following 143 and preceding 145 * AD 144, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century AD * 144 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 144 (film), ''144'' (film), a 2015 Indian com ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chu, Lingqu, Empress Chu Lingqu, Empress