Empress She (蛇皇后, personal name unknown) (died 397) was an

empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( em ...

of the Qiang-led Chinese

Later Qin dynasty The Later Qin (; 384–417), also known as Yao Qin (), was a state ruled by the Qiang ethnicity of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin dynasty (266–420) in China. The Later Qin is entirely distinct from the Qin dynasty, the Former Qin and the ...

. Her husband was the founding emperor

Yao Chang Yao Chang (; 331–394), courtesy name Jingmao (景茂), formally Emperor Wuzhao of (Later) Qin ((後)秦武昭帝), was the founding emperor of the Qiang-led Chinese Later Qin dynasty. His father Yao Yizhong (姚弋仲) had been a powerful gene ...

(Emperor Wuzhao), and she was the mother of Yao Chang's

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 wife ...

and successor

Yao Xing Yao Xing (; 366–416), courtesy name Zilüe (子略), formally Emperor Wenhuan of (Later) Qin ((後)秦文桓帝), was an emperor of the Qiang-led Chinese Later Qin dynasty. He was the son of the founding emperor Yao Chang (Emperor Wucheng). F ...

(Emperor Wenhuan). Very little is known about Empress She. She was already Yao Chang's wife before he declared imperial title, and when he did in 386, he created her empress and created her son Yao Xing crown prince. After he died in 394 and was succeeded by Yao Xing, she was honored as

empress dowager Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere. The title was al ...

. She died in 397, and Yao Xing was said to be so saddened that he was unable to gather officials for imperial meetings and handle important matters of state, although he eventually did so while still wearing mourning clothes.Yao Xing was recorded as having posthumously honored a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

of his father, Consort Sun, as empress dowager, suggesting that Consort Sun was his birth mother but that Empress She raised him. Given a lack of conclusive evidence, however, Empress She should probably still be considered his mother.

References

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