Yuan Lang () (c. 513 – 26 December 532),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Zhongzhe (仲哲), frequently known by his post-deposition title Prince of Anding (安定王), at times known in historiography as Emperor Houfei (後廢帝, "later deposed emperor"), was briefly an

emperor 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

Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multiling ...

-led Chinese

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

dynasty. He was proclaimed emperor by the general

Gao Huan Gao Huan () (496 – 13 February 547), Xianbei name Heliuhun (賀六渾), formally Prince Xianwu of Qi (齊獻武王), later further formally honored by Northern Qi initially as Emperor Xianwu (獻武皇帝), then as Emperor Shenwu (神武皇� ...

, who rebelled against the clan of the paramount general Erzhu Rong in 531, as a competing candidate for the imperial throne against Emperor Jiemin, who had been made emperor by Erzhu Rong's cousin Erzhu Shilong. In 532, after Gao's victory over the Erzhus, he believed Yuan Lang, whose lineage was distant from the recent emperors, to be unsuitable to be emperor, and instead made Yuan Xiu (Emperor Xiaowu) emperor. Emperor Xiaowu created Yuan Lang the Prince of Anding, but later that year put him to death.

Background

Yuan Lang was born in 513, as the third son of Yuan Rong (元融) the Prince of Zhangwu, a key official in the Northern Wei imperial government who was a distant relative of the then-reigning Emperor Xuanwu. His mother was Lady Cheng. (It is unclear whether she was Yuan Rong's wife or

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...

.) In 526, while fighting the agrarian rebel leader Ge Rong (葛榮), Yuan Rong was killed in battle, and Yuan Lang's older brother Yuan Jingzhe (元景哲) inherited the title of Prince of Zhangwu. Yuan Lang was said to be intelligent in his youth. In 529, at age 16, Yuan Lang became an army officer, serving on the staff of Yuan Su (元肅) the Prince of

Lu Commandery Lu Commandery ( zh, 魯郡) was a Chinese Jun (country subdivision), commandery that existed from Han dynasty to Tang dynasty. It was located in present-day southern Shandong province. The commandery's predecessor was the Xue Commandery (薛郡), ...

, who was the governor of Si Province (肆州, roughly modern

Xinzhou Xinzhou, ancient name Xiurong (), is a prefecture-level city occupying the north-central section of Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China, bordering Hebei to the east, Shaanxi to the west, and Inner Mongolia to the northwest. As ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

). In spring 531, he became the governor of Bohai Commandery (勃海, in modern

Cangzhou Cangzhou; Jilu Mandarin, locally pronounced as is a prefecture-level city in eastern Hebei province of China, province, People's Republic of China. At the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census, Cangzhou's built-up (''or metro'') area made of Yunh ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

). At the time that Yuan Lang became the governor of Bohai Commandery, the imperial government was dominated by members of the paramount general Erzhu Rong, who, after Emperor Xiaozhuang had killed Erzhu Rong in 530, overthrew and killed Emperor Xiaozhuang, installing Yuan Ye and Emperor Jiemin successively. In summer 531, the general

, believing the Erzhus to be corrupt and to have lost the support of the people, rose in rebellion at Xindu (信都, in modern

Hengshui } Hengshui ( zh, s=衡水) is a prefecture-level city in southern Hebei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Shandong to the southeast. It borders Shijiazhuang City to the west, Xingtai City to the south, and Baoding City and Cangzhou ...

), and while initially he claimed to be merely wanting to overthrow the Erzhus and still recognizing Emperor Jiemin, he soon, at the urging of his general Sun Teng (孫騰), came to believe that he needed to have an emperor under his control who could issue edicts as he wished. In winter 531, he therefore declared Yuan Lang, whose Bohai Commandery was under his control by that point, emperor, even though Yuan Lang's lineage was distant from that of recent emperors and was not even an imperial prince himself.

Reign

There is little evidence that the 18-year-old Yuan Lang exerted any real influence on Gao Huan's policy decisions as he battled the Erzhus. He initially remained at Xindu, but after Gao captured the important city Yecheng (鄴城, in modern

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

) in spring 532, Yuan Lang was placed in Yecheng. Gao soon prevailed in a major battle against the joined forces of Erzhu Zhao, Erzhu Tianguang, Erzhu Dulü (爾朱度律), and Erzhu Zhongyuan (爾朱仲遠), and in light of Gao's victory, the general

Husi Chun Husi Chun () (495 – May 537), courtesy name Fashou (法壽), Xianbei name Daidun (貸敦), formally Prince Wenxuan of Changshan (常山文宣王), was a general and official of the Xianbei-led Northern Wei and Western Wei dynasties of China. Ear ...

rebelled at the capital

Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...

and executed the prime minister Erzhu Shilong and Erzhu Shilong's brother Erzhu Yanbo (爾朱彥伯), delivering their heads, as well as Erzhu Tiangguang and Erzhu Dulü, whom Husi captured, to Gao. Erzhu Zhao fled back to his domain, while Erzhu Zhongyuan fled to rival

Liang Dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was pre ...

. The victorious Gao, along with Yuan Lang, approached Luoyang. Gao, now believing that Yuan Lang's lineage was too distant, making him an inappropriate choice for emperor, initially considered still permitting Emperor Jiemin to remain on the throne, but after his generals Wei Lan'gen (魏蘭根) and Cui Ling (name not in

Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...

) persuaded him that Emperor Jiemin would be difficult to control, imprisoned Emperor Jiemin, while instead deciding on making Yuan Xiu the Prince of Pingyang, a grandson of Emperor Xiaowen, emperor. Gao then forced Yuan Lang to yield the throne to Yuan Xiu, who took the throne as Emperor Xiaowu.

Death

Emperor Xiaowu created Yuan Lang the Prince of Anding in June 532.Yuan Lang's biography in ''Book of Wei'' indicated that he was made Prince of Anding in the 5th month of the 1st year of the ''Taichang'' era. The month corresponds to 19 Jun to 17 Jul 532 in the Julian calendar. However, in winter 532, about six and a half months after taking the throne, Emperor Xiaowu ordered Yuan Lang to commit suicide. Yuan Lang was buried without imperial honor, but it is not clear whether he was buried with any honor or not. Eventually, Yuan Lang's son Yuan Huangtou was permitted to inherit the title of Prince of Anding. After Northern Wei's branch successor state

Eastern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Eastern Wei (), was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei dynasty. One of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Nor ...

ended and was replaced by

Northern Qi Qi, known as the Northern Qi (), Later Qi (後齊) or Gao Qi (高齊) in historiography, was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty and one of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties during the ...

, its first emperor Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi carried out a major slaughter of Northern Wei's imperial Yuan clan in 559. One of the victims was mentioned as one of his close associates Yuan Huangtou, who was starved to death, but it is not known for sure whether that Yuan Huangtou was Yuan Lang's son.

Family

Sons

* Yuan Huangtou, Prince Anping (; d. 559)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Lang Northern Wei emperors 510s births 532 deaths Murdered emperors of China 6th-century Chinese monarchs