Empress Dayi
Empress Dayi, known during her life as Lady Wang, was a concubine of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
| Lady Wang 王夫人 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Unknown | ||||
| Died | Unknown | ||||
| Spouse | Sun Quan | ||||
| |||||
| Father | Wang Lujiu[1] | ||||
Life
Lady Wang was from Langye (琅邪; present-day Linyi, Shandong), and was referred to as Lady Wang of Langye to distinguish her from Lady Wang of Nanyang (posthumously known as Empress Jinghuai, another concubine of Sun Quan who shared the same surname).[2] Lady Wang was the daughter of Wang Lujiu,[1] and she is reported as having three younger brothers.[3] She entered Sun Quan's harem during the Huangwu period (222-229), presumably before 224 when she gave birth to Sun He, and she was generally Sun Quan's second-favourite after Lady Bu. When Lady Bu died, Sun He became heir apparent, and Sun Quan made overtures to make Lady Wang his empress; however, his daughter by Lady Bu, Sun Luban, slandered Lady Wang, claiming that she had rejoiced when Sun Quan fell ill. Sun Quan was enraged at these claims, and Lady Wang fell out of favour and is said to have died in anxiety over her rejection.[4]
Family and relatives
Sun He was exiled during the political scandal of his succession struggle with Sun Ba in 250, and was forced to commit suicide during Sun Liang's reign. He was survived by his own son, Sun Hao, who became emperor in 264, at which point Lady Wang was posthumously titled Empress Dayi (大懿皇后 Great Exemplary Empress), and her three younger brothers were awarded marquisates.[3]
Citations
- (《吳書》曰：夫人父名盧九。〉) Sanguozhi zhu vol. 50.
- (吳主權王夫人，琅邪人也。) Sanguozhi vol. 50.
- (和子皓立，追尊夫人曰大懿皇后，封三弟皆列侯。) Sanguozhi vol. 50.
- (夫人以選入宮，黃武中得幸，生（孫）和，寵次步氏。步氏薨後，和立為太子，權將立夫人為后，而全公主素憎夫人，稍稍譖毀。及權寢疾。言有喜色，由是權深責怒，以憂死。) Sanguozhi vol. 50.
References
- Chen, Shou (3rd century). Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi). Scroll 50.
- Robert Joe Cutter and William Gordon Crowell. Empresses and Consorts: Selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's Commentary. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.
- Pei, Songzhi (5th century). Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi zhu).