Duchess Dugu

Lady Dugu (Chinese: 獨孤氏, personal name unknown, fl.544^[1] - 590s) was a duchess of the Northern Zhou dynasty. Her husband Li Bing was Duke of Longxi from 554 to 564 and Duke of Tang from 564 to 572. She was the fourth daughter of the Western Wei general Dugu Xin and one of the Dugu sisters.^[2]

She was given the posthumous name Empress Yuanzhen (元貞皇后) during the Tang dynasty, after her son Li Yuan ascended the throne.^[3]

Life

She was born between 536 and 544, the years her eldest sister and the younger (seventh) sister Dugu Qieluo were born, respectively. When her husband Li Bing died in 572, their six-year-old son Li Yuan inherited his title of Duke of Tang.^[3]

Duchess Dowager Dugu suffered from poor health in her later life, and her daughter-in-law Duchess Dou assisted her in managing household affairs. According to official history, Dowager Dugu was once extremely sick and due to her reckless personality, several of her daughters-in-law refused to assist her (probably because their husbands were not her biological sons). Only Duchess Dou cared for her, and Dowager Dugu recovered after a month. Dowager Dugu was grateful and favored Duchess Dou.^[4]

She died before the Tang dynasty was founded in 618. Although Li Bing had many children, only Li Yuan and a daughter, known as Princess Tong'an (同安公主) during the Tang dynasty, were known to be born of Duchess Dugu.^[5]

According to Alphonse Mingana and Edward Harper Parker, Dugu might have been a "Nestorian" Christian.^[6]^[7]

In popular culture

Li Yixiao portrayed as Dugu Mantuo (独孤曼陀) in The Legend of Dugu 2017 Chinese television series.

References

Notes

^ Lady Dugu is older than Dugu Qieluo, who was born in 544
^ Wechsler, Howard J. (1979). "The Founding of the T'ang Dynasty: Kao-tsu (Reign 618–26)". In Twitchett, Dennis (ed.). The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589–906 AD, Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-521-21446-9.
^ ^a ^b Bingham, Woodbridge (1941). The Founding of the T'ang Dynasty: The Fall of Sui and Rise of T'ang, a Preliminary Survey. Waverly Press. p. 75.
^ Ouyang et al, Ch. 76.
^ Ouyang et al, Ch. 83.
^ Mingana, Alphonse (1925). The Early Spread of Christianity in Central Asia and the Far East: A New Document (PDF). Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 351. So far as LNGU is concerned were it not for reasons of chronology we might have compared him with Li Yüan, whose father had married a Nestorian Christian lady of the Duku family.
^ Parker, Edward Harper (2013). A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Milton Park: Routledge. p. 142. ISBN 9781136199523. Amongst the aspirants for imperial power in China was one Li Yüan, whose father had married a Turkish lady of the Duku family. It is somewhere stated by a European writer that she was a Christian, which, even if untrue, is not at all improbable, as the Nestorian Olopen arrived in 635 during the reign of her grandson, Li Shih-min, who issued an edict in favour of Christianity.

Cited works

Ouyang Xiu; et al. (1060). Xin Tang Shu (新唐書) [New Book of Tang] (in Chinese).

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[1] Lady Dugu is older than Dugu Qieluo, who was born in 544

[2] Wechsler, Howard J. (1979). "The Founding of the T'ang Dynasty: Kao-tsu (Reign 618–26)". In Twitchett, Dennis (ed.). The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589–906 AD, Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-521-21446-9.

[bingham-3] Bingham, Woodbridge (1941). The Founding of the T'ang Dynasty: The Fall of Sui and Rise of T'ang, a Preliminary Survey. Waverly Press. p. 75.

[4] Ouyang et al, Ch. 76.

[5] Ouyang et al, Ch. 83.

[6] Mingana, Alphonse (1925). The Early Spread of Christianity in Central Asia and the Far East: A New Document (PDF). Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 351. So far as LNGU is concerned were it not for reasons of chronology we might have compared him with Li Yüan, whose father had married a Nestorian Christian lady of the Duku family.

[7] Parker, Edward Harper (2013). A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Milton Park: Routledge. p. 142. ISBN 9781136199523. Amongst the aspirants for imperial power in China was one Li Yüan, whose father had married a Turkish lady of the Duku family. It is somewhere stated by a European writer that she was a Christian, which, even if untrue, is not at all improbable, as the Nestorian Olopen arrived in 635 during the reign of her grandson, Li Shih-min, who issued an edict in favour of Christianity.

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