Sima Maoying

Sima Maoying
司馬茂英
Empress consort of Liu Song dynasty
Tenure26 June 422 – 7 July 424
SuccessorEmpress Yuan Qigui
Born393? or 403/4?
Died439
Jiankang, Liu Song
SpouseEmperor Shao of Song
Posthumous name
Princess of Yingyang (営陽王妃)
FatherEmperor Gong of Jin
MotherEmpress Chu Lingyuan

Sima Maoying (Chinese: 司馬茂英; 393?[1] or 403/4?[2] – 439) was a princess of the Eastern Jin dynasty (with the title Princess Haiyan (海鹽公主)) and an empress consort of the Liu Song dynasty. Her father was Emperor Gong of Jin, and her husband was Emperor Shao of Song.

  1. ^ This year is according to Lady Sima's biography in Book of Song, but a late-Qing era commentator to the Book of Song, Zhang Senkai (張森楷), commented in his Jiao Kan Ji that this would make her some 13 years older than her husband, which seemed rather unlikely even for a political marriage, and commented that it was far more likely she was born around the same time as her husband. It should also be noted that this birth year would mean that she was born when her father was only seven years old and her mother nine years old, so it appeared that Zhang was quite likely correct in his skepticism. (《校勘记》云:“按少帝死年十九,则妃于时亦当二十左右。后十六七年至元嘉十六年卒,应年三十六七,不应四十七,疑有误。”)
  2. ^ Zhang Senkai is of the opinion that Sima Maoying's true birth year is around this period as this would make her 36-37 years old (by East Asian reckoning) at the time of her death. In addition, one possible reason why this period was not used as her birth year was that Huan Xuan usurped the Jin throne during this period, making Sima's birth more lowly as her father's title at the time was "Duke of Shiyang County" (石阳县公), which is lower in rank than "Prince of Langye".