Jiang Jiangui

Not to be confused with Queen Jiang.
In this Chinese name, the family name is Jiang (江).

Jiang Jiangui (江簡珪) was an empress of the Chinese Liu Song dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Houfei of Liu Song (Liu Yu).

Very little is known about her. Jiang Jiangui came from a noble lineage, as her grandfather Jiang Zhiyuan (江智淵) was a famed, albeit not particularly powerful, official during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu, but who died in fear in c.16 February 463[1] after offending Emperor Xiaowu over the issue of the posthumous name for his favorite concubine Consort Yin. Jiang Jiangui's father Jiang Jiyun (江季筠) was a mid-low-level official in the imperial administration as well, but died by 470, when Liu Yu's father Emperor Ming was selecting a wife for him, who was then crown prince. The superstitious Emperor Ming, however, was told by fortunetellers that despite—or perhaps because of—the Jiang clan's relative weakness at that point, that Jiang Jiangui was the appropriate choice. He therefore selected her to be his son's wife on 5 April 470.[2] Her age at that time is not known, but her husband was just seven years old.

After she was married to Liu Yu, she carried the title of crown princess, and after Emperor Ming died and was succeeded by Liu Yu (as Emperor Houfei) on 11 May 472,[3] he created her empress on 15 July 472.[4] After he was killed by his general Xiao Daocheng in 477, he was posthumously demoted to the title of Prince of Cangwu, and she was accordingly demoted to the title of Princess of Cangwu. It is not known when she died.

  1. ^ Vol.129 of Zizhi Tongjian indicate that Jiang Zhiyuan died between the ding'hai and ji'chou days of the 1st month of the 7th year of the Da'ming era. The dates correspond to 15 and 17 Feb 463 respectively in the Julian calendar
  2. ^ gui'chou day of the 2nd month of the 6th year of the Tai'shi era, per Emperor Ming's biography in Book of Song and vol.132 of Zizhi Tongjian
  3. ^ geng'zi day of the 4th month of the 1st year of the Tai'yu era, per vol.133 of Zizhi Tongjian. His father died in the previous day.
  4. ^ yi'si day of the 6th month of the 1st year of the Tai'yu era, per vol.133 of Zizhi Tongjian. Wang Zhenfeng was made empress dowager on the same day.