Lady Yu (虞氏) was a Chinese noblewoman from Henan Province during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD). She is best known as the wife of the future Emperor Cao Rui who was passed over for the role of Empress. She was sent away after voicing sharp criticism about the Cao family policy on marriage.[1][2]
Biography[edit]
Little is known of her life but from a prominent family,[3] she became wife to Cao Rui when he was Prince of Pingyuan.[4] On 29 June 226 Cao Rui became Emperor, but it would not be till the winter of 227[5][6] he would choose his Empress, choosing Lady Mao above the claim of Lady Yu. Lady Mao had been favored while Cao Rui was a Prince[7] but it also fitted in with the long-standing and controversial Cao marriage policy of the chief wife being from outside the gentry to prevent the in-laws being too powerful.[8][9][10] Lady Yu was from a gentry clan, the new Empress was the daughter of a carpenter, whose behavior as an in-law would be much mocked.[11]
Cao Rui's grandmother Empress Dowager Bian, attempted to console Lady Yu at being passed over[12] however, Lady Yu was unhappy and, despite Bian's own background as a singer,[13] launched a sharp attack on Cao marriage policy that Rafe De Crespigny describes as bitter and tactless.[9] She accused the Cao family of raising up those of low birth rather than doing the right thing and raising up those of proper values (i.e. gentry ladies). An Empress was meant to manage the inner palace, a work complimenting that of an Emperor and if an Empress was poorly selected, it would end badly for the ruler. The Cao choices would doom them as a state.[1][14] This criticism of "the Caos have always preferred people of inferior quality. They have never managed to make appointments on the basis of good character"[10] can also be seen as an attack on the Cao family's recruitment of officials from beyond powerful families and socially accepted norms.[10]
Lady Yu was demoted and sent away from the palace to the Cao family stronghold in Ye.[15] The latter part of her life remains undocumented but her criticism is quoted by Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian. It has also been used by modern historians like Robert Cutter, William Crowell[8] and Rafe De Crespigny[10][9] as a prominent example of the opposition to the Cao marriage policy.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Cutter, Robert Joe; Crowell, William Gordon (1999-01-01). Empresses and Consorts: Selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States With Pei Songzhi's Commentary. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 53–54, 111–112. ISBN 978-0-8248-1945-3.
- ^ Sanguozhi vol.5.
- ^ Cutter, Robert Joe; Crowell, William Gordon (1999-01-01). Empresses and Consorts: Selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States With Pei Songzhi's Commentary. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-8248-1945-3.
- ^ 初，明帝為王，始納河內虞氏為妃 Sanguozhi vol.5.
- ^ Sanguozhi vol.3.
- ^ 太和元年，立為皇后 Sanguozhi vol.5.
- ^ 進御有寵，出入與同輿輦 Sanguozhi vol.5.
- ^ a b Cutter, Robert Joe; Crowell, William Gordon (1999-01-01). Empresses and Consorts: Selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States With Pei Songzhi's Commentary. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 47, 54–54. ISBN 978-0-8248-1945-3.
- ^ a b c De Crespigny, Rafe (18 August 2010). Imperial Warlord: A biography of Cao Cao 155-220 AD. Leiden: Brill. pp. 459–460. ISBN 9789004188303.
- ^ a b c d De Crespigny, Rafe (2019). E.Dien, Albert; N.Knapp, Keith (eds.). The Cambridge History of China Volume 2 The Six Dynasties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-107-02077-1.
- ^ 嘉本典虞車工，卒暴富貴，明帝令朝臣會其家飲宴，其容止舉動甚蚩騃，語輒自謂「侯身」，時人以為笑 Sanguozhi vol.5.
- ^ 帝即位，虞氏不得立為后，太皇后卞太后慰勉焉 Sanguozhi vol.5.
- ^ 本倡家 Sanguozhi vol.5.
- ^ 虞氏曰：「曹氏自好立賤，未有能以義舉者也。然后職內事，君聽外政，其道相由而成，苟不能以善始，未有能令終者也。殆必由此亡國喪祀矣！」Sanguozhi vol.5.
- ^ 虞氏遂絀還鄴宮 Sanguozhi vol.5.