i
A COMPANION TO
GLOBAL QUEENSHIP
ii
FOR PRIVATE AND
NON-COMMERCIAL
USE ONLY
iii
A COMPANION TO
GLOBAL QUEENSHIP
Edited by
ELENA WOODACRE
iv
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
© 2018, Arc Humanities Press, Leeds
The authors assert their moral right to be identi ied as the authors of their part of this work.
Permission to use brief excerpts from this work in scholarly and educational works is hereby
granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is
an exception or limitation covered by Article 5 of the European Union’s Copyright Directive
(2001/29/EC) or would be determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright
Act September 2010 page 2 or that satis ies the conditions speci
ied inPRIVATE
Section 108 of AND
the U.S. CopyFOR
right Act (17 USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94–553) does not NON-COMMERCIAL
require the Publisher’s permission.
USE ONLY
ISBN: 9781942401469
e-ISBN: 9781942401476
arc-humanities.org
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
v
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Chapter 1. Introduction: Placing Queenship into a Global Context
ELENA WOODACRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part I Perceptions of Regnant Queenship
Chapter 2. When the Emperor Is a Woman: The Case of
Wu Zetian 武則天 (624–705), the “Emulator of Heaven”
ELISABETTA COLLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 3. Tamar of Georgia (1184–1213) and the Language
of Female Power
LOIS HUNEYCUTT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 4. Regnant Queenship and Royal Marriage between
the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Nobility of Western Europe
HAYLEY BASSETT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter 5. Queenship and Female Authority in the Sultanate
of Delhi (1206–1526)
JYOTI PHULERA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 6. Anna Jagiellon: A Female Political Figure in the Early
Modern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
KATARZYNA KOSIOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Chapter 7. Female Rule in Imperial Russia: Is Gender a Useful
Category of Historical Analysis?
OREL BEILINSON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
vi
vi
Chapter 8. The Transformation of an Island Queen:
Queen Béti of Madagascar
JANE HOOPER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Chapter 9. Female Rangatira in Aotearoa New Zealand
AIDAN NORRIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Part II Practising Co-Rulership
Chapter 10. The Social–Political Roles of the Princess in Kyivan
Rus’, ca. 945–1240
TALIA ZAJAC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Chapter 11. Impressions of Welsh Queenship in the Twelfth
and Thirteenth Centuries
DANNA R. MESSER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Chapter 12. Queen Zaynab al-Nafzawiyya and the Building of a
Mediterranean Empire in the Eleventh-Century Maghreb
INÊS LOURINHO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 13. Al-Dalfa’ and the Political Role of the umm al-walad in the
Late Umayyad Caliphate of al-Andalus
ANA MIRANDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Chapter 14. The Khitan Empress Dowagers Yingtian and Chengtian
in Liao China, 907–1125
HANG LIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Chapter 15. Dowager Queens and Royal Succession in
Premodern Korea
SEOKYUNG HAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Chapter 16. The Ambiguities of Female Rule in Nayaka South India,
Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries
LENNART BES . . . . . . . . .FOR
. . . . . . PRIVATE
. . . . . . . . . . . .AND
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
NON-COMMERCIAL
USE ONLY
Part III Breaking Down Boundaries: Comparative
Studies of Queenship
Chapter 17. Helena’s Heirs: Two Eighth-Century Queens
STEFANY WRAGG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
vi
vii
Chapter 18. The Hohenstaufen Women and the Differences
between Aragonese and Greek Queenship Models
LLEDÓ RUIZ DOMINGO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Chapter 19. The “Honourable Ladies” of Nasrid Granada: Female
Power and Agency in the Alhambra (1400–1450)
ANA ECHEVARRÍA and ROSER SALICRÚ I LLUCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Chapter 20. Comparing the French Queen Regent and the Ottoman
Validé Sultan during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
RENEÉ LANGLOIS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Chapter 21. Queens and Courtesans in Japan and Early Modern France
TRACY ADAMS and IAN FOOKES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Chapter 22. The Figure of the Queen Mother in the European
and African Monarchies, 1400–1800
DIANA PELAZ FLORES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
vi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
4.1
8.1
15.1
16.1
16.2
16.3
16.4
16.5
16.6
19.1
Family tree of the queens of Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Eighteenth-century southwestern Indian Ocean.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The queens and kings of the Koryŏ (918–1392) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Geographical locations in early modern south India mentioned in the main text or footnotes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Genealogical chart of the Nayakas of Ikkeri showing the (probable) family relations of
Queens Chennammaji and Virammaji, with rulers in capitals and dotted lines indicating adoptions.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Genealogical chart of the Nayakas of Madurai showing the (probable) family relations of Queens
Mangammal and Minakshi, with rulers in capitals and dotted lines indicating adoptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Details of murals depicting Queen Mangammal of Madurai receiving the royal sceptre from the
local goddess, Minakshi, through a priest (left) and attending a divine wedding with her grandson,
Vijayaranga Chokkanatha Nayaka (right); Unjal Mandapa (central ceiling), Minakshi Sundareshvara
Temple, Madurai.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Statues thought by some scholars to depict Queen Virammaji of Ikkeri and her adopted son, Somashekara
Nayaka III; Rameshvara Temple, Keladi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Book covers of (from left to right) Mahādēvi, Vīra śirōmaṇi keḷadi cannamma rāṇi (in Kannada); Gayatri
Madan Dutt and Souren Roy, Chennamma of Keladi: The Queen Who De ied Aurangazeb (in the Amar
Chitra Katha series); Nāka Caṇmukam, Rāṇi maṇkammā (in Tamil). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Genealogical chart of the Nasrid dynasty in late medieval Granada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Tables
15.1 Queen dowagers of the Chosŏn (1392–1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
15.2 Queen mothers of the Chosŏn (1392–1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
FOR PRIVATE AND
NON-COMMERCIAL
USE ONLY
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge, irst and foremost, the scholastic
efforts and good-natured cooperation of the fantastic group
of contributors to this collection. I am very grateful to have
such delightful colleagues to work with and I thank them for
contributing their insightful research to this project. I would
also like to thank Dymphna Evans at ARC for her assistance
and support throughout; her advice and help have been
crucial to the success of this collection, and she has been a
real joy to work with. Thanks also to Erika Gaffney, who has
ably stepped into Dymphna’s shoes, as well as to Tom and
Kennedy at ARC for their assistance with maps and genealogical trees for various chapters of the collection, which is
very much appreciated.
Elena Woodacre
CONTRIBUTORS
Tracy Adams received a PhD in French from Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1998. Associate
Professor in European languages and literatures at the
University of Auckland, New Zealand, she has also taught
at the University of Maryland, the University of Miami, and
the University of Lyon III. She was a Eurias Senior Fellow
at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies from
2011 to 2012 and an Australian Research Council Centre
of Excellence in the History of Emotions Distinguished
International Visiting Fellow in 2014. She is the author of
Violent Passions: Managing Love in the Old French Verse
Romance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), The Life and Afterlife
of Isabeau of Bavaria (Johns Hopkins University Press,
2010) and Christine de Pizan and the Fight for France (Penn
State University Press, 2014). With Christine Adams, she has
just edited Female Beauty Systems: Beauty as Social Capital
in Western Europe and the US, Middle Ages to the Present
(Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015). Also with Christine
Adams, The French Royal Mistress and the Creation of the State,
under contract with Penn State University Press, is scheduled
to appear in 2018.
Hayley Bassett is a postgraduate student of medieval history
at Cardiff University. Her research interests include AngloNorman politics and diplomacy, particularly royal succession,
regnant queenship, and gender authority. More speci ically,
her current work examines inter-dynastic marriage alliances
as a tool of diplomacy in the twelfth century.
Orel Beilinson is a historian of imperial and post-imperial,
but mainly socialist, eastern Europe. He is interested in the
relationships between ideologies and between ideologies and
social, political, and legal structures and practices. As such,
his current researches investigate the relationship between
socialism, modernity, and religion (Islam and Judaism) in this
region during the turn of the nineteenth century.
Lennart Bes is a historian and Indologist studying political culture at Indic courts. He recently submitted his PhD
x
x
dissertation at the Radboud University Nijmegen (the
Netherlands), which concerns court politics in the south
Indian Vijayanagara successor states. In the past he was
employed at the Netherlands National Archives, where he
worked on the records of the Dutch East India Company
(VOC). Currently he is teaching at Leiden University on the
history of India and Southeast Asia, European expansion, and
the VOC and its archives. He has published on early modern
south Indian kingdoms, their contacts with the VOC, and
Dutch records concerning South Asia.
Elisabetta Colla holds the following degrees: MA ( Laurea)
degree in Oriental languages and literatures, Ca’Foscari
University of Venice; diploma in Chinese language and
culture, former Beijing Languages Institute; MA degree in
Asian studies, Faculty of Human Sciences of Oporto; and a
PhD in Cultural Studies from the Faculty of Human Sciences
of the Portuguese Catholic University, Lisbon. She is currently
Assistant Professor at FLUL (School of Arts and Humanities,
Lisbon University) and has written various articles and a dissertation on Macau.
SeoKyung Han (PhD, philosophy, State University of New York
at Binghampton) explores the book culture and history of
antiquity through premodern East Asia. She focuses on how
the Buddhist sutras and the (Neo-)Confucian classics were
secularized and popularized across eras and regions and how
women engaged in reproducing those authorial texts, not
only as narrative object but also as author and/or as audience
(reader and listener) of the texts.
Jane Hooper received her PhD from Emory University,
Atlanta, in 2010 and she is currently an Assistant Professor
in the Department of History and Art History at George
Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. Her book Feeding
Globalization: Madagascar and the Provisioning Trade,
1600–1800 was published in 2017 by Ohio University Press
as part of its Indian Ocean Studies series. She has also written
articles about pirates, the slave trade from the Indian Ocean to
the Americas, and teaching the trans-Atlantic slave trade. She
is currently studying American commerce and whaling in the
Indian Ocean during the irst half of the nineteenth century.
Lois Huneycutt is Associate Professor of History at the
Ana Echevarría is Reader (Profesora Titular) of Medieval
University of Missouri, Columbia, and has worked extensively
History at the National University of Distance Education in
on Anglo-Norman queenship. She is currently at work on a
Madrid. She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh.
project reassessing the role of women in Europe’s conversion
She has been a Visiting Professor in NYU Madrid and has
to Christianity, and her most recent publication is an artconducted research work in universities and libraries in sevicle on women and power in volume two of Bloomsbury’s A
eral countries. Recently she has been a Visiting Fellow at the
Cultural History of Women in the Middle Ages, edited by Kim
Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Dynamics in the History of Religions
M. Phillips.
between Asia and Europe” (Ruhr University, Bochum,
Katarzyna Kosior is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in
Germany) and at the Institute for Advanced Study at the
the Department of Humanities at Northumbria University,
Excellence Cluster “Kulturellen Grundlagen von Integration”
researching early modern Polish-Lithuanian kingship,
in Constance University (Germany). Her research interests
elective monarchy, and masculinity. Her forthcoming book,
include the relations between Christianity and Islam in the
Becoming a Queen in Early Modern Europe: East and West, will
Iberian Peninsula, and queenship in the Mediterranean. She
be published by Palgrave in 2019.
is the author of a book and several articles on Catherine of
Lancaster and the coordinator, together with Prof. Nikolas
Reneé Langlois recently inished her MA at the University of
Jaspert (University of Heidelberg), of a monographic issue
Nevada, Las Vegas, and completed her thesis on a wider comof the journal Anuario de Estudios Medievales (Barcelona) on
parison of the rule of the Ottoman validé sultans and the
“Power and Agency of Medieval Iberian Queens.” FOR PRIVATE
French
queens regent during the early modern period that
AND
NON-COMMERCIAL
juxtaposes the means by which both sets of women accessed
Ian Fookes is a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Asian Studies
at ONLY
USE
great political agency. She has presented stages of her work
the University of Auckland, School of Cultures, Languages and
at the 2015 “Kings & Queens” conference IV and at the 2016
Linguistics. With a background in French and philosophy, he is
Western Ottomanists’ Workshop. She also had the oppora specialist in the writings of poet Victor Segalen (1878–1919)
tunity to present at the “Kings & Queens” V and VI, in 2016
and the aesthetics of diversity. Research interests include
and 2017, and at the 2017 Sixteenth Century Society and
exoticism, postcolonial approaches to literature, Paci ic
Conference. While her primary research focuses on royal
writing, travel writing, and Western representations of Asia.
women and sovereignty in France and the Ottoman Empire,
xi
xi
Reneé also explores the ways that climate can be used as a
lens to re-examine history. Her forthcoming article “Dynastic
Loyalty and Allegiances: Ottoman Resilience during the
Seventeenth Century Crisis” discerns the ways that the
royal women of the imperial harem fought for Ottoman survival, and became major contributors to the empire’s resilience during a century of dramatic climate change that was
witnessed throughout the world.
Hang Lin is currently Assistant Professor at Hangzhou
Normal University, China. He has completed his MA and PhD
in Chinese history at the University of Würzburg, Germany,
and a postdoctoral project at the University of Hamburg. His
major research interest focuses on the history of the Khitan
and the Jurchen, the archaeology and material culture of the
non- Han peoples in Chinese history, and manuscript culture and the history of the book in late imperial China. His
recent publications include: “Nomadic Mothers as Rulers in
China: Female Regents of the Khitan Liao (907– 1125),” in
Royal Mothers and Their Ruling Children: Wielding Political
Authority from Antiquity to the Early Modern Era , edited
by Ellie Woodacre and Carey Fleiner (Palgrave Macmillan,
2015), 105– 25; and “Re- envisioning the Manchu and Qing
History: A Question of Sinicization,” Archiv Orientalni 85
(2017): 141–54.
Inês Lourinho has been a journalist since 1992; she has
completed her licence (bachelor’s degree) in communication
in 1998 at the New University of Lisbon. In 2007 she enrolled
in the master’s program in medieval history at the University
of Lisbon, which she concluded in 2010 with a thesis, “1147: A
Conjuncture Analysed from the Muslim Sources Perspective,”
under the supervision of Professor Hermenegildo Fernandes.
She has recently inished her PhD thesis, “The Frontier of Gharb
al-Andalus: Confrontation Ground between Almoravids and
Christians (1093–1147),” with the same supervisor. Currently
she is a researcher at the Centre for History of the University
of Lisbon, with al- Andalus, Maghreb, Christian– Muslim
relations, frontier cultures, Mozarabs, warfare, and medieval
leets among her ields of interest. She is mentioned in the
book The Historiography of Medieval Portugal (c. 1950–2010),
edited by José Mattoso and published in 2011 by the Institute
for Medieval Studies (New University of Lisbon), due to her
research on Islamic and Mozarabic studies.
Danna R. Messer is an independent historian who received
her PhD in medieval Welsh history from Bangor University.
Her general research interest is women living in native Wales
before the Edwardian conquest of 1282 and, speci ically, the
wives of the native Welsh rulers. She is the Medieval History
Series Editor for Pen and Sword Books, the Layout Editor
for the Royal Studies Journal, a contributor to the Dictionary
of Welsh Biography, and a member of the Royal Historical
Society.
Ana Miranda is a researcher at the Centre for History of the
University of Lisbon and at the Centre for Archaeology of the
same institution. She is a PhD candidate on medieval history,
currently working on her thesis: “Circulation Networks in the
11th Century: Gharb al-Andalus between the Mediterranean
and the Atlantic.” Her research domains are the history of
al-Andalus and the history of Mediterranean societies, with
a special focus on topics such as learned men, minorities,
border societies, circulation, and cultural transfer. She has
presented several papers at both national and international
conferences throughout Europe and has submitted articles,
most of which are awaiting publication.
Aidan Norrie is a historian of monarchy. He is a Chancellor’s
International Scholar in the Centre for the Study of the
Renaissance at the University of Warwick, and an Honorary
Associate of the Department of English and Linguistics at the
University of Otago, New Zealand. Aidan is the editor of Women
on the Edge in Early Modern Europe (with Lisa Hopkins)
and of From Medievalism to Early-Modernism: Adapting the
English Past (with Marina Gerzic).
Diana Pelaz Flores is an Assistant Professor at the University
of Santiago de Compostela. She obtained her PhD from
the University of Valladolid with a dissertation titled
“ ‘Reynante(s) en vno’: Poder y representación de la reina en
la Corona de Castilla durante el siglo XV,” written under the
supervision of Professor María Isabel del Val Valdivieso, for
which she was awarded the “VIII Premio a Tesis Doctorales”
by the Asociación Española de Investigación en Historia de las
Mujeres. She has worked on several research projects and has
published several articles and book chapters in prestigious
journals and publishing houses. She has also published three
books, titled Rituales Líquidos: El signi icado del agua en el
ceremonial de la Corte de Castilla (ss. XIV–XV) (Ediciones de la
Universidad de Murcia, 2017), La Casa de la reina en la Corona
de Castilla (1418–1496) (Ediciones Universidad de Valladolid,
2017) and Poder y representación de la reina en la Corona de
Castilla (1418–1496) (Junta de Castilla y León, 2017).
Jyoti Phulera is currently pursuing PhD research at the Centre
for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi. Having majored in history
xi
xii
from Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi,
she pursued her master’s in medieval Indian history from
Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her M.Phil. research looked at
“Religion, State and Gender Relations in the Delhi Sultanate.”
Her research interests include a history of gender relations
in medieval north India, with special reference to the Su ic
traditions ca. 1100–1500.
Lledó Ruiz Domingo is a PhD student at the University
of Valencia, where she is developing her doctoral project
“Queenship in the Late Middle Ages: Construction and
Signi ication of Queen Consorts in the Crown of Aragon
(XIV– XV Centuries)” under the supervision of Professor
Antoni Furió i Diego. Her more recent publications include
“ ‘Del qual tenim loch’: Leonor de Sicilia y el origen de la
lugartenencia femenina en la Corona de Aragón,” for the
2017 issue of Medievalismo: Boletín de la Sociedad Española
de Estudios Medievales. Also in press are The Strategies of
Legitimacy of the Trastámara Dynasty in the Crown of Aragon
and Power, Piety and Patronage: Maria of Navarre as Queen of
the Crown of Aragon (1338–1347), both for Routledge.
Roser Salicrú i Lluch is a Senior Researcher (Investigadora
Cientí ica) in medieval studies at the Department for
Historical Sciences, Milà i Fontanals Institution, of the
Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Cientí icas, CSIC) in Barcelona. She holds a
PhD from the University of Barcelona (1996) and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Genoa from 1996 to
1997. She has been Editor- in- Chief of the journal Anuario
de Estudios Medievales since 2010 and the Group Manager
of the consolidated research group of the Generalitat de
Catalunya CAIMMed (the Crown of Aragon, Islam and the
Medieval Mediterranean) since 2009. Her research interests
include the relations between Christianity and Islam in the
Iberian Peninsula and the western Mediterranean in the late
Middle Ages, with speci ic attention on the former Crown of
Aragon; trade, navigation, and shipbuilding in the medieval
Mediterranean; travel and travellers in the Middle Ages; and
medieval slavery in the Mediterranean. She is a specialist in
ifteenth-century Nasrid Granada.
Elena (Ellie) Woodacre is a specialist in medieval and early
modern queenship and a Senior Lecturer in Early Modern
European history at the University of Winchester. She
obtained an MA in Medieval Studies from the University
of Reading and her PhD from Bath Spa University. Her
publications include her monograph The Queens Regnant
of Navarre: Succession, Politics, and Partnership, 1274–1512
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and she has edited/ co- edited
several collections on queenship and royal studies. Elena
is the organizer of the “Kings & Queens” conference series
and the founder of the international Royal Studies Network
( www.royalstudiesnetwork.org ). She is also the Editorin- Chief of the Royal Studies Journal (www.rsj.winchester.
ac.uk or www.royalstudiesjournal.com), an academic, peerreviewed, multilingual, and fully open-access publication.
Stefany Wragg completed her D.Phil. on eighth- and ninthcentury Mercian literature at the University of Oxford in
2017. She is currently teaching full time at secondary school.
Talia Zajac is currently the Eugene and Daymel Shklar
Research Fellow at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
She holds a PhD from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the
University of Toronto (2017) and has previously served as
a course instructor at the University of Toronto Mississauga
(UTM). Her research, which focuses on the political activities and religious–cultural patronage of Latin Christian
brides who came to Rus’, and vice versa, Rus’-born consorts
of western medieval rulers has appeared in the Royal
Studies Journal (2016) and the Proceedings of the Fourteenth
International Congress of Medieval Canon Law (Biblioteca
Apostolica Vaticana, 2016). In addition, a chapter on the circulation of material objects by Rus’ princesses in Western
Europe is forthcoming in the volume Moving Women, Moving
Objects (400–1500). Maps, Spaces, Cultures , eds. Tracy
Chapman Hamilton and Mariah Proctor-Tiffany (Brill, 2018).
FOR PRIVATE AND
NON-COMMERCIAL
USE ONLY
1
Part I
PERCEPTIONS OF REGNANT QUEENSHIP
26
FOR PRIVATE AND
NON-COMMERCIAL
USE ONLY
13
2
WHEN THE EMPEROR IS A WOMAN:
THE CASE OF WU ZETIAN 武則天 (624–705), THE “EMULATOR OF HEAVEN”
ELISABETTA COLLA
男不言內女不言外
Men do not speak of internal matters;
women do not speak of external affairs1
Introduction
This chapter analyzes the speci ic case of the most controversial sovereign ruler in Chinese imperial history: Wu
Zetian, and her founding of the Zhou2 dynasty (690–705). Wu
Zetian’s reign (690–705)3 occurred during the Tang dynasty
(618–906) and was regarded as a milestone in the history of
Chinese dynastic changes and legitimacy processes, for she
was a woman and the sole female emperor (Huangdi 皇帝)4 in
Chinese history. After a short biographical introduction, this
1 From the Book of Rites (Liji 禮記); see neize 內則 (Principle of Inner
Realm), in Ruan, Shisanjing zhushu, 1462, and translated by Legge,
Li Chi: Book of Rites, 454–70; see also McMahon, Women Shall Not
Rule, 35.
2 Zhou 舟 was the name of her father’s ief and was a homophone
of Zhou 周, the name of the dynasty considered the “Golden Age” of
Chinese history by Confucian sources. Wu Zetian not only took the
name of this emblematic dynasty, but reshaped the bureaucracy
according to the nomenclature from the Zhouli 周禮 (Rites of Zhou),
reintroduced the Zhou calendar and followed the Zhou ceremonials.
See Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 10.
3 As can actually be read below, the complete title was Zetian
dasheng huanghou 則天 大聖 皇 后 , or “Zetian 則天 ” (“Emulator of
Heaven”), the posthumous name given to her in 705. Although she
changed her title many times during her reign, “Wu Zetian” is how
she is commonly remembered, and therefore this will be the name
used throughout this chapter. Guisso, “Empress Wu,” 323.
4 The title Huangdi was coined by the irst emperor of imperial
China in 221 BCE, Qin shi huangdi 秦始皇帝, who considered himself not simply a new ruler but the supreme one. Starting from this
date, and up to the foundation of the Republic of China in 1912, this
title was used to identify the emperor. Emperors generally lived
chapter delineates how Wu Zetian faced the problem of legitimacy. She was aware of being a woman claiming the power
destined, by Chinese tradition, to men, and her greatest
innovation was to look to the ancient Chinese past as a model,
as well as her use of religion, magic, and symbolism to legitimize her swift rise to the dragon throne, where she remained
for almost ifty years.5
Women Shall Not Rule is the provocative title of Keith
McMahon’s book, reminding the reader how dif icult it was
for any woman to aim to ascend the throne in imperial China.
The Chinese traditional bureaucratic structure was not
conceived for women, and they could not participate directly
in the political, economic, and social leadership of the empire.
within a walled compound, constituted by different buildings or halls
within the imperial capital. Between the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing
(1644–1912) dynasties, it was also known as the “Forbidden City”
(jincheng 禁城). Besides the emperor and his immediate family, such
as the heir apparent (taizi 太子), the empress (Huanghou 皇后) and
the various consorts (fei 妃) were admitted to the palace, together
with personal attendants (among which were the eunuchs). Hucker,
A Dictionary of Of icial Titles, 3. For a more speci ic description of the
female actors and their connection to central power between the seventh and ninth centuries, see Silvia Ebner von Eschenbach, in Kralle
and Schilling, Schreiben über Frauen in China, 253–84. At the end of
her essay, the author provides a highly detailed map of Chang’an, the
imperial capital (today’s Xi’an in Henan province), with the distribution of the princesses’ residences.
5 Wu Zetian was heavily criticized by traditionalists and considered
a usurper. As Denis Twitchett and Edwin Pulleyblank point out,
there were some Confucian scholars and historians who already
questioned her legitimacy to rule during the compilation of the
standard histories. Among these historians, Liu Zhiji 劉知幾 (661–
721) was extremely critical along these lines in his “History of Tang”
(Tangshu 唐書). Twitchett, The Writing of Of icial History, 168, note
28; Pulleyblank, “The Tzyjyh Tongjiann Kaoyih.”
14
14
This did not mean that women were not powerful, of course.
In this sense, McMahon’s book presents many examples of
court ladies (imperial wives and concubines, among others)
and demonstrates how they were not mere “wantons” 6
but actually played a key role in Chinese imperial politics.
Women were powerful in China and treated political affairs
as if they were playing chess, manipulating and in luencing
heirs apparent or weak emperors, most of the time hidden
behind the curtain of their seraglio. Chinese history contains
plenty of stories about arriviste concubines, malicious empress dowagers, and female status seekers, in general depicted
as orchestrators of intricate plots aimed to in luence the
imperial power in their favour. 7 Women’s actions were
planned “from within,” never overtly acted, developing a kind
of “shadow power.” Stories about women who tried to take
over the government were mostly part of the of icial rhetoric
aimed at promoting the maintenance of a speci ic “natural”
order of things largely based on the Confucian ideology,
which—as it was structured—inevitably encouraged gender
inequality. In the mainstream of Chinese imperial history,
both the patriarchal system and the polygamous marital
institution were considered means of reproducing the
family while maintaining the social hierarchy imposed by
Confucianism. Although one cannot assume that imperial
China was characterized by a homogeneous history, 8 historiography has tended to show coherence in the exegetical
arguments. According to these arguments, as Richard Guisso
has stressed in his research, Chinese women were depicted
in of icial texts by Chinese authors as “inferior by nature” and
as the “ruination of the states.”9 The case of Wu Zetian was
6 Chinese women were depicted in Confucius’s rhetoric as malicious, promiscuous, lascivious, and wicked. McMahon, Women Shall
Not Rule, 77.
somewhat different. In fact, due to her aptitude, some of the
sources emphasize her charisma and capability in surviving
at the top of the empire for half a century.10
Women were not outlawed from rule; nevertheless,
as Zhao Fengjie 趙鳳喈 (1896– 1969) pointed out, there
was a silently observed prohibition of a woman becoming
emperor.11 The ground to justify this attitude resulted from
multiple causes, most of which were in existence before the
foundation of the empire during the Qin dynasty (221–206
BCE). At least from the Zhou dynasty onwards (1054– 221
BCE), patriarchy was the base of the state organization,12 and
family lineage sacri ices to the ancestors 13 were performed
by male descendants. From the Han dynasty onwards, with
the canonization of Confucius, as one can read in the Analects
[LY 17.25],14 a Confucian- in luenced misogynous position
was also promoted. Women symbolized calamity, such as
Yang Yuhuan 楊玉環 (719–756), who succumbed to her tragic
fate, being considered the paradigm of the cataclysm that
gradually brought the Tang dynasty to an end.15
10 Richard Guisso, although aware that Chinese historiography is full
of negative examples of female rule, and that this will die hard, has
always tried in his research, at least when analyzing Wu Zetian’s rise
to power and rulership, to contradict this trend; see also Twitchett
and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung,” 246n8.
11 Zhao, Zhongguo funü zai falüshang zhi diwei , 111; see also
Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 1.
12 Loewe and Shaughnessy, The Cambridge History of Ancient
China, 557.
13 In general terms, there was constant contact between the human
and divine spheres. Sacri ices, rituals, and divination aimed to control and keep the balance between these two worlds. Ancestors, who
were linked to a speci ic temple, were placed within a ritual system
designed by the living from the late Shang dynasty onwards.
7 Extending this privilege to their clan. The interrelation within
14 The Master said, “Women and mean people are particularly hard
the network of clans linked to the imperial family (via maternal or
to manage: if you are too familiar with them, they grow insolent, but
paternal lines, or thanks to marriage policies) was crucial and helps
if you are too distant they grow resentful” 子曰:「唯女子與小人為
in the understanding of the equilibrium of forces at the top level of
難 養也 ,近 之則 不 孫, 遠之 則怨 。」 [LY 17.25]. A similarly misthe imperial bureaucracy. The in luence of families directly affected
ogynistic position can be found in the Analects for Women (Nü lunyu
FOR
PRIVATE
AND
the decision making. During Wu Zetian’s reign, the clans
of Wu,
Li,
女論語
) by Song Ruozhao 宋若照 (d. ca. 820) and Song Ruoxin 宋若
NON-COMMERCIAL
and Wei were among the families constantly struggling for
power.
新: “Listen carefully to and obey whatever your husband tells you.”
USE ONLY
8 It is important to stress that, although, both during the Sui
(589–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties, the Yang and Li families
claimed to be legitimate successors of the Han imperial line, they
were actually the result of the long-lasting interaction between the
pastoral nomads of the steppe and the sedentary Chinese people. Wu
Zetian’s mother belonged to the Yang clan.
9 Guisso and Johannesen, Women in China, 59; see also Kelleher,
“Confucianism,” 135.
For more on the Analects for Women, see De Bary and Bloom, Sources
of Chinese Tradition, 827–31.
15 The “Song of Lasting Pain” ( Changhen ge 長恨 歌 ), written by
Bai Juyi 白居易 (772–846), about the tragic love between Emperor
Xuanzong 玄宗 (685–762) and his favourite concubine. This ballad
is generally interpreted by Confucian-in luenced readership as the
paradigm of Yang Guifei’s fate. Considered to be at the origin of the
An Lushan 安祿山 rebellion, she was inally forced to commit suicide.
15
15
The Chinese cosmological view emerged from a complex set of discursive relationships, among which were those
based on the yin 陰–yang 陽,16 or female and male, dichotomy.
The yin–yang relation, with its cyclical alternation, grounded
on correlative thinking,17 had a strong impact on individuals,
their environment, and the cosmos. Since ancient times,
and throughout the imperial period, Chinese society was
organized according to a strict gender hierarchy regulated
by a speci ic rituality, which in the case of women was based
on the “threefold following” (sancong 三從 ). A woman was
generally con ined to the domestic realm ( nei 內 ) and was
dependent on man18 in the following order: irst, in following
her father; then, in following her husband; and, inally, in
following her son.19 This order of things was perceived as the
emanation of the cosmic order, and, according to the tianren
heyi 天人合一 formula, human beings were an integral part
of nature. The emperor and the empress, who represented
the Sun and the Moon respectively, had to keep a perfect
balance of yang and yin within the imperial court; in this way
they were respecting the heavenly patterns on Earth. When
this order of things was unattended to then, the emperor,
who was considered the “Son of Heaven” ( tianzi 天子), lost
his mandate (tianming 天命)20 to rule. In this complex set of
relations, which was anthropocentric of a kind, both man and
woman played codi ied roles.
Wu Zetian not only succeeded in subverting these roles
but also challenged male authority in various respects: irst,
as a simple concubine; then, as a mother of the heir apparent,
as empress dowager and, inally, in 690, as emperor. In half
a century she succeeded in questioning the traditional
A translation of the ballad can be found in Owen, An Anthology of
Chinese Literature, 442– 47. On Yang Guifei, see McMahon, Women
Shall Not Rule , 211; and Mair, The Columbia History of Chinese
Literature, 14.
16 Isabel Robinet has de ined yin and yang as “lines of force,
directions whose nature is to cross and mingle, to play against
and with each other, both self- generating and self- propelling,
disappearing and alternating”: Robinet, Taoism, 9.
17 See Graham, Yin–Yang.
18 Who belong to the outer realm (wai 外 ). On the duality neiwai
內外, see Watson and Ebrey, Marriage and Inequality; and Rosenlee,
Confucianism and Women.
19 This concept appears in the Liji or “Book of Rites.” Rosenlee,
Confucianism and Women, 70, 92.
20 “Revolution” in Chinese uses the characters geming 革命, which
literally means “dismiss the mandate.” On the Mandate of Heaven and
the cosmic order of things, see Puett, To Become a God, 54–61.
Confucian social order of things. In titling herself as emperor,
Wu Zetian was challenging not just the tradition but also
the cosmic order of things, and therefore she was not legitimate to rule; neither could she be recognized as supreme
leader of “everything below heaven” ( tianxia 天下 ). In this
context, and to be legitimized, she had to propose an alternative model, which could be de ined as a kind of “parallel
universe.” In the words of N. Harry Rothschild, “Even if she
continued to honour this canonical lineage of ideal rulers,
sages, and worthies, she constructed a parallel pantheon of
female divinities and paragons drawn from every ideological
persuasion—including Buddhist devis, Confucian exemplars
(like the mother of Mencius), and Daoist goddesses, such as
the Queen Mother of the West.”21
Wu Zetian: “One, No One and
One Hundred Thousand”
Nobody knows who Wu Zetian really was. She was described
in different ways, and even a careful and deep analysis of
all the historical sources available would not be enough to
challenge or deconstruct the popular myth that presents
her as being a cruel woman. One, No One and One Hundred
Thousand,22 the title of the famous Luigi Pirandello novel, has
been borrowed in order to stress that the image we have of
Wu Zetian is the result of multifaceted descriptions, most of
which have come from mere speculation. Although the story
proposed by Pirandello has nothing to do with China, nevertheless the message conveyed by his main character is very
interesting. In Pirandello’s novel, the main character is alternatively characterized by others as the embodiment of one,
no one and a hundred thousand different people. Similarly,
the way Wu Zetian was perceived could result in different
stories, changing over time: she was “one” before the eyes
of the emperor, but, at the same time, “a hundred thousand”
21 Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 2.
22 Uno, nessuno e centomila was published in 1926 and is considered
a classic work of Italian literature. Through this masterpiece, Luigi
Pirandello aimed speci ically to understand the dynamics that lie
behind relationships between human beings with different personalities. More speci ically, Pirandello magisterially pinpointed that
the perception that one has of oneself is different from the image
conveyed to the other. “One” represents the perception that one has
of oneself; “no one” is the character that the protagonist of the story
chooses to become; and, inally, “one hundred thousand” represents
the different perceptions that others have of us. Pirandello, Uno,
nessuno e centomila.
16
16
before her court ladies and scholars, and “no one” when she
was wiped out of some sources by Confucian historians.
Many authors have tried to reconstruct her biography, and
have had trouble successfully delineating a clear border
between speculation and reality. As a result, she has appeared
and disappeared in Chinese history, and her biography has
been written, rewritten, censored, imagined, and adapted
for centuries. Today most people would remember her as
proposed by the famous TV drama Wu meiniang chuanqi 武媚
娘传奇,23 in which Fan Bingbing 范冰冰 (b. 1981), the main
actress, created a charming and powerful Wu Zetian, quite
different from the depiction proposed by S. K. Chang in 1939.
Other representations include the “true story” of “Madame
Wu” presented by Lin Yutang 林語 堂 (1895– 1976),24 or as
proposed by Guo Moruo 郭沫若 (1892– 1978) in a drama
directed by Jiao Juyin 焦菊隐 (1905– 1975),25 in which Wu
Zetian appeared much more as an incarnation of Mao’s wife,
Jiang Qing 江青 (1914– 1991). The historical novel on Wu
Zetian’s life by Su Tong 苏童 (b. 1963) was also very intriguing, with the author presenting a sort of Bildungsroman
with Chinese characteristics, having “adapted the genres of
the historical novel and the family saga.” 26 The well-known
avant-garde novelist tried to leave the reader a description
of Wu Zetian, relying on her real story and not overemphasizing her desires and ambitions.27 When one approaches Wu
Zetian’s life, it is important to understand that she cannot be
reduced simply to a single character, but that she played “one,
no one and a hundred thousand” roles, exactly as Moscarda,
the main character of Pirandello’s novel, did.
There was, apparently, no trace of Wu Zetian’s birth
name. Written records attested that she was known as Wu
Zhao 武曌 28 and Wu Meiniang 武媚娘 [“Wu, the Charming
Maid”]. During her life she was addressed by different names
and titles, which she has been accumulating post mortem.
According to Rothschild, she “was reputedly born in Lizhou
利州 ”29 (Sichuan province), where she is still adored as a
goddess.30 Her father, Wu Shiyue 武 士彠 (577– 635), who
during the Sui dynasty (581–618) resided in Shanxi province,
was a merchant31 and rapidly became an eminent igure of his
time when he joined the army. At the end of the Sui dynasty
he took part in the foundation of the Tang dynasty (618–907)
process, which was headed by the future Tang emperor
[Tang] Gaozu [唐]高祖 (r. 618–626), née Li Yuan 李淵.32 The
improvement of Wu Shiyue’s social status was very bene icial
for his family, which steadily became closer to the imperial
entourage. Wu Zetian’s mother, Lady Yang (579– 670), was
the daughter of Yang Da 楊達, cousin of [Sui] Yangdi [隋]煬帝
(569–618), also known as Emperor Ming明帝 (r. 604–618).
Wu Zetian was the second of three daughters. She also had
two half-brothers, who both died in exile, where they were
sent by their father, Wu Shiyue. As a result, Wu Zetian grew
up in a family with powerful political connections on both the
father’s and the mother’s side.
Wu Zetian was a teenager when, during the 640s, she
irst entered the imperial palace. She joined the Taizong’s
seraglio as a concubine of the ifth rank ( cairen 才人 ) or
“Lady of Talents.” 33 Emperor [Tang] Taizong [ 唐 ] 太 宗 (r.
626–649), né Li Shimin 李 世民 , was considered one of the
ind Zhao 瞾, “illumination above emptiness,” the name she chose for
herself. Rothschild, Wu Zhao, 1–10; Guisso, “Empress Wu,” 304. On
the coinage of this name, see also Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and
Her Pantheon, 307n41; compare with Forte, Political Propaganda and
Ideology in China, 357.
29 Other authors claim that Wu Zetian was born in Wenshui (Shanxi),
23 It is worth noting that the title of this series was changed from Wu
which actually was Wu’s family ancestral homeland. Rothschild, Wu
Zetian to the Legend of Wu Zetian, and inally changed into the current
Zhao, 17; Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 38. Compare also with
The Legend of Wu Meiniang, as required by the State Administration
Wechsler, “The Founding,” 178.
of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s
30 Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 39. See also
Republic of China (SAPPRFT). These variations show that Wu Zetian
Rothschild,
FOR
PRIVATE
ANDWu Zhao, 19. In 1954 a stele (dated to the tenth century?)
was and remains a sensitive topic in Chinese culture.
was found that proves that Wu Zetian was worshipped by locals as
NON-COMMERCIAL
24 See Lin, Wu Zetian zhuan; and Lady Wu.
a deity protecting the place from any kind of [natural] disasters.
USE ONLY
25 Performed for the irst time in the famous Beijing People’s Art
Guisso, “Empress Wu,” 331.
Theatre.
31 According to the four classes of traditional Chinese society,
26 Li, Contemporary Chinese Fiction by Su Tong and Yu Hua, 73.
27 Su, Wu Zetian.
28 Neography was part of Wu Zetian’s process towards the legitimization and acceptance of her rulership. For instance, she decided to
introduce new, very complicated characters, among which one can
merchants were considered further down the social ladder, preceded
by artisans, farmers, and scholars.
32 For the historical precondition that helped the rise of Wu Zhao,
see Rothschild, Wu Zhao.
33 Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung,” 245.
17
17
paradigmatic emperors of the cosmopolitan Tang Empire,
his fame reverberating around the “four corners” ( sifang 四
方) of the world: westward, reaching the Byzantine Empire,
but also eastward, towards Korea and Japan.34 When Emperor
Taizong died, in 649, Wu Zetian shaved her hair and became
a nun (nigu 尼姑 ) of the Buddhist Ganye temple ( 感業寺 )
in Chang’an (actual Xi’an, Henan province), where she was
supposed to spend the rest of her life. 35
[Tang] Gaozong [唐]高宗 (r. 649–683), born Li Zhi 李治,
succeeded Taizong on the throne. Before Taizong’s death
he may have already been intimate with Wu Zetian. 36 Since
Gaozong was an ardent supporter and in love with Wu
Zetian, while she was still resident in the temple he paid
visits to her as many times as he could. In 654, breaking the
ful ilment of the Confucian funerary obligations, thanks to
a favourable conjuncture of facts, Wu Zetian was allowed
to come back to the imperial palace. One of the reasons she
did not spend the rest of her life in the nunnery was the
fact that the empress in charge, Madame Wang, who was
very jealous of one of Gaozong’s favourite concubines, Xiao
Shufei 蕭淑 妃 (d. 655), hoped that she could more easily
control Xiao Shufei’s in luence if Wu Zetian came back to
the imperial palace. Xiao Shufei actually bore the emperor
a son and two daughters, therefore giving Gaozong a male
descendant, and, for this reason, she became the emperor’s
favourite. In this position, Xiao Shufei could easily be
promoted and become empress. Since Empress Wang
was not able to bear children, she persuaded Emperor
Gaozong to let Wu Zetian come back to the palace. Empress
Wang’s plan did not work, and her position was completely
undermined by Wu Zetian’s intrigues. In a very short time
both Empress Wang and the concubine Xiao were deposed,
while Wu Zetian was promoted to the status of chenfei 屒妃,
34 On Emperor Taizong and his reign, see Wechsler, “T’ai- tsung,”
188–241. The Tang period was characterized by a remarkable maritime expansion; China was receiving merchants, emissaries (on
tributary missions) and missionaries throughout maritime Asia. It
was an interesting period of cultural interchange, and the main cities
of the empire became multicultural centres. Islam was introduced
into China in this period and Christian missionaries were travelling in the country. See Twitchett, The Cambridge History of China;
Schottenhammer and Ptak. The Perception of Maritime Space; and
Zheng, China on the Sea.
35 Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung,” 247; Rothschild, Emperor
Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 304.
36 Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung,” 245.
“Celestial Consort.” Soon afterwards Wu Zetian gave birth to
a daughter, who died in mysterious circumstances. Empress
Wang was charged with having murdered the baby princess, and Wu Zetian became Gaozong’s new empress. 37
Wu Zetian became very active in state affairs as Emperor
Gaozong became increasingly sick and apathetic. Due to
the fact that the emperor had been delegating much of his
power to Wu Zetian, he was gradually losing control over his
empire. Once in power, even as empress consort, Wu Zetian little
by little eliminated any in luence the Li clan38 had, in order to
enhance her position.
Some thirty years before Wu Zetian proclaimed herself emperor she organized a secret secretariat. The team
of scholars, known as Beimen xueshi 北門學士 (“Scholars of
the Northern Gate”), became extremely close to the empress.39 This private group not only compiled many works in
Wu Zetian’s name but also dedicated different political and
economic memorials to the throne.40 However, Wu Zetian’s
support was not con ined to scholars. In fact, she extended
her patronage to religion, mainly Buddhism and Daoism, and
surrounded herself with magicians. The empress was quite
involved in religious ceremonials and superstition- based
performances, which were considered a way to both gain
power over her husband and, consequently, over the empire.
Her rising career was characterized by auspicious omens,
which she may have had a hand in arranging. For instance,
in 688 there was the mysterious discovery of a “Precious
Diagram” (baotu 寶圖); it was actually a sort of white stone
stele with the following inscription: “A Sagacious Mother shall
come to rule mankind, and her empire shall bring eternal
prosperity.”41 This event was naturally regarded as a positive
token, not only announcing the arrival of a new ruler but also
37 Rothschild, Wu Zhao, 34– 35; Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kaotsung,” 249–51.
38 This was just the beginning of a widespread massacre that
involved the imperial clan and was part of Wu Zetian’s plan to rise
to power. As Ebner von Eschenbach points out, the position of the
imperial princesses resulted in the combined actions of different
rival clans: the Li 李, the founding lineage of the Tang dynasty, and
the Wu 武 and Wei 韋 families, which were bound to the imperial
clan thanks to politically based marriages. See Kralle and Schilling,
Schreiben über Frauen in China, 253.
39 Twitchett, The Writing of Of icial History, 43–52.
40 Twitchett, The Writing of Of icial History, 25; “ ‘Chen Gui.’ ”
41 Guisso, “Empress Wu,” 302; Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and
Her Pantheon, 51.
18
18
suggesting the gender of this new sovereign. The stone was
named Tianshou shengtu 天授聖圖, “Heaven-bestowed holy
stone,”42 and the name of the river Luo (close to Luoyang),
where the stone was discovered, was changed to Yongchang
jian 永昌江, “Eternal Prosperity.”43 For Wu Zetian’s life, this
was the point of no return.
Due to Gaozong’s weak health, the ambitious and
devious Wu Zetian was ready to challenge 44 his heir for the
throne. In 683 Gaozong died of an illness. Wu Zetian’s third
son ascended the throne, but was soon deposed by his own
mother and substituted by his younger brother, who became
known as Emperor Ruizong (r. 684–690).45 In 690 a phoenix
appeared above the imperial palace, Emperor Ruizong
abdicated and Wu Zetian proclaimed herself “Holy and Divine
Emperor” (Shengshen huangdi 聖神皇帝 ) of the new Zhou
dynasty (690–705).46
How to Become a God(dess): Wu Zetian’s Use
of Art and Omens to Legitimize Her Position
When Wu Zetian became emperor of the “Zhou” dynasty,
her strategic choice was purportedly to compare herself to
the sage kings Wen and Wu, and to the duke of Zhou, and
project herself into an idealized past. Although one cannot
simplify the conception of rulership, grounding it in the
Confucian tradition only for legitimization, these sage kings
of the “Golden Age” were all considered by Confucius to be
inspiring models for future generations, and “Zhou writings …
pose[d] Heaven as acting with [these] king[s].” 47 The sage
42 Guisso, “Empress Wu,” 302; Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and
Her Pantheon, 51.
43 Guisso, “Empress Wu,” 302; Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and
Her Pantheons, 51.
kings’ words, cemented throughout the three dynasties of Xia,
Shang, and Zhou and conveyed by Confucius as blueprints
for civilization, were considered the foundation of Chinese
familial relationships, social structure, and political practice.
However, this model was conceived for a patrilineal structure, whereas Wu Zetian was a woman, and female authority
was considered aberrant by any supporter of the Confucian
tradition. Throughout her more than sixty years in power 48
she worked tirelessly to propose an alternative model to the
Confucian order of things in order to be recognized as a legitimate ruler. To ensure her power she had to propose a parallel
pantheon of sage queens and become a god(dess) herself.
Michael Puett 49 has made clear all the processes that
turned the emperor into a divine being. Although his survey
mainly focuses on the pre- imperial and early imperial
periods, extending his research to the Qin and Han dynasties,
the models he studies were paradigmatic in order to understand the theodicy of the Chinese state in general. According
to his observations, the ruler— considered to be the “Son
of Heaven”, or something akin to a god— played simultaneously the key role of ethical preserver and harmonizer of
the relationship between Heaven and his liegemen. These
two ideas—the “Mandate of Heaven” ( tianming), related to
the fact that the emperor was considered the “Son of Heaven”
(tianzi)—represented a solidi ied argument for a coherent
legitimacy of rulership, supported by an ideal past that could
serve as a pattern for present predicaments and a plan for the
future. This system was then promoted by classicists (ru 儒)
and supported by Confucianists.
“Although women in the classical period were not downtrodden as modern stereotypes suggest,”50 one cannot therefore state that the bureaucratic architecture, mainly based
on Confucian teachings, was female-friendly. As previously
mentioned, women exerted their power internally, nei ,
while men exerted their power externally, wai; therefore, in
becoming emperor, Wu Zetian was jumping from her inner
44 Before her, another woman, Chen Shuozhen 陳碩真 (d. 653), who
also declared herself emperor with the name Wenjia 文佳 during the
peasant uprising of 653, had tried to occupy the dragon throne, but
without success. She was quickly killed by Wu Zetian. This fact was
recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian 資治 通鑑, revealing thatFOR
Wu Zetian
PRIVATE
AND
48 This
calculation was based on the fact that, when Emperor
was probably not the only woman who tried to become
emperor,
NON-COMMERCIAL
Gaozong died in 683, although his seventh son ascended the throne
and—in any event—showing how women were important during
the ONLY
USE
(Wu Zetian’s third one), most of the power was delegated to the
Tang dynasty. See Gao, Tang dai funü, 123.
Empress Dowager Wu. Before his death Emperor Gaozong already
45 Both Zhongzong and Ruizong returned to the throne after their
mother’s death, reigning between 705–710 and 710–712 respectively.
Twitchett, The Cambridge History of China.
relied so much on the empress that both Wu Zetian and Gaozong
were considered ersheng 二聖 (“two sages”). Therefore counting
from 684 to 705 in total, she was in power for more than sixty years.
Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 51.
47 Puett, To Become a God, 60.
50 Nylan, The Five “Confucian” Classics, 21.
46 Guisso, “Empress Wu,” 306. The irst Zhou dynasty (1045–221
BCE) was considered the “Golden Age.”
49 Puett, To Become a God.
19
19
realm to the outer realm—invading a space reserved for men.
How could she solve the question of legitimacy when the
foundations of the cosmological order, the bureaucratic structure and rituals were all against her?
In trying to legitimize her position, Wu Zetian, a master
of masquerades, was alternately attracted by Buddhism 51
and Daoism.52 Buddhism and Daoism were already bound to
central power but never succeeded in completely replacing
the pre- eminent Confucian conventions. During the Tang
dynasty, although representatives of educated elites, whether
Daoist or Buddhist in nature, participated in the debates
at court, most of the political legitimacy was still based on
learning the Confucian classics, and writing about these
texts was considered a symbolic political gesture of civil
governance. The civil service examination, reintroduced by
the Tang emperor Gaozu, together with the reopening of the
main schools in Chang’an, was, in fact, mainly based on the
Confucian classics.53 During this time a certain competition
arose between Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism about
commitment to the central power through elites. 54 Their
in luence was mostly limited to state interests, and, when
these three teachings—or, more speci ically, when Buddhism
(considered as a foreign religion/ philosophy) and Daoism
(which was an autochthonous religion/philosophy)—were
thought to threaten the interests of the empire, the emperor
activated the mechanism of inspection and censorship. Wu
Zetian knew all these mechanisms very well and was aware
that it would be very hard to ight against the status quo. She
was a learned woman, for her mother, Yang, conscientiously
attended to the education of her children.55
Antonino Forte has stressed Empress Wu’s commitment
to Buddhism very clearly.56 Wu Zetian’s mother was an ardent
Buddhist supporter, and Wu Zetian, after Taizong’s death, was
51 It is important to stress that Buddhism entered China during the
Eastern Han dynasty, when the religion/philosophy was still at a very
early stage. It was not until the Tang dynasty that China developed its
own schools and Buddhism became sinicized. See Silk, Buddhism in
China; and Kieschnick, The Impact of Buddhism, 83.
52 See Barrett, Taoism under the T’ang. Since the 660s both Emperor
Gaozong and Empress Wu had been surrounded by Daoist adepts.
After Gaozong’s death this continued under Wu Zetian’s reign, when
she was also patronizing Buddhist monasteries and clergy.
53 Wechsler, “The Founding,” 179.
54 Ibid., 180.
55 Rothschild, Wu Zhao, 22.
56 Forte, Political Propaganda and Ideology in China.
sent to a Buddhist monastery, where she spent some time
before being brought back to the imperial palace by Gaozong.
When she came to power she ordered the translation of the
Mahāmegha Sūtra, also known as the Dayun jing 大 雲經
(Great Cloud Sūtra),57 by Dharmakṣema (385–433?). Finally,
among Wu Zetian’s lovers, such as the famous Xue Huaiyi 薛懷
義 (d. 694),58 there were also Buddhist monks who in luenced
her policy making.59 Wu Zetian’s liaison with Buddhism has
also been exhaustively studied by Guisso, and by Rothschild
in his recent work Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of
Devis, Divinities, and Dynastic Mothers,60 and it was during Wu
Zetian’s reign that Buddhism was no longer considered a foreign faith and was gradually elevated to a state religion.61
However, Wu Zetian was also very devoted to Daoism.
The study proposed by Denis Twitchett is very elucidating
in this respect. 62 Her relationship with Daoism was more
complicated, for Daoism was directly linked to the Li clan,
the legitimate imperial family, and therefore this association— and, more speci ically, the claim that Laozi was the
ancestor of the Li family—presented Wu Zetian with something of a dilemma: how could she keep her devotion to
57 This sūtra is very important, because it contained a prophecy
announcing the reincarnation of Maitreya (Future Buddha) and a
female deity and monarch of the world. See Guisso, “Empress Wu,”
305; Wu Tse- t’ien, 306– 21. On the prophecy, see also the English
translation by Forte, Political Propaganda and Ideology in China. This
sutra was identi ied as importantly esoteric and one of the primary
sources for Indra worship; see Sorensen, Payne, and Orzech, Esoteric
Buddhism, 270.
58 He was one of the irst known as Feng Xiaobao 馮小 寶 , from
Shaanxi. In fact, Xue Huaiyi became a monk only after 690, when Wu
Zetian rose to power.
59 Rothschild describes him as a “gifted Buddhist propagandist
and skilled architect, who played a vital role in creating rhetoric and
symbols to support Wu Zhao’s political ascent”: Rothschild, Wu Zhao,
100. He was substituted around 695 by Shen Nanqin, who Rothschild
considers a “likely ictitious Confucian physician” and “supposedly
Wu Zhao’s lover”; ibid., 228.
60 See part IV of Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon,
191–226.
61 Key dates are as follows. In 690 Wu Zetian promulgated an edict
that elevated Buddhism over Daoism. Two years later, in 692, a prohibition on the butchering animals was also promulgated. In 694 the
Court of State Ceremonial was put in charge of Buddhist rites. For
more, see Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of Devis;
Wu Zhao; Twitchett, The Cambridge History of China; and Guisso, Wu
Tse-t’ien.
62 Twitchett, “ ‘Chen Gui,’ ” 33–109.
20
20
Daoism and especially to Daoist practices without Laozi? The
choice was made in promoting the Chengui 臣軌 (Rules for
Of icials),63 composed by the “Scholars of the Northern Gate”
in Wu Zetian’s name. This work was a sort of vademecum
for ministers, with an entire section centred on the importance of studying Daoism.64 This new work attributed to Wu
Zetian took the place of the Daode jing 道德經 (the Classic of
the Way of Virtue) in the imperial exams in 693.65 During the
Tang period there was a close relation between Daoism and
alchemy.66
Many examples demonstrate how religion was instrumental
to Wu Zetian’s power before and after becoming emperor of
China. One such instance took place while Gaozong was still
alive, when Wu Zetian decided to send her only daughter,
Princess Taiping 太平公主 (?–713), to a Daoist temple in order
to honour her grandmother, Empress Zhaocheng, who died in
670.67 Timothy Barrett has argued that, although this episode
was more symbolic than real, it does show the involvement of
the imperial family with Daoism68—and, in my opinion, Wu
Zetian’s political strategy in making use of the malleability of
the Buddhist faith, among others.
Art and symbolism had been instrumental to Wu Zetian’s
rise to power, underpinning and legitimizing her political discourse. She was a great patron of Buddhist art, and there is no
doubt that this is one of the most studied aspects of her legitimization process, though there are also traces of her promotion of Daoist art.69 Throughout her reign she demonstrated
a series of complex and interrelated political and religious
concerns that were materialized by art. Images and statuary,
with their theatrical style, their dimensions, and their
63 Twitchett, The Writing of Of icial History, 53–61.
64 Ibid., 102.
65 Guisso, “Empress Wu,” 311.
location, were part of a speci ic design. They belonged, in fact,
to a general message that aimed to persuade the viewer on a
speci ic topic: the legitimization of a female ruler. What Wu
Zetian aimed for in patronizing both Buddhist and Daoist art
was not only to encourage the creation of images celebrating
her igure but to convince her people that she had the right to
rule. Art was a means to overthrow a given political order. Her
visual propaganda, which occupied a large place in her reign,
was intelligible not only to limited elites but to the great
majority of her people. Art—and, more speci ically, religious
art— could be “read” by literate and illiterate people alike,
and Wu Zetian was aware of that. Images and sculptures
were not just an opportunity to celebrate herself in a heroic
manner but also a powerful device—or, paraphrasing Erwin
Panofsky, a means to reveal the basic attitude of Wu Zetian’s
empire, period, class, and religious or philosophical persuasion condensed into one work.70
Concluding Remarks
More than twenty years ago I had the opportunity to visit
the Longmen grottoes complex (Longmen shiku 龍門石窟 ),
characterized by a huge amount of caves distributed all along
the riverbank of a tributary watercourse of the river Luo,
close to the “divine capital” (shendu 神都)71 in the presentday Henan province. The complex reverberates with the magnitude of Buddhist faith, not only of the Tang dynasty but also
of previous dynasties, when this place was chosen as key site
of worship.72 Because of their location between water and
mountains, the visitor is overwhelmed by a myriad of small,
medium- sized, and big caves, housing symbolic elements
mostly from the Buddhist faith.73
70 Panofsky, Meaning in the Visual Arts, 26–54.
71 This is how Luoyang was considered by Wu Zetian during her
66 Barrett, Taoism under the T’ang.
reign. Luoyang became the permanent Eastern Capital in 657 and
was considered the imperial temporary residence until 683, when
67 By 670 Princess Taiping was part of the complicated negotiWu Zetian permanently established her court there. In 701 the capations held by her father, Emperor Gaozong, in order to secure a
FOR
PRIVATE
AND
ital was
transferred again when Wu Zetian returned to Chang’an. See
peace treaty with the king of Turfan. After Gaozong died,
Taiping
Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung,” 258.
came back to the imperial court. As one can read in the NON-COMMERCIAL
Tang hui yao
USE
唐會要 (Institutional History of the Tang): “The princess Taiping
was ONLY
72 The complex of Longmen 龍門 (lit. the Dragon Gate) was
assigned as abbess (nü guan 女官) at the former Daoist Monastery
considered an ideal mountain river model, crucial in terms of
of the Empress Zhaocheng ( Zhaocheng guan 昭成觀 ), henceforth
fengshui, and therefore it was an ideal place to build a temple. In fact,
becoming the Monastery of Taiping ( Taiping guan 太 平觀 )” (the
after the introduction of Buddhism into China this place, besides
translation is slightly modi ied). See Ebner von Eschenbach, in Kralle
being very close to one of the principal capitals of Chinese history,
and Schilling, Schreiben über Frauen in China, 266.
was chosen as an auspicious location for its cult. McNair, Donors of
68 Barrett, Taoism under the T’ang, 35.
69 See Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 255n87.
Longmen, 111.
73 Ibid., 118.
21
21
Many scholars have speculated whether the seventeenmetre-high Buddha statue, which possesses evident female
characteristics, or the crowned and jewelled Buddha
performing the bhūmisparsa- mudrā really represent
depictions of Wu Zetian herself.74 Whether this theory, based
on stylistic and iconographical grounds, is valid or not, the
Longmen complex and the huge Vairocana Buddha, “whose
eyes appear to ix the viewer’s in their gaze,”75 not only express
peculiar ties between esoteric Buddhism and Wu Zetian
but also represent possibly the most striking of the many
examples of how Wu Zetian’s complex political and religious
strategy to deify herself and legitimize her rising power was
crystal clear from the very beginning.76 In analyzing how she
titled77 herself throughout her reign one can observe that, step
by step, she assumed the title of “Divine Emperor” (690–693),
then became cakravartin (693–694),78 and inally this process
came to a crescendo when she decided to accumulate all the
titles in one, becoming “Maitreya, Sagely and Divine Emperor,
Cakravartin of the Golden Wheel Transcending Antiquity”
(694– 695). In doing so, she not only became the “king of
kings,” sage, and divine emperor, but also considered herself
an incarnation of the Buddha of the Future, as described in
the prophecy of the Mahāmegha Sūtra.
We do not know what Wu Zetian looked like. One can
imagine her like the ladies depicted by Zhang Xuan (710– after
748) in his scroll Lady Guoguo’s Spring Outing (Guoguo furen
youchun tu 虢國夫人游春圖), or as she was depicted in the
famous collection “Portrait and Eulogies of the Ancients” by
the artist Zheng Zhenduo. 79 What writers such as Richard
74 This seated Buddha found in the Leigutai 鼓 台 South Cave
(Longmen—East Side) presents similar features to those of the large
Variocana Buddha. McNair, Donors of Longmen, 97. See also Sorensen,
Payne, and Orzech, Esoteric Buddhism, 403.
Guisso and Antonino Forte have argued is that she was particularly aware of how the adoption of speci ic texts and
a cult of images were her major propaganda devices. 80 The
Vairocana, for instance, which represents the mainstream
of Mahayana Buddhism between 655 and 675, 81 not only
represented the diffusion of the Buddhist faith worshipped
by the imperial family but also implied a theomorphic claim
of rulership itself.
In this case, visual evidence, such as omens, statues, and
palaces, together with the introduction of speci ic classics in
the curricula of the future mandarins, such as Daoist texts, 82
were very powerful means that Wu Zetian employed in a
masterly manner to propose a new order of things. Her use of
religious images to convey secular power should not be seen
as autonomous forces but interlinked objects that promoted
the cult of her personality. Although one should not think that
she was a donor only to Buddhism, a Daoist religion,83 there
is no doubt that Longmeng was Wu Zetian’s greatest legacy
in art. Longmen was the sacred place where Buddhism and
Daoism met, the image of the “Queen Mother of the West” and
the “King Father of the East” blending through the Buddhist
iconography that had been growing through the centuries. 84
The same craftsmen, artisans, and anonymous artists were
employed to build any kind of temple and different subjects,
therefore creating a continuity in the stylistic narrative.
Longmen was perhaps the perfect place to manifest queenship, political discourse, and power legitimization practices
in the imperial Chinese context, which was essentially hostile
to female rulership.
76 Ibid., 117; Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 4.
80 Such as performing the feng and shan rites. On these rites, see
Chavanne, Le T’ai Chan; and Rothschild, Wu Zhao, 59–63; Emperor
Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon.
78 In South Asia, during the reign of Aśoka (d. 232 BCE), the ideal
concordance, or harmony, between the macrocosm (universe) and
the political microcosm was granted by the cakravartin, a “king
of kings” who detains the rcanum imperii of both the universe and
its earthly counterpart. The concept of cakravartin symbolizes the
paramount sovereign. On the importance of this title, see Forte,
Political Propaganda and Ideology in China. At Longmen, there is also
a bas-relief of King Aśoka surrounded by a thousand Buddhas. See
Karetzky, “Wu Zetian and Buddhist Art,” 132.
83 The title of Rothschild’s book is highly informative in this respect;
in fact, her pantheon focused not only on Buddhist and Daoist divinities but also on dynastic mothers and goddesses of antiquity, such
as Nüwa, the river Luo goddess; the silk goddess, Leizu; and Mother
Qi and the ur-mother of the Zhou line, among others. For a complete
study, read Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon.
75 McNair, Donors of Longmen, 111.
77 For a list of Wu Zetian’s titles, see Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao
and Her Pantheon, xvii–xx.
79 Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 4.
81 Sorensen, Payne, and Orzech, Esoteric Buddhism, 218.
82 As already stressed, although Wu Zetian was much inclined to
Buddhism, she was the irst to propose the incorporation of Daoist
texts— such as the Chengui — into the civil service examination
system.
84 McNair, Donors of Longmen, 68.
2
22
Ad Fontes: A Glance at Sources
Several writers interested in Wu Zetian’s biography, work,
and world, most of whom have already been quoted in this
short study, have made detailed lists available of both primary and secondary sources in their works. Reference works
such as those written by Antonino Forte and Richard Guisso
are the foundation for anyone who would like to study Wu
Zhao. As N. Harry Rothschild points out, in the last century
one could count more than ifty Wu Zhao biographies. 85
A great number of these biographies were based on primary
sources resulting from long-lasting team works and produced
between the tenth and thirteenth centuries: Liu Xu 劉昫 ’s
“Old Standard History of the Tang History”, Jiu Tangshu 舊
唐書 (tenth century), Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 ’s “New Standard
History of the Tang History,” Xin Tangshu 新唐書 (eleventh
century), and Sima Guang 司馬光’s “Comprehensive Mirror
for Aid in Government,” Zizhi tongjian 資治 通鑑 (eleventh
century),86 and the “Outline of the Comprehensive Mirror
for Aid in Government,” Zizhi tongjian gangmu zizhi 資治通
鑑 綱目 , which was less accurate but more popular than
the Tongjian because it was planned by the eminent neoConfucian scholar Zhuxi 朱熹 . These sources were written
in later periods, which marked a major turning point for
women’s place in society. If one analyzes these sources
chronologically, it is clear that there is a gradual growth in the
intention by scholars to erase the Wu Zetian experience from
history and to depict her as a calamity. Besides, it is evident
that the message conveyed by these documents aims to prevent any female involvement in male affairs and politics. To
get a more balanced representation of Wu Zetian’s biography,
one should check other sources, such as the local histories,
imperial edicts, memorials (such as the “Collected grand
edicts and decrees of the Tang dynasty,” Tang da zhaoling
唐大詔零集), and essays, among others, but also poems (e.g.
the “Complete compilation of the Tang verse,” Quan Tang
shi 全唐詩 ) and Buddhist sūtras (e.g. “Commentary on the
Meaning of the Prophecy About the Divine Sovereign in the
Great Cloud Sūtra,” Dayun jing shenhuang shouji yishu 大雲
經神皇授記義疏 ). In his Wu Zhao biography, Rothschild
provides a detailed description of both of icial histories and
less orthodox sources, stressing that, “while the [four]87 main
histories contain a negative bias against Wu Zhao, lowery
praise written by literary masters to legitimate Wu Zhao’s
political authority is just problematic.”88
There is a very important essay by Twitchett 89 that
contributes an important analysis of sources attributed to
Empress Wu Zetian. Most of these works are listed both in
the “Old” and “New Standard History of the Tang,” as well as
in Japanese sources, such as the “List of Writings Currently
Held in the Nation of Japan,” Nihokoku genzai sho mokuroku
日本 國 現 在 書目録 , compiled during the ninth century by
the Japanese aristocrat and scholar Fujiwara no Sukeyo
藤原 佐世, and the later (eleventh century) “Catalogue of the
Transmission of the Torch to the East,” Tōiki dentō mokuroku
東域伝灯目録 by a Japanese monk, Eicho 永超.
To conclude, as one can observe from the aforementioned
sources, and quoting Harry Rothschild, a “biographer is left
to weigh the con licting materials, blending the biased of icial histories, the Buddhist propaganda and prophecies, the
fulsome memorials, and the tall tales from unof icial sources
into a coherent narrative of Wu Zhao’s life and political
career.”90
FOR
AND
85 Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, 215.
The PRIVATE
“Old
NON-COMMERCIAL
Standard History of the Tang” is more accurate than the “New” one.
USE ONLY
However, the “New Standard History of the Tang” contains better
87 Actually, Rothschild quotes only three main histories: the “Old”
monographs and tables than the “Old” one and is more readable; the
and “New Standard History of the Tang” and the “Comprehensive
“Old” and “New Standard History of the Tang” both cover the historMirror for Aid in Government”: Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her
ical period between 618 and 906 and were reprinted by Zhonghua
Pantheon, xiii.
in 1975. The Zizhi tongjian was reprinted in 1995, also by Zhonghua.
88 Ibid.
For more details, see Wilkinson, Chinese History; and Twitchett, The
Cambridge History of China.
86 Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, x.
89 Twitchett, “ ‘Chen Gui.’ ”
90 Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon, xiv.
23
23
Bibliography
Primary Sources
De Bary, Theodore W., and Irene Bloom. Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1999.
Kong, Qiu. Li Chi: Book of Rites: An Encylcopaedia of Ancient Ceremonial Usages, Religious Creeds and Social Institutions. Edited by
Ch’u Chai and Winberg Chai. Translated by James Legge. New York: University Books, 1964.
Owen, Stephen. An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York: Norton, 1997.
Ruan Yuan 阮元, ed. Yingyin Ruan ke Shisanjing zhushu 影印阮刻十三經注疏 [Thirteen Classics: Explanatory Notes and
Commentaries]. Vol. 27. Taipei: Wenhua tushu gongsi, 1970.
Sima Guang 司馬光 and Bo Yang 柏楊. Bo Yang ban zizhi tongjian 柏楊版資治通鑑 [Bo Yang’s Critical Edition of the Zizhi
Tongjian]. Vol. 48. Taipei: Yuan liu, 1988.
———. Bo Yang ban zizhi tongjian 柏楊版資治通鑑 [Bo Yang’s Critical Edition of the Zizhi Tongjian]. Vol. 49. Taipei: Yuan liu, 1988.
Secondary Sources
Barrett, Timothy H. Taoism under the T’ang: Religion and Empire during the Golden Age of Chinese History. London: Wellsweep,
1996.
Cheng, Anne. Histoire de la pensée chinoise. Paris: Seuil, 1997.
Chavanne, Édouard. Le T’ai Chan: Essai de monographie d’un culte chinois. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1910.
Dien, Dora Shu-fang. Empress Wu Zetian in Fiction and in History: Female De iance in Confucian China. New York: Nova
Science, 2003.
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Women and the Family in Chinese History. Abingdon: Routledge, 2003.
Eisenberg, Andrew. “Emperor Gaozong, the Rise of Wu Zetian, and Factional Politics in the Early Tang.” Tang Studies 30
(2012): 45–69.
Feng, Youlan, and Derk Bodde. A History of Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952.
Fitzgerald, Charles Patrick. The Empress Wu. London: Crescent Press, 1968.
Forte, Antonino. Political Propaganda and Ideology in China at the End of the Seventh Century: Inquiry into the Nature, Authors
and Function of the Dunhuang Document S.6502, followed by an Annotated Translation. Kyoto: Scuola italiana di studi sull’Asia
orientale, 2005.
Gao Shiyu 高世瑜. Tang dai funü 唐 代 妇女 [Women of The Tang Dynasty]. Xi’an: Sanqin chubanshe, 1988.
Graham, Angus C. Yin–Yang and the Nature of Correlative Thinking. Singapore: Institute of East Asian Philosophies, 1986.
Guisso, Richard W. “The Reigns of the Empress Wu, Chung-tsung and Jui-tsung (684–712).” In The Cambridge History of
China, vol. 3: Sui and T’ang China 589–906, pt. 1, edited by Denis C. Twitchett, 290–332. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2008.
———. Wu Tse-t’ien and the Politics of Legitimation in T’ang China. Bellingham: Western Washington University, 1978.
Guisso, Richard W., and Stanley Johannesen. Women in China: Current Directions in Historical Scholarship. Youngstown: Philo
Press, 1981.
Guo, Moruo 郭沫若. Wu Zetian: Simu shiju 武則天: 四幕史剧 [Wu Zetian: Play in Four Acts]. Beijing: Renming wenxue
chubanshe, 1979.
Hucker, Charles O. A Dictionary of Of icial Titles in Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985.
Karetzky, Patricia E. “Wu Zetian and Buddhist Art of the Tang Dynasty.” Tang Studies 20/21 (2002): 113–50.
Kelleher, Theresa. “Confucianism.” In Women in World Religions, edited by Arvind Sharma, 135–60. Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1987.
Kieschnick, John. The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.
Kralle, Jianfei, and Dennis R. Schilling, eds. Schrieben über Frauen in China: Ihre Literarisierung im historischen Schriftum und ihr
gesellschaftlicher Status in der Gesellschaft. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004.
24
24
Lee, Lily Xiao Hong, and Sue Wiles, eds. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, vol. 2: Tang through Ming 618–1644.
Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2014.
Li Hua. Contemporary Chinese Fiction by Su Tong and Yu Hua: Coming of Age in Troubled Times. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
Liang Yongyuan 梁永元. Wu Zetian zheng zhuan 武则天正传 [Wu Zetian: A True Biography]. Beijing: Wenhua yishu
chubanshe, 2015.
Lin Yutang 林语堂. Lady Wu: A True Story. London: Heinemann, 1957.
———. Wu Zetian zhuan 武則天傳 [Wu Zetian: A Biography]. Tainan: Dehua chubanshe, 1976.
Loewe, Michael, and Edward L. Shaughnessy, eds. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221
BC. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
McMahon, Keith. Women Shall Not Rule: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Han to Liao. Lanham: Rowman &
Little ield, 2013.
McNair, Amy. Donors of Longmen: Faith, Politics, and Patronage in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Sculpture. Honolulu: University of
Hawai‘i Press, 2007.
Mair, Victor H. The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.
Nylan, Michael. The Five “Confucian” Classics. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Pang-White, Ann A., ed. The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy and Gender. London: Bloomsbury
Academic, 2016.
Panofsky, Erwin. Meaning in the Visual Arts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
Pirandello, Luigi. Uno, nessuno e centomila. Florence: Bemporad, 1926.
Puett, Michael J. To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacri ice, and Self-Divinization in Early China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 2002.
Pulleyblank, Edwin G. Essays on Tang and Pre-Tang China. Burlington: Ashgate, 2001.
———. “The Tzyjyh Tongjiann Kaoyih and the Sources for the History of the Period 730–763.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental
and African Studies 13 (1950): 448–73.
Robinet, Isabelle. Taoism: Growth of a Religion. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.
Rosenlee, Li-Hsiang Lisa. Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation. Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2006.
———. “Neiwai, Civility, and Gender Distinctions.” Asian Philosophy 14 (2004): 41–58.
Rothschild, N. Harry. Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of Devis, Divinities, and Dynastic Mothers. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2015.
———. “Wu Zetian.” In Bibliography of Asian Studies, 571–84. EBSCOhost, 2014. Accessed June 3, 2016. www.asian-studies.org/
Publications/BAS.
———. Wu Zhao: China’s Only Woman Emperor. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008.
Schottenhammer, Angela, and Roderich Ptak. The Perception of Maritime Space in Traditional Chinese Sources.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006.
Silk, Jonathan A., ed. Buddhism in China: Collected Papers of Erik Zürcher. Leiden: Brill, 2014.
Song, Xianlin. “Re-Gendering Chinese History: Zhao Mei’s Emperor Wu Zetian.” East Asia: An International Quarterly 27
(2010): 361–79.
Sorensen, Henrik Hjort, Richard Karl Payne, and Charles D. Orzech. Esoteric Buddhism and Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
FOR
PRIVATE
AND
Su Tong. Wu Zetian 武則天. Hong Kong: Tiandi tushu
youxian
gongsi, 1994
.
NON-COMMERCIAL
Twitchett, Denis C. “‘Chen Gui’ and Other Works Attributed to Empress Wu Zetian.” Asia Major 16 (2003): 33–109.
USE ONLY
———. The Writing of Of icial History under the T’ang. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Twitchett, Denis C., and Howard J. Wechsler. “Kao-tsung (Reign 649–83) and the Empress Wu: The Inheritor and the Usurper.”
In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 3: Sui and T’ang China 589–906, pt. 1, edited by Denis C. Twitchett, 242–89.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Watson, Rubie S., and Patricia Buckley Ebrey. Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1991.
25
25
Wechsler, Howard J. “The Founding of the T’ang Dynasty: Kao-tsu (Reign 618–26).” In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 3: Sui
and T’ang China 589–906, pt. 1, edited by Denis C. Twitchett, 150–87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
———. “T’ai-tsung (reign 626–49) the Consolidator.” In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 3: Sui and T’ang China 589–906,
pt. 1, edited by Denis C. Twitchett, 188–241. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Wilkinson, Endymion P. Chinese History: A Manual. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Yang Lien-sheng. “Female Rulers in Imperial China.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 23 (1960): 47–61. Reprinted in Studies
of Governmental Institutions in Chinese History, edited by John L. Bishop, 153–70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1968.
Zhang Juzheng, and Chen Shengxi. Zhang ju zheng jiangping “lun yu” huangjia duben 张居正讲评《论语》皇家读本 [Imperial
Reading Copy of the Analects with Comments by Zhang Juzheng]. Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2007.
Zhao Fengjie 趙鳳喈. Zhongguo funü zai falüshang zhi diwei 中國婦女在法律上之地位 [The Position of Women in Chinese Law].
Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1929.
Zheng, Yangwen. China on the Sea: How the Maritime World Shaped Modern China. Boston: Brill, 2014.
Zürndorfer, Harriet, ed. Women in China’s Imperial Past: New Perspectives. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
26
FOR PRIVATE AND
NON-COMMERCIAL
USE ONLY