Empress Xu (Ming dynasty)

Empress Renxiaowen
Empress Consort of Ming China
Reign	1402 – 1407
Predecessor	Empress Xiaominrang
Successor	Empress Chengxiaozhao
Born	1362 Yingtian, Yuan Empire
Died	July 1407 (aged 45) Nanjing, Jiangsu, Ming Empire
Burial	Changling, Ming dynasty tombs
Spouse	Yongle Emperor
Issue	Zhu Gaochi, Hongxi Emperor Zhu Gaoxu, Prince of Han Zhu Gaosui, Prince Jian of Zhao Princess Ancheng Princess Xianning
Full name Xu Yihua (徐儀華) Posthumous name 仁孝慈懿誠明庄獻配天齊聖文皇后
Father	Xu Da
Mother	Lady Xie

Empress Xu (徐皇后) (1362 – July 1407), formally Empress Renxiaowen (仁孝文皇后), birth name Xu Yihua (徐儀華), was the empress consort to the Yongle Emperor and the third empress of China's Ming dynasty. She was well educated, compiling bibliographies of virtuous women, an activity connected with court politics.^[1]

Biography

Xu Yihua was born in 1362, as the eldest daughter of Xu Da and Lady Xie (謝氏). She had four brothers—Xu Huizu (徐輝祖), Xu Tianfu (徐添福), Xu Yingxu (徐膺緒), and Xu Zengshou (徐增壽)—and two younger sisters, who were the wives of Zhu Gui, Prince Jian of Dai (thirteenth son of the Hongwu Emperor) and Zhu Ying, Prince Hui of An (twenty-second son of the Hongwu Emperor). On 17 February 1376, she married the Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, the Hongwu Emperor's fourth son. After Zhu Di ascended the throne as the Yongle Emperor on 17 July 1402, Xu Yihua, as his primary wife and consort, was created empress in December 1402.

A devout Buddhist, Xu is the first person credited with transcribing a Buddhist sutra from a dream revelation. The work is entitled Da Ming Ren xiao Huang hou meng kan Fo Shuo di yi xi yu da gong de jing (The sutra of great merit of the foremost rarity spoken by the Buddha which the Renxiao empress of the great Ming received in a dream). In her introduction to the sutra, the empress wrote that one night after meditating and burning incense, Guanyin appeared to her as if in a dream, and took her to a holy realm where the sutra was revealed to her in order to save her from disaster. After reading the sutra three times, she was able to memorize it and recall it perfectly upon awakening and writing it down. The sutra conveys conventional Mahayana philosophies, and the mantras for chanting were typical of Tibetan Buddhist practices.^[2]

Family

• Father
  • Xu Da
• Mother
  • Lady Xie (謝氏), second daughter of Xie Jianxing (謝再興)
• Husband
  • Yongle Emperor

Notes