Empress Xiaocigao (Qing dynasty)

Empress Xiaocigao (1575 – 31 October 1603), personal name Monggo-Jerjer^[1] of the Yehenara clan, was a consort of Nurhaci, the Khan of the Later Jin dynasty (precursor of the Qing dynasty). She was the first consort of a Qing emperor to be posthumously honoured as an Empress.

Life

Monggo-Jerjer was born in the Manchu Yehe clan, a subgroup of the Nara clan. Her father, Yangginu (楊吉砮), was a beile of the Yehenara clan. She had two brothers, Narimbulu and Gintaisi, and a sister, also a concubine of Nurhaci.

Monggo-Jerjer married Nurhaci in October 1588 at the age of 13. At that time, Nurhaci's primary consort, Lady Fuca (富察氏), was still living, so Monggo-Jerjer became a concubine. In 1592, she gave birth to a son, Hong Taiji.

Monggo-Jerjer died on 31 October 1603. In 1636, after Hong Taiji established the Qing dynasty, he granted his mother the posthumous title "Empress Xiaocigao" and interred her in the Fu Mausoleum.

Issue

• Hong-Taiji (皇太極; 28 November 1592 – 21 September 1643), Nurhaci's eighth son, enthroned on 20 October 1626

See also

• Ranks of imperial consorts in China#Qing
• Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty

Notes

References

• Veritable Records of Manchuria (滿洲實錄) (in Chinese).
• Rawski, Evelyn S. (1998). The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions (Reprint ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 052092679X.
• Wan, Yi; Shuqing, Wang; Yanzhen, Lu; Scott, Rosemary E. (1988). Daily Life in the Forbidden City: The Qing Dynasty, 1644-1912 (Illustrated ed.). Viking. ISBN 0670811645.
• Zhao, Erxun (1928). Draft History of Qing (Qing Shi Gao) (in Chinese). Volume 214.