Empress Xiaoduanwen

Empress Xiaoduanwen (31 May 1600 – 28 May 1649), of the Mongol Borjigit clan, personal name Jerjer or Jere, was the Empress Consort of Hong Taiji, the second ruler of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty.

Life

Jerjer was a Khorchin Mongol by birth and was from the Borjigit clan, the clan of Genghis Khan. Her father, Manggusi (莽古思), was a beile of the Khorchin Mongols. Her mother was Manggusi's primary consort.

Jerjer married Hong Taiji, the ruler of the Later Jin dynasty, on 28 May 1614 and became his primary consort even though she was not his first wife. In 1636, after Hong Taiji renamed the Later Jin dynasty to Qing dynasty, he instated Jerjer as his Empress. Two of Jerjer's nieces, Bumbutai and Harjol, were also Hong Taiji's consorts.

After Hong Taiji's death in 1643, Jerjer was honoured as "Mother Empress, Empress Dowager" (母后皇太后) by the Shunzhi Emperor, Hong Taiji's ninth son and successor. The emperor's birth mother, Bumbutai (Jerjer's niece), was similarly honoured as "Holy Mother, Empress Dowager" (聖母皇太后).

Jerjer died in 1649 and was interred in the Zhaoling Mausoleum in Shenyang. She was posthumously honoured with the title "Empress Xiaoduanwen".

Children

Jerjer bore Hong Taiji three daughters:

• Makata (馬喀塔; 1625–1663), known as Gurun Princess Wenzhuang (固倫溫莊長公主), Hong Taiji's second daughter. She married Eje (額哲), a Chahar Mongol prince, in 1635. After Eje's death, she remarried Abunai (阿布奈), Eje's younger brother, in 1661.
• Gurun Princess Jingduan (固倫靖端長公主; 1628–1686), personal name unknown, Hong Taiji's third daughter. She married Jitate (奇塔特) of the Khorchin Mongols in 1639.
• Gurun Princess Yong'an (固倫永安長公主; 1634–1692), personal name unknown, Hong Taiji's eighth daughter. She married Bayasihulang (巴雅斯護朗) of the Khorchin Mongols.

See also

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

References

• Hummel, Arthur W. (1943). Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912). United States Government Printing Office. 
• 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.