Empress Xiaocigao (Qing dynasty)

Empress Xiaocigao (1575–1603) was a concubine of Nurhaci, khan of the Later Jin dynasty (the precursor of the Qing dynasty in China). She was the first concubine of a Qing ruler to be posthumously granted the title of Empress.

Biography

Empress Xiaocigao was born of the Manchu Yehe clan, a subgroup of the Nara clan, therefore she was also known as Lady Yehenara. Her personal name was Monggo (ᠮᠣᠩᡤᠣᠵᡝᠵᡝ).^[1] She was the youngest daughter of Yangginu (楊吉砮), beile of the Yehe clan. She had an older sister called Narinburu.

Lady Yehenara married Nurhaci in October 1588 at the age of 13. At that time Nurhaci's primary wife Lady Fuca (富察氏) was still living, so Lady Yehenara became Nurhaci's concubine. In 1592 she gave birth to a son, Hong Taiji, who would succeed Nurhaci as khan of the Later Jin dynasty.

Lady Yehenara died in 1603 at the age of 28. 33 years later in 1636, after Hong Taiji established the Qing dynasty, he granted his mother the posthumous title of Empress Xiaocigao. Empress Xiaocigao was interred in the Fuling Mausoleum near Shenyang.

Posthumous title

Empress Xiaocigao's full posthumous title is:

Empress Xiaoci zhaoxian jingshun renhui yide xianqing chengtian fusheng Gao
(孝慈昭憲敬順仁徽懿德顯慶承天輔聖高皇后)

Notes

↑ Manchu documents part 3 (滿洲實錄.卷三).

References

Manchu documents.
The Last Emperors "A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions", Evelyn S. Rawski. ISBN 0-520-22837-5
Daily Life in the Forbidden City, Wan Yi, Wang Shuqing, Lu Yanzhen ISBN 0-670-81164-5

Succession

Preceded by Lady Abahai	Empress of the Qing dynasty (granted the title of Empress posthumously in 1636)	Succeeded by Empress Xiaoduanwen

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