Young Lady Erzhu
Open-knowledge reference entry
Empress Erzhu (爾朱皇后) (personal name unknown) was briefly an empress of the Xianbei-led Northern Wei dynasty of China. Her husband was Yuan Ye, also known as the Prince of Changguang. To distinguish her from Erzhu Rong's daughter, she's also referred to as Young Lady Erzhu (小尔朱氏), while Erzhu Rong's daughter is referred to as Elder Lady Erzhu (大尔朱氏). In addition, to further distinguish her from her sister who married Emperor Jiemin of Northern Wei, she's also known as Empress Jianming (建明皇后), "Jianming" being the era name of her husband's brief reign.
Empress Erzhu was the daughter of Erzhu Zhao, the nephew of Northern Wei's paramount general Erzhu Rong. In 530, Emperor Xiaozhuang, suspecting Erzhu Rong of plotting a coup, ambushed and killed him, and Erzhu Rong's relatives rose in rebellion. They declared Yuan Ye the Prince of Changguang, a distant member of the imperial clan, emperor, probably because Yuan Ye's aunt was Erzhu Rong's wife the Princess Beixiang. It is not known whether Empress Erzhu was already married to Yuan Ye by this point, but in any case he created her empress. In 531, after the Erzhus had defeated and killed Emperor Xiaozhuang, they concluded that Yuan Ye was too distant from the lineage of recent emperors, being the grandson of Emperor Wencheng's brother Yuan Zhen (元禎) the Prince of Nan'an, and they deposed him and replaced him with Yuan Gong the Prince of Guangling, who took the throne as Emperor Jiemin. During the reign of Emperor Jiemin, Yuan Ye was treated with respect and created the Prince of Donghai, so Empress Erzhu presumably would have carried the title of Princess of Donghai.
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