Don't Let The World Spoil You

each of us would be forever connected by our shared experience, and each would have to rejoin the world as best he could. 

Daemon Targaryen and his braid

Xiao Chuo, Empress Dowager Chengtian

Xiao Chuo, 953– 1009 (Liao dynasty), was empress to Emperor Jingzong (Yelü Xian) of the northern Liao dynasty.  Xiao Chuo is often known by her childhood name, Yanyan, and in some sources by her posthumous title, Empress Ruizhi. Most commonly known as Empress Dowager Chengtian (Chengtian taihou), after the death of her husband she served as regent for her son Yelü Longxu (Emperor Shengzong) until her death, fought alongside him on the battlefield, and is credited with brokering the influential Treaty of Shanyuan (1005) with the Northern Song dynasty.

During Jingzong’s reign, Chengtian aided the emperor in managing government affairs, accompanied him to the front on occasion, and handled affairs of state during his many absences. The Kitan guozhi adds that his officials and generals all went to Chengtian to discuss important matters, and once a decision had been reached, they informed Jingzong so that it could be promulgated in his name. The emperor was often ill and sometimes unable to direct the sporadic warfare along the border in which the Liao were often engaged. Even in matters concerning wars with the Song, Chengtian was “the actual ruler of the Kitan and decided all matters.” When the Kitan made war in “Yi, Ding, You, and Yan prefectures, it was the empress who made the decisions and sent out the signals.”

Chengtian excelled in administration, which required competency in both Chinese and the Kitan written language as well as organizational skills. As noted by modern scholars, “while Chengtian was alive, there was no question of who was ultimately in control; these great ministers of state were the empress dowager’s men.” Furthermore Chengtian “was no capricious tyrant, but a ruler who deeply understood the realities of power and the art of governance and who was always willing to listen to advice. She won the deep loyalty of Liao officials, Kitan and Chinese alike.”

the biological, adopted and known foster children of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of Austria