Ming · Ming Emperor

Jianwen Emperor 建文皇帝

Jianwen Huangdi

First attested AD 1398; died AD 1402

Passages: 25
Chapters: 5
Histories: 1

Overview

Jianwen Emperor was a Ming Emperor.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Huai Emperor	惠帝	Huidi

Life and dates

Death

AD 1402 建文
Died in palace fire (or rumored escape)
Directly stated · History of Ming 169, passage 40
AD 1402 洪武三十五年
buried as Jianwen Emperor after capital fell
Strongly inferred · History of Ming 5, passage 180

Attested activity

AD 1399 to AD 1402 建文
Directly stated · History of Ming 8, passage 77; History of Ming 58, passage 27
AD 1399 to AD 1402 建文
Dated from the passage context · History of Ming 169, passage 40
AD 1399 建文元年
Dated from the passage context · History of Ming 5, passage 18
AD 1399 建文元年
Directly stated · History of Ming 115, passage 176
AD 1402 建文四年
Dated from the passage context · History of Ming 5, passages 165, 171
AD 1398 洪武三十一年閏五月
Dated from the passage context · History of Ming 5, passage 10

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Crown Prince Yiwen (懿文太子)
imperial grandson 皇太孫
Strongly inferred · History of Ming 5, passages 10, 183
Child of Zhu Biao (朱標)
second son 次
Directly stated · History of Ming 115, passage 175
Kin of Zhu Di (朱棣)
uncle 叔父
Directly stated · History of Ming 5, passage 108
Sibling of Zhu Yunhuang (朱允熥)
Uncertain siblings
Strongly inferred · History of Ming 5, passage 190

Key source chapters

Career and standing

AD 1398 洪武三十一年閏五月
Directly stated · History of Ming 5, passage 10
AD 1402 建文四年
capital fell; Chengzu took throne
Strongly inferred · History of Ming 5, passages 172, 178

Places and affiliations

Ming 明
Relation Ruled
Directly stated · History of Ming 8, passage 77
Ming 明
Relation Served
Directly stated · History of Ming 169, passage 40
Polity Ming 明 · Relation Served
Directly stated · History of Ming 58, passage 27

Events and relationships

Mandated three year mourning
Edict · Issuer
Directly stated · History of Ming 58, passage 27

References in the histories

Search passages

History

25 passages

History of Ming, Chapter 5Volume 5 Annals 5: Chengzu 1 · 17 passages

三十一年閏五月，太祖崩，皇太孫即位，遺詔諸王臨國中，毋得至京師。 In intercalary fifth month of year 31 Taizu died and the imperial grandson took the throne. The dying edict kept the princes in their domains and barred them from the capital.

帝納齊泰、黃子澄謀，欲因事以次削除之。 The emperor took Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng's counsel and planned to pick them off one by one when occasion offered.

泰、子澄密勸帝除王，帝未決。 Tai and Zicheng secretly pressed the emperor to destroy the Prince, but he could not bring himself to act.

建文元年夏六月，燕山百戶倪諒告變，逮官校於諒、周鐸等伏誅。 In the sixth month of summer in Jianwen year 1, Ni Liang, a Yan Mountain centurion, denounced a plot; palace aides were seized, and Yu Liang, Zhou Duo, and others were put to death.

上書天子，指泰、子澄為奸臣，並援《祖訓》「朝無正臣，内有奸惡，則親王訓兵待命，天子密詔諸王統領鎮兵討平之」。 He memorialized the throne, naming Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng as traitors and invoking the Ancestral Instructions: "When the court has no upright ministers and villains stir within, imperial princes are to ready their troops and await command, and the Son of Heaven will secretly order the princes to lead frontier forces and put the rebellion down."

八月，天子以耿炳文為大將軍，帥師致討。 In the eighth month the court named Geng Bingwen grand general and marched him against the Prince.

天子聞炳文敗，遣曹國公李景隆代領其軍。 Learning of Geng Bingwen's rout, the court sent the Duke of Cao, Li Jinglong, to take over the army.

諸將以天子有詔，毋使负殺叔父名，仓卒相顧愕貽，不敢发一矢。 The southern commanders, bound by the Son of Heaven's order not to bear the guilt of slaying their uncle, gaped at one another and would not draw a bow.

天子使大理少卿薛岩來报，谕王释甲，王不奉詔。 The emperor sent Xue Yan, vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review, with a reply urging the prince to disarm. The prince refused the command.

天子怒，下胜狱。 The emperor flew into a rage and threw Sheng into prison.

所克城邑，兵去旋复為朝廷守，仅据有北平、保定、永平三府而已。 Cities he seized slipped back to the court the moment his columns moved on. He truly held only Beiping, Baoding, and Yongping.

天子遣慶成郡主至軍中，許割地以和，不听。 The emperor sent the Princess of Qingcheng to his camp with an offer of territory for peace. He would not hear it.

辛酉，天子复遣大臣議割地，諸王继至，皆不听。 On xinyou the emperor again sent high ministers to negotiate a cession of land. Imperial princes followed one after another. He listened to none.

丙寅，諸王群臣上表勸進。 On bingyin the princes and the court memorialized him to take the throne.

壬申，葬建文皇帝。 On renshen he buried the Jianwen emperor.

建文中更改成法，一復舊制。 Every Jianwen reform is rolled back to the old order.

癸未，召前北平按察使陳瑛為左副都御史，盡復建文朝廢斥者官。 On guiwei he recalled former Beiping surveillance commissioner Chen Ying as left vice censor-in-chief and restored every officeholder cashiered under Jianwen.

History of Ming, Chapter 8Volume 8 Annals 8: Renzong · 2 passages

十一月壬申朔，詔禮部：「建文諸臣家屬在教坊司、錦衣衛、浣衣局及習匠、功臣家為奴者，悉宥為民，還其田土。 On the new moon of the eleventh month on renshen the Ministry of Rites was ordered: "Free to common status the kin of Jianwen loyalists held in the music school, Embroidered Uniform Guard, laundry offices, artisan registers, and merit-holders' households, and restore their fields.

十二月癸卯，宥建文諸臣外親全家戍邊者，留一人，餘悉放還。 In the twelfth month on guimao the outer kin of Jianwen officials who had been banished as whole clans were pardoned—one member was kept at the frontier, the rest released home.

History of Ming, Chapter 58Volume 58 Treatises 34: Rites 12 · 1 passage

建文帝詔行三年喪，事在《本紀》。 The Jianwen Emperor issued an edict mandating three-year mourning; the matter is recorded in the 《Basic Annals》.

History of Ming, Chapter 115Volume 115 Biographies 3: Emperor Xingzong Xiaokang, Emperor Ruizong Xingxian · 2 passages

生子五：長雄英，次建文皇帝，次允熥，次允熞，次允熙。 He had five sons: Xiongying, then the future Jianwen emperor, then Yun Teng, Yun Jian, and Yun Xi.

惠帝即位，尊為皇太后。 When the Jianwen emperor took the throne, she was honored as empress dowager.

History of Ming, Chapter 169Volume 169 Biographies 57: Gao Gu, Hu Ying, Wang Zhi · 3 passages

惠帝之崩於火，或言遁去，諸舊臣多從者，帝疑之。 When the Jianwen emperor died in the palace fire, some said he had escaped and that many former officials had gone with him; the Yongle emperor was uneasy.

五年遣濙頒禦制諸書，並訪仙人張邋遢，遍行天下州郡鄉邑，隱察建文帝安在。 In Yongle five the emperor sent Hu Ying out to distribute imperial works and to search for the immortal Zhang Guaiya, touring every province and village in the land while secretly trying to learn whether the Jianwen emperor was still alive.

先濙未至，傳言建文帝蹈海去，帝分遣內臣鄭和數輩浮海下西洋，至是疑始釋。 Before Hu Ying returned, rumor said the Jianwen emperor had fled overseas, and the emperor had sent eunuchs including Zheng He on voyages to the Western Ocean; only now did his suspicions ease.