Lady Fang (房氏) | 24 Histories

Overview

Lady Fang was an Exemplary Widow.

Life and dates

Death

Age Years 65
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passage 82

Age

Years 65 · Reckoning Age at death
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passage 82
Years 16 · Reckoning Stated
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passage 58

Attested activity

AD 386 to AD 534 魏世
Dated from the passage context · Book of Wei 98, passage 1

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Fang Kan (房堪)
father 父
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passages 56, 74
Child of Mother of Lady Fang (房氏之母)
parents 父母
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 98, passages 69, 73
Parent of Wei Ji (魏緝)
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passages 60, 71, 78
Spouse of Wei Pu (魏溥)
wife 妻 · Widowed
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passages 1, 55

Kinship Role brothers · Quantity unspecified plural
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passages 74, 76

Works and attributed material

Funeral declaration · Speaker · With Wei Pu (魏溥) · Direct quotation · Mode direct-quotation Source Person Id Lady Fang (房氏)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passage 66
Reply · Speaker · With Lady Liu, mother of Wei Pu (劉氏) · Direct quotation · Mode direct-quotation Source Person Id Lady Fang (房氏)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passage 69
Reply · Speaker · With Wei Pu (魏溥) · Direct quotation · Mode direct-quotation Source Person Id Lady Fang (房氏)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passages 62-64

Events and relationships

Cut off her left ear and cast it into Wei Pu’s coffin as a pledge
Mourning · With Wei Pu (魏溥) · Item left ear and knife 左耳、刀
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passage 66
Left a natal visit when she learned her father and brothers doubted her resolve
Travel
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passages 73-76
Reared Wei Ji in seclusion and trained him strictly
Child rearing · With Wei Ji (魏緝)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passages 71-72, 78-81
Was widowed at age sixteen when Wei Pu became mortally ill
Marriage · With Wei Pu (魏溥)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 98, passages 58, 65

Source notes

北史 adds 早寡 after 不幸; the collation does not supplement it
Field quoted wording
Textual variant · Book of Wei 98, passage 238
北史 reads 黃壚 for 黃墟 in Wei Pu’s deathbed speech
Field quoted wording
Textual variant · Book of Wei 98, passages 234-236

References in the histories

Search passages

History

14 passages

Book of Wei, Chapter 98Volume 92: Notable Women: Cui Lan's Consort Feng, Feng Zhuo's Consort Liu, Wei Pu's Consort Fang, Hu Changming's Consort Zhang · 14 passages

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崔覽妻封氏封卓妻劉氏魏溥妻房氏胡長命妻張氏平原女子孫氏房愛親妻崔氏涇州貞女兕先氏[1] 姚氏婦楊氏張洪初妻劉氏[2] 董景起妻張氏陽尼妻高氏史映周妻耿氏任城國太妃孟氏苟金龍妻劉氏盧元禮妻李氏河東孝女姚氏刁思遵妻魯氏 Lady Feng, consort of Cui Lan; Lady Liu, consort of Feng Zhuo; Lady Fang, consort of Wei Pu; Lady Zhang, consort of Hu Changming; Sun Nanyu of Pingyuan; Lady Cui, consort of Fang Aiqin; the chaste woman Sixian of Jing Prefecture; Lady Yang of the Yao household; Lady Liu, consort of Zhang Hongchu; Lady Zhang, consort of Dong Jingqi; Lady Gao, consort of Yang Ni; Lady Geng, consort of Shi Yingzhou; Grand Consort Meng of Rencheng; Lady Liu, consort of Gou Jinlong; Lady Li, consort of Lu Yuanli; the filial daughter Yao of Hedong; Lady Lu, consort of Diao Sizun.

鉅鹿魏溥妻，常山房氏女也。 The consort of Wei Pu of Julu was a daughter of the Fang clan of Changshan.

房氏婉順高明，幼有烈操。 Lady Fang was gentle, compliant, and of lofty character; from childhood she possessed a resolute integrity.

[4]房垂泣而對曰：「幸承先人餘訓，出事君子，義在自畢。 [4] Fang wept as she answered: "I have been fortunate to receive my ancestors' teaching; having married a gentleman, my duty is to see it through to the end.

及大斂，房氏操刀割左耳，投之棺中，仍曰：「鬼神有知，相期泉壤。」 At the encoffinment, Lady Fang took a knife, cut off her left ear, and cast it into the coffin, saying: "If the spirits have knowledge, let us meet in the underworld."

姑劉氏輟哭而謂曰：「新婦何至於此！」 Her mother-in-law Lady Liu stopped weeping and said, "Daughter-in-law, how could you go so far!"

房對曰：「新婦少年不幸，[6]實慮父母未量至情，覬持此自誓耳。」 Fang answered, "Your daughter-in-law met misfortune young; [6] I feared my parents would not grasp the depth of my devotion and meant this act as a pledge to myself."

緝年十二，房父母仍存，於是歸寧。 When Ji was twelve and Fang's parents were still living, she made a visit home.

父兄尚有異議，緝竊聞之，以啟母。 Her father and brothers still had doubts about her resolve; Ji overheard them and told his mother.

房命駕紿云他行，因而遂歸，其家弗知之也。 Fang ordered the carriage prepared, pretended she was bound elsewhere, and returned home before her family realized what she had heard.

行數十里方覺，兄弟來追，房哀歎而不反。 After several tens of li her family realized what had happened and her brothers came in pursuit, but Fang wept and would not turn back.

金紫光祿大夫高閭為其文，序云：「祖母房年在弱笄，艱貞守志，秉恭妻之操，著自毀之誠。」 Grandee of the Golden Bell and Purple Radiance Gao Lu composed its inscription, writing in the preface: "Our grandmother Fang, still in her maiden years, bore hardship and held to her resolve, embodying the conduct of a devoted wife and the sincerity of her self-mutilation."

所以抱怨於黃墟耳北史卷九一魏溥妻房氏傳「墟」作「壚」。 "This is why I lodge my complaint in the yellow mound": in the biography of Wei Pu's wife Lady Fang in juan 91 of the History of the Northern Dynasties, "mound (xu)" appears as "barrow (lu)."

新婦少年不幸北史卷九一「不幸」下有「早寡」二字，疑此脫，但無亦通，今不補。 "Your daughter-in-law met misfortune young": juan 91 of the History of the Northern Dynasties adds "early widowhood" after "misfortune," possibly omitted here, but the text reads well without it—no supplementation is made.