Empress Wu (Zhaolie)

Empress Wu (吳皇后, personal name unknown) (died 245), formally Empress Mu (穆皇后, literally "the just empress") was an empress of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. She was the last wife and the only empress of Liu Bei, the founding emperor of Shu Han, and the younger sister of Wu Yi (吳懿). Her father, whose name is not recorded in history, was a friend of Liu Yan's, and followed Liu Yan to Yi Province (益州, modern Sichuan and Chongqing) when Liu Yan was made the governor. Because of the friendship between her father and Liu Yan, she was married to Liu Yan's son Liu Mao (劉瑁). After Liu Mao's death, she did not remarry for some time.

When Liu Bei seized Yi Province from Lady Wu's brother-in-law Liu Zhang in 214, he had been effectively divorced from his wife Lady Sun, the sister of Sun Quan. He married Lady Wu. When he claimed for himself the title of the Prince of Hanzhong in 219, he made her his princess. After the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty in 220 (with Emperor Xian's abdication to Cao Pi), Liu Bei claimed for himself the Han imperial title in 221, establishing Shu Han. Later that year, he created her empress. After his death in 223, his son and successor Liu Shan honored her as empress dowager. She died in 245. ("Records of Three Kingdoms" was inconsistent in stating whether she, or Liu Shan's mother Lady Gan, was buried with their husband Liu Bei.)

References

* "Records of Three Kingdoms", vol. 34.
* "Zizhi Tongjian", vols. 69, 74.