Empress Yu Daolian

Empress Yu Daolian (庾道憐) (died 366), formally Empress Xiao (孝皇后, literally "the filial empress"), was an empress of Jin Dynasty (265-420). Her husband was Emperor Fei of Jin.

Yu Daolian was the daughter of Yu Bing (庾冰), one of the co-prime ministers during the reigns of Emperor Cheng and Emperor Kang -- both his nephews and sons of his sister Empress Yu Wenjun, making her an aunt to her husband, who was Empress Yu Wenjun's grandson. Little is known about her. She was already Emperor Fei's wife when he was Prince of Donghai during the reign of his cousin Emperor Mu, and she then carried the title of Princess of Donghai. Presumably, after he was given the greater title of Prince of Langye after his brother Emperor Ai became emperor in 361, she carried the title of Princess of Langye, but there was no record of her using that title. After her husband became emperor in 365 after his brother's death, he created her empress. She died a year later in 366, without having had any children, and was given the posthumous name Empress Xiao and buried with honors due an empress. (The reason why her posthumous name was one character rather than two, as was customary for empresses of the period, was that typically one character came from her husband's posthumous name, but her husband, who was later deposed, did not have a posthumoust name and therefore had no character to add to her posthumous name.)

Emperor Fei was deposed by the powerful general Huan Wen in 371. After he was then demoted to the title of Duke of Haixi, Empress Yu was also posthumously demoted to the title of Duchess of Haixi. After he died in 386, she was disinterred and reburied with her husband at his place of exile, Wu (吳縣, in modern Suzhou, Jiangsu).

References

* "Book of Jin", vol. 32.
* "Zizhi Tongjian", vol. 101.