King Xuan of Zhou
King Xuan of Zhou, personal name Ji Jing, was the eleventh king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 827/25–782 BC.[1]
| King Xuan of Zhou 周宣王 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| King of the Zhou dynasty | |||||
| Reign | 827–782 BC | ||||
| Predecessor | Gong He | ||||
| Successor | King You of Zhou | ||||
| Died | 782 BC | ||||
| Spouse | Queen Jiang | ||||
| Issue | King You of Zhou King Xie of Zhou Changfu, Marquis of Yang | ||||
| |||||
| House | Zhou Dynasty | ||||
| Father | King Li of Zhou | ||||
| Mother | Shen Jiang | ||||
| King Xuan of Zhou | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 周宣王 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | The Commanding King of Zhou | ||||||||
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He worked to restore royal authority after the Gong He interregnum. He fought the 'Western Barbarians' (probably Xianyun) and another group on the Huai River to the southeast. In his ninth year he called a meeting of all the lords. Later he intervened militarily in succession struggles in the states of Lu, Wey and Qi. Sima Qian says "from this time on, the many lords mostly rebelled against royal commands."[1] According to Zhang Shoujie's annotation Correct Meanings (史記正義) to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian,[2] king Xuan is said to have killed the innocent Du Bo (Duke of Tangdu, 唐杜公) and according to tradition was himself killed by an arrow fired by Du Bo's ghost.[3] His son, King You of Zhou was the last king of the Western Zhou.
The Stone Drums of Qin were long mistakenly ascribed to King Xuan.[4]
Family
Queens:
- Queen Xian of Zhou, of the Lü lineage of the Jiang clan of Qi (週獻後 姜姓 呂氏), known as Queen Jiang; a daughter of Duke Wu of Qi; married in 826 BC; the mother of Crown Prince Gongsheng
Concubines:
- Lady Hou (後夫人)
- Nü Jiu (女鳩)
Sons:
- Crown Prince Gongsheng (太子宮涅; d. 771 BC), ruled as King You of Zhou from 781–771 BC
- Prince Yuchen (王子餘臣; d. 750 BC), claimed the throne as King Xie of Zhou from 770–750 BC
- Prince Changfu (王子長父), ruled as the Marquis of Yang
Ancestry
| King Gong of Zhou (d. 900 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||
| King Yih of Zhou (899–892 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||
| King Yi of Zhou (d. 878 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wang Bo Jiang | |||||||||||||||||||
| King Li of Zhou (890–828 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wang Ji of E | |||||||||||||||||||
| King Xuan of Zhou (d. 782 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Shen Jiang of Shen | |||||||||||||||||||
References
Citations
- Shaughnessy & al. (1999), p. 347.
- Volume 4 quote: "周春秋云宣王殺杜伯"
- Ivanhoe (2005), p. 96.
- EB (1885), p. 470.
Bibliography
- Douglas, Robert Kennaway (1885), , 'Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. XVIII, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 469–470.
- Shaughnessy, Edward L.; et al. (1999), Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521470308.
- Ivanhoe, Philip (2005), Readings in classical Chinese philosophy, Indianapolis: Hackett Pub, ISBN 978-0-87220-780-6, OCLC 60826646