The 16-year-old princess married her 34-year-old uncle, and after two years, both died violently, experts: the cause of death may be very embarrassing! The princess was so favored that she died young at the age of 18, so why did she wear a gold mask and be buried with her uncle? The tomb of Princess Chen Guo was excavated more than 960 years later, and experts discovered a secret: it was buried with her uncle!
In the town of Qinglongshan in Inner Mongolia Tongliao Naiman Banner, there is a tomb of a Nobleman of the Liao Dynasty, and after rescue excavations by archaeologists, the mysterious identity of the owner of the tomb was revealed. According to the epitaph, the woman in the tomb was the 18-year-old Princess Yelü of the Liao Dynasty, who wore a silver silk mesh dress, a gold crown on her head, a gold mask on her face, and gilded gold and silver boots on her feet... It's expensive to watch. Lying next to her was her uncle Xiao Shaojie, who was more than ten years older than her, who was also wearing a silver wire mesh coat, a gold crown on his head, a gold mask on his face, and gilt and silver boots on his feet.
Why did the Princess of the Liao Dynasty burrow with her uncle, who was more than ten years older than her, after her death? What kind of relationship is the two of them? Lao Huang will solve your puzzles a little.
According to the Epitaph of Princess Chen Guo, the princess's surname was Yelü, the granddaughter of Emperor Jingzong of Liaojing and Empress Xiao (commonly known as Empress Xiao), whose father was Yelü Longqing, the brother of the Emperor of Qin and Jin, and her mother was Yelü Longqing, the concubine of Yelü Longqing.
So, who is Xiao Shaojue? Xiao Shaoju is not specifically recorded in the History of Liao, nor is it found in other historical sources. In the "Epitaph of Princess Chen Guo", Xiao Shaojue's family lineage is recorded in passing. The Epitaph of Princess Chen Guo reads: "The Taining Army's Jiedushi envoy Xiao Shaojue, the brother of the Empress, was also the brother of the Empress. Princess Chen Guo died in the seventh year of Kaitai, and the empress at that time was Empress Rende of Liaoshengzong, and Xiao Shaojue was the brother of Empress Rende.
Xiao Shaoju is not specifically recorded in the History of Liao, nor is it found in other historical sources. In the "Epitaph of Princess Chen Guo", Xiao Shaojue's family lineage is recorded in passing. The Epitaph of Princess Chen Guo reads: "The Taining Army's Jiedushi envoy Xiao Shaojue, the brother of the Empress, was also the brother of the Empress. "Princess Chen Guo died in the seventh year of Kaitai, and the empress at that time was Empress Xiao Bodhisattva of Shengzong Rende, and Xiao Shaoju was the brother of Empress Rende.
Let's take a look at the relationship between them. Emperor Shengzong of Liao was the uncle of Princess Chen Guo, while Emperor Shengzong's Empress Xiao Bodhisattva was her maternal aunt, and Xiao Bodhisattva was also the niece of her grandmother Empress Xiao (the daughter of Xiao Kuiyin), Xiao Shu's younger brother Xiao Kuiyin. Xiao Shaoju was the brother of her aunt Empress Rende, Empress Xiao Bodhisattva, and the nephew of her grandmother, Empress Xiao, so in this way, the two were uncles and nephews.
In the "Epitaph of Princess Chen Guo", Xiao Shaojue is called "Taining Army Jiedushi Inspector Ma Taishi Du Wei", which means that Xiao Shaoju is The Horse of Princess Chen Guo, and the two are legal husband and wife, so they are buried together after death. The marriage of nieces to uncles is unacceptable in the minds of contemporary people, but such ethical taboos did not exist in many ethnic groups in the ancient north. For example, in the Liao Dynasty where Princess Chen Guo lived, such a marriage was normal.
According to the "Epitaph of the Late Princess Chen Guo" unearthed in the tomb, this young princess has been awarded several titles. At first, she was named "Princess Taiping", later she was named "Princess of Yueguo", and after her death, she was posthumously named "Princess of Chen Guo", which shows that she must have been deeply favored by the royal family during her lifetime. Such a favored princess, marrying her uncle, who was more than ten years older than her, was not a punishment, but a normal marriage match.
According to experts in Liao history, they did not have the concept of marriage between close relatives at that time. In order to ensure the purity of the family's bloodline, in the Khitan royal family, Yelü could only intermarry with the Xiao surname. Today's Japanese imperial family, in order to ensure the purity of the family lineage, still insists on the marriage of close relatives, which can be seen as evidence of the times.
In the seventh year of khitan Kaitai (1016), the princess who was 16 years old at the time married her uncle Xiao Shaoju, who was 18 years older than herself. The grand marriage of Khitan nobles was held in the northern steppe a thousand years ago. However, this remarkable marriage lasted only two years. Two years later, in 1018, the 36-year-old donkey and the 18-year-old Princess Huaji both died violently.
Princess Chen Guo, who was much favored, had only been married for two years, and she died at a young age, which made it difficult for the relatives who had just held an unprecedented huge wedding for her to come out, and in order to make up for their regrets, the relatives held a very solemn funeral for the couple. The tombs of the two men were built very luxuriously, the burial tomb is a brick fresco tomb, dome roof, the original sealed mound on the surface, composed of a sloped stepped tomb, a patio, a long corridor, and a left and right side chamber and a circular main chamber. The two walls of the tomb passage and the Yongdao road, the top are painted with drawings of horses, serving pictures, cranes, clouds and other murals, and the front of the tomb door is a wooden gatehouse made of shadows.
When the burial chamber was opened, the scene presented to archaeologists was a wooden parapet wall on the perimeter of the interior, a brick coffin bed at the rear, and a front offering platform. The coffin bed should have been a bed tent as a burial tool. The corpses of the princess and the donkey lay side by side on the woven gold mattress of the coffin bed, on their backs and straight limbs, with their heads on the east and their feet. They wear gold and silver pillows on their heads, silver wire network burial clothes, their faces covered with gold masks, and their feet wearing gold and silver boots. In particular, the princess lying on the left side of the horse is more graceful and luxurious, with a high-winged gilded gold and silver crown placed above her head, pearls and amber earrings on both ears, a pearl necklace around her neck, two pairs of gold bracelets on her wrists, and 11 gold rings on her hands. Yongdao put epitaphs, etc., the east ear chamber is placed with eating utensils, and the west ear chamber is placed with harnesses and ritual guards.
The final statistical result is that there are as many as 3227 burial items in the tomb. Among them, many products are made of gold, silver, jade, agate, amber, pearls and other precious materials, which in addition to reflecting the mourning of relatives for the two deceased, but also reflects the political, economic, cultural and other aspects of the prosperity of the middle Liao Dynasty.
Although the tomb is luxurious, the 36-year-old donkey horse and the 18-year-old flower princess died inexplicably, which still attracts the attention of archaeologists. However, according to the epitaph, the death of the two had nothing to do with the court battle, and both died of illness. But why the 18-year-old princess died suddenly, and what illness she died of, is still an unsolved mystery. Some experts believe that the death of the two may be related to the marriage of their ancestors' close relatives, but it is not known. Indeed, it is a very embarrassing historical legacy.
(Image from the Internet)