Empress Dowager Wang (Southern Ming)

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Letter from the Empress Dowager Helena Wang (the "honorary mother" of the Yongli Emperor) to the Pope with a request for help. November 1650. Latin translation by Michał Boym.

Empress Dowager Wang (c. 1594? – 1651), personal name unknown, formally known as Empress Dowager Xiaozheng (孝正太后), was an empress dowager of the Southern Ming. She was the main consort of Zhu Changying, Prince of Gui, the father of the Yongli Emperor. She converted to Roman Catholicism and adopted the name Helena.^[1]

She was the principal consort of Zhu Changying, and as such, she became the adoptive mother of his children with his other consorts. After the fall of the Ming dynasty, she was asked to approve of the installation of her stepson Yongli Emperor as Ming Emperor. She gave her approval in November 1646, after which the Emperor could be enthroned. The Yongli Emperor showed his stepmother more influence than was considered necessary, and she acted as one of his principal advisers. It was said that she was:

"...versed in letters, aware of current events, analytical about tasks and clear in her reasoning. After the Emperor assumed the throne there was nothing in which he did not follow her wishes."^[2]

She, along with the Emperors biological mother and his consort, was converted to Catholicism by the Jesuit in April 1648.

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