憲 Xiàn
Biography
讓皇帝憲，始王永平。文明元年，武后以睿宗為皇帝，故憲立為皇太子；睿宗降為皇嗣，更冊為皇孫，與諸王皆出閤，開府置官屬。長壽二年，降王壽春，與衡陽、巴陵、彭城三王同封，復詔入閤。中宗立，改王蔡，固辭不敢當。唐隆元年，進封宋。
睿宗將建東宮，以憲嫡長，又嘗為太子，而楚王有大功，故久不定。憲辭曰：「儲副，天下公器，時平則先嫡，國難則先功，重社稷也。使付授非宜，海內失望，臣以死請。」因涕泣固讓。時大臣亦言楚王有定社稷功，且聖庶抗嫡，不宜更議。帝嘉憲讓，遂許之，立楚王為皇太子，以憲為雍州牧、揚州大都督、太子太師，實封至二千戶，賜甲第，物段五千，良馬二十，奴婢十房，上田三十頃。進尚書左僕射，又兼司徒。讓司徒，更為太子賓客。
時太平公主有醜圖，姚元崇、宋璟白帝，請出憲及申王成義為刺史，以銷釋陰計，乃以司徒兼蒲州刺史，進司空。玄宗既討定蕭、岑之難，進憲位太尉，贈千戶，固辭，更授開府儀同三司，解太尉、揚州大都督。徙王寧，又兼太常卿。開元十四年，表解卿。久之，復為太尉。歷澤、岐、涇三州刺史，累封至五千五百戶。二十九年薨。
初，帝五子列第東都積善坊，號「五王子宅」。及賜第上都隆慶坊，亦號「五王宅」。玄宗為太子，嘗制大衾長枕，將與諸王共之。睿宗知，喜甚。及先天後，盡以隆慶舊邸為興慶宮，而賜憲及薛王第於勝業坊，申、岐二王居安興坊，環列宮側。天子於宮西、南置樓，其西署曰「花萼相輝之樓」，南曰「勤政務本之樓」，帝時時登之，聞諸王作樂，必亟召升樓，與同榻坐，或就幸第，賦詩燕嬉，賜金帛侑歡。諸王日朝側門，既歸，即具樂縱飲，擊球、鬥雞、馳鷹犬為樂，如是歲月不絕，所至輒中使勞賜相踵，世謂天子友悌，古無有者。帝於敦睦蓋天性然，雖讒邪亂其間，而卒無以搖。時有脊〓鸰千數集麟德殿廷樹，翔棲浹日。左清道率府長史魏光乘作頌，以為天子友悌之祥。帝喜，亦為作頌。
Xian, Emperor Rang, was first Prince of Yongping. In the first year of Wenming, Empress Wu made Ruizong emperor, and so Xian was made Crown Prince. When Ruizong was reduced to Imperial Heir, Xian was enfeoffed anew as Imperial Grandson, and with the other princes he left the inner palace and opened an office with its own staff. In the second year of Changshou he was reduced to Prince of Shouchun, enfeoffed at the same time as the three princes of Hengyang, Baling and Pengcheng, and they were again ordered back into the inner palace. When Zhongzong came to the throne, his princedom was changed to Cai, but he firmly declined it, not daring to accept. In the first year of Tanglong he was raised to Prince of Song. Edit
When Ruizong was about to establish the Eastern Palace, Xian was the eldest son of the principal wife and had once been Crown Prince, while the Prince of Chu had great merit, and so for a long time nothing was decided. Xian declined, saying, "The place of heir is the common vessel of the empire. In times of peace the eldest son of the principal wife comes first; in times of danger to the state merit comes first; this is to give weight to the altars of the state. If it were given to the wrong man, all within the seas would be disappointed. I beg this of you at the risk of my life." And he wept and firmly gave way. At the time the high ministers also said that the Prince of Chu had the merit of having secured the altars of the state, and that since a wise son of a secondary consort rivalled the eldest son of the principal wife, there should be no further debate. The emperor praised Xian for yielding and agreed. He made the Prince of Chu Crown Prince, and made Xian Governor of Yong Prefecture, Grand Area Commander-in-chief of Yang Prefecture and Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent, with a fief of an actual two thousand households, and gave him a first-class mansion, five thousand bolts of goods, twenty fine horses, ten households of slaves and thirty qing of first-class land. He was promoted to Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and also made concurrently Grand Minister of Education. He declined the post of Grand Minister of Education and was made instead Adviser to the Heir Apparent. Edit
At this time the Princess Taiping had foul designs. Yao Yuanchong and Song Jing told the emperor of them and asked that Xian and Chengyi, Prince of Shen, be sent out as prefects so as to undo her secret plans. So Xian, as Grand Minister of Education, was made concurrently Prefect of Pu Prefecture, and then promoted to Grand Minister of Works. When Xuanzong had put down the trouble of Xiao and Cen, he raised Xian to the rank of Grand Commandant and added a thousand households to his fief; Xian firmly declined, and was given instead the rank of Commander Unequalled in Honour, and relieved of the posts of Grand Commandant and Grand Area Commander-in-chief of Yang Prefecture. His princedom was moved to Ning, and he was also made concurrently Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the fourteenth year of Kaiyuan he submitted a memorial asking to be relieved of the post of Chief Minister. After a long time he was again made Grand Commandant. He served in turn as Prefect of the three prefectures of Ze, Qi and Jing, and his fief was raised step by step to fifty-five hundred households. He died in the twenty-ninth year. Edit
At first the five sons of the emperor had mansions side by side in the Jishan Ward of the Eastern Capital, called "the Mansions of the Five Princes." When they were given mansions in the Longqing Ward of the Upper Capital, these too were called "the Mansions of the Five Princes." When Xuanzong was Crown Prince, he once had a great quilt and a long pillow made, meaning to share them with the other princes. Ruizong learned of it and was very pleased. After the Xiantian era, the old residences in Longqing Ward were all made into the Xingqing Palace, and Xian and the Prince of Xue were given mansions in the Shengye Ward, while the Princes of Shen and Qi lived in the Anxing Ward, ranged around the side of the palace. The Son of Heaven built towers on the west and south of the palace; the western one was named "the Tower Where Flower and Calyx Shine Together" and the southern one "the Tower of Diligent Government and Attention to Fundamentals." The emperor often climbed them, and when he heard the princes making music, he would at once call them up into the tower and sit with them on the same couch; or he would go to their mansions, where they composed poems, feasted and made merry, and he gave them gold and silk to add to their pleasure. The princes attended court each day at the side gate, and when they had gone home they set out music and drank freely, and amused themselves with polo, cockfighting and racing hawks and hounds. So it went on, year after year, without a break, and wherever they went, palace envoys bringing gifts and greetings followed one upon another. The world said that such brotherly love in a Son of Heaven had never been seen in antiquity. The emperor's warmth toward his kin was, it seems, his nature; although slanderers and evil men tried to make trouble among them, they could never shake it. At that time wagtails in their thousands gathered in the trees of the court of the Linde Hall, flying and roosting there for a full day. Wei Guangcheng, Chief of Staff of the Left Guard Command for Clearing the Way, wrote an ode, taking it for an omen of the emperor's brotherly love. The emperor was pleased and wrote an ode on it as well. Edit
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憲尤謹畏，未嘗幹政而與人交，帝益信重，嘗以書賜憲等曰：「魏文帝詩：『西山一何高，高高殊無極。上有兩仟童，不飲亦不食。賜我一丸藥，光耀有五色。服之四五日，身體生羽翼。』朕每言服藥而求羽翼，寧如兄弟天生之羽翼乎？陳思王之才，足以經國，絕其朝謁，卒使憂死，魏祚未終，司馬氏奪之，豈神丸效耶？虞舜至聖，舍象傲以親九族，九族既睦，平章百姓。今數千載，天下歸善焉，此朕廢寢忘食所慕嘆也。頃因余暇，選仟錄得神方，雲餌之必壽。今持此藥，願與兄弟共之，偕至長齡，永永無極也。」後申王等相繼薨，唯憲在，帝親待愈益厚。每生日必幸其第為壽，往往留宿；居常無日不賜遺，尚食總監及四方所獻酒酪異饌；皆分餉之。憲嘗請歲盡錄賜目付史官，必數百紙。後有疾，護醫將膳，騎相望也。僧崇一者療之，少損，帝喜甚，賜緋袍、銀魚。已而疾寢劇，薨，年六十三。帝失聲號慟，左右皆泣下。
帝以憲實推天下，有高世之行，非大號不稱，乃追謚讓皇帝，遣尚書左丞相裴耀卿、太常卿韋縚持節奉冊。其子璡表陳憲宿素退讓，不敢當大號。制不許。及斂，出天子服一稱，詔右監門大將軍高力士以手書寘靈坐，贈妃元為恭皇后，葬橋陵旁。及葬，敕中使諭璡等，送終之具，使眾見之，示以儉薄。所司請如諸陵，設千味食內壙中，監護使耀卿建言：「尚食料水陸千餘種及馬、牛、驢、犢、麞、鹿、鵝、鴨、魚、雁體節之味，並藥酒三十名，盛夏胎養，不可多殺，考求禮據，無所憑依。陛下每申讓帝之志，務存約素，請蠲省折衷。」詔可。既發引，大雨，有詔慶王潭等涉塗泥，步送十里，號其墓曰惠陵。
憲嘗從帝按舞萬歲樓，帝從復道上見衛士已食，棄其餘竇中。帝怒，詔高力士杖殺之，憲從容曰：「從復道上窺人之私，恐士不自安，且失大體，豈以性命輕於余饗乎？」帝遽止，謂力士曰：「王於我，可謂有急難也。不然，且誤殺士。」又涼州獻新曲，帝御便坐，召諸王觀之。憲曰：「曲雖佳，然宮離而不屬，商亂而暴，君卑逼下，臣僭犯上。發於忽微，形於音聲，播之詠歌，見於人事，臣恐一日有播遷之禍。」帝默然。及安、史亂，世乃思憲審音云。
憲本名成器，避昭成太后謚，與申王成義俱改今名。憲子十九人，其聞者璡、嗣莊、琳、瑀。
Xian was especially careful and cautious; he never meddled in government or made friends with other men, and the emperor trusted and valued him all the more. He once sent a letter to Xian and the others which said: "A poem of Emperor Wen of Wei says: 'How high the Western Mountain rises, high, high, without an end. On it there are two immortal boys, who neither drink nor eat. They gave me a single pill, that shone in five colours. Four or five days after I took it, my body grew wings.' I have always said that taking drugs in search of wings cannot compare with the wings that Heaven gives in brothers. The talent of Prince Si of Chen was enough to govern the state, yet he was cut off from attending court and in the end died of grief; and before the house of Wei had run its course, the Sima clan seized it. Was that the working of a magic pill? Shun of Yu was the highest of sages, yet he forgave Xiang's arrogance in order to be close to the nine branches of his kin, and once the nine branches were in harmony he brought order to the hundred clans. Now, after several thousand years, the whole world still calls him good. This is what I admire and sigh after, forgetting sleep and food. Lately, in some spare time, I went through the records of the immortals and found a divine recipe; it is said that whoever takes it will surely live long. Now I take up this medicine and wish to share it with my brothers, so that together we may reach a great age, for ever and ever without end." Later the Prince of Shen and the others died one after another, and only Xian remained; the emperor treated him with ever greater warmth. On each of his birthdays the emperor went to his mansion to wish him long life, and often stayed the night. In ordinary times not a day passed without gifts; the wines, milk products and rare dishes of the Directorate General of Imperial Food and those presented from every quarter were all shared with him. Xian once asked that at the end of each year the lists of gifts be sent to the historians; they always ran to several hundred sheets. Later, when he was ill, the riders escorting doctors and bringing food were within sight of one another along the road. A monk named Chongyi treated him and he improved a little; the emperor was overjoyed and gave the monk a scarlet robe and a silver fish. Soon the illness grew worse, and he died aged sixty-three. The emperor cried aloud in grief, and those about him all wept. Edit
The emperor held that Xian had in truth given up the empire, that his conduct stood above the age, and that nothing less than the highest title would fit him, so he gave him the posthumous name Emperor Rang, and sent Pei Yaoqing, Left Chancellor of the Department of State Affairs, and Wei Tao, Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, bearing the tally, to present the patent. His son Jin submitted a memorial saying that Xian had always been self-effacing and would not dare to accept so great a title. The emperor's decree refused. When the body was laid in the coffin, a full set of the emperor's own clothing was brought out, and Gao Lishi, General-in-Chief of the Right Gate Guard, was ordered by edict to place a letter in the emperor's own hand on the spirit seat. His consort Lady Yuan was granted posthumously the title of Empress Gong, and he was buried beside the Qiao Mausoleum. At the burial a palace envoy was ordered to tell Jin and the others that the funeral furnishings should be shown to the crowd, to make plain that they were plain and modest. The officials concerned asked that, as at the imperial mausoleums, a thousand dishes of food be set inside the tomb chamber. Yaoqing, the commissioner supervising the funeral, said: "The provisions of the Imperial Food Service run to more than a thousand kinds from land and water, with joints of horse, ox, donkey, calf, river deer, deer, goose, duck, fish and wild goose, and thirty kinds of medicinal wine. In high summer the animals are bearing and rearing their young and should not be killed in numbers; and when we look into the rites for a precedent, there is none to rely on. Your Majesty has always made known Emperor Rang's wish and has striven to keep things simple; I ask that the offerings be reduced to a middle measure." The edict approved. When the funeral procession set out there was heavy rain, and an edict ordered Tan, Prince of Qing, and the others to wade through the mud and walk ten li with the procession. His tomb was named the Hui Mausoleum. Edit
Xian once attended the emperor at the Wansui Tower to watch dancing. From the covered walkway the emperor saw that a guardsman, having eaten, had thrown his leftovers into a drain. The emperor was angry and ordered Gao Lishi to have him beaten to death. Xian said calmly, "If you look down from the covered walkway and spy on men's private doings, I fear the soldiers will not feel at ease, and it is beneath your dignity. Besides, is a man's life worth less than leftover food?" The emperor stopped it at once and said to Lishi, "The prince is one who stands by me in time of need. But for him I would have killed a soldier in error." Another time, Liang Prefecture presented a new tune, and the emperor sat in an informal hall and called the princes to watch it. Xian said, "The tune is fine, but the gong note strays and does not hold together, and the shang note is disordered and violent. The ruler is weak and pressed from below, and the subjects overstep and offend those above. What begins in the slightest things takes shape in sound, spreads in song, and shows itself in the affairs of men. I fear that one day there will be the disaster of flight and exile." The emperor was silent. When the rebellion of An Lushan and Shi Siming came, the world remembered, it is said, how well Xian could judge music. Edit
Xian's original name was Chengqi; to avoid the posthumous title of the Empress Dowager Zhaocheng, he and Chengyi, Prince of Shen, both changed to their present names. Xian had nineteen sons; those who became known were Jin, Sizhuang, Lin and Yu. Edit
The English was translated from the original by an AI, not checked sentence by sentence by a person, and is for reference; where it differs from the original, the original is right. Names are in pinyin. If a sentence is wrong, use “Edit” after the paragraph to correct it - no need to sign in.
Source: 新唐书 卷八十一 列传第六 三宗诸子 (New Book of Tang, juan 81, Biographies 6: Sons of Three Emperors)
Wikipedia: Li Chengqi · Chinese Wikipedia: 李憲 (寧王) · Baidu Baike: 李宪 (an article of the same name, not checked to be him)
Source
From the historical record: the notes below say where · tang-zongshi-02094
Notes (2)
- [Source] 新唐书 卷七十下 表第十下 宗室世系下 New Book of Tang, juan 70B, Table 10B: Genealogical Table of the Imperial Clan, part 2
- [Collation note] 表题作「讓皇帝房，亦曰寧王房」。 The table’s heading reads “house of Emperor Rang, also called the house of the Prince of Ning”.