Dou Dexuan
Dou Dexuan (Chinese: 竇德
Background
[edit]Dou Dexuan was born in 598, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. His family had been a hereditary aristocratic family during Sui and its predecessor dynasties Northern Zhou and Western Wei, and his grandfather Dou Zhao (竇照) had married a daughter of Western Wei's paramount general and ancestor to Northern Zhou's imperial house, Yuwen Tai, who was later known as Princess Yiyang during Northern Zhou,[2] and he was created the Duke of Julu. Dou Dexuan's father Dou Yan (竇彥) inherited the title and served as a commandery governor during Sui. His older brother Dou Deming (竇德
Dou Dexuan himself was said to start his career in civil service when he was first an imperial university student during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui. He served as a guard commander for Emperor Gaozu of Tang briefly before he seized the throne from Yang You, in 517 or 518. His activities during Emperor Gaozu's reign were not clear, but historical records indicated that he did not have much success in the political arena during Emperor Taizong's reign.
During Emperor Gaozong's reign
[edit]It was said that after Emperor Gaozong became emperor in 649, Dou had served as deputy director of palace affairs, and he was promoted to the post of imperial censor on the basis of his long service to the empire. In or after 662, probably in 664, he was promoted to the post of minister of census, a more important post. It was said that he was one of more than a dozen officials who were promoted around the same time by Emperor Gaozong personally, including the future chancellors Liu Xiangdao, Shangguan Yi, and Hao Chujun, and it was recorded also that Emperor Gaozong selected them "to show the chancellors, including Li Ji," although what exactly Emperor Gaozong was showing the chancellors was not clearly stated. In 664, he was also made acting Zuo Xiang (
It was said that Dou, as chancellor, was hard-working and careful. In 665, as Emperor Gaozong was planning to sacrifice to heaven and earth at Mount Tai, and he had Dou and Li Ji serve as his attendants. On the way from the eastern capital Luoyang to Mount Tai, as Emperor Gaozong was passing through Puyang, Emperor Gaozong, remembering that Puyang was formerly known as Diqiu (
After Emperor Gaozong completed the sacrifices in spring 666, he was set to upgrade Dou's title by two grades.[3] Dou, citing that his brother Dou Deyuan (竇德
Notes and references
[edit]- ^
兩 千 年 中 西曆 轉換 [dead link] - ^ That Dou Zhao's wife was Yuwen Tai's daughter was per Dou Dexuan's biography in the New Book of Tang, which referred to her as the daughter of "Emperor Wen of Zhou," Emperor Wen being Yuwen Tai's posthumously honored name after his son Emperor Xiaomin of Northern Zhou became Northern Zhou's founding emperor. See New Book of Tang, vol. 95. The modern Chinese historian Bo Yang's work the Family Records of the Chinese Emperors, Empresses, Princes, and Princesses (
中國 帝王 皇后 親王 公主 世 系 錄 ), vol. 2, indicated that Dou Zhao's wife was the daughter of Emperor Wen of Western Wei. It is not known whether Princess Yiyang was Dou Dexuan's grandmother. - ^ This implied that Dou already had a noble title prior to this time, but historical records do not indicate what it was.
- New Book of Tang, vol. 95.
- Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 201.