Empress Xiaocigao (Qing dynasty)
Quick Facts
Biography
Empress Xiaocigao (1575–1603), personal name Monggo-Jerjer of the Yehenara clan, was a consort of Nurhaci, the Khan of the Later Jin dynasty (precursor of the Qing dynasty). She was the first consort of a Qing emperor to be posthumously honoured as an Empress.
Life
Monggo-Jerjer was born in the Manchu Yehe clan, a subgroup of the Nara clan. Her father, Yangginu (楊吉砮), was a beile of the Yehenara clan. She had an elder sister, Narinburu.
Monggo-Jerjer married Nurhaci in October 1588 at the age of 13. At that time, Nurhaci's primary consort, Lady Fuca (富察氏), was still living, so Monggo-Jerjer became a concubine. In 1592, she gave birth to a son, Hong Taiji.
Monggo-Jerjer died in 1603. In 1636, after Hong Taiji established the Qing dynasty, he granted his mother the posthumous title "Empress Xiaocigao" and interred her in the Fuling Mausoleum near present-day Shenyang.