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Hongwu Emperor

Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328– 24 June 1398), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang , courtesy name Guorui , was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 to 1398.

As famine, plague, and peasant revolt surged across China proper during the 14th century, Zhu Yuanzhang rose to command the Red Turban Rebellion that conquered China proper, ending the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and forcing the remnant Yuan court (known as Northern Yuan in historiography) to retreat to the Mongolian Plateau. Zhu claimed the Mandate of Heaven and established the Ming dynasty at the beginning of 1368 and occupied the Yuan capital of Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing), with his army that same year. Trusting only his family, he made his many sons feudal princes along the northern marches and the Yangtze valley. Having outlived his eldest son Zhu Biao, Zhu enthroned Zhu Biao's son via a series of instructions. This ended in failure when the Jianwen Emperor's attempts to unseat his uncles led to the Jingnan Rebellion.

The era of Hongwu was noted for its tolerance of minorities and religions; the Chinese historian Ma Zhou indicates that the Hongwu Emperor ordered the renovation and construction of many mosques in Xi’an and Nanjing. Wang Daiyu also recorded that the emperor wrote the Hundred-word Eulogy praising Islam.

The reign of the Hongwu Emperor is notable for his unprecedented political reforms. The emperor abolished the position of chancellor, drastically reduced the role of court eunuchs, and adopted draconian measures to address corruption. He also established the Embroidered Uniform Guard, one of the best known secret police organizations in imperial China. In the 1380s and 1390s, a series of purges were launched to eliminate his high-ranked officials and generals; tens of thousands were executed. The reign of Hongwu also witnessed much cruelty. Various cruel methods of execution were introduced for punishable crimes and for those who directly criticized the emperor, and massacres were also carried out against everyone who resisted his rule.

The emperor encouraged agriculture, reduced taxes, incentivized the cultivation of new land, and established laws protecting peasants' property. He also confiscated land held by large estates and forbade private slavery. At the same time, he banned free movement in the empire and assigned hereditary occupational categories to households. Through these measures, Zhu Yuanzhang attempted to rebuild a country that had been ravaged by war, limit and control its social groups, and instill orthodox values in his subjects, eventually creating a strictly regimented society of self-sufficient farming communities.

Early life
Zhu was born to a family of impoverished tenant farmers in Zhongli County in present-day Fengyang, Anhui. His father's name was Zhu Shizhen (朱世珍, original name Zhu Wusi 朱五四) and his mother was Chen Erniang. He had seven older siblings, several of whom were "given away" by his parents, as they did not always have enough food to support the family. When he was 16, severe drought ruined the harvest where his family lived, and famine subsequently killed everyone in his family except for him and one of his brothers. He then buried them by wrapping their bodies in white cloth.

His grandfather, who lived to be 99 years old, had served in the Southern Song army and navy, which had fought against the Mongol invasion, and told his grandson tales of it.

Destitute after his family's death, Zhu accepted a suggestion to take up a pledge made by his brother and became a novice monk at the Huangjue Temple, a local Buddhist monastery. However, he was forced to leave the monastery after it ran short of funds.

For the next few years, Zhu led the life of a wandering beggar and personally experienced the hardships of the common people during the late years of the Yuan dynasty. After about three years, he returned to the monastery and stayed there until he was around 24 years old. He learned to read and write during the time that he spent with the Buddhist monks.

Rise to power
The monastery where Zhu lived was eventually looted and destroyed by an army whose task was supposedly to suppress a local rebellion. In 1352, Zhu joined one of the many insurgent forces that had risen in rebellion against the Yuan. He rose rapidly through the ranks and became a commander. His forces later joined the Red Turbans, a millenarian sect related to the White Lotus Society. then led by Han Shantong. The Red Turbans followed cultural and religious traditions of Buddhism, Manichaeism and other religions. Widely seen as a defender of Confucianism and neo-Confucianism among the predominant Han population in China proper, Zhu emerged as a leader of the rebels that were struggling to overthrow the Yuan dynasty.

In 1356, Zhu and his army conquered Nanjing, which became his base of operations and later the capital of the Ming dynasty during his reign. Zhu's government in Nanjing became famous for good governance, and the city attracted vast numbers of people fleeing from other more lawless regions. It is estimated that Nanjing's population increased tenfold over the next 10 years. In the meantime, the Yuan government had been weakened by internal factions fighting for control, and it made little effort to retake the Yangtze River valley. By 1358, central and Southern China had fallen into the hands of different rebel groups. During that time the Red Turbans also split up. Zhu became the leader of a smaller faction (called "Wu" around 1360), while the larger faction, under Chen Youliang, controlled the center of the Yangtze River valley.

Zhu Yuanzhang was the Duke of Wu, which was nominally under the control of Han Shantong's son Han Lin'er (韓林兒), who was enthroned as the Longfeng Emperor of the Song dynasty.

Zhu was able to attract many talents into his service. One of them was Zhu Sheng (朱升), who advised him to "build high walls, stock up rations, and delay claiming kingship". Another, Jiao Yu, was an artillery officer, who later compiled a military treatise outlining the various types of gunpowder weapons. Another one, Liu Bowen, became one of Zhu's key advisors, and edited the military-technology treatise titled Huolongjing in later years.

Beginning in 1360, Zhu and Chen Youliang fought a protracted war for supremacy over the former territories controlled by the Red Turbans. The pivotal moment in the war was the Battle of Lake Poyang in 1363. The battle lasted three days and ended with the defeat and retreat of Chen's larger navy. Chen died a month later in battle. Zhu did not participate personally in any battles after that and remained in Nanjing, where he directed his generals to go on campaigns.

In 1367, Zhu's forces defeated Zhang Shicheng's Wu regime, which was centered in Suzhou and had previously included most of the Yangtze delta, and Hangzhou, which was formerly the capital of the Song dynasty. This victory granted Zhu's government authority over the lands north and south of the Yangtze River. The other major warlords surrendered to Zhu and on 23 January 1368, Zhu proclaimed himself emperor of the Ming dynasty in Nanjing and adopted "Hongwu" (lit. "vastly martial") as his era name.

In 1368, Ming armies headed north to attack territories that were still under Yuan rule. Toghon Temür (Emperor Shun of Yuan) gave up the capital Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing), and the rest of northern China in September 1368 and retreated to the Mongolian Plateau. On 15 October 1371, one of Hongwu's sons, Zhu Shuang, was married to the sister of Köke Temür, a Bayad general of the Yuan dynasty.

In 1371, the Ming dynasty defeated the Ming Xia founded by Ming Yuzhen, which ruled Sichuan.

The Ming army captured the last Yuan-controlled province of Yunnan in 1381, and China proper was unified under Ming rule.

Reign

Under Hongwu's rule, Mongol and other foreign bureaucrats who had dominated the government during the Yuan along with Northern Chinese officials were replaced by Han officials. The emperor re-instituted, then abolished, then restored, the Confucian civil service imperial examination system, from which most state officials were selected based on their knowledge of literature and philosophy. The Ming examination curriculum followed that set by the Yuan in 1313: a focus on the Four Books over the Five Classics and the commentaries of Zhu Xi. The Confucian scholar-bureaucrats who had been previously marginalized during the Yuan dynasty were reinstated to their predominant roles in the government.

"Barbarian" (i.e. Mongol-related) elements, including garments and names, were made illegal. There was no clear definition on what was "barbarian", and individual clothing styles and names were banned at the emperor's will. There were also attacks on palaces and administrative buildings previously used by the rulers of the Yuan dynasty. But many of Taizu's government institutions were actually modeled on those of the Yuan dynasty: community schools required for primary education in every village.

Ming's legal system established by Hongwu contains various methods of execution including flaying, and slow slicing. One of his generals, Chang Yuchun, carried out massacres in Shandong and Hunan to take revenge against people who resisted his army. Over time, Hongwu became increasingly fearful of rebellions and coups, and also ordered the execution of those of his advisors who criticized him. Manicheanism and the White Lotus Sect, which played significant roles during the revolts against the Yuan, were outlawed. He was also said to have ordered the massacre of several thousand people living in Nanjing after having heard one talked about him without respect. In the Hu Weiyong case alone, tens of thousands of officials and their families were executed over sedition, treason, corruption and other charges. According to an anecdote noted by Ming dynasty writers, in 1380, after much killing, a lightning bolt struck his palace and he stopped the massacres for some time, as he was afraid divine forces would punish him. In the 1390s, however, tens of thousands more people were executed due to their association with an alleged plot of rebellion by general Lan Yu.

After the Ming were established, Hongwu's military officers were given noble titles. These privileged the holder with a stipend, but in all other aspects was merely symbolic. Mu Ying's family was among them. Special rules against abuse of power were implemented on the nobles.

Land reforms
As Hongwu came from a peasant family, he was aware of how peasants used to suffer under the oppression of the scholar-bureaucrats, and the wealthy. Many of the latter, relying on their connections with government officials, encroached unscrupulously on peasants' lands and bribed the officials to transfer the burden of taxation to the poor. To prevent such abuse, he instituted two systems: Yellow Records and Fish Scale Records. They served both to secure the government's income from land taxes and to affirm that peasants would not lose their lands.

However, the reforms did not eliminate the threat of the bureaucrats to peasants. Instead, the expansion of the bureaucrats and their growing prestige translated into more wealth, and tax exemption for those in the government service. The bureaucrats gained new privileges, and some became illegal money-lenders and managers of gambling rings. Using their power, the bureaucrats expanded their estates at the expense of peasants' lands through outright purchase of those lands, and foreclosure on their mortgages whenever they wanted the lands. The peasants often became either tenants, or workers, or sought employment elsewhere.

Since the beginning of the Ming dynasty in 1357, great care was taken by Hongwu to distribute land to peasants. One way was by forced migration to less-dense areas. Hongtong County, for example, was the source of many of those migrants due to its particularly dense population. The migrants were gathered under a pagoda tree (洪洞大槐樹) and escorted to neighboring provinces. "The great pagoda tree in Hongtong, Shanxi" became a common idiom when referring to one's ancestral home in certain areas of Henan and Hebei. Public works projects, such as the construction of irrigation systems, and dikes, were undertaken in an attempt to help farmers. In addition, Hongwu also reduced the demands for corvée labor on the peasantry.

In 1370, Hongwu ordered that some lands in Hunan and Anhui should be given to young farmers who had reached adulthood. The order was intended to prevent landlords from seizing the land, as it also decreed that the titles to the lands were not transferable. During the middle part of his reign, he passed an edict, stating that those who brought fallow land under cultivation could keep it as their property without being taxed. The policy was well received by the people and in 1393, cultivated land rose to 8,804,623 qing and 68 mu, something not achieved during any other Chinese dynasty. Hongwu also instigated the planting of 50 million trees in the vicinity of Nanjing, reconstructing canals, irrigation, and repopulation of the North.

Social policy
Under the Hongwu reign, rural China was reorganized into li (里), communities of 110 households. The position of community chief rotates among the ten most populous households, while the rest were further divided into tithings. Together, the system was known as lijia. The communities were responsible for collecting tax and drafting labor for the local government. Village elders were also obliged to keep surveillance on the community, report criminal activities, and ensure that the residents are fully committed to agricultural work.

The Yuan dynasty Zhuse Huji (諸色戶計) system was continued and the households were categorized into different types. The most basic types, namely civilian households (民戶), military households (軍戶), craftsmen households (匠戶) and salt worker households (鹽灶戶), defined the family's form of corvée labor. Military households, for example, accounted for around one-sixth of the total population at the beginning of the Yongle era, and each was required to provide an adult man as soldier, and at least one more person to work in support roles in the military. The military, craftsmen and salt worker households were hereditary, and converting into civilian households was impossible except in a few very rare situations. A family may simultaneously belong in one of the minor categories, e.g. physician households and scholar households, according to their occupation. In addition to the aforementioned "good" households, discriminatory types also existed, such as entertainer households (樂戶).

Travelers were required to carry a luyin (路引), a permit issued by the local government, and their neighbors were required to have knowledge of their itinerary. Unauthorized domestic migration was banned, and offenders were exiled. The policy was strictly enforced during the Hongwu era.

Zhu Yuanzhang passed a law on mandatory hairstyle on 24 September 1392, mandating that all males grow their hair long and making it illegal for them to shave part of their foreheads while leaving strands of hair which was the Mongol hairstyle. The penalty for both the barber and the person who was shaved and his sons was castration if they cut their hair and their families were to be sent to the borders for exile. This helped eradicated partially shaved Mongol hairstyles and enforced long Han hairstyle.

Military

The Hongwu Emperor realized that the Northern Yuan still posed a threat to the Ming, even though they had been driven away after the collapse of the Yuan. He decided to reassess the orthodox Confucian view that the military class was inferior to that of the scholar bureaucracy. He kept a powerful army, which in 1384 he reorganized using a model known as the weisuo system. Each military unit consisted of 5,600 men divided into five battalions and ten companies. By 1393 the total number of weisuo troops had reached 1,200,000. Soldiers were also assigned land on which to grow crops whilst their positions were made hereditary. This type of system can be traced back to the fubing system of the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Training was conducted within local military districts. In times of war, troops were mobilized from all over the empire on the orders of the Ministry of War, and commanders were appointed to lead them to battle. After the war, the army was disbanded into smaller groups and sent back to their respective districts, while the commanders had to return their authority to the state. This system helped to prevent military leaders from having too much power. The military was under the control of a civilian official for large campaigns, instead of a military general.

Bureaucratic reforms and consolidation of power
Hongwu attempted, and largely succeeded in, the consolidation of control over all aspects of government, so that no other group could gain enough power to overthrow him. He also buttressed the country's defense against the Mongols. He increasingly concentrated power in his own hands. He abolished the chancellor's post, which had been head of the main central administrative body under past dynasties, by suppressing a plot for which he had blamed his chancellor Hu Weiyong. Many argue that Hongwu, because of his wish to concentrate absolute authority in his own hands, removed the only insurance against incompetent emperors.

However, Hongwu could not govern the sprawling Ming Empire all by himself and had to create the new institution of the "Grand Secretary". This cabinet-like organisation progressively took on the powers of the abolished prime minister, becoming just as powerful in time. Ray Huang argued that Grand-Secretaries, outwardly powerless, could exercise considerable positive influence from behind the throne. Because of their prestige and the public trust which they enjoyed, they could act as intermediaries between the emperor and the ministerial officials, and thus provide a stabilising force in the court.

In Hongwu's elimination of the traditional offices of grand councilor, the primary impetus was Hu Weiyong's alleged attempt to usurp the throne. Hu was the Senior Grand Councilor and a capable administrator; however over the years, the magnitude of his powers, as well as involvement in several political scandals eroded the paranoid emperor's trust in him. Finally, in 1380, Hongwu had Hu and his entire family arrested and executed on charges of treason. Using this as an opportunity to purge his government, the emperor also ordered the execution of countless other officials, as well as their families, for associating with Hu. The purge lasted over a decade and resulted in more than 30,000 executions. In 1390, even Li Shanchang, one of the closest old friends of the emperor, who was rewarded as the biggest contributor to the founding of the Ming Empire, was executed along with over 70 members of his extended family. A year after his death, a deputy in the Board of Works made a submission to the emperor appealing Li's innocence, arguing that since Li was already at the apex of honour, wealth and power, the accusation that he wanted to help someone else usurp the throne was clearly ridiculous. Hongwu was unable to refute the accusations and finally ended the purge shortly afterwards.

Hongwu also noted the destructive role of court eunuchs under the previous dynasties. He drastically reduced their numbers, forbidding them to handle documents, insisting that they remain illiterate, and executing those who commented on state affairs. The emperor had a strong aversion to the eunuchs, epitomized by a tablet in his palace stipulating: "Eunuchs must have nothing to do with the administration". This aversion to eunuchs did not long continue among his successors, as the Hongwu and Jianwen emperors' harsh treatment of eunuchs allowed the Yongle Emperor to employ them as a power base during his coup. In addition to Hongwu's aversion to eunuchs, he never consented to any of his consort kin becoming court officials. This policy was fairly well-maintained by later emperors, and no serious trouble was caused by the empresses or their families.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was transformed into a secret police organization during the Hongwu era. It was given the authority to overrule judicial proceedings in prosecutions with full autonomy in arresting, interrogating and punishing anyone, including nobles and the emperor's relatives. In 1393, Jiang Huan (蔣瓛), the chief of the Guard, accused general Lan Yu of plotting rebellion. 15,000 people were executed in familial extermination during the subsequent purges, according to Hongwu.

Through the repeated purges and the elimination of the historical posts, Hongwu fundamentally altered the centuries-old government structure of China, greatly increasing the emperor's absolutism.

Legal reforms
The legal code drawn up in the time of Hongwu was considered one of the great achievements of the era. The History of Ming mentioned that as early as 1364, the monarchy had started to draft a code of laws. This code was known as Da Ming Lü (大明律, "Code of the Great Ming"). The emperor devoted much time to the project and instructed his ministers that the code should be comprehensive and intelligible, so as not to allow any official to exploit loopholes in the code by deliberately misinterpreting it. The Ming code laid much emphasis on family relations. The code was a great improvement on the code of the Tang dynasty in regards to the treatment of slaves. Under the Tang code, slaves were treated as a species of domestic animal; if they were killed by a free citizen, the law imposed no sanction on the killer. Under the Ming dynasty, the law protected both slaves and free citizens.

Later during his reign, however, the Code of the Great Ming was set aside in favor of the far harsher legal system documented in Da Gao (, "Great Announcements"). Compared to the Da Ming Lü, the penalties for almost all crimes were drastically increased, with more than 1,000 crimes eligible for capital punishment. Much of the Da Gao was dedicated to the government and officials, particularly for anti-corruption. Officials who embezzled more than the equivalent of 60 liang of silver (one liang was around 30 grams) were to be beheaded and then flayed, the skin publicly exhibited. Zhu Yuanzhang granted all people the right to capture officials suspected of crimes and directly send them to the capital, a first in Chinese history. Apart from regulating the government, Da Gao aimed to set limits to various social groups. For example, "idle men" who did not change their lifestyles after the new law came into effect would be executed and their neighbors exiled. Da Gao also included extensive sumptuary laws, down to details such as banning ornaments in heating rooms in the houses of commoners.

Economic policy
Supported by the scholar-bureaucrats, he accepted the Confucian viewpoint that merchants were solely parasitic. He felt that agriculture should be the country's source of wealth and that trade was ignoble. As a result, the Ming economic system emphasized agriculture, unlike the economic system of the Song dynasty which had preceded the Yuan, and relied on traders and merchants for revenues. Hongwu also supported the creation of self-supporting agricultural communities.

However, his prejudice against merchants did not diminish the numbers of traders. On the contrary, commerce increased significantly during the Hongwu era because of the growth of industry throughout the empire. This growth in trade was due in part to poor soil conditions and the overpopulation of certain areas, which forced many people to leave their homes and seek their fortunes in trade. A book titled Tu Pien Hsin Shu, written during the Ming gave a detailed description of the activities of merchants at that time.

Although the Hongwu era saw the reintroduction of paper currency, its development was stifled from the beginning. Not understanding inflation, Hongwu gave out so much paper money as rewards that by 1425, the state was forced to restore copper coins because the paper currency had sunk to only 1/70 of its original value.

Education policy
Hongwu tried to remove Mencius from the Temple of Confucius as certain parts of his work were deemed harmful. These include "the people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain are the next; the sovereign is the lightest" (Mengzi, Jin Xin II), as well as, "when the prince regards the ministers as the ground or as grass, they regard him as a robber and an enemy" (Mengzi, Li Lou II). The effort failed due to the objection from important officials, particularly Qian Tang (錢唐), Minister of Justice. Eventually, the emperor organized the compilation of the Mencius Abridged (孟子節文) in which 85 lines were deleted. Apart from those mentioned above, the omitted sentences also included those describing rules of governance, promoting benevolence, and those critical of King Zhou of Shang.

At the Guozijian, law, math, calligraphy, equestrianism, and archery were emphasized by Hongwu in addition to Confucian classics and also required in the imperial examinations. Archery and equestrianism were added to the exam by Hongwu in 1370, similarly to how archery and equestrianism were required for non-military officials at the College of War (武舉) in 1162 by Emperor Xiaozong of Song. The area around the Meridian Gate of Nanjing was used for archery by guards and generals under Hongwu. A cavalry based army modeled on the Yuan military was implemented by the Hongwu and Yongle Emperors. Hongwu's army and officialdom incorporated Mongols.

Equestrianism and archery were favorite pastimes of He Suonan who served in the Yuan and Ming militaries under Hongwu. Archery towers were built by Zhengtong Emperor at the Forbidden City and archery towers were built on the city walls of Xi'an which had been erected by Hongwu.

Hongwu wrote essays which were posted in every village throughout China warning the people to behave or else face horrifying consequences. The 1380s writings of Hongwu includes the "Great warnings" or "Grand Pronouncements", and the "Ancestral Injunctions". He wrote the Six Maxims (六諭, 聖諭六言    ) which inspired the Sacred Edict of the Kangxi Emperor.

Around 1384, Hongwu ordered the Chinese translation and compilation of Islamic astronomical tables, a task that was carried out by the scholars Mashayihei, a Muslim astronomer, and Wu Bozong, a Chinese scholar-official. These tables came to be known as the Huihui Lifa, which was published in China a number of times until the early 18th century,

Religious and ethnic policies

Mongol and Central Asian Semu women and men (with the explicit exclusion of all Hui Hui people and Kipchaks due to their different racial features) were required by the Code of the Great Ming to marry Han Chinese, with the voluntary consent of both spouses and families after the first Ming emperor Hongwu passed the law in Article 122, with the Mongols and Semu forbidden from marrying their own kind.

The Hongwu Emperor married off his own son Zhu Shuang to the Mongol consort Minlie of the Wang clan (d. 1395), the primary consort, younger sister of Köke Temür. David M. Robinson indicated it is unknown whether the Ming marriage laws were actually enforced. At the same time, the Hongwu Emperor also wanted to segregate barbarians like the Mongol and Semu and force them not to use Han names so they could maintain their distinctiveness and not assimilate or get mistaken for Han.

Ming Chinese officials above all regarded Mongols under their rule as a separate ethnicity registered in official hereditary Mongol households, regardless of their lifestyle, dress or language, making it irrelevant whether their culture survived, the Ming viewed everyone who was registered in an official Mongol household (most of which were classified as part of Ming military households) as a Mongol legally.

Hongwu ordered the construction of several mosques in Nanjing, Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian, and had inscriptions praising Muhammad placed in them. He rebuilt the Jinjue Mosque in Nanjing and large numbers of Hui people moved to the city during his rule.

Foreign policy
Hongwu designated the "country without conquest" (不征之国). He listed 15 countries that Ming would not attempt to conquest, such as Japan, Srivijaya, Thailand, Liuqiu and the Vietnamese Trần dynasty.

Vietnam
Hongwu was a non-interventionist, refusing to intervene in a Vietnamese invasion of Champa to help the Chams, only rebuking the Vietnamese for their invasion, being opposed to military action abroad. He specifically warned future emperors only to defend against foreign barbarians, and not engage in expansionist military campaigns for glory and conquest. In his 1395 ancestral injunctions, the emperor specifically wrote that China should not attack Champa, Cambodia or Annam (Vietnam). With the exception of his turn against aggressive expansion, much of Hongwu's foreign policy and his diplomatic institutions were based on Yuan practice.

Japanese pirates
Hongwu sent a message to the Ashikaga shogunate that his army would "capture and exterminate your bandits, head straight for your country, and put your king in bonds". In fact, many of the "dwarf pirates" and "eastern barbarians" raiding his coasts were Chinese, and Hongwu's response was almost entirely passive. The shogun replied "Your great empire may be able to invade Japan, but our small state is not short of a strategy to defend ourselves." The necessity of protecting his state against the Northern Yuan remnants meant that the most Hongwu was able to accomplish against Japan was a series of "sea ban" measures. Private foreign trade was made punishable by death, with the trader's family and neighbors exiled; ships, docks, and shipyards were destroyed, and ports were sabotaged. The plan was at odds with Chinese tradition and was counterproductive as it tied up resources. 74 coastal garrisons had to be established from Guangzhou to Shandong, though they were often manned by local gangs. Hongwu's measures limited tax receipts, impoverished and provoked both coastal Chinese and Japanese against the Hongwu regime, and actually resulted in an increase in piracy, offering too little as a reward for good behavior and enticement for Japanese authorities to root out their own smugglers and pirates. Regardless of the policy, piracy had dropped to negligible levels by the time of its abolition in 1568.

Nonetheless, the sea ban was added by Hongwu to his Ancestral Injunctions and so continued to be broadly enforced through most of the rest of his dynasty: for the next two centuries, the rich farmland of the south and the military theaters of the north were linked only by the Jinghang Canal.

Despite the deep distrust, in Hongwu's Ancestral Injunctions, he listed Japan along with 14 other countries as "countries against which campaigns shall not be launched", and advised his descendants to maintain peace with them. This policy was violated by his son Yongle Emperor who ordered multiple interventions in northern Vietnam, but remained influential for several centuries afterwards.

Byzantine Empire
The History of Ming compiled during the early Qing dynasty describes how Hongwu met with an alleged merchant of the Byzantine Empire named "Nieh-ku-lun" (捏古倫). In September 1371, he had the man sent back to his native country with a letter announcing the founding of the Ming dynasty to John V Palaiologos. It is speculated that the merchant was actually a former bishop of Beijing called Nicolaus de Bentra, sent by Pope John XXII to replace Archbishop John of Montecorvino in 1333. The History of Ming goes on to explain that contacts between China and Fu lin ceased after this point, and diplomats of the great western sea (the Mediterranean Sea) did not appear in China again until the 16th century, with the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci.

Death

After a 30-year reign, Hongwu died on 24 June 1398, at the age of 69. After his death, his physicians were penalized. He was buried at Xiaoling Mausoleum on the Purple Mountain, in the east of Nanjing. The mass sacrifice of concubines after the emperor's death, a practice long disappeared among Chinese dynasties, was revived by Zhu Yuanzhang, probably to clear potential obstacles to the reign of his chosen successor. At least 38 concubines were killed as part of Hongwu's funeral human sacrifice.

Assessment
Historians consider Hongwu as one of the most significant emperors of China. As Patricia Buckley Ebrey puts it, "Seldom has the course of Chinese history been influenced by a single personality as much as it was by the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang." His rise to power was fast despite his having a poor and humble origin. In 11 years, he went from being a penniless monk to the most powerful warlord in China. Five years later, he became emperor of China. Simon Leys described him this way: "'an adventurer from peasant stock, poorly educated, a man of action, a bold and shrewd tactician, a visionary mind, in many respects a creative genius; naturally coarse, cynical, and ruthless, he eventually showed symptoms of paranoia, bordering on psychopathy.'"

Family
Zhu Yuanzhang had many Korean and Mongolian women among his concubines along with his Empress Ma and had 16 daughters and 26 sons with all of them.

Consorts and issue
The History of Ming lists the consorts and issue of the Hongwu Emperor in its princes' and princesses' biographies.
 * Empress Xiaocigao, of the Ma clan
 * Zhu Biao, Crown Prince Yiwen (10 October 1355 – 17 May 1392), first son
 * Zhu Shuang, Prince Min of Qin (3 December 1356 – 9 April 1395), second son
 * Zhu Gang, Prince Gong of Jin (18 December 1358 – 30 March 1398), third son
 * Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, later the Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), fourth son
 * Zhu Su, Prince Ding of Zhou (8 October 1361 – 2 September 1425), fifth son
 * Princess Ningguo (寧國公主; 1364 – 7 September 1434), second daughter
 * Married Mei Yin, Duke Rong (梅殷; d. 1405) in 1378, and had issue (two sons)
 * Princess Anqing (安慶公主), fourth daughter
 * Married Ouyang Lun (歐陽倫; d. 23 July 1397) on 23 December 1381
 * Noble Consort Chengmu, of the Sun clan (1343–1374)
 * Princess Lin'an (臨安公主; 1360 – 17 August 1421), personal name Yufeng (玉鳳), first daughter
 * Married Li Qi (李祺; d. 1402), a son of Li Shanchang, in 1376, and had issue (two sons)
 * Princess Huaiqing (懷慶公主; 1366 – 15 July 1425), sixth daughter
 * Married Wang Ning, Marquis Yongchun (王寧) on 11 September 1382, and had issue (two sons)
 * Tenth daughter
 * Thirteenth daughter
 * Noble Consort, of the Jiang clan (貴妃 江氏)
 * Noble Consort, of the Zhao clan (貴妃 趙氏)
 * Zhu Mo, Prince Jian of Shen (1 September 1380 – 11 June 1431), 21st son
 * Consort Ning, of the Guo clan
 * Princess Runing (汝寧公主), fifth daughter
 * Married Lu Xian (陸賢) on 11 June 1382
 * Princess Daming (大名公主; 1368 – 30 March 1426), seventh daughter
 * Married Li Jian (李堅; d. 1401) on 2 September 1382, and had issue (one son)
 * Zhu Tan, Prince Huang of Lu (15 March 1370 – 2 January 1390), tenth son
 * Consort Zhaojingchong, of the Hu clan (昭敬充妃 胡氏)
 * Zhu Zhen, Prince Zhao of Chu (5 April 1364 – 22 March 1424), sixth son
 * Consort Ding, of the Da clan (定妃 達氏; d. 1390)
 * Zhu Fu, Prince Gong of Qi (23 December 1364 – 1428), seventh son
 * Zhu Zi, Prince of Tan (潭王 朱梓; 6 October 1369 – 18 April 1390), eighth son
 * Consort An, of the Zheng clan (安妃 鄭氏)
 * Princess Fuqing (福清公主; 1370 – 28 February 1417), eighth daughter
 * Married Zhang Lin (張麟) on 26 April 1385, and had issue (one son)
 * Consort Hui, of the Guo clan
 * Zhu Chun, Prince Xian of Shu (蜀獻王 朱椿; 4 April 1371 – 22 March 1423), 11th son
 * Zhu Gui, Prince Jian of Dai (25 August 1374 – 29 December 1446), 13th son
 * Princess Zhenyi of Yongjia (永嘉貞懿公主; 1376 – 12 October 1455), 12th daughter
 * Married Guo Zhen (郭鎮; 1372–1399) on 23 November 1389, and had issue (one son)
 * Zhu Hui, Prince of Gu (谷王 朱橞; 30 April 1379 – 1428), 19th son
 * Princess Ruyang (汝陽公主), 15th daughter
 * Married Xie Da (謝達; d. 1404) on 23 August 1394
 * Consort Shun, of the Hu clan (順妃 胡氏)
 * Zhu Bai, Prince Xian of Xiang (湘獻王 朱柏; 12 September 1371 – 18 May 1399), 12th son
 * Consort Xian, of the Li clan (賢妃 李氏)
 * Zhu Jing, Prince Ding of Tang (唐定王 朱桱; 11 October 1386 – 8 September 1415), 23rd son
 * Consort Hui, of the Liu clan (惠妃 劉氏)
 * Zhu Dong, Prince Jing of Ying (郢靖王 朱棟; 21 June 1388 – 14 November 1414), 24th son
 * Consort Li, of the Ge clan (麗妃 葛氏)
 * Zhu Yi, Prince Li of Yi (伊厲王 朱㰘; 9 July 1388 – 8 October 1414), 25th son
 * Prince Zhu Nan (朱楠; 4 January 1394 – February 1394), 26th son
 * Consort Zhuangjinganronghui, of the Cui clan (莊靖安榮惠妃 崔氏)
 * Consort, of the Han clan (妃 韓氏)
 * Zhu Zhi, Prince Jian of Liao (24 March 1377 – 4 June 1424), 15th son
 * Princess Hanshan (含山公主; 1381 – 18 October 1462), 14th daughter
 * Married Yin Qing (尹清) on 11 September 1394, and had issue (two sons)
 * Consort, of the Yu clan (妃 余氏)
 * Zhu Zhan, Prince Jing of Qing (慶靖王 朱㮵; 6 February 1378 – 23 August 1438), 16th son
 * Consort, of the Yang clan (妃 楊氏)
 * Zhu Quan, Prince Xian of Ning (27 May 1378 – 12 October 1448), 17th son
 * Consort, of the Zhou clan (妃 周氏)
 * Zhu Pian, Prince Zhuang of Min (岷莊王 朱楩; 9 April 1379 – 10 May 1450), 18th son
 * Zhu Song, Prince Xian of Han (韓憲王 朱松; 20 June 1380 – 19 November 1407), 20th son
 * Beauty, of the Zhang clan (美人 張氏), personal name Xuanmiao (玄妙)
 * Princess Baoqing (寶慶公主; 1394–1433), 16th daughter
 * Married Zhao Hui (趙輝; 1387–1476) in 1413
 * Lady, of the Lin clan (林氏)
 * Princess Nankang (南康公主; 1373 – 15 November 1438), personal name Yuhua (玉華), 11th daughter
 * Married Hu Guan (胡觀; d. 1403) in 1387, and had issue (one son)
 * Lady, of the Gao clan (郜氏)
 * Zhu Ying, Prince Zhuang of Su (肅莊王 朱楧; 10 October 1376 – 5 January 1420), 14th son
 * Unknown
 * Princess Chongning (崇寧公主), third daughter
 * Married Niu Cheng (牛城) on 21 December 1384
 * Zhu Qi, Prince of Zhao (趙王 朱杞; October 1369 – 16 January 1371), ninth son
 * Princess Shouchun (壽春公主; 1370 – 1 August 1388), ninth daughter
 * Married Fu Zhong (傅忠; d. 20 December 1394), the first son of Fu Youde, on 9 April 1386, and had issue (one son)
 * Zhu Ying, Prince Hui of An (安惠王 朱楹; 18 October 1383 – 9 October 1417), 22nd son

Novels

 * The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (倚天屠龍記), a 1961–63 wuxia novel by Louis Cha. Zhu Yuanzhang appears as a minor character in the novel. Zhu Yuanzhang has been portrayed by various actors in the films and television series adapted from this novel.
 * She Who Became the Sun, a 2021 novel by Shelley Parker-Chan. Zhu Yuanzhang and his rise to power is the historical basis of the main character Zhu Chongba.
 * Iron Widow, a 2021 novel by Xiran Jay Zhao. Along with Ma Xiuying, Zhu Yuanzhang appears as a minor character in the novel.

Television

 * Born to be a King (大明群英), a 1987 Hong Kong television series produced by TVB and starring Simon Yam as Zhu Yuanzhang.
 * Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), a 1993 Chinese television series produced by Beijing TV and starring Lü Qi as Zhu Yuanzhang.
 * Empress Ma With Great Feet (大腳馬皇后), a 2002 Chinese television series about Zhu Yuanzhang's wife, Empress Ma. Tang Guoqiang starred as Zhu Yuanzhang.
 * Chuanqi Huangdi Zhu Yuanzhang (傳奇皇帝朱元璋), a 2006 Chinese television series starring Chen Baoguo as Zhu Yuanzhang.
 * Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty (朱元璋), a 2006 Chinese television series directed by Feng Xiaoning and starring Hu Jun as Zhu Yuanzhang.
 * The Legendary Liu Bowen (神機妙算劉伯溫), a 2006–2008 Taiwanese television series about Zhu Yuanzhang's adviser, Liu Bowen. It was produced by TTV and starred Huo Zhengqi as Zhu Yuanzhang.
 * Zhenming Tianzi (真命天子), a 2015 Chinese television series produced by Jian Yuanxin and starring Zhang Zhuowen as Zhu Yuanzhang.
 * Love Through Different Times (穿越时空的爱恋), a 2002 Chinese television comedy-drama that is considered the first time-travel television series produced in mainland China.

title: Hongwu Emperor


text:
Talk:Hongwu Emperor

Untitled
Roadrunner:

I’ll acknowledge, this article needs a lot of work. I’ve already born the greatest share of the brunt though. But I know that you'll have fun contradicting me.

172

The date of 1830 is obviously incorrect (he reigned from 1368 to 1398). I have replaced it temporarily by a "xxxx". olivier 13:47 Jan 7, 2003 (UTC)

Ugh. Ugly title for this article. -- Zoe

- I should get around to more biographical information. If I don't, other contributors should take on this task.

I also agree with Zoe. A better title will make this article on such a significant historical figure more likley to be found on a yahoo or a google search. Let's have Roadrunner decide the new name.

172

I recommend either Hongwu, Emperor Hongwu of China or Hongwu of China - Zoe

Given the long history of Imperial China and the possibility of the reigning names of emperors repeating themselves, I will raise the suggestion of incorporating the dynasty in the title--something like "Hongwu of Ming China". Also, I don't have all my sources here, but I seem to remember that Yongle was also Hongwu's son, albeit a younger son. Hongwu's elder son died young, so that he was succeeded by his grandson Zhu Yunwen. A civil war erupted, and Yongle was eventually victorious. Also there were important monetary reforms in Hongwu's time, which led to major inflation and a decentralized currency. Generally not a bad start on an article, but there seems to be too much information about Yongle and the early Ming (important subjects, to be sure, but they can go into their own articles), whereas more on Hongwu would be valuable. The opening remark reminds me of a professor of mine in Chinese history teaching that Mao's rise to power should be seen in the context of traditional changes of dynasty in China. I'll buy that, but I wonder if this is the place to bring that up. Danny

-- Hung-wu's one of the most significant figures in Chinese history, and indeed world history. Hung-wu or Hung-wu would suffice, just like Henry VIII can do instead of Henry VII of the Tudor Dynasty.

172

Actually, we use Henry VIII of England. Danny

Well, we could have Hongwu, Hung-wu, Hongwu Emperor of China. Just redirect all of them to the same article.

172

There are two problems. 1. Consistency: we want the articles for all emperors of China to be titled similarly. 2. China never developed a system of reginal numbers. Where there other Hongwu's? Where there other emperors who shares the same name? How are we distinguishing between them? Danny

I think that, given that many wiki users won't be familiar with Chinese history, and that there is a clearly defined empire with a name that was reigned over, the name of the empire should be stated, so readers can immediately answer the basic questions, who?' and where?''. We have a absolute unintelligable nightmare with Japanese emperors, given that one person refuses to allow the use of the Japan word in their title. At this stage, if you don't already know Japanese emperors, finding them on wiki is now the equivalent of trying to find a needle in a haystack (though efforts are being made to undo with mess). So the name we use should have three things

 * a recognisable name
 * as much historical accuracy as possible (given that we are dealing with an english language version of wiki and so cannot - or should not - translate everything literally if the meaning cannot be grasped by english language readers)
 * a recognisable location.

I certainly would have no problem with in China's case incorporating a dynastic name but only if necessary. STÓD/ÉÍRE 02:22 Apr 7, 2003 (UTC)

I'm not set on it. Just a suggestion. There are also issues of spelling in English (Pinyin vs. Wade-Giles) and the actual names themselves--reign names, personal names, etc. It can be a mess if we are not consistent. Danny

-- Hongwu Emperor is currently the most up-to-date spelling, I believe. Perhaps this will be a better title.

172

I think we should incorporate at least the word "China" in the title, and if the title comes in, it should come first. In cases of European monarchs, we do not include the title. Why would we include it here? Danny

If, as that god-awful battle over on the japanese emperors names pages suggested, eastern tradition places emperor after name, then we could do it, I suppose, rather than apply strict European naming standards to eastern monarchies. But I agree that China should stay; saying that there everyone can tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese, though regularly repeated on wiki, is simply wrong. Many people cannot tell. When you consider there may also be a list of Vietnamese emperors at some stage, it makes sense to clarify who came from where. Having turned {name} Emperor of Japan into {name} Emperor, the last thing we need are more anonymous emperors appearing by the dozen on wiki. (Though I have that dreadful feeling that we will be swamped here like on the Japanese pages by 'purists' demanding we do just that, even if it produces unfindable pages!!!) Man the barracades to defend 'China'! (*big big smile*). Jeez, I never thought I'd hear myself say that!!! STÓD/ÉÍRE 03:36 Apr 7, 2003 (UTC)

-- Does anyone want to add content and perspective to the article? Keep in mind that the posting is entirely mine and Chinese history, at least prior to the First Opium War, is not my area of expertise.

172

I minored in East Asian history, but that was almost twenty years ago, and I haven't touched the stuff since. There was an important economic component to his rule--major inflation because of paper money being printed and distributed without backing, followed by a decentralized currency, which eventually led to economic destablization. You've got a much better grip on economic issues than me. Could you check on that? Danny

-- I've added more on economic policies with a particular bent on as to how they contributed to the aborted commercial revolution of the later Ming years.

172

- Compliments to 172 for this well-thought article especially the concise commerce paragragh; however I'd like to point out certain things: 1) Quote: "Hongwu noted the destructive role of court eunuchs under the Sung". Hongwu did take certain measures against court eunuchs but Sung dynasty was not noted for plaguing of eunuchs.

2) "Although Hongwu’s rule saw the introduction of paper currency, capitalist development would be stifled from the beginning. Not understanding inflation, Hongwu gave out so much paper money as rewards that by 1425 the state was forced to reintroduce copper coins given that the currency was worth 1/70 of its original value."

May you comment on this? I always think Yuan rulers were responsible of devaluing the paper currency; however Hongwu and his Confuscian schloar gentry's lack of monetary knowledge led them to wrongly blaming the introduction of paper currency as one source of devaluing and thus introducing silver for monetary exchange.

3)In my humble opionion, Ming's government's plaguing of commerce have gradually changed Chinese commerce self-supporting and inward, as noticed in the rise of certain specialized merchant groups. For instance Shanxi merchants specialized in currency exchange and banking, Huizhou and Anhui merchants in salt and rice. These merchant groups complemented each other, thus limiting needs of commercial services outside the coutry.

point#3 could be inserted in the Ming Dynasty article. As always, I'm open to discussion. -- User:kt2

--- It's copper right after the abandonment of paper money. You don't see the rise of the silver money economy, I'm fairly certain, until the trade with the Portuguese. I'm fairly certain that the content regarding currency is fine.

I agree, though, point 3 belongs in the article. This is an important factor that I overlooked.

Thank you, kt2.

172

 * but I am pretty sure that Ming dynasty did see the first use of silver money, probably not in Hongwu's time (which I am not sure). IMO, they traded with Portguese and later Dutch for silver during mid-Ming because slmost all silver mines in China have been used up.User:kt2

- They abandoned paper money for copper in the late 15th century, before trade with the Portuguese.

172

Where is the info on what he did before becoming an emperor?
This article just skips to when he becomes an emperor without saying how he came about unifying the empire...no battles...no rivals, nothing? --80.227.100.62 11:00, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

copyedit "Hongwu"
In my copyedit I have normalized all occurrences of the emperor's name to "Hongwu", to conform to the article's current title. If this does not conform to Chinese practice someone please change it: but I'd suggest keeping it uniform, at least, as WadeGiles/pinyin and other spelling conflicts just confuse the text for non-Chinese readers.

--Kessler 00:14, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

I made grammar and style changes to the 'Early Life' section of the article to eliminate some of the more glaringly awkward sentences. The second part of the article didn't seem to need much in the way of alteration, so I left it untouched.

Pajari 03:57, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

The use of the Era name as the emperor's name
It would seem that it is erroneous to use an emperor's era or reign name in lieu of an actual name. Take this quote from the article:

Historians consider Hongwu to be one of the greatest Emperors of China. From the beginning, great care was taken by Hongwu to distribute land to small farmers.

While it is logical to refer to Ming Taizu as the "Hongwu emperor," the fact that his reign was named "Hongwu" does not make that his name. The following is from F.W. Mote's Imperial China (900-1800) published 1999 by Harvard University Press:

In historical writings in Chinese we also find him referred to as "the Hongwu emperor," that name sometimes translated "Abundantly Martial," but that is in no sense his name. It is the name of his reign period, his "era name," and while we may call him "the Hongwu emperor" (the one who reigned during the era named Hongwu) it is incorrect to call him "the Emperor Hongwu."

Referring to Ming and Qing emperors by their era or reign names is only logical because the Hongwu emperor established the practice of using exactly one name for an entire reign. This is why earlier emperors can never be referred to by era name; their eras seldom spanned their entire rule.

So, is this nitpicking, is Mote himself in error (somehow I find the latter unlikely, but the possibility exists), or is this convention worth a second look? I realize it would involve editing a lot of articles; a brief look at some Ming-related articles shows frequent occurrence of reign names being used in this manner (no doubt many Qing articles are this way as well). Just wondering if this is significant enough to warrant so much work. -Yangrw 04:44, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
 * You are completely right but it is simply an unavoidable problem, given how complicated Chinese naming was during the imperial period. Do what you can to fix it. — LlywelynII  15:33, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Consort
Does anyone know anything about this guy's consort? Over at foot binding there's some tale about how his consort had big feet, and he killed the people who mocked her, or something. Any corroboration? ManicParroT 13:30, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

New world foods?
The article says that China's population increase during the emperor's reign was partly due to
 * "New World foods such as corn and sweet potatoes, which entered China through the world trading system".

The emperor died in 1398, long before Columbus, and so I don't see how China could have obtained corn and sweet potatoes by this time. Molinari (talk) 21:37, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I assure you that it is entirely and 100% erroneous; I have deleted that part of the sentence. Someone must have copied what I wrote from the main Ming Dynasty article under the sub-section of trade with Europe, 16th century trade that is.-- Pericles of Athens  Talk 06:44, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Plagiarism
This is all plagiarized from this site. http://www.ibiblio.org/chinesehistory/contents/06dat/bio.1imp.html#Hongwu%20Emperor%20of%20Ming pz out. 157.252.160.32 (talk) 20:09, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
 * You're right: large chunks of texts are taken directly from that page. I don't know what is usually done in such cases. (Does anybody know?) One solution would be to borrow some content from the page on the Ming Dynasty, which is well written and well-referenced, and has a lot of material on the Hongwu emperor. Any thoughts? --Madalibi (talk) 02:15, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like the history report of a 5th grade student...
Not to be offensive to 5th grade intellegiance, but the sentence structure and content of this article needs work to make it more "encyclopedic"--Tangerine!(also known as ashpotter) (talk) 06:28, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm trying, but there's a lot of work to be done here. Zealotoftruth (talk) 15:24, 4 June 2021 (UTC)

Tu Pien Hsin Shu,[citation needed]
This reference is probably referring to Du Bian Xin Shu (杜骗新书)by Zhang Yingyu (張應俞). The title translates very loosely as "New Stories of Tricksters and Cheats." It is a collection of stories about "24 Types" of merchant hucksters during the Ming Dynasty. It is sometimes sold as juvenile literature. I am unaware of an English translation.

Aikailoo (talk) 08:18, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Zhu Yuanzhang's wife (spouse)
Who put Xiao Cigao? His wife and one and only empress during his reign was the famous Empress Ma, known as Ma Chunxiang (1333-1382). Xiao Cigao wasn't ethnic Han and lived during the Qing dynasty 2-3 centuries later. Someone needs to double-check basic historical Wikipedian "facts". Jsw663 (talk) 13:00, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

 * Minor update, added Empress Ma's posthumous name Xiao Ci. Maybe someone confused the two empresses.  Jsw663 (talk) 13:13, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Hongwu
Why is it that in the article, Ming Dynasty, Hongwu means "vastly martial" while in this one it means "great military power"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.205.3.81 (talk) 10:51, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

 * It has been changed to "vastly martial" to maintain consistency with Ming Dynasty. 暗無天日  contact me (聯絡) 13:20, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

Copyright problem removed
Prior content in this article duplicated one or more previously published sources. The material was copied from: http://www.sevencups.com/about-tea/black-tea/. Copied or closely paraphrased material has been rewritten or removed and must not be restored, unless it is duly released under a compatible license. (For more information, please see "using copyrighted works from others" if you are not the copyright holder of this material, or "donating copyrighted materials" if you are.) For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or published material; such additions will be deleted. Contributors may use copyrighted publications as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously, and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with these policies. Thank you. Dana boomer (talk) 23:41, 28 May 2012 (UTC)

islam
yusuf chang and bai shouyi essentially got the claim that hongwu was muslim from an urban legend in the hui community. Also, i could only find two books regarding guo zhixin and the "muslim" rebel group along with empress ma's ancestors. One of them was a malay translation of the other english version, published by institute for southeast asian studies. yusuf never provided primary sources for his claim that he was a muslim, he basically said that he was muslim without offering evidence, just pointing out to the fact that hongwu built some mosques for hui people, and he claimed himself to be descended from a ming princess. Building mosques for muslims does not mean that you are a muslim. Many non muslim leaders like Roger II of Sicily weree islamophiles and had muslim in their armies and introduced muslim culture to their courts, roger even had the hijiri date on his mantle, but they weren't muslim. During the qing dynasty, which was not muslim either, muslim generals served in high ranks, and also during the republic of china. The Taipei Grand Mosque w designed by a non muslim and built by the non muslim government of the Republic of China.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Guo+zhixin+zhu+yuanzhang&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1

More rigorous sources, preferably from a university press should be used for claims like these. They were all urban legends akin to those claiming Ataturk was a crypto jew before Yusuf chang wrote them down.

Also in every other source Empress Ma Chunxiang is mentioned as an ethnic han, nothing about alleged muslim ancestry. Having the surname Ma does not make one automatically a muslim in china, there were han chinese Mas before muslims took the name, ans in every aource/biography of Zhu Yuanzhang, it always mentions his times as a monk at the buddhist monastery when he became 16 and lost his family.

No other source even mentions Guo Zhixin or his alleged muslim rebel group, couldn't find them anywhere, nor could i find them on any accounts of empress ma or of Guo being Ma's guardian. Mendsetting (talk) 03:15, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

The Hongwu Emperor, never Hongwu or Emperor Hongwu
As an editor pointed out above (but non-sinophile editors will need constant reminding), "Hongwu" isn't the name of anyone. The Chinese names during this period were pretty damned complex and certain names were OK or verboten with certain people; once you become emperor, your personal name was pretty much off limits for any purpose.

This rebel leader didn't name himself Hongwu; he named his reign the Time of Hongwu. "Hongwu" was the name of his era, so he is "the Emperor of the Hongwu era" or "The Hongwu Emperor", but not "Hongwu", "Emperor Hongwu", or "Hongwu the Emperor".

It's a little nitpicky, but since this is his wiki page, people interested in the topic will be coming by and we should do what we can to keep it correct. — LlywelynII  15:42, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Wade
Formal papers in English used Wade for the longest time, sure, but it's pretty uncommon to refer to this guy as Hung-wu Ti now. I included all the Wade variants in the metatext at the bottom of the page so that it's available for people searching for it, but it's not like Lao-tse or Taoism where the old use is very firmly established in the general public. Therefore, I removed all the Wade names from the intro text. If anyone feels strongly they should go back in, kindly do some googleh-foo to back up that the name remains in common use and post it here. — LlywelynII  15:48, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

vietnam policy
http://books.google.com/books?id=tyhT9SZRLS8C&pg=PA229#v=onepage&q&f=false

Rajmaan (talk) 23:54, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Hongwu's brother Zhu Shuang
Koko Temur (Wang Baobao) had a Chinese father and a Turkic mother (probably a Buddhist Uighur) and she belonged to Semu class and came from a pro-Mongol family, being the sister of Chagan Temür. Koko was elevated to the status of a Mongol for his loyalty in fighting against Chinese rebels. The Hongwu Emperor married Koko Temur's sister to his own brother Zhu Shuang after capturing her.

http://books.google.com/books?id=SQWW7QgUH4gC&pg=PA522#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=1M5wAAAAMAAJ&q=Koko+Temur+sister&dq=Koko+Temur+sister&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OVdKUtmgNJi14APM64GgBw&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBA

http://books.google.com/books?id=aU5hBMxNgWQC&pg=PA23&dq=Koko+temur+sister&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0k9KUqGHHZK-4AOSw4GIBg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Koko%20temur%20sister&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=tyhT9SZRLS8C&pg=PA128&dq=Koko+temur+sister&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0k9KUqGHHZK-4AOSw4GIBg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Koko%20temur%20sister&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=Fo4wAQAAIAAJ&q=Koko+temur+sister&dq=Koko+temur+sister&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0k9KUqGHHZK-4AOSw4GIBg&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAg

http://books.google.com/books?ei=91JKUqGlB8b54AOGoIDYDQ&id=Fo4wAQAAIAAJ&dq=Another+brother%2C+Chu+Shuang%2C+married+the+sister+of+Koko+Temur+%28d.+1375%29+at+a+time+when+Chu+Yuan-+chang+was+soliciting+his+support+in+the+struggle+against+the+Mongols.+Koko+Temur+decided+against+supporting+Chu%27s+cause%2C+however%2C+and+Chu+...&q=Koko+temur+sister#search_anchor

04:28, 27 December 2013 (UTC)

Haijin
When the guy's single most famous policy passes unlinked, let alone unremarked, and the section on Japanese pirates passes on their majority Chinese nature completely unremarked, and the Hongwu Emp's policy on them is treated as blustering but effective... well... I've linked the relevant articles and found a source for the actual story, but obviously someone is pushing POV edits on the article. Kindly restore them until they grow bored and leave the actual history up. — Llywelyn II   15:23, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

Chinese
Also note that the Chinese text is already dealt with in a series of infoboxes. Per, that means we don't repeat it again in the lead.

Really, the guy needs a full #Name section walking people through how to talk about him, what the different names mean, &c. — Llywelyn II   16:42, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

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Requested move 28 March 2018

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: no consensus to move the page at this time, per the discussion below. Dekimasu よ! 21:21, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

Hongwu Emperor → Zhu Yuanzhang – Absolutely the WP:COMMONNAME per. Timmyshin (talk) 00:10, 28 March 2018 (UTC) --Relisting. Dekimasu よ! 00:10, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

 * Oppose per WP:NC-CHINA: "Emperors of the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty: use era names". -Zanhe (talk) 17:32, 1 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Except Hong Taiji isn't at Chongde Emperor, and Puyi isn't at Xuantong Emperor, not to mention Emperor Yingzong of Ming. Secondly this guideline has been challenged with regards to Ming emperors, and I'm sure you are well aware, at Wikipedia_talk:Naming_conventions_(Chinese). Timmyshin (talk) 17:13, 5 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Hong Taiji did not rule China, Puyi abdicated as a child and lived the majority of his life as a commoner, and Mingzong had two separate reigns and era names because of his capture by the Mongols. These are all special cases requiring special treatment. And the discussion you linked did not result in any change of the naming convention -Zanhe (talk) 15:34, 9 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Per this logic, Zhu Yuanzhang the orphaned monk-turned-emperor is also a special case. And who says you must rule China proper to be considered a Qing emperor? Timmyshin (talk) 00:07, 10 April 2018 (UTC)
 * No, the logic is that during the Ming and Qing, when an emperor rules China, his reign name (such as Hongwu) becomes the official calendar in China, Korea, and Vietnam, is used by everyone on a regular basis, and is inscribed on every piece of Chinese porcelain, which is exported all over the world (just visit any major history museum). Ngram does not capture any of this usage. In contrast, his personal name becomes taboo and legally unspeakable. -Zanhe (talk) 02:58, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

 * Support, while NC-CHINA may oppose it, it is noted even in the policy that there are many exceptions, and COMMON NAME usually overrides any and all other policy. -- Iazyges   Consermonor   Opus meum  13:49, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Comment: He is often simply referred to as "Hongwu". With "emperor" omitted, "Hongwu" is neck-to-neck with "Zhu Yuanzhang", see . -Zanhe (talk) 18:16, 9 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Are you saying this article should be moved to Hongwu? Hongwu is also a given name (e.g. Yang Hongwu), and roughly 30–50% of the GBook hits about "Hongwu" are irrelevant . Timmyshin (talk) 00:07, 10 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Adding the disambiguator "Ming" to Google books search, "Hongwu" Ming -wikipedia yields 19,800 results, while "Zhu Yuanzhang" Ming yields 20,000, still neck-to-neck. And I would support removing the word "emperor" (see my comment from last year), but that would require a wider discussion to change the naming convention. -Zanhe (talk) 03:07, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

 * Oppose. Any decent source will mention that he was both Zhu Yuanzhang and Hongwu. So the ngramming is not helpful. We need to consult published reference works. Dorothy Perkins` Encyclopedia of China gives "Hongwu (emperor)". Nine Zulu queens (talk) 02:17, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Consort sacrifice sources
The sources cited here (e.g. 137) aren't really authoritative or mainstream--some journals from a teachers' college in Shandong, e.g. Is there any indication of the sacrifice from solid sources?

/* Early life */ confusing wording
He had seven older siblings, several of whom were "given away" by his parents, as they always had enough food to support the family Should this be "so they always had enough"? The current wording doesn't make sense. If they had enough food, why would they give away children? — ʀoyoтϵ 04:48, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

this article is of emperor of china Blocau beorhtric (talk) 18:32, 12 March 2023 (UTC)

Birthdate (was: Julian vs Gregorian?)
Someone came on help chat and said that there's an inconsistency re: the birthdate - i.e., October 21 vs October 29. They suggested that this may be a Julian/Gregorian thing. (Also, there's a VPN/IPBE issue, so they can't fix it themself.) I'm not confident that I understand the issue well enough to make the change myself, but I figured I should at least bring it to the attention of people who have this article on their watchlists. DS (talk) 19:13, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

 * I wasn't able to find a reliable source for the October 29 date that had been in the article, so I changed it to October 21 (already supported by the Britannica source the vital dates were cited to, but also added a citation to the subject's biography in a reputable biographical dictionary, already cited in the article without authorship attribution and with different page numbers?). Folly Mox (talk) 00:28, 1 December 2023 (UTC)
 * The subject's date of birth is pretty unstable across multiple language Wikipedias. zh.wp has "October 21" in the lead and "October 29" in the infobox; ja.wp has 29; de.wp has 21 September; fr.wp has 21 October; es.wp has 29; wuu (吳語) has 21 in the lead and the infobox; zh-yue (Cantonese) has 21 twice; no.wp has 21 in the lead and 29 in the infobox; ko.wp has 29 in both spots....I'm not convinced this is a Julian / Gregorian thing. The switchover could cause miscalculation of dates two hundred years prior, but the difference was ten days, and here it is eight. Both sources I've found (from the 1970s and 1980s) give 21 October. The problem is the calculation of when the Chinese New Year took place in 1328, because the month and day of the subject's birth are relative to that date.I'll keep looking for more sources (I found one internet source recently (unreferenced) that claimed another possibility was a date in September), but this sucks. Who cares if he was born a week earlier or later? Folly Mox (talk) 12:27, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Ok actually, maybe it is a Julian / Gregorian thing. Looking at, the difference for the 1300s was eight days, same as here. And the earliest revision containing a birthdate specifies that it's using the Julian calendar.How frustrating. I'll clarify in a footnote I guess, but it would be nice if we didn't have to pick one calendar or the other. Now I'm also going to have to reread sources where I cite a specific date in the long ago times and see which calendar it says it's using. Folly Mox (talk) 12:43, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Hongwu Emperor


text:
Battle of Guadalete

The Battle of Guadalete was the first major battle of the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, fought in 711 at an unidentified location in what is now southern Spain between the Visigoths under their king, Roderic, and the invading forces of the Umayyad Caliphate, composed mainly of Berbers and some Arabs under the commander Tariq ibn Ziyad. The battle was significant as the culmination of a series of Berber attacks and the beginning of al-Andalus. Roderic was killed in the battle, along with many members of the Visigothic nobility, opening the way for the capture of the Visigothic capital of Toledo.

Background
Though the reign of Roderic is traditionally dated to 710–711, a literal reading of the Mozarabic Chronicle of 754 indicates 711–712. Roderic did not rule unopposed, however. The nature of his accession on the death of Wittiza from natural causes or through his assassination is not clear from the sources. It is possible that Roderic was probably the dux (duke) of Baetica before coming to the throne. Archaeological evidence and two surviving lists of kings show that one Achila II ruled in the northeast of the kingdom at this time, but his relationship to Roderic is unknown. Probably they were rivals who never actually came into open conflict, due to the shortness of Roderic's reign and his preoccupation with Muslim raids. Even with Roderic's sphere of influence (the southwest) and his capital Toledo, he was not unopposed after his "usurpation" (the Mozarabic Chronicle calls it an "invasion").

The battle of Guadalete was not an isolated Berber attack but followed a series of raids across the Straits of Gibraltar from North Africa which had resulted in the sack of several south Iberian towns. Berber forces had probably been harassing the peninsula by sea since the conquest of Tangiers in 705–706. Some later Arabic and Christian sources present an earlier raid by a certain Ṭārif in 710 and one, the Ad Sebastianum recension of the Chronicle of Alfonso III, refers to an Arab attack incited by Erwig during the reign of Wamba (672–680). Two reasonably large armies may have been in the south for a year before the decisive battle was fought. These were led by Ṭāriq ibn Ziyad and others under the overall command of Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr. Most of the Arabic and Berber accounts agree that Ṭāriq was a Berber military leader from northern Africa. Ignacio Olagüe, in The Islamic Revolution in the West, argues that Ṭāriq was a Goth and the nominal governor of Tingitania. Others have argued that Ṭāriq was Jewish, Persian, or Turkic.

According to all sources, the earliest being Paul the Deacon, Ṭāriq left from Ceuta (Septem) and landed at the Rock of Calpe, the later Gibraltar, which Arabic sources derive from Jebel Tariq, "Rock of Ṭāriq". A legend first recorded by al-Idrīsī has it that Ṭāriq burned his boats after landing to prevent his army from deserting. From Gibraltar he moved to conquer the region of Algeciras and then followed the Roman road that led to Seville. According to Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, writing around 860, Ṭāriq, commander of the Berber garrison of Tangiers, crossed the straits with ships supplied by a certain Count Julian (Arabic Ilyan), lord of Ceuta and "Alchadra" (Algeciras), and landed near Cartagena, which he captured and made his headquarters.

According to the Mozarabic Chronicle, Mūsā crossed the Gaditanum fretum (Strait of Cádiz) with a large force in 711 and remained in Hispania for fifteen months, but it is unclear from the sources if he came before or after the battle of Guadalete, which was fought by the forces of his subordinates. During his time in the peninsula it was racked by civil war (intestino furore confligeratur, "internal frenzy", to the Mozarabic chronicler), cities were razed, and many people were slaughtered in the general destruction.

According to al-Maqqarī, Roderic was fighting the Basques when he was recalled to the south to deal with an invasion. There is also the record of a Byzantine attack on southern Iberia that was repulsed by Theudimer some years before the fall of the Visigothic kingdom. This has led to theories that the Berber attacks may have been related to the Byzantine operation, and that perhaps the Arabs were originally useful allies in a Byzantine attempt to reconquer the lost province of Spania.

The author of the late Asturian Chronica Prophetica (883) dates the first invasion of Spain to "the Ides of November in the year 752 era", that is, 11 November 714. He also identified two invasions, the first by an Abu Zubra and the second, a year later, by Ṭāriq; probably he has divided the historical figure Ṭāriq ibn Ziyad into two persons.

Date and place
The date of the battle is traditionally 711, though this is not the date given by the Mozarabic Chronicle. The Chronicle dates it to 712 and places it before the conquest of Toledo, which it attributes to Mūsā in 711. If this discrepancy is solved by preferring the chronicler's order to his dating, then the battle occurred in 712 and the fall of Toledo later that same year. Later Arabic accounts give an exact date of 25 or 26 July. A more rough dating is between 19 and 23 July. According to David Levering Lewis, the battle took place on 19 July 711. Preceding the battle was an entire week of inconclusive skirmishes near the lake La Janda, in the plain stretching from the Río Barbate to the Río Guadalete.

According to ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, Ṭāriq was marching from Cartagena to Córdoba—after defeating a Gothic army that tried to stop him—when he met Roderic in battle near Shedunya, probably modern Medina Sidonia. The later Arab accounts, most of them generating from al-Ḥakam's, also place the battle near Medina Sidonia, "near the lake" or Wadilakka (river Lakka), often identified as the Guadalete river, La Janda lake, stream of "Beca", or the Barbate river (that is, their associated valleys). The earliest Christian source, and the nearest source in time to the events, says that it took place near the unidentified "Transductine promontories" (Transductinis promonturiis). Thomas Hodgkin, probably following Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, placed the battle at Jerez de la Frontera. Joaquín Vallvé, studying toponymy, puts the engagement on the banks of the Guadarranque, which he says might derive from Wad al-Rinq (Roderic's river).

Clash
The armies that met in battle on the day that decided the fate of the Gothic kingdom in Spain are not reliably described in the surviving records. Glick surmises that the Muslim army was predominantly Berber cavalry under Berber leadership. The Arabic sources traditionally give Roderic 100,000 troops, gathered during his return to the south after confronting the Basques. This number is outrageously high; it complements the figure of 187,000 for the Muslims provided by the Ad Sebastianum version of the Chronicle of Alfonso III. Ṭāriq is said to have landed with 7,000 horsemen and requested 5,000 more from Mūsā. There could thus have been as many as 12,000 Muslim fighters at the battle. One modern estimate, disregarding the primary source claims, suggest a quarter of the 7,500 reported in one of them; this would be approximately 2,000. The Visigothic forces were "probably not much larger", and the Visigothic kingdom was, unlike Francia to its north, not organised for war. A small number of elite clans (perhaps around twenty five), their warrior followings, the king and his personal following, and the forces that could be raised from the royal fisc constituted the troops upon which Roderic could draw.

The defeat of the Visigothic army followed on the flight of the king's opponents, who had only accompanied the host "in rivalry", "deceitfully", and "out of ambition to rule" says the Mozarabic chronicler. The story of Sisibert abandoning Roderic with the right wing of the host is a legend. Estimating Visigothic forces at 33,000, David Lewis recounts how the Muslim army engaged in a series of violent hit and run attacks, while the Visigothic lines maneuvered en masse. A cavalry wing that had secretly pledged to rebel against Roderic stood aside, giving the enemy an opening. Ṭāriq's cavalry, the mujaffafa, forming as much as a third of the total force and armored in coats of light mail and identifiable by a turban over a metal cap, exploited the opening and charged into the Visigothic infantry, soon followed by the infantry. The Christian army was routed and the king slain in the final hours of battle. The engagement was a bloodbath: Visigothic losses were extremely high, and the Muslims lost as many as 3,000 men, or a quarter of their force.

It is possible that his enemies intended to abandon Roderic on the field, to be defeated and killed by the Muslims. Whatever the case, their plan failed, for they too were largely slain. By another text from the Mozarabic Chronicle the treachery can be placed at Roderic's feet. He "lost his kingdom together with his patria with the killing of his rivals". This unclear passage could indicate that Roderic had killed his rivals and weakened his army, ensuring defeat, or that his rivals too died in the battle or its retreat. The chronicler may be blaming the defeat on factionalism. The Chronicle of Alfonso III, in both its versions, blames the anonymous "sons of Wittiza" for conspiring against Roderic. Oppa, Wittiza's historical brother, was found in Toledo, possibly as king-elect, by Mūsā when he took the city. This Oppa may have had a part to play in the opposition to Roderic, but certainly not his nephews, who would have been too young to participate in power politics in 711. The metropolitan of Toledo, Sindered, fled the city at the coming of the Muslims, and remained for the rest of his life an exile in Rome. The author of the Mozarabic Chronicle caustically notes that he was "an hireling, and not the shepherd" (quoting Jesus, Gospel of John 10:12). The Gothic nobleman Theudimer made an alliance with the conquerors to preserve his own rule of his territory. Within a decade all of the peninsula save the tiny Kingdom of Asturias and the mountain-dwelling Basques was under Muslims dominion and they had advanced beyond the Pyrenees as well.

Cause of Muslim victory
The later Arabic historians universally credit their religion for the victory. Al-Maqqarī, in The Breath of Perfumes, places in the mouth of Ṭāriq a morale-boosting address to his soldiers on the eve of battle, which closes with this exhortation to kill Roderic: Remember that I place myself in the front of this glorious charge which I exhort you to make. At the moment when the two armies meet hand to hand, you will see me, never doubt it, seeking out this Roderick, tyrant of his people, challenging him to combat, if God is willing. If I perish after this, I will have had at least the satisfaction of delivering you, and you will easily find among you an experienced hero, to whom you can confidently give the task of directing you. But should I fall before I reach to Roderick, redouble your ardor, force yourselves to the attack and achieve the conquest of this country, in depriving him of life. With him dead, his soldiers will no longer defy you.

According to later traditions, Iberian Jews, progressively disenfranchised under the rule of Christian monarchs and bishops, provided fighters to augment the Moorish forces. Kaula al-Yahudi distinguished himself in the battle at the head of a mixed contingent of Jews and Berbers, according to the compiler of the Akhbar Majmu'ah. In the aftermath of victory, the Jews reputedly took several cities and were even commissioned to garrison Seville, Córdoba, and Toledo itself. Thompson remarks that "whatever the reason for the [Goths'] persecution [of the Jews], it may have contributed to the utter destruction of those who initiated and enforced it." Despite all this, the participation of Jews on the side of the Muslims is not recorded in the Mozarabic Chronicle.

The traditional explanation for the rapid fall of the Visigothic kingdom has been decadence. The late ninth-century Chronica Prophetica indeed blames the Goths' defeat on their lack of penance for their sins: "The city of Toledo, victor of all peoples, succumbed as a victim to the triumphant Ishmaelites, and deserved to be subjected to them. Thus Spain was ruined for its disgusting sins, in the 380th year of the Goths." This is not accepted by specialists today, though it still exerts heavy influence through tertiary accounts, especially in Spanish-language historiography.

Legend
Among the legends which have accrued to the history of the battle, the most prominent is that of Count Julian, who, in revenge for the impregnation of his daughter Florinda (the later Cava Rumía or Doña Cava) by Roderic while the young woman was being raised at the palace school, supposedly lent Ṭāriq the necessary ships to launch an invasion. That the Arabs already possessed sufficient naval forces in the western Mediterranean is attested by their activities against the Balearic Islands. While the impregnation (and the name of his daughter) are universally disregarded, the Count Julian of the Arabic histories has been identified with a Berber Catholic named Urban who appears in the Mozarabic Chronicle. This Urban accompanied Mūsā across the straits. Urban may be the Julian of legend, but more likely Julian is the legend of Urban. According to one interpretation of the Urban-Julian legend, he was a Byzantine governor of Ceuta who joined with the Arabs to raid the southern coasts of Iberia in 710 with Ṭārif. Glick has suggested that Ṭārif is an invention designed to explain the etymology of Tarifa, the ancient Julia Traducta, of which "Julian" was probably the (unnamed) Gothic count (comes julianus).

The "sons of Wittiza" that figure so prominently in later Christian sources, are likewise unhistorical. Wittiza, who is praised by the Mozarabic Chronicle, is almost universally vilified in subsequent works, beginning with the Chronicle of Moissac around 818. The outrageousness of the accusations is proportional to the chronological distance of the narrative. Thus, Lucas de Tuy, writing in the late thirteenth century, portrays a monster, while Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, rectifying the disparate accounts, shows Wittiza commencing his reign with promise and evolving into a tyrant. The Monk of Silos around 1115 recorded that the sons of Wittiza fled from Roderic to Julian and enlisted his aid.

Among the other legends surrounding the battle is that of Roderic's arrival at the field in a chariot drawn by eight white mules.

There are other legends concerning the conquest, such as the legends of the sealed chamber in Toledo ("la maison fermée de Tolède") and the table (or carpet, depending on the translation) of Solomon that ʿAbd al-Ḥakam alleges was also discovered in Toledo. There was indeed a table that was captured by Tariq ibn Ziyad from Almeida, and transported by Musa ibn Nusair to Damascus. Tariq broke one leg, and kept it, making a replacement leg for the table. When both Tariq and Musa reached the Caliph in Damascus (either Al-Walid, or Sulayman) each claimed that they were the one who captured it. Tariq showed the original leg as proof that he did, causing the Caliph to impose hefty fines on Musa. While several Muslim chroniclers say that it was indeed a table of Solomon, others refute this claim, and attribute it to lay people attributing fantastical objects and deeds to Solomon. These include Ibn Hayyan, the polymath Al-Biruni and Al-Himyari. All mention that it was made from endowments to churches by kings and wealthy

Roderic's golden sandal was allegedly recovered from the Guadalete river. The nineteenth-century American military history writer Henry Coppée penned a history of the conquest which incorporates and retells many of the legends.

title: Battle of Guadalete


text:
Dina Merrill

Dina Merrill (born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton; December 29, 1923 – May 22, 2017) was an American actress. She had more than a hundred film and television credits from the late 1950s until 2000s. Throughout her life, she married three times.

Early life
Merrill was born in New York City on December 29, 1923, but for many years, her date of birth was given as December 9, 1925. She was the only child of Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband, Wall Street stockbroker Edward Francis Hutton, founder of E. F. Hutton & Co. Merrill had two older half-sisters, Adelaide Brevoort Close (July 26, 1908 – December 31, 1998) and Eleanor Post Hutton (December 3, 1909 – November 27, 2006), by her mother's first marriage to Edward Bennett Close, grandfather of actress Glenn Close. Merrill was also first cousin—and first cousin once removed, respectively—to actress Barbara Hutton and her son Lance Reventlow.

Merrill graduated from Miss Porter's School, then attended George Washington University in Washington, DC for one term, but then enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She studied acting at HB Studio under Uta Hagen.

Acting career
On advice from her half-sister's (then) husband, she adopted the stage name Dina Merrill, borrowing from Charles E. Merrill, a famous stockbroker like her father. Merrill made her debut on the stage in the play The Mermaid Singing in 1945.

During the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill was believed to have been marketed as a replacement for Grace Kelly, and in 1959, she was proclaimed "Hollywood's new Grace Kelly".

Merrill's film credits included Desk Set (1957), A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed (1958), Don't Give Up the Ship (1959), Operation Petticoat (1959, with Cary Grant, who had been married to her cousin, Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton), The Sundowners (1960), Butterfield 8 (1960), The Young Savages (1961), The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), I'll Take Sweden (1965), The Greatest (1977), A Wedding (1978), Just Tell Me What You Want (1980), Anna to the Infinite Power (1983), Twisted (1986), Caddyshack II (1988), Fear (1990), True Colors (1991), The Player (1992), Suture (1993), and Shade (2003). She also appeared in made-for-TV movies, such as Seven in Darkness (1969), The Lonely Profession (1969), Family Flight (1972), and The Tenth Month (1979).

Merrill appeared in numerous television series in the 1960s, such as playing the villain Calamity Jan in two 1968 episodes of Batman with then-husband Cliff Robertson. She also made guest appearances on two Bonanza episodes as Susannah Clauson, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "Bonfire" (1962), The Investigators, The Bold Ones, Wagon Train (1964), Mission: Impossible, The Love Boat; Quincy, M.E.; Murder, She Wrote; Roseanne, and The Nanny, as Maxwell Sheffield's disapproving and distant British mother. In 1971, Merrill appeared as Laura Duff in The Men from Shiloh (rebranded name for the TV Western The Virginian) in the episode titled "The Angus Killer".

Her stage credits include the 1983 Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical On Your Toes, starring Russian prima ballerina Natalia Makarova. In 1991, she appeared in the rotating cast of the off-Broadway staged reading of Wit & Wisdom.

In 1991, Merrill and her third husband Ted Hartley merged their company Pavilion Communications with RKO to form RKO Pictures, which owns the intellectual property of the RKO Radio Pictures movie studio.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Merrill was a recurring guest on several network television game and panel shows, including Match Game, To Tell the Truth, What's My Line, and Hollywood Squares.

Board memberships
Merrill was a presidential appointee to the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a trustee of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and a vice president of the New York City Mission Society. In 1980, Merrill joined the board of directors of her father's E. F. Hutton & Co., continuing on the board and the compensation committee of Lehman Brothers when it acquired Hutton, for over 18 years.

Personal life and death
Merrill was married three times. In 1946, she wed Stanley M. Rumbough Jr., an heir to the Colgate-Palmolive toothpaste fortune and entrepreneur. They had three children, Nedenia Colgate Rumbough; David Post Rumbough; and Stanley Rumbough III, before divorcing in 1966. Later that year, she wed actor Cliff Robertson, with whom she had a daughter, Heather Robertson. The couple divorced in 1986.

In 1989, she married producer Ted Hartley, and they remained married until her death.

On May 22, 2017, Merrill died at her home in East Hampton, New York at age 93. She had been suffering from dementia with Lewy bodies.

Two of Merrill's four children predeceased her. David died in a boating accident a few weeks before his 24th birthday, and Heather died from ovarian cancer at the age of 38.

Honors
Merrill received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award, in 1994, and a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in April 2005.

title: Dina Merrill