Early life

There is no record of Empress Qian's birth name, other than that she was a member of the clan Qian (錢). She married the Zhengtong Emperor on 8 June 1442, and became his primary consort and empress.

Empress

In 1449, the Zhengtong Emperor was captured after the Battle of Tumu and his captors demanded a ransom, which Empress Qian and her mother-in-law promptly raised. The ransom was rejected in favour of holding on to the Zhengtong Emperor as hostage, which prompted the court to assign him the status of retired emperor and name his half-brother Zhu Qiyu emperor. Empress Qian was moved from the court to a separate palace to allow Empress Wang to take the title of Empress Consort.

When her spouse was returned by the Mongols, arriving in Beijing on 19 September 1450, Empress Qian joined him under house arrest in a guarded section of the Imperial City. When her spouse's only son, the future Chenghua Emperor, was deposed as heir apparent in 1452, he was sent to live with Empress Qian in conditions of physical hardship. In 1457, a coup-d'etat put her spouse back on the imperial throne as the Tianshun Emperor, reinstating Empress Qian as the empress consort.

Empress Dowager

Empress Qian had no children, and when the Zhengtong Emperor died in 1464, he was succeeded by the Chenghua Emperor. She became involved in a conflict with Empress Xiaosu, the biological mother of the new emperor. As the mother of the emperor, Empress Xiaosu demanded the same title as Qian: that of empress dowager. Xiaosu pointed out that she was the mother of the emperor while Qian was childless, while Qian demanded the title pointing to her loyalty to the late emperor, whose house arrest she had shared.

The emperor was unable to solve the conflict to the satisfaction of both parties, but granted the title of empress dowager to both, though Qian's formal title acknowledged her higher rank and precedence in court proceedings.

Death

Empress Dowager Qian died on 26 June 1468, and was interred at Yu ling in the Ming tomb complex near Beijing on 4 September 1468. The Tianshun Emperor specifically stated that she should only be buried next to him, 'after a thousand years of long life.'

生平

正統七年，錢氏原本是個美人，十八歲時通過選美而被張太皇太后和孫太后冊立為皇后。錢皇后溫和賢慧，夫婦感情甚篤。英宗北狩錢皇后哥哥錢鐘、錢欽等人隨駕俱死，英宗憐惜后族單微，想封以侯爵，錢皇后婉言謝絕。

英宗在土木堡之變被瓦剌人俘虜，生死未明，錢皇后一邊拿出宮中積蓄想贖回英宗，一邊為此經常蜷腿伏著哭泣，日以繼夜，因此一腿落下了殘疾，並哭瞎了一隻眼睛。最後英宗被迎回，名為太上皇，實則被弟弟景泰皇帝幽居在南宮。夫妻被嚴密看守，連乘涼的大樹都被砍，為的是害怕和周遭有聯繫。英宗既見不到其母孫太后（其間曾探視一次，以為有流言說孫太后將被扣押，所以孫太后不敢再入），又得不到被廢長子的監護權，心情可想而知。錢皇后常常寬慰丈夫，並率領諸妃織布賣錢，以謀生存，因而英宗感念錢皇后的懿德。英宗復闢後，沒有冊立皇太子生母周貴妃為后，仍尊患有殘疾且無子的錢氏為皇后。這是明初以來第一次立非太子生母的女性為母儀天下的皇后。英宗臨死前，遺詔錢后待他日壽終合葬，其他諸妃亦應次第附葬（從而永久廢除了明初實行百年的妃嬪殉葬制度）。

太子朱見深即位，是為明憲宗。太監夏時想討周貴妃的歡心，傳諭獨尊周貴妃為皇太后。大學士李賢、彭時據理力爭，于是錢、周二后並尊，而加錢皇后以徽號，稱為慈懿皇太后。

成化四年六月，錢太后逝世，周太后違背當初英宗的遺命，不願讓錢太后與英宗合葬。眾臣上奏力請，李賢拿出當日「退而書之冊」的英宗遺命，周太后才勉強同意錢太后葬在英宗的裕陵左側，而右側則留作未來周太后的葬地。憲宗夾在母親和大臣們之間相當為難，一度欲下旨別擇葬地，結果大臣們伏在文華門外齊哭了一天。憲宗在宮中不停地請求母親，周太后備感壓力，只好答應。

七月，憲宗為錢太后上尊謚孝莊獻穆弘惠顯仁恭天欽聖睿皇后，神主昇祔太廟。九月初四日祔葬於裕陵。但周太后暗中作梗，錢太后雖與英宗同陵卻異隧，葬處距離英宗之陵有數丈，而中間的隧道卻被填滿，但右邊周太后陵寢的隧道卻與英宗之陵相通。

弘治十七年，周太后逝世。明孝宗發現錢太后之陵的隧道被堵塞，想開通那隧道，但欽天監不贊同，于是沒有進行。

當日在南宮時，景泰皇帝的嫡妻汪廢后對錢皇后和太子多有照拂。後來英宗復闢，錢皇后也竭力保護汪氏和她所生的兩個女兒使其不被害。憲宗時，景泰帝女比公主下嫁，宮中款待汪氏，行家人禮。

影視形象

注釋