The custom of joint burial has been passed down in China for a long time, and since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the two parties to the joint burial are mostly husband and wife, and the reason why Princess Chen Guo and her uncle will be buried together is because they are husband and wife.
Figure | Princess Chen Guo - Schematic diagram
Marriage between close relatives seems inconceivable in modern times, but in ancient royal families, the marriage of close relatives occurred from time to time, because it could maintain the purity of the royal bloodline and ensure that power was always concentrated in the hands of the royal family.
For example, the famous Cleopatra once married her own brother, as well as Japan's Emperor Seongmu, and also married her own aunt, the fourth king of Goryeo, Gwangjong Wang Zhao, and even took her sister and niece into the harem.
Of course, ancient China was much stricter in this regard, since the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was the principle of "the same surname is not married", if the combination of the same surname is discovered, it will be scolded, and even may lose your life.
However, although the ancients forbade marriage with the same surname, they allowed the union of male and female relatives of the same matrilineal line, for example, Emperor Hui of Han married his niece Princess Lu Yuan, and Emperor Wu of Han also married his cousin Chen.
The husband and wife of Princess Chen Guo and her uncle belong to the "uncle-nephew marriage" in the combination of maternal relatives, although from today's point of view, the uncle-nephew marriage still belongs to the close marriage, but in the eyes of the ancients, this is a very normal marriage.
Picture | Princess Chen Guo (film and television stills)
What's more, the title of Princess Chen Guo looks like the title of the Central Plains Imperial Dynasty, but she is actually a princess of the Liao State, and in the laws of the Liao State, this kind of close relatives marriage has become a "custom".
For example, Empress Xiao, who is very famous in the history of the Liao State, is the cousin of her husband Yelü Xian of Liaojingzong, and the wife of Empress Xiao's son Yelü Longqing, Xiao Shi, who is also his niece.
It can be said that the relationship between the liao royal family is very chaotic, such as uncle-nephew marriage, uncle-nephew marriage has become a common phenomenon, and the reason for this situation is mainly to prevent the regime from falling.
Throughout the history of the Liao State, you will find that the Xiao clan and the Yelü clan have actually been intermarriing with each other, for example, in the nine emperors of the Liao Kingdom, eight of the emperor's empresses are from the Xiao clan.
The Yelü clan and the Xiao clan are the two most powerful tribes in the Liao state, so as long as the Yelü clan and the Xiao clan have always maintained a state of intermarriage, it can be guaranteed that the rights of the royal family will never be bypassed by others, and Princess Chen Guo and her uncle are united for this reason.
Figure | Empress Xiao - Schematic diagram
Princess Chen Guo was from the Yelü clan of the Liao dynasty, and her father Yelü Longqing was the second son of Empress Xiao and Emperor Jingzong of Liao, and Yelü Longqing's brother was Yelü Longxu, the sixth emperor of the Liao State.
According to the Central Plains ceremonial system, Yelü Longqing was the prince of the Liao Kingdom, and his daughter Princess Chen Guo should be the lord of the county, but in the regulations of the Liao Royal Family, as long as she was the daughter of the empress's concubine, she could be crowned a princess.
Therefore, Princess Chen Guo, as Empress Xiao's grandson, naturally had the title of "Princess", and because Princess Chen Guo's father, Yelü Longqing, had made great meritorious contributions to the Liao State, Princess Chen Guo had repeatedly won Long Grace since birth.
Chen Guogong was only 18 years old when he died, but in these 18 years, she was first named Princess Taiping, then promoted to Princess of Yueguo, and then posthumously named Princess Chen Guo after her death, which shows how prominent her identity is.
The background of Princess Chen Guo's pony, that is, her uncle Xiao Shaojue, was also prominent, Xiao Shaoju was Empress Xiao's nephew and legitimate imperial relative, and Xiao Shaoju also served as an envoy of the Qin Ning Army and a school inspector, and was deeply valued by the Emperor of Liao.
In terms of status, Xiao Shaoju was fully worthy of Princess Chen Guo, and it had become a custom for Xiao and Yelü to intermarry, so When Princess Chen Guo was 16 years old, she and her uncle Xiao Shaojue held a grand wedding and officially married.
Unfortunately, this marriage lasted only two years, when Princess Chen Guo was 18 years old, she and her husband Xiao Shaoju died one after another, as to why they died, there is no clear record in history.
However, from the analysis of the Liao royal family that has always maintained the custom of marriage of close relatives, it is likely that there is some kind of recessive genetic disease in the genes of Princess Chen Guo and Xiao Shaoji, and eventually the disease broke out, resulting in an early death.
After the death of Princess Chen Guo and Xiao Shaojue, they were buried together near the town of Qinglongshan in present-day Inner Mongolia, and because of their prominent position before their lives, the Liao royal family placed a lot of funerary items in the tomb.
Picture | tomb of Princess Chen Guo
According to the current excavation statistics of the tomb of Princess Chen Guo, there are as many as 3227 funerary items, most of which are gold, silver, jewelry, as well as valuable items such as agate and amber, which can be called luxurious and luxurious.
In addition, when Princess Chen Guo and Xiao Shaoju were buried, the Liao royal family also specially brought gold masks for them, and the reason why they did so was because the Liao state had a very unique funeral custom.
The Liao state was founded by the Khitan people, who lived on nomadic herding for many years, that is, living by the gifts of nature, possibly to give back to nature, so the Khitans would adopt a unique funerary method after their deaths - "tree burial".
The so-called "tree burial" is to hang the body on the tree for a period of time after the death of the person, which is generally three years, and then after the body naturally decays or dries, the relatives collect the remains and bury them in the soil, or directly cremate.
In this process, the remains are likely to be eaten by animals, resulting in unrecognizable faces, so relatives usually wear metal masks for them when collecting the remains.
Figure | Gold Mask – Schematic
However, later, the Khitan people were influenced by Han culture and gradually abolished the "tree burial", but the custom of covering the mask for the deceased was retained, and Princess Chen Guo and Xiao Shaoju were prominent in their lives, so they brought the most valuable gold masks when they were buried.