杜太后 / Empress Dowager Du

Du Taihou / 杜太后 is [[ZhaoKuangyin|赵匡胤 / 宋太祖]] and [[ZhaoGuangyi|赵光义 / 宋太宗]]’s mother in 170.宋太祖之死：烛影斧声，阴谋论中的人性谜团（下）. She matters because the [[GoldenCabinetPledge|金匮之盟]] story attaches succession authority to her dying instruction.

In the episode’s account, the pledge says Du Taihou warned Taizu that he gained power because the Later Zhou ruler was young, so the Song should avoid a child succession by passing the throne to an adult brother. The source does not treat this as impossible, but it emphasizes that the preserved story is politically convenient and textually unstable.

Du Taihou therefore functions less as an independently recoverable actor than as a legitimacy source. Invoking her lets later actors make brother-to-brother succession look like filial obedience rather than ambition.

Connections

• [[GoldenCabinetPledge|金匮之盟]] - claim attached to her authority.
• [[ZhaoKuangyin|赵匡胤 / 宋太祖]], [[ZhaoGuangyi|赵光义 / 宋太宗]], and [[ZhaoTingmei|赵廷美]] - sons affected by the succession logic.
• Official History Legitimacy Repair and [[SongSuccessionLegitimacyCrisis|宋初继承合法性危机]] - broader frames.