Sima Yi

Biography

Early offices and accession

The Book of Jin records that Sima Yi was created Prince of Donghai in 342 (eighth year of Xiankang). He later served as Cavalier Attendant, General Who Guards the Army, and General of Chariots and Cavalry. When his brother Sima Pi became emperor, Sima Yi was made Prince of Langya and appointed Attendant, General of Agile Cavalry, and granted a distinguished court commission. Sima Pi died without an heir in 365 (third year of Xingning). Empress Dowager Chu named Sima Yi, a close male relative, as successor, and the officials escorted him to the palace. He proclaimed an amnesty on accession and adopted Taihe the following year.

Deposition by Huan Wen

Huan Wen controlled substantial forces during Sima Yi's reign. In 371 (sixth year of Taihe), he claimed that Sima Yi could not father children and that the three sons born to Consorts Tian and Meng were not his. The charges were used to press Empress Dowager Chu to issue a deposition order. The Book of Jin describes the charge as Huan's false accusation; Wang Fuzhi likewise held that Sima Yi had shown no misconduct warranting removal. Sima Yi surrendered the imperial seals and was reduced to Prince of Donghai. Sima Yu, previously Prince of Kuaiji, succeeded him. Repeating Huan's allegations as a medical diagnosis or proven account of paternity would misrepresent the episode.

Life in Wu County

In 372 (second year of Xian'an), Sima Yi was made Duke of Haixi County and sent to live in the Xichai quarter of Wu County under official supervision. Later that year, Xu Long came on behalf of Lu Song claiming to carry a secret order from the empress dowager to restore him. Sima Yi ultimately refused to go. other accounts and the Book of Jin link that refusal to his wish to avoid another political crisis. He died in Wu County in 386 (eleventh year of Taiyuan); Extant sources record Wu Mausoleum as his burial place.

Sima Yi was the seventh emperor of the Eastern Jin. Enfeoffed at birth and made Prince of Langya when Emperor Ai came to the throne with the titles of palace attendant and general of chariots and cavalry, he was raised to the throne by the assembled officials in 365, when Emperor Ai died without issue, and changed the era to Taihe the next year. He was cautious in his conduct and committed no fault, but the government was already in the hands of the grand marshal Huan Wen and the imperial authority was little more than a name.

In 371 Huan Wen entered the palace with troops and forced his abdication on the grounds that he suffered from impotence and that the three sons born in his palace were not of the imperial blood, reducing him first to Prince of Donghai and then to Duke of Haixi under guard. The Book of Jin is explicit on the matter, stating that "Emperor Yi committed no fault; Wen slandered him and deposed him," so that the alleged impotence and the question of paternity were pretexts manufactured by Huan Wen for usurpation; no firm evidence supports the existence of a fertility problem, and later ages generally take the charge as Huan Wen's fabrication. His depositions were meant to clear his own path to the throne, but he was resisted at court by Wang Tanzhi, Xie An and others and never succeeded.

After his deposition Sima Yi deliberately kept out of the way, refusing invitations to attempt a restoration. He moved to the Wuxian area and died there in 386 at forty-five. Historians of mid-Eastern Jin politics generally treat his deposition as one of the clearest instances of imperial impotence under aristocratic rule: the power to install and remove emperors lay with the powerful minister, and the grounds could stand without any evidence.

Huan Wen's deposition of Sima Yi was a far-reaching event in Eastern Jin aristocratic politics. Huan Wen had built his prestige through three northern campaigns — into Guanzhong, the recovery of Luoyang and the setback at Fangtou — and the defeat at Fangtou damaged his standing, so that he turned to deposing and installing emperors to restore his authority. In the eleventh month of 371 he entered Jiankang with troops, assembled the officials, proclaimed the empress dowager's edict and reduced Sima Yi to Prince of Donghai, raising instead Sima Yu, Prince of Kuaiji, as Emperor Jianwen. Deposed, Sima Yi was settled about Wuxian, his three sons were moved to Xin'an and his mother separately provided for. Huan Wen afterward sought the nine bestowals and was thwarted by the delays of Xie An and Wang Tanzhi, dying soon after.

The affair affected Eastern Jin politics in two ways. First, the position of the throne under aristocratic rule declined further: the making and unmaking of emperors depended on the balance of strength and the needs of the powerful minister, and grounds for deposition could stand without evidence. Second, the gentry's way of responding took shape: men such as Xie An and Wang Tanzhi blocked usurpation by delay and accommodation, and for decades thereafter the politics of the dynasty ran in this pattern of a powerful minister pressing forward and the aristocracy holding him back, until new forces such as Huan Xuan and Liu Yu broke the balance.

After his deposition Sima Yi was settled at Wuxian and long kept under supervision. It is recorded that he had an opportunity for restoration: on the death of Emperor Jianwen and the accession of Emperor Xiaowu there was talk at court of raising him, but he refused to take part and grew more careful still, having no dealings with officials outside. This kept him alive through the troubled later years of the Eastern Jin until his death in 386. His sons were moved to Xin'an and most of the clan's titles were cut.

In the history of the Eastern Jin his case is an extreme instance of the relation between throne and powerful minister. From his accession to his deposition was only six years, in which he could exert no influence on the government; the edict of deposition was drafted by Huan Wen's faction, and the alleged impotence and paternity appear in the histories only as Huan Wen's own assertion. The attitude of the Book of Jin in recording it gives later readers a means of sifting sources: the dynastic history itself reserves judgment on the grounds for deposition and records the finding that "Emperor Yi committed no fault," which is unusual in politically sensitive records of this kind.

Imperial succession in the Eastern Jin was itself fragile in this period: the transitions among Emperors Cheng, Kang, Mu, Ai, Fei and Jianwen and Xiaowu were repeatedly altered by lack of heirs or the intervention of powerful ministers. After Sima Yi's deposition Emperor Jianwen reigned only a year and died, Xiaowu succeeded as a child with Xie An and others directing the government, and only after the battle of the Fei river did matters settle somewhat. His case thus belongs to the turbulent phase of the dynasty's line, his personal fate bound up with the structural contradictions of aristocratic politics.

The sources for Sima Yi's own character and conduct are likewise limited. The Book of Jin says he was cautious and meticulous while on the throne and records no misconduct; after his deposition he lived at Wuxian chiefly to avoid trouble, having no dealings outside and refusing all proposals of restoration, which let him end his days in peace. Few Eastern Jin emperors were deposed, and his was among the gentler endings, his case often contrasted with that of Emperor Jianwen, who died within a year of being raised.

From the standpoint of source criticism, his deposition is one of the records in which political pressure is most evident. Huan Wen then held both the armies and the government, and the historians, obliged to record the accomplished fact, preserved the finding that "Emperor Yi committed no fault," leaving room for later reassessment. Later historians generally take the alleged impotence and paternity as Huan Wen's fabrication and treat the affair as one of the clearest signs of how fragile imperial authority was under aristocratic rule.

Members of the Eastern Jin imperial house were often deposed or killed in this period, and Sima Yi's ability to end his days as Duke of Haixi is directly due to the deliberate obscurity he kept after his deposition. Later discussions of Eastern Jin politics generally link Huan Wen's depositions with the government of Xie An and the others around the battle of the Fei river as two phases in the rise and decline of aristocratic politics: the first showing that the throne could be disposed of at will by a powerful minister, the second that the gentry could still keep the court running by accommodation.

Major Activities

Sima Yi proclaimed an amnesty on accession and arranged the burial of Emperor Ai at Anping Mausoleum. In 366 (first year of Taihe), the court issued a limited amnesty for Liang and Yi provinces. These actions are recorded in the Book of Jin. Military and administrative decisions made during his reign cannot automatically be attributed to his personal initiative when Huan Wen held such power. His clearest later action was to reject Xu Long's purported summons, avoiding renewed conflict in his name.

Personal Relations

• Sima Yan: His father, Emperor Cheng of Jin.
• Consort Zhou: His mother and also Sima Pi's mother.
• Sima Pi: His full brother, Emperor Ai, and predecessor.
• Yu Daolian: His empress; her rank was reduced posthumously after his deposition.
• Chu Suanzi: The empress dowager who ordered his accession and later issued the deposition order under Huan Wen's pressure.
• Huan Wen: The military leader who directed his deposition.
• Sima Yu: His successor, Emperor Jianwen of Jin.

Historical Assessment

The historian of the Book of Jin cited Sima Yi's refusal to follow Xu Long as an example of avoiding danger and living out his natural life. Wang Fuzhi wrote that Sima Yi had displayed no misconduct and that Huan Wen invented the charges used to depose him. These judgments concern the deposition and Sima Yi's predicament; they do not provide a comprehensive assessment of every policy adopted during his reign.