Yuan Xun

Who was Yuan Xun?

Yuan Xun, né Tuoba Xun, courtesy name originally Yuandao, then Xuandao, was a crown prince of the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty Northern Wei.

Tuoba Xun was born in 483, as Emperor Xiaowen's oldest son. His mother was Consort Lin. At the time he was born, Emperor Xiaowen's step-grandmother Grand Empress Dowager Feng was the regent, and she opined that, pursuant to Northern Wei's tradition that a crown prince's mother should be forced to commit suicide, Consort Lin, because Tuoba Xun would presumably eventually become crown prince, should be forced to commit suicide. Even though Emperor Xiaowen did not want to follow that tradition, he did not want to disobey Grand Empress Dowager Feng, and Consort Lin was forced to commit suicide. He did, however, posthumously honor her as Empress Zhen, and buried her at the ancestral tomb of the emperors.

Grand Empress Dowager Feng raised Tuoba Xun herself. In 486, when he was three, she formally named him Xun, and also gave him the courtesy name Yuandao. She died in 490, and it is not clear who raised him after that point. In 493, Emperor Xiaowen created him crown prince. In 494, when Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital from Pingcheng to Luoyang as a major part of sinicization campaign, Tuoba Xun accompanied his father south. In 496, when Emperor Xiaowen changed the imperial clan's family name from Tuoba to Yuan, the crown prince's courtesy name was changed from Yuandao to Xuandao.