Succession Crisis
Unlike almost all of his predecessors who took up many concubines which bore many children to the Emperor, Hongzhi had only one Empress during his lifetime. Coupled with the fact that the Empress Zhang had only 2 sons (one of which died in infancy), Hongzhi was left with only one nominee to succeed him. After Emperor Hongzhi died in 1505 he was succeeded by his son, the Zhengde Emperor. Unfortunately, Zhengde died childless in 1521 and the throne had to be passed to a cousin from Hubei, effectively ending Hongzhi's own line of succession.
Read more about this topic: Hongzhi Emperor
Famous quotes containing the words succession and/or crisis:
“Man approaches the unattainable truth through a succession of errors.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“I know my fate. One day my name will be tied to the memory of something monstrous—a crisis without equal on earth, the most profound collision of conscience, a decision invoked against everything that had previously been believed, demanded, sanctified. I am no man, I am dynamite!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)