生平

咸通三年（862年）五月八日，生于东内（大明宫），母王贵妃。初名李俨，六年（865年）七月封普王。十一年（870年）遥领魏博节度使。

在咸通十四年（873年）由宦官拥立，时年十二岁。僖宗一共有五个年号：乾符（6年）、广明（1年）、中和（4年）、光启（3年）、文德（1年）。在位期间政事全交给宦官田令孜掌握，自己却肆无忌惮地游乐，喜欢斗鸡、赌鹅、骑射、剑槊、法算、音乐、围棋。他对打马球十分迷恋，对身边的优伶石野猪说：「朕若参加击球进士科考试，应该中个状元。」当时灾害连年，人民生活困苦，官员盘剥沉重。

乾符元年（874年），濮州王仙芝发动起兵。次年，黄巢也起兵于冤句（今山东曹县西北），随后两军会合，「黄巢之乱」爆发。王仙芝失败后，叛军由黄巢率领，南下进攻浙东，开山路700里入福建，克广州，回师北上，克潭州，下江陵，直进中原。

广明元年（880年）十一月，黄巢军攻克洛阳。十二月，下潼关，占领长安，宰相卢携自杀，田令孜率五百神策军带僖宗自长安西门的金光门逃亡入四川，召沙陀族人李克用入援。李克用击败黄巢军于田陂，黄巢退出关中。中和二年（882年）朱温降唐，赐名朱全忠。

中和四年（884年），黄巢在山东泰安的虎狼谷中自杀（一说为部下林言所杀）。次年三月，唐僖宗返回长安，唐朝已接近灭亡的尾声。此时地方军阀割据，秦彦据宣、歙，刘汉宏据浙东，朱全忠据汴、滑，李克用据太原、上党，李昌符据凤翔，诸葛爽据河阳、洛阳，秦宗权据许、蔡，王敬武据淄、青，高骈据淮南八州，各擅兵赋，迭相吞噬，唐朝中央政府无法节制，能够控制的地区不过河西、山南、剑南、岭南西道数十州。

中和五年（885年）三月，田令孜与河中节度使王重荣交恶，王重荣求救于太原李克用，大败和田令孜结盟的静难节度使朱玫和李昌符，进逼长安。田令孜再领僖宗于光启元年十二月逃亡到凤翔（今陕西宝鸡），这时诸道兵马进入长安，烧杀抢掠，宫室坊里被纵火烧焚者大半，「宫阙萧条，鞠为茂草」。朱玫立襄王李熅为帝，改元「建贞」。僖宗以正统为号召，把王重荣和李克用争取过来反攻朱玫，密诏朱玫的爱将王行瑜攻朱，王行瑜将朱玫及其党羽数百人斩杀，纵兵大掠，时值寒冬，冻死的百姓横尸蔽地。王重荣杀死襄王煴，田令孜被贬斥。光启三年（887年）三月，僖宗到达凤翔，节度使李昌符强留车队，六月，李昌符进攻僖宗行宫，兵败出逃陇州，扈驾都将李茂贞追击，李昌符被斩。

光启四年（888年）二月，僖宗又回到长安，举行大赦，改元「文德」。文德元年（888年）三月六日，去世，葬于靖陵（位于今陕西乾县）。

家庭

后妃

• 无皇后、妃嫔的个人记录

• 唐僖宗继位后的咸通十五年（874年）正月，法门寺供奉品中有唐僖宗母惠安皇太后、昭仪、晋国夫人的施衣记录

子女

子

僖宗二子，王子的生母资料已失。

• 建王李震

• 益王李升

女

唐僖宗有两位女儿：

• 唐兴公主

• 永平公主

Background and accession

Li Yan was born on June 8, 862, at the eastern palace in the Tang imperial capital Chang'an, as the fifth son of then-reigning Emperor Yizong. His mother was Emperor Yizong's concubine Consort Wang, who carried the title of Guifei, the highest rank carried by imperial consorts. In 865, Li Yan was created the Prince of Pu; at that time, his older brother Li Kan (李侃) was created the Prince of Ying. Consort Wang died a year later, in 866. As he was growing up, one of his constant companions was the eunuch Tian Lingzi, who attended to the stables at his mansion.

In 873, Emperor Yizong became seriously ill. The eunuch commanders of the imperial Shence Armies, Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue, despite the fact that Li Yan was one of the younger sons of Emperor Yizong, supported him as the successor. Thereafter, an edict was issued in Emperor Yizong's name, creating Li Yan Crown Prince. The edict also changed Li Yan's name to Li Xuan. Emperor Yizong died that day, and Li Xuan took the throne as Emperor Xizong, with his brother-in-law, the chancellor Wei Baoheng, serving as regent for several days. He posthumously honored his mother Consort Wang as empress dowager and created Liu and Han dukes.

Early reign: rebellions led by Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao

Almost immediately thereafter, Wei Baoheng, who had been exceedingly powerful late in Emperor Yizong's reign, was exiled and later forced to commit suicide in exile. Meanwhile, Tian Lingzi became very influential, and was described as the actual decision-maker for most of the important decisions of state, as Emperor Xizong was young and trusting of him.

Early in Emperor Xizong's reign, a terrible drought-driven famine took over the heart of the Tang realm. As described by the imperial scholar Lu Xi, who would become chancellor in late 874:

Lu urged that Emperor Xizong waive all taxation on the prefectures affected by the famine and immediately start disaster relief efforts. Emperor Xizong issued an edict agreeing with Lu's suggestions, but it was said that no actual disaster relief was actually carried out. Meanwhile, the southwestern regions of the empire, largely unaffected by the famine, was instead embroiled in the wars with Dali.

As the famine continued, the people who were displaced by the famine began to lose hope in the imperial government, and they gathered in roving bands, pillaging for food. By 874–875, a large group had gathered under the leadership of Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao. Within a few months, Wang and Huang had gathered tens of thousands of men in their army. Meanwhile, the army officer Wang Ying also rebelled and led his band of rebels to pillage the southeast coast. There were numerous smaller bands of rebels roving around the realm.

The imperial administration tried to deal with the Wang/Huang rebellion by initially having the military governors (Jiedushi) of the five most-affected circuits—Huainan (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), Zhongwu (忠武, headquartered in modern Xuchang, Henan), Xuanwu (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), Yicheng (义成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan), and Tianping (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong) mobilize their local troops to either destroy the rebels or encourage them to surrender. This strategy was ineffective, and at the suggestion of Song Wei (宋威) the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平卢, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong), Emperor Xizong put Song in command of a special task force concentrating on eliminating the rebels. Song had some early successes, but soon showed himself to be unable to follow up on his successes, as he was unable to contain Wang's roving army. In late 876, the chancellor Wang Duo tried to end Wang Xianzhi's rebellion by promising to make him an army officer—an offer that Wang Xianzhi was initially entice by—but after Huang opposed the proposal, the war continued, with Wang Xianzhi and Huang dividing their armies into two separate bands.

However, Wang Xianzhi again made a peace overture in 877, sending his deputy Shang Junzhang (尚君长) to meet the eunuch general Yang Fuguang to negotiate a surrender. However, Song, who opposed a peace with Wang, captured Shang as Shang was on his way to meet with Yang, and falsely claimed that he had claimed Shang in battle. He delivered Shang to Chang'an to be executed, despite Yang's repeated attempts to have Shang spared. Shang's death ended hopes for a negotiated peace. (Meanwhile, though, Wang Ying's rebellion ended when he was killed in battle.)

Soon thereafter, Song was relieved of his command of the task force, and Zeng Yuanyu (曾元裕) took over. Zeng soon defeated Wang Xianzhi in battle and killed him. However, Wang's followers, including Shang Junzhang's brother Shang Rang, gathered their troops and submitted to Huang. Huang continued the roving campaign, and marched south, capturing and for some time holding Guang Prefecture (广州, in modern Guangzhou, Guangdong) as his headquarters. Meanwhile, the Shatuo chieftain Li Guochang and Li Guochang's son Li Keyong rebelled to the north, and they made an attempt to take over the modern Shanxi region, but soon they were defeated and forced to flee to the Dada (达靼, then in the Yin Mountains) tribe.

Fall of Changan to Huang Chao and flight to Chengdu

By winter 879, Huang Chao, with his soldiers stricken by tropical/subtropical illnesses that they were not accustomed to, decided to change strategy and head north. He headed north through modern Hunan preparing to confront the armies commanded by Wang Duo, who was then in overall command of the operation against him. He first defeated Wang's deputy Li Xi (李系) at Tan Prefecture (in modern Changsha, Hunan); Wang, then stationed at Jiangling, panicked and fled, and Wang's officer Liu Hanhong pillaged Jiangling then became an independent rebel leader. Huang's advance, however, was repelled by other Tang generals Liu Jurong and Cao Quanzhen (曹全晸) at Jingmen (荆门, in modern Jingmen, Hubei). Huang was forced to flee east, but he regrouped in the modern Jiangxi region and prepared for another advance north.

As Huang did so, he had multiple engagements with the armies under the command of Gao Pian the military governor of Huainan Circuit, whom Emperor Xizong had put in command of the overall operations against Huang, replacing Wang. Gao's officer Zhang Lin had initial successes against Huang, but Huang killed Zhang in a major confrontation in summer 880. Gao's spirit was crushed by Zhang's death, and he did not try to stop Huang's subsequent advance north, across the Yangtze River into the heart of the Tang realm. Emperor Xizong, as an emergency measure, ordered the armies of various circuits to rendezvous with Cao at Yin River (溵水, a major branch of the Shaying River) to try to block of Huang's advance. However, Huang defeated Cao, and after a mutiny at nearby Zhongwu Circuit caused the death of the military governor of Zhongwu, Xue Neng (薛能), Qi Kerang, the Tang general in command of the Yin River defense, abandoned the defensive position, causing Huang's path toward the Tang eastern capital Luoyang to become wide open.

In light of his obstacle being removed, Huang headed straight for Luoyang; on the way, he stopped pillaging other than to force young men into his army and adding to its numbers. Luoyang quickly fell and was captured on 22 December 880. Emperor Xizong and Tian Lingzi conscripted a new army and put Zhang Chengfan in charge of it, having him rendezvous with Qi at Tong Pass to defend against Huang's advance toward Chang'an. However, Emperor Xizong and Tian were instead making plans to flee to Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), where Tian's brother Chen Jingxuan was military governor. As soon as news arrived that Huang had defeated Zhang and Qi and was advancing quickly toward Chang'an, Emperor Xizong and Tian abandoned Chang'an and fled toward Chengdu, arriving there in early 881. Huang entered Chang'an and declared himself the emperor of a new state of Qi. He slaughtered members of the Tang imperial family and a large number of high level officials, but tried to keep the Tang governmental apparatus in place for some time, hoping to get Tang generals and officials to switch loyalty.

After Chang'an's fall, a number of Tang military governors, including Zheng Tian, Wang Chongrong, Wang Chucun, Tuoba Sigong, Cheng Zongchu (程宗楚), and Tang Hongfu (唐弘夫), rendezvoused near Chang'an and then attacked Chang'an, hoping to recapture it for Emperor Xizong. In summer 881, Huang briefly abandoned Chang'an, but as soon as he realized that the Tang forces entering Chang'an were intent on pillaging it, he counterattacked and inflicted great losses on the Tang forces, forcing them to abandon Chang'an again and killing Cheng and Tang Hongfu. For the next several years, he would not again be dislodged from Chang'an despite Tang forces' efforts, and Emperor Xizong himself made no real efforts in trying to organize imperial troops to do so. With Gao not making any efforts to dislodge Huang, either, Emperor Xizong put Wang Duo in overall command of the effort against Huang again.

Destruction of Huang Chao and return to Changan

As the Tang and Huang Chao's Qi forces battled around Chang'an, the rest of the Tang realm, while mostly still ostensibly loyal to Emperor Xizong and obeying his edicts issued from Chengdu, began to break down further in its governmental/command structure. For example, Gao Pian's Huainan Circuit, regarded as one of the riches of the Tang realm, fell into years of internecine warfare (which included Gao's death at the hands of Qin Yan) with Yang Xingmi eventually emerging victorious but with the circuit laid waste.

Meanwhile, Yang Fuguang enlisted Li Keyong, who had previously fled to the Dada tribes, to return to Tang realm to help battle Qi, offering to pardon him. Li Keyong did so in 882, and repeatedly defeated Qi forces. In spring 883, Huang abandoned Chang'an and fled back east, allowing Tang forces to recapture Chang'an. Huang's forces then were continued to be defeated by Tang generals Li Keyong, Zhu Quanzhong, and Shi Pu, eventually falling apart. In fall 884, Huang's nephew Lin Yan (林言) killed Huang, ending Huang's Qi state.

Emperor Xizong did not return to Chang'an, immediately, apparently fearing Qin Zongquan—formerly a Tang military governor of Fengguo Circuit (奉国, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan) but who had turned against Tang and was pillaging the modern Henan region with his power base centered at Fengguo's capital Cai Prefecture. Qin, indeed, would subsequently declare himself emperor and try to expand the extent of his control, causing him to battle with Zhu and other Tang generals. Meanwhile, the breakdown of the Tang realm continued, with Tang military governors battling each other for supremacy, and one of the key rivalries that developed was that between Zhu (who was made the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit) and Li Keyong (who was made the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河东, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), which began over a failed attempt by Zhu to assassinate Li Keyong. Emperor Xizong did return to Chang'an in spring 885, some two years after Tang forces recaptured the capital.

Second flight from Changan and final days

Soon after Emperor Xizong's return to Chang'an, however, a serious dispute developed between Tian Lingzi, who was still largely in control of the imperial court, and Wang Chongrong, then the military governor of Huguo Circuit (护国, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi). The dispute stemmed from the desperate financial situation that the imperial government was in by this point—with only Chang'an and the immediately surrounding region under the imperial government's control and submitting taxes to it (and the other circuits withholding their usual tax submissions to the imperial government, the imperial government was unable to pay the salaries of the army that Tian had amassed, which included the Shence Armies and personal armies that Tian himself had recruited). Tian tried to partially solve the problem by ordering Wang to return control of salt ponds at Huguo Circuit, previously under imperial control, to the imperial government, so that its proceeds could be used to pay imperial armies. Wang refused and spoke against Tian publicly. Tian, in retaliation, had Emperor Xizong order that Wang be transferred to Tianping Circuit. Wang refused the transfer and, allied with Li Keyong, prepared for a confrontation with the imperial armies under Tian, as well as Tian's allies Zhu Mei the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (静难, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi) and Li Changfu the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (凤翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shanxi). Around new year 886, they defeated Tian and his allies and approached Chang'an. Tian took Emperor Xizong and fled to Xingyuan (兴元, in modern Hanzhong, Shanxi).

Zhu and Li Changfu subsequently turned against Emperor Xizong and declared his distant relative Li Yun the Prince of Xiang emperor at Chang'an, and initially it appeared that military governors were ready to recognize Li Yun as emperor instead. Faced with a situation he could not handle, Tian resigned his position as the commander of the Shence Armies and fled to Xichuan to join his brother Chen Jingxuan. Tian was succeeded by Yang Fugong (the brother of Yang Fuguang, who was deceased by this point). Yang Fugong, utilizing the friendships that Yang Fuguang had with Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong, was able to persuade them to again recognize and support Emperor Xizong. Subsequently, Zhu's subordinate Wang Xingyu assassinated him and forced Li Yun to flee to Huguo, where Wang Chongrong killed him, ending his challenge to Emperor Xizong. Subsequently, Emperor Xizong's general Li Maozhen defeated Li Changfu and took over Fengxiang. Emperor Xizong himself returned to Chang'an in spring 888.

One month after Emperor Xizong returned to Chang'an, he died of illness. Yang Fugong supported his younger brother Li Jie the Prince of Shou to be emperor (as Emperor Zhaozong).

Chancellors during reign

• Wei Baoheng (873)

• Liu Ye (873–874)

• Zhao Yin (873–874)

• Xiao Fang (873–875)

• Pei Tan (874)

• Liu Zhan (874)

• Cui Yanzhao (874–877)

• Zheng Tian (874–878, 882–883)

• Lu Xi (874–878, 879–880)

• Li Wei (875–878)

• Wang Duo (877–879, 881–882)

• Doulu Zhuan (878–880)

• Cui Hang (878–880)

• Zheng Congdang (878–880, 883–887)

• Wang Hui (880–881)

• Pei Che (880–881, 883–887)

• Xiao Gou (881–887)

• Wei Zhaodu (881–888)

• Kong Wei (886–888)

• Du Rangneng (886–888)

• Zhang Jun (887–888)

Family

Issue:

• Li Zhen, Prince Jian (建王 李震), first son

• Li Sheng, Prince Yi (益王 李升), second son

• Princess Tangxing (唐兴公主), first daughter

• Princess Yongping (永平公主), second daughter

Ancestry