Liu Yixuan 劉義宣

Liu Yixuan 劉義宣 (415-454) was a prince of the Liu-Song dynasty 劉宋 (420-479). He was the sixth son of Emperor Wu 宋武帝 (r. 420-422) and of Lady Sun 孫美人 (see female offices).

In 424, he was invested as Prince of Jingling 竟陵 and appointed General to the Left (zuo jiangjun 左將軍) and Commander of Stonewall (zhen Shitou 鎮石頭), the capital's city wall. In 430, 使持節、he was appointed Commander-in-Chief (dudu 都督) over five provinces with special warrant and regional inspector (cishi 刺史) of the province of Xuzhou 徐州. In 432, he was made Secretarial Supervisor (zhongshu jian 中書監) and promoted to General of the Capital Army (zhongjun jiangjun 中軍將軍), in concurrence with the title of Cavalier attendant-in-ordinary (sanji changshi 散騎常侍). He was also transferred to the Princedom of Nan-Qiao 南譙. In 439, he was made regional inspector and commander-in-chief of Nan-Xuzhou 南徐州, holding the title of General Attacking the North (zhengbei jiangjun 征北將軍). In 444, Liu Yixuan obtained the command over seven provinces and the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry (cheji jiangjun 車騎將軍), and regional inspector of Jingzhou 荊州. Later on, he was promoted to palace attendant (shizhong 侍中) and was given the title of Commander over the Southern Barbarians (nanman xiaowei 南蠻校尉).

When Liu Shao 劉劭 (424-453), a half-brother of his, assassinated his father, Emperor Wen, Liu Yixuan rose in rebellion and helped to exterminate the usurper. The new sovereign, Emperor Xiaowu 宋孝武帝 (r. 453-464), reinstated him as Secretarial Supervisor, gave him the command over Yangzhou 揚州 and Yuzhou 豫州, the post of Counsellor-in-Chief (chengxiang 丞相), Overseer of the Imperial Secretariat Bureaus (lu shangshu liutiao shi 錄尚書六條事), and transferred him to the Princedom of Nanjun 南郡.

In 545, Liu Yixuan himself decided to raise weapons against the emperor and united his forces with other rebels, 江州刺史臧質、南豫州刺史魯爽. However, he was defeated by Liu Yuanjing 柳元景 (406-465) and Wang Xuanmo 王玄謨 (388-468) and fled to Jiangling 江陵 in central China, where he was killed by Zhu Xiuzhi 朱修之 (d. 464), regional inspector of Jingzhou.