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Princes of the Ming dynasty

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Locations of fiefdoms of Ming princes

Theprinces of theMing dynastyweretitled and salaried membersof the imperial bureaucracy with nominal lordship over variousfiefsof Ming China. All were members of the imperialZhu clandescended from the twenty-six sons ofZhu Yuanzhang(Hongwu Emperor). None of the princes controlled the administration of their nominal fief, unlike some tribal leaders orConfucius' descendants, theDukes of Overflowing Sagacity,who continued to rule their territories outside of the normal provincial system.

Like all members of the imperial family, the princes were not bound by the standard imperial administration or courts. Instead, their status, promotions, and punishments were regulated by theImperial Clan Courtin the capital, which was staffed and directed by other members of the clan.

Generation names

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TheHongwu Emperorconsidered that the names of descendants would be duplicated.Zhu Shouqianhad given generation name poems to all of his sons and grandnephews. They each have poems with twenty characters for twenty generations of male-line descendants, starting from his great-grandnephew, Zhu Shouqian. The emperor decried that his descendant's given names must use characters withWu Xing(Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal & Water). Only descendants of Zhu Shouqian's line do not need to follow this rule.

Title

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The Chinese title of these lords wasWáng(Vương), which was held by the "emperors" of theShangandZhoudynasties and by the "kings" of theWarring States.The English translation of "prince" is generally preferred for these Ming rulers, however, owing to their extremely limited authority.

Royal and noble ranks of the Ming dynasty[1]

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Male members

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  • Crown prince,Great Imperial Son (Hoàng thái tử,HuangTaizi), for eldest son and heir of an Emperor.
    • Crown prince, Great Imperial Grandson (Hoàng thái tôn), for the eldest son of a crown prince.
  • First-rankPrince(Thân vương), for imperial son except the crown prince.
    • Hereditary Prince, Princely Son (Thế tử), for the eldest son and heir apparent of a 1st rank prince.
      • Hereditary Prince, Princely Grandson (Thế tôn), for the eldest son of a hereditary prince.

Some princes had passed their principalities to their great-grandson too, their heir-apparent namely called "shizengsun" (Thế tằng tôn,Princely Great-Grandson).

  • Second-rankcommanderyprince (or "Prince of XXX Commanders" ), for all other sons of a crown prince and first-rank prince except their heir apparent.
    • Commandery chief son (Quận trường tử), for the eldest son and heir apparent of a commandery prince.
      • Commandery chief grandson (Quận trường tôn), for the eldest son of a chief son.
  • Defender general (Trấn quốc tương quân), for all other sons of a second-rank commandery prince except his heir apparent. The privilege of this title was the same as first junior-rank officers.
  • Bulwark general (Phụ quốc tương quân), for the son of a defender general. The privilege was the same as second junior-rank officers.

Some younger sons of commandery princes were mothered by their concubinage, or if they have offended, they would be made the title bulwark general.

  • Supporter General (Phụng quốc tương quân), for the son of a bulwark general. The privilege was the same as third junior-rank officers.
  • Defender lieutenant (Trấn quốc trung úy), for the son of a supporter general. The privilege was the same as fourth junior-rank officers.
    • Defender lieutenant's primary consort would title reverent lady (Cung nhân).
  • Bulwark lieutenant (Phụ quốc trung úy), for the son of a defender lieutenant. The privilege was the same as fifth junior-rank officers.
    • Bulwark lieutenant's primary consort would title proper lady (Nghi nhân).
  • Supporter lieutenant (Phụng quốc trung úy), for the son of a bulwark lieutenant. The privilege was the same as sixth junior-rank officers.
    • Supporter lieutenant's primary consort would title peace lady (An nhân).

Son of a supporter lieutenant would be made the title of supporter lieutenant.

Female members

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  • Princess(Công chủ), for daughters, sisters, and paternal aunts of emperors.
    • Prince Consort Commander (Phụ mã đô úy), for the imperial son-in-law, and consorts to an emperor's sister or paternal aunt
  • Commanderyprincess (Quận chủ), for the daughter of a crown prince or first-rank prince.
  • County princess (Huyện chủ), for the daughter of a commandery prince.
  • Commandery lady (Quận quân), for the daughter of a defender general.
  • County lady (Huyện quân), for the daughter of a bulwark general.
  • Village lady (Hương quân), for the daughter of a supporter general.
  • Clanswoman (Tông nữ), for the daughter of a lieutenant.

Except for imperial daughter and clanswoman, all of the consorts of these female members would be titled "yibin" (Nghi tân), their ranks apart were the same 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th junior-rank officials

Offenders imperial member called as Commoner (Thứ nhân). If a 1st-rank prince was demoted, the imperial court would appoint one of their peerage members to presided the other members of the peerage, and namely called them as "clan councilor" (Tông lý).

As the serious population growth of the imperial members duringWanli Emperor's reign, the emperor altered the salaries and restricted the succession orders for imperial members. The new succession order for a first-rank prince was: if a first-rank prince has no son to succeed his principality, a second-rank commandery prince (start from his brother and his brother's descendants, then paternal uncle, and his uncle's descendants, so on and so forth) still could succeed the principal. However, except for the successor's eldest son who would be the new heir for principality, all other younger sons of the successor could not promoted to the rank of second-rank princes even though they are sons of a first-rank prince. They could only held the title of defender general based on their father's original second-princely title designation.

History

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During theHongwu eraat the founding of the dynasty, the emperor enfeoffed his many sons and gave them control over large garrisons of as many as 20,000 men. In the succeedingJianwen era,an attempt by the emperor to demote or disarm his many powerful uncles (known in Chinese asTướcPhồn,lit."The Weakening of the Marcher Lords" ) prompted theJingnan Campaignof the Prince of Yan which ended with the apparent death of the young emperor in a palace fire and Yan's ascension as theYongle Emperor.Despite justifying his campaign as an effort to uphold thetraditions of the Hongwu Emperorand to free his nephew from the ill counsel of the court advisors, the Yongle Emperor completed the work of removing the imperial clan from the militarized borders withMongolia,Manchuria,andAnnam.For example, he granted the territory of thePrince of Ning– whose capture and support had been essential for Yan's victory and with whom he had promised to divide the empire – to allied Mongols and placed the prince himself in an ungarrisoned sinecure inNanchang.[2]

Over the course of the dynasty, some titles were absorbed by the crown, others abolished following unsuccessful revolution, and still others created for cadet branches of the dynasty.

Crown Prince

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Main article:Taizi

Thecrown princeof the empire was known as theTaizi(lit."Supreme Son" ). Under the terms of the Hongwu Emperor'sdynastic instructions,he was to be selected in accordance with strictConfucianagnatic primogeniture:the eldest son of theprimary consortsucceeded,. Although legitimizing the ascension of theYongle Emperorinvolved forged claims that he had been selected by the Hongwu Emperor over his brotherCrown Prince Yiwenin direct violation of the emperor's own policy, the practice was subsequently observed except in the aftermath of theTumu Incident.This repeatedly led to teenaged and even infant princes ascending to the throne and contributed to the domination of the government by powerfuleunuchdictators.

Crown princes who failed to ascend to the imperial throne were givenposthumous namesincluding their title oftaizi.They include:

Lesser princes

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Main article:Vassals princes of Ming dynasty

Salaries for princes and other imperial family members

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In 1370, theHongwu Emperorcreated ten princely peerages:Qin,Jing, Yan, Zhou, Chu,Qi,Tan, Lu ( lỗ ) andJingjiang.Salaries for princes and princesses were set in 1376:

  • For a first-rank prince:
    • 50 thousands dan of rice for a year
    • 25 thousands of banknotes for a year
    • 40 pairs of brocades for a year
    • 300 pairs of reels for a year
    • each 100 pairs of "sha" and "luo" for a year
    • 500 pairs of silk for a year
    • each 1000 of grass cloth and winter cloth for a year
    • 2000taelof cotton for a year
    • 2000 "yin" of salt for a year
    • 1000cattiesof tea for a year
    • 50 pairs of horses forage for a month
    • Satin for a year for self-made by own carpenters
  • ForPrince of Jingjiang:
    • 20 thousands dan of rice for a year
    • 10 thousands of banknotes for a year
    • 20 pairs of horses forage for a month

The other supplies for Prince of Jingjiang were half amount of a first-rank prince.

  • For unmarried imperial daughter and without title of a princess:
    • each 10 pairs of reels, "sha" and "luo" for a year
    • each 30 pairs silk, grass cloth and winter cloth
    • 200 taels of cotton for a year
  • For married imperial daughter with the title of a princess:
    • granted a farmland
    • 1500 dan of rice for a year
    • 2000 of banknotes for a year

Supplies for son of a first-rank prince without any titles and peerages were same as non-title imperial daughter, while for non-title first-rank princely daughter were half amount of non-title 1st-rank princely son.

See also

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References

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  1. ^Vạn lịch 《 đại minh hội điển 》
  2. ^"Zhu Quan".History of Ming,Folio 117, p.14a. Taiwan ed, p. 3591. Accessed 14 Oct 2012.
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