明代传奉授官制度变迁考论

On the Transformation of Ming Dynasty System of Personnel Appointment

绕过主管官员铨选的吏部或兵部,皇帝直接以圣旨的形式升授官员,明代称之为"传奉"。明初特旨升授和经由吏部的铨选升授同为主要的官员铨选方式,前者的主要针对高级官员和近侍官。宣德以后随着铨选制度的发展,传奉授官不再具有主导地位,天顺以后传奉授官重又流行,至成化、弘治、正德三朝而大盛。不过授官对象与明初又有所不同,主要集中在寄禄性质的武官和中低级文官。成化初年,在两京高级官员的铨选上废除了宣德以来形成的会举制,随后又将此权力从吏部收归皇帝本人,这为宪宗朝滥封传奉官开了方便之门。成化以后伴随着铨选制度的进一步发展完善,君臣之间围绕传奉授官进行了反复博弈,使传奉授官受到越来越多的限制,不过终明之世始终没有停止传奉授官。

The practice of the emperor directly appointing personnel in the form of imperial edict over the Ministry of Personnel and Ministry of War was known as"chuanfeng"(lit.submitting an order for an appointment).In the early Ming dynasty(1368-1644),the appointment or elevation of officials by imperial edict and the Ministry of Personnel are two major ways for selecting officials,with the former principally for designating high-ranking officials and court attendant officials.As the personnel appointment system developed,after the Xuande reign(1426-1435),the Chuanfeng system did not play the dominant role any more.Nonetheless,it was restored after the Tianshun reign(1457-1464)and overwhelmingly dominant during the Chenghua,Hongzhi,and Zhengde reigns(1465-1521).But different from the previous practice,the direct appointment from emperor was largely applicable to military officers(known as"wage officers")and mid-to-low level civil officials.The early years of the Chenghua reign(1465-1487)saw the abolishment of the old collective appointment system for high-ranking officials in Beijing and Nanjing,and the withdrawal of the power from the Ministry of Personnel to the emperor–which led to the practice of arbitrarily designating chuanfeng officials in the Xianzong reign(1465-1487).After that,with the improvement of the personnel appointment system,emperors and the subject officials conducted battles concerning the system,which yielded growing numbers of restrictions on the Chuanfeng system,although it never was abolished throughout the dynasty.