唐代宰相的使職特徵和名號

The Chief Ministers in Tang China:Their Nature as Commissioners and Their Official Titles

受錢大昕和嚴耕望的啓發,本文重新把唐宰相定位爲一種無官品的"使職"(而非有官品的職事官),就像節度使、鹽鐵使等使職一樣,宰相只不過是皇帝任命的一個"使職",輔佐皇帝治理國家。宰相的權力來自皇帝的授予,取決於皇帝對他的信任,有相當程度的私密關係。唐初,皇帝沿用隋朝的慣例,通常以三省長官爲宰相。貞觀年間,逐漸改派其他官員(如侍郎等)出任宰相。由於宰相是一種使職,與其他使職一樣,在初期往往有許多使職名號,稱號不固定,有許多變動。但從高宗朝開始,已逐漸統一爲"同三品"和"同平章事"兩種。本文考察唐宰相的使職名號及其命名邏1,務求更進一步理解唐代宰相之内涵。

Traditionally,the Chief Ministers of Tang China have been studied under the framework of the San-sheng system( 三省制,the Three Branches of the Government) and Zhong-shu men-xia( 中書門下,the Secretariat and the Chancellery). The main reason is that in the early Tang,the defacto heads of the San-sheng were routinely appointed as Chief Ministers. This paper takes a different approach,re-examining the Chief Ministers not as regular bureaucratic officials,but as a kind of Commissioners. In other words,the Chief Ministers were just special Commissioners of the Emperor,appointed by him and carrying out his orders. Just like other Commissioners in the Tang,the Chief Ministers were given a variety of official titles at various times,which are quite confusing as they appear in Tang documents. Thispaper examines such titles and their underlying naming principle thoroughly and resolves quite a few hitherto puzzling questions.