南宋后族淳安杨氏家族考论

A Research on Yang Family of Chun'an,a Family of Empress in Southern Song Dynasty

南宋后族,不但没有了汉、唐时期后族的强势,也没有形成如北宋那样的外戚将门。宁宗杨皇后所属的淳安杨氏家族,是南宋后族的典型。这一家族之形成可谓迷雾重重,杨皇后与杨次山本属两个不同的杨姓家族,他们因为政治利益而结合在一起,形成后来的淳安杨氏。此后,为了家族的利益,杨氏族人两次策动或参与政变,先是谋杀了权臣韩侂胄,后来又废掉皇子赵竑,扶持理宗登上帝位。然而,同样是为了家族利益,他们韬光养晦,远避权势,从而维持荣显的社会地位和巨大的家庭财富。杨皇后之后,淳安杨氏还出现了一位驸马和一位太后。这一家族的发展壮大,体现了南宋后族与其他家族发展的不同之处:他们享受皇恩,不凭借科举,也不需发展自身的势力,而是几代人不断成为皇亲国戚,从而获取富贵。随着南宋王朝的崩塌,一部分杨氏族人以身殉国,而另一部分则成为亡国之臣,面临着家道中落的困境。杨氏族人在元朝的遭遇,表明在这种发展模式下,一旦改朝换代,家族就会缺乏发展的内在动力,从而迅速衰亡。

Empresses＇ clans of Southern Song Dynasty neither matched those of Han and Tang in power and influence, nor be- came families of generals like those of Northern Song Dynasty. Yang family of Chun＇an, which Empress Yang of Ningzong be- longed to, was the biggest Empress＇ clan in the mid-late Southern Song Dynasty, as well as a typical one in the whole. Mist shadowed the forming of this family, because Empress Yang and Yang Ci-shan, her so-called brother, were from two different Yang families. They united together for political benefit, which formed the later Yang family of Chun＇an. From then on, for the benefit of the family, Yang clansmen launched or took part in coups twice, first killing the powerful minister Han Tuo-zhou, and then deposing the imperial son Zhao Hang, and supporting Lizong to get the throne. However, for the benefit of the family all the same, they knew how to keep low and avoid power, in order to maintain reputed social status and huge family fortune. Af- ter Empress Yang, the Yang family of Chun＇an appeared an imperial son-in-law and another empress dowager. The development of this family indicates the difference between the developments of empresses＇ clans and other families in Southern Song Dynasty： they did not rely on the imperial examination, or the development of their own power, but tried hard to get royal graciousness in generations in order to get and keep fortune. With the collapse of Southern Song Dynasty, a part of Yang clansmen died for the dynasty, but others became the conquered, facing predicament of family declining. The circumstance of Yang clansmen in Yuan Dynasty indicates that under this mode of development, a family would decline soon once the royal graciousness disappeared.