明朝嘉靖时期内阁首辅更迭频繁原因探析

Analysis of Causes for Frequent Change of Senior Grand Secretary in Cabinet During Jiajing Period of Ming Dynasty

明代嘉靖皇帝15岁由外藩继位,在位时间长达45年之久。其在位期间曾更换过多位内阁首辅,更换之频繁仅次于明代最后一位皇帝崇祯帝。嘉靖时期处于明代中期,是社会大环境总体趋于稳定的一个时期,这更使内阁不稳定问题凸显出来。内阁首辅更迭频繁,是在大礼议事件的发生、内阁地位的提高、世宗崇道等多方面因素共同促使下形成的。

At the age of 15,Emperor Jiajing of Ming Dynasty succeeded to the throne as foreign vassal and stayed on the throne for 45 years.During his reign,he changed many cabinet senior grand secretaries,and the frequency of change was second only to Emperor Chongzhen,the last emperor of Ming Dynasty.Jiajing period was in the middle of Ming Dynasty,a period when the overall social environment tended to be stable,which highlighted the instability of the cabinet.The frequent changes of cabinet senior grand secretary were due to the joint promotion of many factors,such as occurrences of great ceremony events,improvement of the status of the cabinet,Emperor Shizong’s worship of Taoism and so on.