明清曾氏袭封五经博士考

A Study on the Inheritance of the Doctor of Five Classics by Zengzi’s Descendants

宗圣曾子后裔袭封翰林院五经博士,始于明嘉靖十八年。明清两代,共有十四位曾子后裔承袭五经博士且实际任职。因曾氏后裔播越流寓,散之四方,明代曾氏首位五经博士的承袭,为地方查访,朝廷裁定。曾氏五经博士冒袭、争袭事件,显示了曾氏族人对宗子身份的挑战与争夺,进而呈现出宗法与礼法、族权与政权、地方与中央之间纠葛的复杂面相。清初定型的五经博士承袭制度,标志着曾质粹后人的宗子身份与承袭合法性的确立。曾氏五经博士的承袭遵循嫡长子继承制,其承袭程序,清代较明代更为规范和严密,凸显了帝制时代皇权对五经博士册封的强力控制。

It was in the 18th year of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty that the progeny of Zengzi were conferred with the title of Doctor of the Five Classics of Hanlin Academy.During the Ming and Qing dynasties,there were fourteen descendants of Zengzi who inherited the Doctor of Five Classics and were actually in office.The first Doctor of the Five Classics was enquired by the local government and decided by the central government,because descendants left their places and scattered themselves elsewhere.Those incidents of simulation and scramble for the Doctor of Five Classics,showed the challenge and contention of clansmen for the eldest status,and further presented the complex relationship between patriarchal clan system and ritual system,clan power and political power,local government and central government.In the early Qing Dynasty,the system of inheriting the Doctor of Five Classics was finally determined,which marked the establishment of Zeng Zhicui’s descendants’status as the eldest posterity and legitimate inheritance.Zeng family followed the primogeniture system to inherit the Doctor of Five Classics,and the inheritance procedures were more standardized and strict in Qing Dynasty than in the Ming Dynasty,which highlighted the strong control of imperial power on the conferring of Doctor of Five Classics in the imperial era.