北魏甄琛之父“超登正四之官”考辨

Study on Unconventional Promotion in the Zhen Chen's Biography of the Wei Shu

今本《魏书·甄琛传》载北魏朝臣抨击甄琛之语"令布衣之父,超登正四之官"云云。这绝非正常的人事任命,而是违反常规的破格起家。研究发现,北魏四品以上是皇室至亲和庶姓功臣专享的起家区域,对应超品乡品。而后者集中在从四品的边缘位置,正四品以上主要留给皇王子孙和诸蕃王。甄琛家族起自寒微,其父染指宗室上层的起家特权,违背了贵族流品原则,难免引起激烈争议。宗室成员率先发难,揭示矛盾的焦点,但实质还是反对宣武帝抑制近属宗王的施政方略,又夹杂代人种群与汉族恩幸集团的民族隔阂,二维交错主线使得问题错综复杂。只有联系具体历史背景和相关制度元素,方能诠释传文所述内容的真实含义。

It was recorded in the Zhen Chen's biography of the Wei Shu that his father as the plebeian entered the official career by the fourth grade,which broke the rule of the organization and personnel. In fact,the fourth grade region was monopolized by the royal close relative and the non-royal merito-rious statesman so Zhen Chen's action offended the nobility's overall interests as an open violation of the aristocratism principle.The incident was also the concentrated reflection of the sharp conflict be-tween the royal clan and the Xuan Wu emperor who adopted the policy of suppressing his relatives.It was the unique method to expound the implication of the ancient documents under the specific histori-cal background and the relevant system elements.