王世貞<史乘考誤>所論嘉、隆之際史事考釋

A Study on Wang Shih-chen's ''Shih-sheng K'ao-wu' Concerning Some Historical Facts in Chia-chin and Lung-ch'in Times

王世貞是明代中晚期的重要史家，後世學者常引用王說做為著史或考訂明代史實的依據。<史乘考誤>是王氏史學方面的精心之作，也最常被史家們所引證。然因王氏著史風格和家世、經歷等影響，<史乘考誤>論及嘉、隆之際歷史時，每有渲染或失實之處。本文旁徵多種明末史料，對<史乘考誤>有關嘉、隆史事的十條論證，分別詳加考訂，並試圖闡釋其產生誤差的原因。本研究一方面希望從史學史角度探討王世貞治史的特色，並澄清歷史的真象；另一方面也嚐試刻劃嘉、隆之際政爭的一個側面。

Wang Shih-chen was an important historian in late Ming times. Many historical writings on the Ming Dynasty were originally derived from Wang's works among which 'Shihsheng K'ao-wu' attracted the most attention. However, biased by his history writing style and his personal sufferings, Wang, in some items of 'Shih-sheng K'ao-wu', exaggerated or even went astray from the historical facts occurred during the transition of Chia-ching to Lung-ch'in times. This article, thus, probed into many Ming historiographies, and chose ten items from 'Shih-sheng K'ao-wu', all focusing on the Chia-ching and Lung-ch'in periods, as targets upon which I set up my investigations and comments. The present research, on the one hand, tries to explore the ways, that Wang Shih-chen used to deal with historical issues, and to clarify some facts of late Ming history; it, on the other hand, also intends to draw a profile depicting political struggles during the transition of Chia-ching to Lung-ch'in times.