「昏禮之壞，可勝言哉！」：論明代公主婚儀的安排及演變

“The Misfortune of Marriage Is More Than Words Can Express!”: A Discussion of the Procedures and Development of Princess Marriage Rites in the Ming Dynasty

在傳統男尊女卑的婚姻關係中，公主婚姻一向是個例外。雖然儒家總希望將公主與駙馬、舅姑納入一般夫婦、家庭關係的結構下，但往往事與願違，其中明代的情況最堪措意。本文以明代三次修訂的公主婚儀為中心，首先初步梳理明代公主婚禮的主要流程，接著一方面探求其與儒家婚禮理想訴求之異同，另一方面則試圖呈現公主的地位如何在婚儀的歷次修訂中持續提升，冀藉此指出，明代政府非但從未主動、公開抑制公主的婚姻地位，反而透過歷次婚儀的修訂，刻意在婚禮儀式中不斷加強公主獨尊之態勢，以至於明末發生駙馬棄職逃回故里的謬事。換言之，明代皇室從未打算全面參照、接納儒家的婚姻理想，明代公主婚姻地位的超卓，除了公主婚姻自身的特殊性，更多在於人為的操控。 In Chinese traditional marriage rites, men were generally superior to women to a large extent, except in the marriage of princesses. Although Confucian scholars consistently tried to incorporate the marriage of princesses into the normative androcentric model, reality often went contrary to their wishes, especially in the Ming dynasty. In this article, I first survey the procedures of imperial princess marriage rites in the Ming. I then compare these marriage rites to the ideal Confucian marriage, and attempt to demonstrate how the royal family elevated the status of princesses by revising the marriage ritual procedures. It is very obvious that the royal family was never inclined to Confucian dogma. The primary reason for the distinctive status of princess-consort marriage in the Ming, apart from unique circumstances of individual marriages, was this deliberate manipulation by interested parties.