淸初 皇位繼承과 皇權의 강화

Abstract

The Qing Dynasty did not adopt the tradition of previous dynasties founded by the Han people, which appointed the eldest among the empress's sons as the crown prince and educated him as the future emperor. However, as the Qing Dynasty rose from a local regime in the northeastern region and expanded its sovereign power over the entire continent of China, not only the range of ruling but also the way of designating the emperor's successor was changed. Nurhachi mentioned the joint agreement system as a governing system after his death, and the ruler elected through the agreement system shared his sovereign power with other influential powers. After the death of Nurhachi, Hongtaiji succeeded to the imperial throne. The development of the Houjin society and the expansion of the territory during the days of Hongtaiji revealed the contradiction of power and the limitation of the government. Thus, Hongtaiji ceased gradually the eight-king agreement system ordered by Founder Nurhachi and monopolized power, and through this, he laid the base for the rise of 'Great Qing.' Hongtaiji died suddenly in August 1643. As he did not designate his successor and even did not mention any name, severe struggles for power occurred inside the ruling group of the Qing Dynasty in order to hold the imperial throne after the sudden death of Hongtaiji. At that time, it was Dorgon, the King of Yechin, who settled internal and external problems with initiative. As he played an important role in Emperor Shunzhi's ascending to the imperial throne after the death of Hongtaiji, he acted as the regent of Emperor Shunzhi. As Dorgon expanded his control over armed forces while strengthening his power, he owned more armed forces than Emperor Shunzhi at the end of his regency. As Emperor Shunzhi began to rule the country directly after the death of Dorgon, Dorgon's military power was also absorbed to Emperor Shunzhi and this reinforced the emperorship. Such a shift of power over military forces is considered a critical process for the development of emperorship just after enthronement. Since the age of Emperor Shunzhi, the imperial throne succession system was changed gradually. That is, according to the will that Emperor Shunzhi left just before his death, the succession to his throne was different from the previous cases in two aspects. One is that, different from the convention, Emperor Shunzhi himself ordered the designation of Emperor Kang-xi as his successor, and the other is that the emperor ordered four of his subjects to support the new ruler in his governing of the country. The ruling system with assistant rulers during the age of Emperor Kang-xi can be regarded as a transitional system in the course of the establishment of the imperial government in the early period of the Qing Dynasty. However, Emperor Kang-xi, who ascended the throne at a young age, had to go through formidable contests with the assistant rulers. Thus, he tried a different way of deciding the successor. That is, he appointed one of the empress's sons, who was only one years old, as the crown prince. However, Emperor Kang-xi decrowned the crown prince twice, and after that, fierce feuds occurred among the emperor's sons over the imperial throne. Emperor Yongzheng, who ascended the imperial throne at the end of the feuds, created a system called Milgeonbeop (密建法). The first reason that the emperor introduced this system was probably the expression of his wish to cease the turmoil in the process of his enthronement. In addition, we may understand the system as an extension of the imperial throne succession system originating from the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. The origin of the Emperor's inability to exercise his full sovereignty was the system that the Emperor was elected through agreement. The Emperor, who was enthroned through agreement, attempted to change the succession system based on his experience, and the most radical reform was that Emperor Kang-xi appointed the Crown Prince openly. However, his attempt ended in failure and the last days of his reign were drawn into a vortex over how to appoint the successor. Having these direct and indirect experiences, Emperor Yongzheng set the principle that the Crown Prince would be appointed in secret in order to avoid such a situation and take initiative in deciding the successor. Milgeonbeop was designed to meet Emperor Yong-zheng's will and desire to choose one qualified for the next emperor among many princes rather than appointing the Crown Prince. However, Emperor Ch'ien-lung, who was enthroned by Milgeonbeop, reacted to Milgeonbeop negatively because of disturbances in the process of his accession to the throne, and as a result, the tradition was ceased. However, the influence of Milgeonbeop on the succession system in the Qing Dynasty is not insignificant. As Milgeonbeop combined the Manchurian's traditional tribal system, which did not appoint the successor while the ruler was alive, with the Chinese Crown Prince system in which the Emperor decided his successor during his lifetime, it is considered a unique emperorship succession method symbolizing the Qing Dynasty as a multi-racial country.