The tomb of King Mingyizhuang of Jinfeng hairpin in Jiangxi was excavated from the collection of the National Museum
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang divided the princes into various places as the kings of the clan and lived a life of gold and jade food, rich and noble.
In the Ming Empire 400 years ago, how grand would the princes' life events be?
Fortunately, a suicide note called "Kingdom Ceremony" depicts in detail the scene of the princes before and after the wedding of the princes.
JinLeisi Loutai character top hairpin Ming Yizhuang King Tomb couple unearthed from the National Museum collection?
01
Prepare for marriage
The ancients paid attention to the "three books and six rites" when they got married, including Na Cai, Asking Names, Na Ji, Na Zheng, Asking For Periods, and Kissing.
Among them, the natchet and nazheng parts are both processes for men to give dowry gifts to women.
In the "Kingdom Ceremony", the Ming Dynasty prince's gifts are recorded as follows:
"Fifty-two gold, twelve pearls, four hundred and twenty pieces of silver, forty horses of various colors of silk, two horses of big red luo, two horses of raw yarn, forty horses of silk, one hundred pieces of cotton rouge, two two pieces of golden flower rouge, twenty bags of lead powder, ten weights of northern sheep, two mouths of pigs, twenty geese, eighty bottles of wine, eighty round cakes, ten bags of end tea, six fruits, two stones of white ripe rice, forty bags of noodles..."
It is worth mentioning that these gifts are even extremely gorgeously packaged.
For example, the bag containing pearls is a "red and green yarn pin gold bag", the satin is used to bind the satin with a "red and green gold bundle", and the bag containing lead powder is a "red and green gold bag".
It can be said that it is both festive and full of extraordinary royal boldness.
The gifts would be delivered by a matchmaker to a eunuch to the future princess's mother's house.
Later, in the "Na Zheng" link, the gifts given by the royal family are even more luxurious, which are batches of jewelry and clothing, including:
"Zhu Cuiyan is in the crown. (Decorated with large pearls, 2 golden phoenixes, 27 golden flower tungsten, 1 pair of golden hairpins, 1 pair of coral phoenix crown mouths)
There are four sets of Swallow House suits. (One piece each of big red silk, big red luo, big red yarn, and one piece of green luo)
Large belt of four strips.
A pair of jade belts. There is a pair of jade flowers (there is one jade flower, six jade pendant beads, four golden hanging head flower plates, and six golden leaves).
9 ball incidents, 2 gold cases.
Four pairs of beaded flowers, four branches of beaded flowers, one pair of golden feet four beaded rings, one pair of plum blossom rings, one pair of golden light sujun, one pair of golden eight treasure bracelets, four hundred and two gold, one thousand six hundred and two silver, twenty-four pearls, fifty treasure banknotes, four horses on horseback, sixty silk and aya, yarn, luo, and brocade, four big red luo horses, thirty-two northern sheep, sixteen pigs, thirty-two geese, two hundred bottles of wine, six hundred round cakes..."
Seeing this countless list, posterity can only sigh a word, worthy of being a heavenly family.
02
Big wedding ceremony
When a prince marries a relative, he needs the emperor to give the princess a golden book.
Therefore, important links such as the ceremony of the emperor had to be personally involved.
The day before the conquest, Shang Baosi set up a throne in the Fengtian Temple, and the ceremonial department prepared gifts such as crown jewelry and silk satin, and the Sect Division was also ready to "set up a great music".
In the early morning of the same day, the Jinyi Guards would set up an honor guard in the east and west of The Dan Majesty, and the Sect Department would also set up music and play outside the noon gate, and the civil and military officials would stand in the south of the Wenlou in accordance with the requirements of the Ceremonial Department, and then play the book of the Emperor's ascension to the palace and demote the book" "Now hire a certain official and a certain woman as a princess, and order the secretary of state to perform the ceremony."
Then the deacon took the gifts prepared by the ministry of etiquette and came out of the east gate of the noon gate to the outside of the royal bridge to change clothes and ride a horse, and rushed to the princess's house.
When it came time to officially perform the canonization ceremony, it was generally very similar to the Na Zheng ceremony, except that there were more princess phoenix ceremonies.
The princess's family would set up a tabernacle outside the gate and set up incense cases to the south, waiting for the arrival of the canonized envoys.
Interestingly, during canonization ceremonies, internal officials (eunuchs) and female officials often appear:
"The internal officials were put into the case, and one member of the female official who praised the ceremony lived in the east and the other in the west, standing in front of the concubine's seat. Female officials of the propaganda album and female officials of the exhibition book stand in the east, and the two members of the female officials who lead the ceremony are divided into left and right. ”
After that, the princess would follow the guidance of these female officials and kneel down to accept the emperor's orders.
The princess's gold book is made of one hundred and two full gold, and at the same time as the award, another batch of jewelry and clothing will be given to the princess, such as the four phoenix crowns.
03
The price of luxury
The life after becoming a princess has nothing to do with the dazzling before marriage.
The Ming Dynasty stipulated that the prince was not allowed to leave the city without authorization, otherwise he would have to report to heaven and correct his crime.
As a princess, it is naturally even more impossible to get free, for example, one of the crimes that Zhu Yuanzhang, the ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, convicted of his son King Lu was "a concubine who went out of the palace to travel far away to Konglin".
In other words, even if they are dressed in incomparably gorgeous costumes, the space for the princesses to move is only such a small piece of the royal palace.
And because of the chaos in the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty palace, there were even princesses who were not allowed to support them after the death of their husbands.
For example, the princess of King Huai of Han, theoretically the uncle and grandmother of King Han Kang, enjoys a pension of 120 stones per year.
However, King Han Kang did not even want to give this little money, and also swept Princess Huai out of the house, causing her to live on the street.
In the end, the king of Leping County really couldn't bear it, and wrote to the emperor.
The Chenghua Emperor, concerned about the dignity of the imperial family, ordered King Han Kang to welcome back Princess Huai:
"The first king of the first embrace, no heir, mourning the king's attack, looking for the king, there is no heir." The widow of the two kings, each with one hundred and twenty stones of rice. The King of Changhua entered the Throne of Han, and the rice of the two concubines was stopped. ”
King Han stopped mourning the princess, and Princess Huai went into exile.
In the end, King Leping was invited to yu Dynasty.
On:
"The court rules the world with benevolence, and the people who are lonely and poor still have the code of feasting, but in the case of clan relatives, they can abandon Yahweh? The King of Changhua was enfeoffed, and the second concubine of Korea, Yidang, was raised together. Its measure of lu rice, the princess of the feast, do not make the loss. ”
The joys and sorrows of living in the palace are, after all, just like people drinking water, cold and warm self-knowledge.