In film and television dramas, everyone has heard the word "Lady of the Commandments", and when the emperor rewards the ministers, he sometimes rewards their wives and titles them as "Lady of the Commandments".
In that feudal era, the status of women was very low, and advocated "women without virtue are talented". At that time, women had to obey the three virtues and four virtues, and before they married, they had to learn embroidery at home, and after they got married, they could only teach their children at home. If you can be named "Lady of the Commandments" by the emperor, it is a very honorable thing.
In the hit drama "Know It or Not", Gu Tingye's wife Sheng Minglan was named Lady of the Commandment, so what does this "Lady of the Commandment" mean? What conditions must be met to receive this award? What are the privileges after being named lady of the Commandments? Let's talk about it.
Photo: Stills of a female embroiderer learning at home before marrying
According to historical records, the title of Lady of the Commandment originated in the Han Dynasty, when the wife of the prince and minister was already called Lady. It should be noted that the lady referred to here is a "proper wife", not a concubine.
In the Song Dynasty, there was a saying of "sealing the commandments", and only the wives who had made great contributions to the imperial court would be named the lady of the edicts by the emperor. In the Tang Dynasty and even the Ming and Qing dynasties, the practice of the Song Dynasty was continued and improved on this basis.
Image: Stills of The Lady of the Commandments
In ancient times, if a woman wanted to obtain the honorary title of "Lady of the Commandment", she had to meet three conditions.
The first is to become
Official
，
The second is the right wife, and the concubine is not qualified to be named the Lady of the Commandments at all. The third husband must be a high-ranking official in the court and have made great contributions to the imperial court.
Therefore, a woman cannot get a reward through her own efforts, and must rely on her husband's aura to have a chance to be named a lady of the commandment.
Therefore, in that era, many women encouraged their husbands to take meritorious titles, one was to change the poor family environment and change from poor to rich; the other was to stain the light of their husbands, if the husband made meritorious contributions to the court, he could still get a reward.
Image: Stills of The Lady of the Sealed Commandment
During the Song Dynasty, whether officials were promoted or degraded, the word "commandment" was used. By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, the rulers had further differentiated the ranks of officials.
From one product to five products, the use of "declaration of destiny"
whereas
Six to nine products, then used
"Wow"
。
In the Ming Dynasty, however, the Measures of the Song Dynasty were followed, and the "Commandments" were used when awarding rewards to officials with more than five pins.
The same was true of the Qing Dynasty, where officials with five pins or more were rewarded with edicts, and six pins and below were used
"Edict".
You know, the edict and edict document is very different from the ordinary instrument.
The edicts are written in silk fabrics, which are particularly precious. In addition, due to the difference in grade,
The book of commandments and edicts
The colors used are also different, and the patterns painted on them are also different.
It can be seen that in order to emphasize the dignity and inferiority of rank, the rulers also took pains and thought of many ways to promulgate various rules and regulations.
Image: Stills of the book of the Commandments
Because the officials are all hierarchical, naturally the "Lady of commandments" also adopts a hierarchical system. Usually, the rank of the Commandment Lady is the same as that of her husband. For example,
If an official's rank is Yipin, if his wife is made a Lady of the Commandment by the Emperor, then his wife is the "Lady of the Commandment".
However, during the Song Dynasty, in the second year of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong of Song set the title of ninth class for foreign women, and only those of the first two ranks could be called "lady". The same was true of the Ming Dynasty, where only the wives of officials of the first and second grades could be called "madames", and the ones without titles and no qualities were the "niangzi" that we are most familiar with.
Image: Madame stills
So what privileges can women enjoy after being crowned "Lady of the Commandments" by the emperor? In fact, it is mainly reflected in three aspects.
After being first given the title by the emperor, he could receive the imperial court's fenglu.
You don't need to do anything to receive the Feng Lu, which is the favor of the imperial court to you, and it is also a way to win people's hearts. Of course, although the "Lady of the Commandments" could obtain the imperial court's salary, she did not have any real power in her hands.
In addition, there is a little privilege of being able to enter the palace to participate in royal celebrations.
As we all know, in ancient times, women generally did not go out much, and rarely showed their faces. If he was given the title of "Lady of the Commandments", he could go to the palace to attend a banquet. Whenever there was any celebration, the queen would organize a banquet, and the lady of the commandments would be invited.
Finally, there is also the privilege of the Lady of commandments that ordinary officials cannot convict if they commit a crime.
Although the "Lady of the Commandments" has these three privileges, there is also a rule that after the death of the husband, she cannot remarry. Once remarried, the imperial court would regain the title of "Lady of the Commandments".
Therefore, once a woman accepts the honorary title of "Lady of the Commandments", she will cut off her own way of remarrying. However, in that feudal era, women were generally very loyal, and few people would remarry, and most of the titles would accompany them throughout their lives.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!