从堂帖到省札——略论唐宋时期宰相处理政务的文书之演变

以文书御天下是传统中国政治运作的重要特点之一,文书的变化经常与政治的变化相适应。堂帖是适应中晚唐政治变化而出现的宰相独立处理政务的文书类型,历经五代、两宋,堂帖也经历了向中书札子、省札的演变。这种演变凸显了君相权力之争以及君主权力对日常行政事务的日益渗透;但经由对这些文书实际运作的考察,我们也发现以宰相为首的官僚体制依然具有较为充分的权力运作空间,使得君主实际上难以实现对政治权力的全面控制。

A Study on the Change of Official Documents by Prime Ministers in their Administrative Operation in the Tang and Song Dynasties

To rule the country by official documents was one of the important features of the traditional Chinese political operation.The change of official documents was often in conformity with the political change.Tangtie(堂帖)was a type of official document by prime ministers in their independent administrative operation,which was in conformity with the political change in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.This paper describes the evolutional process of the official documents by prime ministers from Tangtie in the Tang Dynasty to Zhazi(札子)in the Northern Song Dynasty,and then to Shengzha(省札)in the Southern Song Dynasty.This evolution reflected the struggle between emperors and their prime ministers for power and the penetration of monarchical power into the routine administrative affairs.By analyzing the actual operation of these different official documents,we also find that the bureaucratic system headed by prime ministers still had plenty of room for their manipulation of power,which made it difficult for emperors to realize their overall control of political power.