Who has a higher status, the hereditary prince and the downgraded prince? I believe that after seeing this question, many readers will think that the status of the prince must be higher than that of the county king. There is nothing wrong with this view, but if we compare it carefully, the problem is not that simple.
It is necessary to talk about the concept of Iron Hat King
Hereditary means that the title remains unchanged from generation to generation. No matter how many generations it is inherited, the prince is still the prince, and the county prince is still the county prince, so it is popularly called the "Iron Hat King" .
The system of hereditary succession of princes and princes appeared relatively late. In the forty-third year of Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong rehabilitated Dorgon, restored his title as Prince Rui, and assigned him to the Imperial Ancestral Temple. At the same time, Qianlong also brought together the founding kings, namely Prince Li, Daishan, Prince Rui, Prince Zheng, Jierhalang, Prince Yu, Duduo, Prince Zhuang, Shuose, and Prince Su, Hauge. , Shuncheng County Prince Leke Dehun , and Keqin County Prince Yuetuo designated the titles of these eight kings as hereditary.
It should be pointed out that as of the 43rd year of Qianlong's reign, hereditary replacement of clan princes and county princes was standard. Take Prince Li Daishan as an example. After his death, his son Mandahai inherited the title of prince, but the title changed from Prince Li to Prince Jian, and was later inherited by Daishan's grandson Jieshu (Prince Kang).
Take Emperor Shunzhi Prince Fuquan as an example. His title was Prince Yu. After his death, the title of prince was inherited by his third son Baotai. After Baotai won the title, his nephew Guangning inherited the title.
In fact, all the princes and princes who were canonized before the Qianlong Dynasty had their titles inherited without being downgraded, so there is no need to emphasize the concept of hereditary inheritance.
In the forty-third year of Qianlong's reign, the titles of the eight founding kings were designated as hereditary, while the titles of other clans were downgraded and inherited. So from this moment on, hereditary succession became the highest honor that a clan prince could receive.
"Yongzheng Dynasty" has a drama about the foreign iron hat king using the excuse of rectifying flag affairs to force the palace. In fact, this statement is not consistent with history. Firstly, after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, there was no such thing as the so-called foreign iron hat king; secondly, During the and Yongzheng periods, there was no such title as the Iron Hat King.
Comparison of the status of iron-hatted princes and general princes
Among the eight iron-hatted kings and four iron-hatted kings with enfeoffments in the Qing Dynasty, only two were county princes, namely the prince of Shuncheng and the prince of Keqin. This is the lineage of Prince Li and Daishan.
The first generation of Shuncheng County King was Luck Dehun, and Luck Dehun's father Sahalian was a close member of Huang Taiji . Unfortunately, Sahalian died early, and Huang Taiji changed his name and became the emperor. , determine the title of the clan, and change the title of Baylor, the original flag bearer, to prince or county king. Saha Lian planned to be granted the title of Prince of Duoluo County, but he died in May of that year and was later posthumously granted the title of Prince Heshuoying.
There is a difference between retroactive sealing and real sealing. Generally, retroactive sealing is limited to the individual, while real sealing can be inherited by descendants. Therefore, after Saharian's death, his son Luck Dehun was only seven years old and did not inherit the title. It was not until the fifth year of Shunzhi that he was officially named King of Shuncheng County.
Luck Dehun was a royal prince with outstanding military exploits, but he was unlucky and was never promoted to prince. This may be because of his close relationship with Dorgon. After his death, there were no particularly outstanding talents among his descendants. In addition, after Kangxi , the lineage of Shuncheng County Princes was already a distant branch of the clan, so there was no chance of being crowned a prince.
The situation of Prince Keqin is roughly similar to that of Prince Shuncheng. He did not seize the opportunity in the Taizong Dynasty and Shunzhi Dynasty when he was most likely to be crowned a prince. After Kangxi, there was almost no chance.
The clan title system was established since Emperor Taiji, and after several dynasties of improvement, the clan title system had been customized by the Qianlong Dynasty. In terms of rank, there is no doubt that the prince is higher than the county king.
According to the customization, the prince is granted the title of prince or county queen, and the court will allocate a certain number of fixed properties such as manors, fields, pawn shops, etc. according to the rank, as well as a royal palace. But these properties are tied to the titles of princes and princes.
Take a general prince as an example. After his death, his property is inherited by his son who inherits the title, but the title he inherits is that of a county prince. According to regulations, he cannot live in the prince's palace, and the court will build a new county prince's palace . The originally given manors and other properties will also be taken back, and rewards will be given again according to the level of the county king.
In the same way, after the death of the county king, the title will be reduced to Baylor, and Baylor will be reduced to to beizi . After several generations of this, it will become a low-level title such as the general of the country and the general of the auxiliary country. Then it is obvious that their wealth will also decrease.
The hereditary princes are different. Their palaces, manors and other properties remain unchanged from generation to generation. More importantly, the two iron-hatted princes were both founding kings, and they both sealed a lot of land after entering the customs. Since Kangxi, with the increase in the number of princes, the lands and manors entrusted by ordinary princes may not be a fraction of those of these two iron-hatted princes.
However, in terms of political status, princes are generally the princes of the current emperor. They have a distinguished status and even participate in many government affairs. Their voice is much higher than that of the iron-hatted prince. However, due to the restrictions of the downgrading and nobility system, their descendants have no way to remain wealthy forever. Therefore, from the perspective of future generations and family inheritance, ordinary princes cannot compare with the Iron Hat County Prince.
Now that we have talked about this topic, let me talk about the difference between princes and princes. The so-called prince refers to the son of the current emperor, while the general prince is the previous emperor or a hereditary prince.
Judging from many records in "Instances of the Qing Dynasty Huidian", the ranking of clans has a strict hierarchy, and they are all arranged in the order of prince, prince, prince and prince, and county prince.
Political factors aside, in terms of clothing, the prince is higher than the average prince. For example, at the beginning of Emperor Xianfeng's accession to the throne, in order to enable his younger brothers to work together to assist him, he gave them more clothes and approved the colors and patterns of the python robes and court robes worn by the emperor's younger brothers. And the red velvet knot he wears is the same as the prince's rank. This also shows that the status of the prince is higher than that of ordinary princes.
