「王遺女墓誌」의 解題와 北魏 女官에 대한 添言

Abstract

Tomb Inscriptions of Bei Wei(北魏) provide a meaningful topic among stone carving materials related to the funeral culture. They help to check changes to the external forms and content of Tomb Inscriptions after the Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang(洛陽) and examine the possibilities of Tomb Inscriptions as historical materials. "Tomb Inscriptions of Wang Yuyeo(王遺女)," who was a court maid(女官) in Bei Wei, analyzed in this study is in the extension line of this research work. Tomb Inscriptions of court maids during the period offer good historical materials to check the management and truth of certain titles not mentioned in history books more specifically. Court maids were not exclusive to this period, but the investigator focused on them for the following reasons: in Bei Wei that was a dynasty founded by nomads, there were overall changes to the queen system after the reign of Taihe(太和) as an important junction. When the perspective was limited to Tomb Inscriptions, it was clear that the Tomb Inscriptions of court maids were built during the period when political interventions by mothers of kings were prominent as one of the important characteristics of the period. They will provide useful information to explain the phenomenon of their political interventions. The aspects of the funeral culture recorded in the Tomb Inscriptions including the posthumous conferment of honors and the bestowal of objects for a funeral, in particular, show subtle differences between the royal concubines and common male officials during those days. They will be also effective for explaining the circumstances of women's social participation during the period represented by the old customs of Hengdai(恒代). Questions are, however, raised about the effectiveness of the Tomb Inscriptions as historical materials because the Tomb Inscriptions of court maids hold a small percentage of the entire women's Tomb Inscriptions with their construction concentrated on a certain period. It is not easy to figure out the narratives of records clearly since Tomb Inscriptions provide descriptions about the life and good deeds of their masters. This effort should be accompanied by the meticulous analysis of changes to the titles of court maids and various related historical materials during the period of Nan Bei Chao including Bei Wei.