元代 중⋅후기 皇權과 權臣 -톡 테무르와 토곤 테무르 시기를 중심으로-

Abstract

Often, the reason for the exercise of heavy authority by the prime ministers of Zhongshu sheng during the Yuan Dynasty is found in the absence of Chinese administrative and legal system. However, based on the tradition of Mongol, since the Keshig prime ministers of Zhongshusheng personally had a special position as the emperor's servants, a stronger master-servant relationship was established as compared to the dynasty in Zhongyuan. The emperor gave authority as the chief executives of the government operation to the prime ministers, but he dominated them through a private master-servant relationship and exercised autocratic emperor’s power and exercised autocratic emperor’s power, strictly maintaining checks and balances using the subtle strife between Keshigs or utilizing the function of inspection by the Censorate. The critical incident that debased the Emperor’s power of the Yuan Dynasty was the war of the two capitals. Influential Vassal El Temür, who succeeded in Coup d’etat, seized the leadership of government administration, enthroning Scarecrow Emperor Toq Temür. Since Toq Temür, who did not have any forced base unlike Emperor Yisun Temür was enthroned by El Temür’s decision of after a long life of exile, he could not exercise Emperor’s power, and the early era of the reign of Toghon Temür, who was enthroned by the help of Bayan and Botasiri was similar in spite of a difference in extent. Starting his direct imperial rule, Toghon Temür who planned the recovery of the emperor’s power would restore the corrupted master-servant relationship between the ruler and the ruled by influential vassals like that in the early stage of Yuan Dynasty. He expanded the incident in which Bayan murdered Chechegtü to the master-servant relationship between the sovereign and the subject and would reinstate Toqto to Zhongshusheng for a political reason, but by waiting till Toqto volunteered to be a servant, he clarified the master-servant relationship. In addition, while he strengthened the function of the Censorate, he appointed figures at the antipodal point with the Junior Chief Councilor of the Central Secretariat, who seized power as censors in chief and let them control each other. As a result of the utilization of the Censorate, seven Junior Chiefs Councilor of the Central Secretariat were replaced for about 10 years of the middle period of Toghon Temür’s reign, and no influential vassals like El Temür or Bayan appeared during his reign.