公主是古代宮廷裡一群比較特殊的女性，但是宮闈的森嚴與社秘，使得一般對其中的史事多不甚了解，加以明代公主在政治上並無突出的表現，形象顯得較不活潑，所以一直罕有專文論述，除了處於朝代更迭的長平公主，戲劇性的形象深啟人心之外，其餘明朝皇帝之掌上明珠皆為人所忽略，可說是被遺忘的宮廷婦女。 本文掌試利用正史的記載，兼以禮典之規定，以及文人筆記之書寫，企圖建構明代公主之部份歷史圖像。基本上以公主的生命歷程的為主軸，分為由出生到冊封、參與典禮、婚姻與家庭以及經濟?柱四個耜皆，淺論各階段的相關問題，希望盡量呈現明代公主的生活，以稍補明代宗藩婦女研究之不足。 縱而言之，明代公主在皇帕的婚嫁政策亦扮演了重要角色，文後附表的整理，大體上可以看出公主的冊配情形。在經濟方面，她們也是龐大宗藩祿米的消耗者，不容忽視。此外，我們由與公主相關之禮制，亦可發現性別與階級兩者可能相互衝突的倫理關係。

　　　　　Of all groups, which belonged to the Ming inner court, the princesses have been the least studied as a research subject. These women have been much neglected for a long time. The main reason for this may be sources for a study of princesses at that time are abundant. This article hopes to present a picture of the emperors’ daughters in the Ming period, based on primary texts of the Ming and early Ch’ing times, including official books: biography of princesses in the Ming History, works on ritual, and other unofficial histories. This paper focuses on the life of princesses in the Ming dynasty. The first section describes activities from the birth of princess to title conferring. The second section discusses princesses’ participation in ritual, which is important for affirming the legitimacy of the imperial family. The third section discusses the marriage and family life of princesses and examines the policy of recruiting imperial members in the Ming times. Finally, the economic foundation of princesses will not be ignored, either.