公主是隋唐帝国宗室中的重要成员。公主身份特殊，一方面她拥有宗法帝国时代最为崇高的血缘，另一方面她因女性身份而受到一定抑制。虽然史籍中在论及礼法制度时常将公主与亲王并称，但实际建制上，公主地位与权力远逊于亲王。隋与唐代前期，公主恃宠而骄、奢靡无度、漠视礼法的情况十分严重。贞观年间，在公主自省、皇帝劝诫、大臣直谏的三方合力下，公主群体有所转型，逾制之风渐弱。伴随着武则天势力的崛起，出现了中国古代女性地位较高的时期，为公主冲破礼法秩序打开了缺口，甚至冲破制度，形成了公主势力。这种势力的影响有两个维度，一方面是安邦定国，如平阳公主势力在隋唐鼎革之际所产生的重要推动力。另一方面是动乱，安乐公主和太平公主相继发动叛乱，对唐帝国的中央秩序造成了严重危害。其中安乐公主势力并不独立，其全附于韦氏之后，而太平公主则是通过擅权形成了一个兼有帝国最高级文官和率领中央禁军羽林军的武将的势力集团。太平公主之势力为隋唐帝国公主之最。玄宗朝着力于改制，从食邑和政治参与两个维度严格限制公主及其他宗室、外戚的势力。开元新制成为公主势力的拐点，此后公主势力逐渐从帝国中央政治舞台中淡出。

The princess was an important member of the imperial family of the Sui and Tang Empire. The princess has a special status. On the one hand, she has the most noble blood in the imperial era, on the other hand, she was somewhat suppressed because of her female identity. Although the etiquette and law system is often called between the princess and the prince, in fact, the status and power of the princess are far inferior to the prince. In the early days of sui and Tang Dynasties, the princess was arrogant, extravagant and very serious. During the reign of Zhenguan, under the joint efforts of the princess's introspection, the emperor's exhortation and the minister's direct admonition, the princess group was transformed, and the wind of exceeding the restraint gradually weakened. Along with the rise of Wu Zetian's power, there was a period of high status of women in ancient China, which opened a gap for the princess to break through the order of etiquette and law, and even broke through the system, forming the power of the princess. The influence of this force has two dimensions. On the one hand, it is to maintain stability, such as the important driving force of the Princess of Pingyang force in the Sui and Tang dynasties. On the other hand, the unrest, Princess Anle and Princess Taiping launched a rebellion one after another, causing serious harm to the center order of the Tang Empire. Among them, the power of Princess Anle was not independent, it was all attached to Wei, and Princess Taiping formed a power group with the highest civil officials of the empire and the generals who led the central imperial army. The power and turmoil of Princess Taiping were the most popular princess of the Sui and Tang Empire. The Xuanzong dynasty focused on the reform and strictly restricted the power of the princess and other clans from the two dimensions of food and political participation. The New Century system became the inflection point of the princess power, after which the princess power gradually faded from the central political stage of the empire.