The Image of Women in the Transitional Period from Goryeo to Joseon as Seen Through an Analysis of Genealogical Records Published in the Early Joseon Dynasty

If we look at the Joseon Dynasty with a focus on the relationship between men and women, their respective roles, and married life, we can see that the early and late Joseon periods are very different.
With the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, as Neo-Confucianism came to function as the spirit of the times, 『Sohak』, which was paired with 『Daehak』 in the history of thought, assumed an important social function. If we follow this context, we can understand why the spread of 『Sohak』 was so encouraged during the reign of King Sejong [Chapter 1].

The author points out that when we limit the scope of our images of the Joseon Dynasty to the status and relationship between men and women, most of the images related to things like "Men and Women Should Not Sit Together at the Seven Ages of Age," "Chiljigogicak," and "Samjongjido" were solidified after the turbulent times of the Imjin and Byeongja Wars. In this book, through an analysis of genealogies published in the early Joseon Dynasty, the author focuses on the era of transition from Goryeo to Joseon society and examines in detail propositions related to the relationships and roles of men and women, and gender knowledge (gender).
Specifically, we examine the changes in the genealogy format, marriage and ancestral rites issues such as male-female marriage and kinship, equal inheritance, and reincarnation service [Chapter 2].

We also examine the records and distribution patterns of remarriage of women recorded in the oldest existing genealogy, the Andong Kwon Clan Genealogy, as well as marriage and whether or not a woman is married, remarriage and subsequent husband, distribution of remarriage and its social significance.
Through this, we can gauge the transitional aspects of the era and the influence that Joseon's Neo-Confucianism gradually had on women's lives, status, and social standing [Chapter 3].

Chapter 1: Reading the Elementary Learning after the Founding of Joseon

『Sohak』 is a kind of companion to 『Daehak』, and is an indispensable book in Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi's teachings.
As Juhee had his disciple Yu Cheong-ji edit a book that could educate and educate boys, Juhee's interest was also special.
So, Joohee and Yujajing are sometimes viewed as co-authors, that is, as a joint work of two people.
Juhee also wrote “Sohakseoje” and “Sohakjesa” in “Sohak.”
Therefore, it is crucial to understand the 『Elementary Learning』 in the context of Neo-Confucianism and Zhu Xi's learning.
With the introduction of Neo-Confucianism at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, 『Sohak』 began to be transmitted and accepted.
The founding of Joseon, which can be said to be a revolution for Confucianism in particular, opened a new chapter.
… This book examines King Sejong’s active promotion of the Elementary Learning from the perspective of the history of thought and the relationship between men and women and gender theory.
The active dissemination and propagation of 『Sohak』 during the Sejong era contained various historical implications.
At the level of the political system, there was a desire to create a new civilization and world based on Zhu Xi's teachings.
It aimed to build a Confucian (Zhu Xi) society based on the 『Elementary Learning』 and 『Great Learning』.
… The popularity of 『Elementary Learning』 showed signs of male dominance, and even male superiority and female inferiority.
However, even though propositions such as men and women not sitting together at the age of seven, the three kinds of guidance, and the seven evils of the sevenfold path are included in the 『Elementary Learning』, long-standing customs and culture could not change overnight.
It took time for such a proposition to gain much power.
--- p.47~49

Chapter 2 Marriage, Genealogy, and Ancestral Rites

Such relative equality was also generally tolerant of women's remarriage.
Even among the queens of Goryeo, there were women who were laywomen.
It's not that she was socially disadvantaged or discriminated against because she was a housewife.
Also, the status of sons and daughters in matters such as inheritance and ancestral rites was not significantly different.
However, with the founding of Joseon, which advocated Neo-Confucianism, its orientation toward a Confucian society became clearly evident.
However, it was not possible to transform into a Confucian society overnight.
In this context, it can be understood that in the genealogy published in the early Joseon Dynasty, records were made in order of birth age without distinction between sons and daughters, rather than according to the principle of first son and second daughter.
The customs of the Goryeo Dynasty remained intact.
In addition, the fact that a noblewoman was remarried is recorded ('posterior part'), and cases of remarriage can be confirmed in 『Seonghwabo』(1476) and 『Gayajeongbo』(1565).
…This same pattern is also confirmed in marriage forms.
In the Goryeo Dynasty, it was common for a man to marry and live with his wife's family.
This custom persisted for a considerable period of time despite the state's insistence on pro-British relations after the founding of Joseon, and it was not until the late Joseon period that anti-British relations were established.
…Until the early Joseon Dynasty, not only was inheritance of property distributed equally, but property rights for the inherited portion were also guaranteed.
Just because a daughter got married, her right to inherit property did not disappear.
The fact that the inheritance was divided equally between sons and daughters indicates that the obligations that came with the inheritance were also equal.
… In short, as Confucianism began to take hold in Joseon society, women’s chastity began to be emphasized.
In particular, the discriminatory provisions against sons of married women included in the Gyeongguk Daejeon became an important turning point.
The following provisions were made in the civil service examination section of the Gyeongguk Daejeon published during the reign of King Seongjong.
“The sons and grandsons of women who have remarried or lost their wives cannot take the civil service examinations, military service examinations, civil servant examinations, or civil service examinations.” The influence of this ban on the civil service examinations was enormous.
Moreover, after the Imjin War, the process of deepening Confucianism throughout society, in other words, the establishment of the ethics of Confucianism and the study of rites and etiquette, and the process of forming clans and family groups centered on patrilineal kinship under the patriarchal system, led to the transformation of Joseon society into a patrilineal male-centered society.
In genealogy, the practice of listing sons first and not grandsons became established.
Afterwards, this trend accelerated further, and the ethics of prohibiting remarriage spread not only to the yangban nobility but also to the common people, and chastity gradually became considered a given.
--- p.84~87

Chapter 3 Did Joseon women remarry?

I wanted to focus on the records of women's households that appear in the Andong Kwon Clan Genealogy (1476), the oldest existing genealogy.
In the 『Seonghwabo』, the son-in-law's name is written instead of the daughter's name.
In the daughter's seat, the daughter's husband was written as '여부女夫'.
But the main building was not small.
The format for indicating a son-in-law changed from various forms such as yeoboo, yeo, seo, yeoboo, to yeoboo and then to yeo before settling down, and 『Seonghwabo』 shows an intermediate form.
In addition, 『Seonghwabo』 clarifies the marriage type of the daughter who got married by specifying the first room, middle room, second room, and third room.
… First, from a macroscopic perspective, the process of Confucianization of Joseon society was taking place.
Compared to Goryeo society, where Buddhism was the dominant ideology, Joseon society adopted Neo-Confucianism as its dominant ideology, thus taking a different fundamental direction.
…Second, as can be confirmed from the data, the phenomenon of the Jaega and Samga clearly existed even in the early Joseon Dynasty.
The discussion held in the court in 1478 (the 8th year of King Seongjong's reign) regarding the regulation of female servants and female servants in the royal household speaks volumes about this.
…Third, there is a conflict between the aforementioned macro-level Confucianization process in Joseon and the second phenomenon of Jaega and Samga.
…Fourth, 『Seonghwabo』 can be said to be a genealogy that tells of the transitional period of the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods, in other words, the period when Confucian social order was solidifying.
So, there are aspects where seemingly contradictory aspects coexist.
--- p.120~123

Chapter 4: Women Intellectuals, Women Scholars, and Female Gentlemen of Joseon

The focus was on the thoughts and social awareness of intellectual women in the late Joseon Dynasty who could read and write and possessed Confucian knowledge in their daily lives.
They got married and lived as so-called good wives and wise mothers, but they did not stop there. They actively pursued Confucian knowledge and cultivation, and even went so far as to delve into the essence of Zhu Xi's teachings and leave behind collections of writings, showing an active learning and life style.
From a social historical perspective, after the Second Nan War, Joseon society showed a conservative tendency, including strengthening the patriarchal order and promoting chastity and filial piety policies.
Education and policies that emphasized traditional female image still persisted, and there were even aspects of them being strengthened.
But at the same time, women's awareness was also growing.
With the increase in women's economic status and the boom in reading and writing among women at the time, they were able to acquire a variety of knowledge and information.
Women with knowledge and insight emerged from the nobility.
Such intellectual women can be categorized as ‘female scholars’ and ‘female gentlemen.’
This book examines the lives and scholarship of the Im Yun-ji Party, the Isaju Party, and the Kang Jeong-il Party as specific examples that fall into that category.

… If we look at it this way, we can say that in the late Joseon Dynasty, a change in perception of women, especially intellectual women, was taking place, albeit within the larger framework of the Zhu Xi worldview.
Women also began to be recognized as scholars and female scholars who received and practiced knowledge through learning, and furthermore, they were considered to be capable of becoming gentlemen, the ideal human beings of Confucianism.
In fact, the path taken by the intellectual women, Isaju Party and Kang Jeong-il Party, was the life of a scholar who learned and practiced through scholarship.
… In short, the intellectual women who lived in the late Joseon Dynasty never denied their roles and status as women.
But I wasn't caught up in it.
Rather, he went on to his own interpretation that the fractions are different, but the essence is not different.
She accepted the traditional image of women at the time and devoted herself to academics and practice based on it.
However, they remained within a thoroughly Confucian worldview.
He did not rely on teachings such as Western learning or Catholicism that were popular among the people at the time.
--- p.192~198

Chapter 5: The Female Gentlemen of the Royal Family

Queen Sohye's 『Naehoon』 is the first document that actively accepted and reconstructed the gender knowledge of the center of Confucian civilization during the reign of King Seongjong and put it into writing.
Therefore, it needs to be understood from the perspective of a transitional period from Goryeo to Joseon society, and from Mahayana Buddhism to Confucianism.
It should be read in the context of the neo-Confucian or Zhu Xi transformation of Joseon society.
… As the greatest intellectual of her time in the 15th century, Queen Sohye proposed that the Zhu Xi philosophy of male-female relationships and gender-related propositions were desirable and should be accepted as norms for women to follow, but she kept a certain distance from the ideology of the ‘virtuous woman’ found in the ‘Sohak’.
It did not reach the point of excessive strictness, valuing chastity over starvation.
--- p.242~243

We examined the life and lifestyle of Lady Hyegyeonggung Hong by using her private records and official records as the main analysis materials.
Based on the words and speeches she left behind, I tried to reconstruct it from a historical perspective.
This could be considered as a supplement to the understanding of Lady Hyegyeong Hong's life, which has been mainly based on the Hanjungnok.
First of all, there are two pieces of writing left by Lady Hyegyeong Hong.
The letter sent to Princess Hwasun, the eldest sister-in-law, is of an everyday nature, but it was sent during a time when Crown Prince Sado was in conflict with King Yeongjo while acting as regent.
… Meanwhile, Lady Hyegyeong Hong issued seven proclamations.
Although she lived in the palace for 70 years across three dynasties, her speech only appeared during the reign of King Jeongjo.
This is because she was King Jeongjo's biological mother, and her political authority came from King Jeongjo.
However, there is no sign of any political nature in the speech.
He is only responding to the requests of the ministers in writing.
--- p.271

Queen Jeongsun Kim became King Yeongjo's second wife at the age of 15 and lived in the midst of palace politics until her death at the age of 61.
During the reign of King Jeongjo, she was the Queen Dowager, and during the reign of King Sunjo, she was the Grand Queen Dowager, and as an adult member of the royal family, she exercised political influence.
After Sunjo ascended to the throne, he seems to have exercised real political power by serving as regent for four years.
I lived through the era of political upheaval and the change of the throne from Yeongjo to Jeongjo and Sunjo.
During the reign of King Surim, she also called herself a female ruler or a female lord.
She had already issued a royal edict in Hangul during the reign of King Yeongjo, and she also issued a royal edict and a royal letter during the reigns of King Jeongjo and King Sunjo.
A total of 42 statements and writings can be confirmed, which is the most among all queens in history.
He was well aware of his political standing and sought to exert real political influence.
He also wrote some poems around the time of the Su-reum-cheong-jeong period, and some of them remain.
--- p.305

First of all, the evaluation of Queen Sunwon's regency, which took place twice during the reigns of King Heonjong and King Cheoljong, can vary considerably depending on one's perspective.
Even if you look at existing studies, the evaluation details are slightly different.
The evaluations range from Queen Sunwon's 'dictatorship' to her maintaining a balance among the royal relatives.
… However, following the precedent of the Sunjo era, the government was mainly run through official processes in the next generation based on the 『Suyeomcheongjeongjeolmok』.
He also promoted Jo In-yeong, who was entrusted with the maintenance of King Sunjo's government and was in charge of King Heonjong's affairs, and attempted to maintain a balance between the two maternal relatives' families, the Pungyang Jo clan and the Andong Kim clan.
There is also a need to discuss the next two rounds of convergence cleaning separately.
In that respect, Queen Sunwon's words are quite meaningful material.

--- p.347~348