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Appointment of Bureaucratic Officials and Power Relations in the Early Cheoljong Period under a Regency by Queen Sunwon

  • The Review of Korean History
  • 2013, (110), pp.285-326
  • Publisher : The Historical Society Of Korea
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

Hyeryun Lim 1

1충남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the three-year period following King Cheoljong’s coming to the throne, when the nation was under a regency by Queen Sunwon. The aim is to examine the practice of appointing bureaucratic officials and to understand power relations of those times. The political power of the early part of King Cheoljong period was led by the maternal relatives of the king, who were the Kims of Andong and the Hongs of Namyang. Also, it was the Office of Border Defense that was in the center of the authority. In specific, the core government officials were Yusa-dangsang (a permanent member of the Office of Border Defense) from the Office of Border Defense and Dangsang who could participate in recommending government officials, where a number of the Kims of Andong and their relatives entered to obtain political power. In addition, many government officials were connected by marriage. Similar with this, there was considerable number of the Hongs of Namyang and their relatives, too. It was through the Office of Border Defense that the Kims of Andong could advance to significant political position. To sum up, the Office of Border Defense was provided as an institutional strategy. However, the political relationship of King Cheoljong and that of Heonjong was quite different: The political balance between the Kims of Andong and the Jos of Pungyang was achieved according to the King Sunjo’s will. The King Heonjong died; however, he was not able to have a son to carry on his throne. Therefore, the King Cheoljong came to the new throne by the Queen Sunwon instead. Thus, it was the maternal relatives’ political position that enabled them to seize power during the King Cheoljong’s ruling. Also, the Kims of Andong were able to begin gaining political ground during the period of regency by the Queen Sunwon. Also, Cheoljong’s queen consort was selected from the Kims of Andong as well, which allowed the Kims of Andong to retain their political status as the maternal relatives of a king.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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