This paper explores the Covenant (盟約) as a diplomatic institution that shaped East Asian interstate relations from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries. With origins dating to early Zhou China, the Covenant involved ritual blood oaths (saphyul, 歃血), the reading of formal vows, and the invocation of divine punishment (jeosa, 詛辭) of its violators. It also entailed the exchange of hostages and the forging of fictive kinship ties that deterred betrayal and helped secure mutual trust.
Through close reading of historical records and diplomatic precedents, this study traces how such diplomatic ritual convention provided the framework for major agreements, including the Covenant of Chanyuan (澶淵之盟) between the Khitan and Song, the Shaoxing Accords (紹興和議) between the Song and Jin.
These practices and arrangements extended across the region—from Daxia’s covenants with Song, Khitan, and Jin to those linking Khitan, Jin, and Goryeo.
Even the Song adopted the Covenant as a diplomatic tool for establishing a new world order, which it eventually perceived as more instrumental than the Tribute-Investiture System.
Seen from Goryeo’s perspective, the Covenant was not merely a diplomatic arrangement imposed by its northern counterparts. It developed into a social convention— ritual oath, hostage exchange, and fictive kinship—aimed at balancing deference with autonomy and negotiating coexistence with neighboring empires.
Interpreting these practices within the wider records of Song, Khitan, Jin, and Mongol diplomacy presents a new understanding of the Covenant as offering visions of an alternative political order—one grounded in reciprocity, ritual parity, and strict hierarchy. Therefore, while further study is needed, this reappraisal attempts to reposition Goryeo at the center of a shared tradition that rivaled the logic of the Tribute–Investiture System.