The Descendents of Ancient Sages(先賢 後裔) in the Ulsan Hosehold Register of the later Joseon Dynasty

Abstract

A various type of descendents(後裔) were documented in household registers of Daegu, Ulsan, and Danseong produced in the later Joseon Dynasty. Joseon gave preference to the descendents of Ancient Sages since its foundation in 1392. They could have been privileged to be assumed as a governmental officer or to be excused from diverse duties, including military ones. For example, those who held ancestral rites for Ancient Sages(奉祀孫) could been assigned to the upper position on military duty such as Chunguiwui(忠義衛). Despite of uncertainties on ancestors’ lineage, they could be excluded from the Seven lowest services(七般賤役). Therefore, being recorded as an descendent of ancient sages on the household register was closely related to be given preferential treatment on duties. This study attempts to trace about 100 years of history of the houses of Gong Sebal(孔世發) and Gong Huiryun(孔希連) of Ulsan, both descendents of Confucius, and that of An Guoungwoo(安景佑), the descendants of An Hyang. The members of those families started to appear as descendents of Ancient Sages from the household register of 1680s. From then, they tended to enter into Chunguiwui, thereby being exempted from military service and moving in the upper positions in military service. However, there were various social problems caused by the exemption of the descendents of Ancient Sages from military duties. First, there were many cases of falsifying family lineages as if they were descendents of Ancient Sages(冒稱, 冒錄), in order to avoid their military duty. Second, it started to cause problems of double obligation of military service to them. Therefore, in order to resolve these issues, the government had to issue Gyehasamok(｢계하사목｣) to certify their military exemption. The Joseon Dynasty gave special treatment to the descendents of Ancient Sages by imposing the upper positions in military service. This policy, however, led to a number of negative effects in military administration in compliance with social changes in the later Joseon Dynasty.