Early Joseon

Joseon lasted 505 years, the longest of the dynasties in this course. Its first two centuries set the pattern: a general who turned his army back in 1388 and founded a dynasty four years later, a new capital, a Neo-Confucian ideology, kings who built institutions, a ruling class of yangban, and a series of purges that killed scholars for their writing. This chapter follows that period up to the eve of the Japanese invasion of 1592.

Founding: Yi Seong-gye

• Origin. The Taejo article says Yi Seong-gye was born on 4 November 1335 in Ssangseong Prefecture under Yuan rule; his family "defected to Goryeo" in 1356. His military career began in 1360, with Red Turban and Japanese-pirate campaigns afterwards.
• 1388. When a Ming envoy demanded territory, Choe Yeong pushed for an invasion of Liaodong and Yi was chosen to lead it. At Wihwa Island he turned back, the Wihwado Retreat, then marched on the capital and forced King U from the throne. The article says he had U and U's young successor put to death and installed Wang Yo (Gongyang). Korean History 5 gave the Goryeo article's version of the end of the dynasty.
• 1392 and 1393. He forced Gongyang to abdicate, exiled him to Wonju (where the article says he was secretly executed) and enthroned himself on 13 August 1392, according to the Taejo article; the Joseon article gives 5 August 1392 and a change of name to Joseon on 28 March 1393. The Joseon article says the name was chosen as "a tribute to the ancient Korean state of Gojoseon" (Korean History 2).
• Capital. Both articles give Hanseong (modern Seoul) as the new capital, in 1394 per the infobox and the Taejo article, though the Joseon lead says 1393. The Sejong article, which I read, says he was born in "Hanyang". The articles do not use the two names consistently, and I do not know why the site was chosen; the Taejo article does not say.
• Continuity. The Taejo article says "No new institutions were created, and no massive purges occurred during his reign". The Joseon article describes Taejong's reign differently (below).

The Princes' Strife and Taejong

The Taejo article says Crown Prince Yi Bang-seok was named in 1392. Yi Bang-won (later Taejong) had contributed most to Taejo's rise but feared Jeong Do-jeon, who, per the article, planned to kill him and his brothers. In 1398 Yi Bang-won struck first, killing Jeong Do-jeon, his followers and two half-brothers (the "First Strife of Princes"). Taejo abdicated on 22 October 1398 in favour of Yi Bang-gwa (Jeongjong); in 1400 Jeongjong named Yi Bang-won heir and abdicated, and he became Taejong that year. Taejo died on 27 June 1408. The article does not describe a second strife; the tool noted that historians often use that term but the page does not. The article's claim that Jeong Do-jeon persuaded Taejo to choose his favourite son carries a [citation needed] tag.

The Joseon article says Jeong Do-jeon shaped the new kingdom's "ideological, institutional, and legal foundations" and wanted Joseon to be "a kingdom led by ministers appointed by the king", the core of his conflict with Yi Bang-won, who wanted an absolute monarchy. Neo-Confucianism was installed as the state ideology and Buddhism was discouraged. Taejong (r. 1400 to 1418) abolished the private armies of the elite, expanded the national military and reformed land taxation (national income "increased twofold", per the article); the article calls him "a controversial figure" and says he killed in-laws, including his wife's four brothers.

Sejong the Great

The Sejong article gives his birth as 15 May 1397, his reign as 18 September 1418 to 8 April 1450, and says Taejong kept veto power and military control as king emeritus until his death on the tenth day of the fifth month of 1422. It does not name the Jiphyeonjeon in the portion read, but says the Hall of Worthies was re-established in 1420 as a think tank for governance and the education of the king and crown prince.

The script itself is the subject of Korean Literature 3; I did not read the Hangul section of the Sejong article. Criticism and hedges: the article says Sejong's Buddhist faith put him at odds with Confucian officials; in 1439 a petition signed by 648 students accused him of supporting Buddhism and he assured them he "had never worshipped the Buddha". Historian James Palais argued he was not a despot and Ledyard praised his "evenness of judgment"; both are interpretations. The lead adds that North Korean texts praise his cultural and scientific work but stress heavier taxes and rigid class stratification. The article says historians argue income did not fall after the tax cut because of land taken from Buddhist temples and higher productivity.

The Yangban and the Social Order

The Yangban article calls them "the ruling class during the Joseon period", "highly educated aristocrats" who served mainly as administrators. The word means "two branches", the civil (munban) and martial (muban) officials; legally it meant high-ranking officials, but in practice it came to cover almost all their descendants. The infobox lists four tiers: yangban, jungin (spelled chungin in the article, middle), sangmin (common people) and cheonmin (the lowborn, including nobi, baekjeong, mudang, gisaeng and namsadang).

• Privileges. They were "often exempt from laws including those relating to taxes". The article gives no formal list of duties; it mentions a theoretical rule that a family with no official for several generations could lose its status (never enforced; the article says three generations in one place and four in another).
• Examinations. In theory anyone except nobi, baekjeong and the children of concubines could sit the gwageo; in practice cost and years of study largely shut out non-yangban. The article calls the system a "semi-hereditary meritocracy".
• Numbers. The article gives no figure for the yangban's share of the population or for nobi, and I add none.
• Tension in the article. It describes the upper classes living off the "slave labor of the lower classes, particularly the sangmin", while also describing sangmin as bound to the land "as indentured servants".
• Decline. It links decline to the sale of offices, factional strife and the Andong Kim clan's dominance; legal status was abolished in 1894. The article ties this to the "Gwangmu Reform", which the tool thought looked like an error (it said the 1894 reform belongs to the Gabo Reform); I do not rely on the reform's name.

The Four Literati Purges

The Literati purges article (sahwa, "scholars' calamity") sets the Sarim, newer Neo-Confucian scholars strong in the Three Offices, against the Hungu, officials rewarded for founding Joseon who held State Council and Six Ministries posts. It says the Sarim lost all four confrontations but gained moral influence.

The article gives the honey-and-leaves story for 1519 (Nam Gon writing a message in honey so caterpillars ate through the leaves). The tool noted that its citation dates (1535, 1568, 1520) do not line up with the events, so I give it only as the article's account. The article says many Sarim withdrew to the countryside and founded seowon academies, and that by Seonjo's reign they had regained control of the central government. It also carries June 2024 tags for neutrality, tone and citations, notes that the Sarim compiled most surviving records including the Veritable Records (Korean History 1), and does not reconcile its own framings: the introduction's Sarim-against-Hungu story, the 1545 section's in-law power struggle and a "Modern reinterpretation" section saying the ideological divide may be exaggerated.

The Eve of 1592

The Joseon article gives a population of about 3,300,000 in 1519 (infobox). It says factions split into Sarim, Easterners and Westerners, later Noron and Soron, "a cycle of revenge with each change of regime". The 1589 Jeong Yeo-rip affair led to the killing or exile of about 1,000 Easterners. It says factional division and poor assessment of Japanese strength left the kingdom unprepared. The History section carries a [citation needed] tag, so the early narrative is less reliably sourced than the rest.

What to Take from This

My own reading, unverified: the sources show the same pattern at each level, a ruling group that writes the records, defines legitimacy and is then punished or protected by whoever holds the throne. The Veritable Records (Korean History 1), the Sarim's role in compiling them, and the purges triggered by what went into them are one thread. The articles do not say this directly.

What the Sources Left Open

• The enthronement date (5 or 13 August 1392) and the capital's move (1393 or 1394).
• Why Hanseong was chosen as the site.
• The yangban's share of the population and the nobi proportion, which the article does not give.
• Whether the purges were mainly ideological (Sarim against Hungu), a clash of in-law families, or both.
• Hangul's dates (1443 and 1446 in the Joseon article, not checked in the Sejong portion read).
• Whether the honey-leaf story is reliable.

Exercises

Next: Korean History 7 follows the Imjin War, the Manchu invasions, late-Joseon society, the opening of the ports and the end of the dynasty.