This study analyzes the families which were listed and the list shifts in the Naepo area using the “Samabangmok,” which was the list of successful candidates of Saengwonjinsasi (a test for governmental workers). As a result, the existence and trai...
This study analyzes the families which were listed and the list shifts in the Naepo area using the “Samabangmok,” which was the list of successful candidates of Saengwonjinsasi (a test for governmental workers). As a result, the existence and traits of the elite in the Naepo area can be discussed.
The listing shifts of “Samabangmok” in the Naepo area seem to be similar to those of other areas in the nation, but there are two distinctive characteristics: First, if the Naepo area is divided into the present administrative districts, the Hongseong area and the Yesan area had the greatest number of people who were listed in the Samabangmok, and this fact concurs with the prospects and characteristics of each area. In addition, the Naepo area, unlike Gongjumok, had no distinct relation to the dominant class which was based on learning.
Secondly, the elite families of the Naepo area has been divided into two categories: families who entered the Naepo area between the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty, or in the second half of the Joseon Dynasty. The former intensively produced people who were listed in the Samabangmok in the Naepo area and formed the family towns there. The latter were the families who entered the Naepo area on an economic basis, and they are necessary to fully understand the political tendency of the Naepo area during the middle and latter years of the Joseon Dynasty.
The reasons for the noble families’ entrance to the Naepo area were related to the political changes of that era or their economic status, and their political colors were also various. In other words, there were no consistent reasons for their migration.
The relatives of the central governmental officers occupied the Naepo area because it was not far from Seoul and because the government officers at that time had such a lifestyle that they lived both in Seoul and in the country area near Seoul. The noble families of the Naepo area parasitized these officers and became a marginal influence. Therefore, the noble families of the Naepo area couldn’t become an actual political power to dominate and govern the region, but sometimes they dominated the area as a military tyrant on the basis of their economic power and under governmental protection.