신라(新羅) 법당(法幢)의 신고찰(新考察) = A New Consideration on the Boepdang Corps of the Silla

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study presents an investigation into the true nature of the Beopdang Corps, one of Silla's early local military systems. The findings show that it was a military organization that was very different from the corps image depicted in previous studies, which reported that it was a huge military organization with 10 kinds of units to which military officers with the Beopdang title were assigned. Based on the discussions, the new images of the Beopdang Corps were arranged as follows: First, the Beopdang Corps was a local military organization comprised of many units established in local bases. The number of units was estimated to have been around 33.
Second, the troops of the Beopdang Corps included local resident-turned peasant soldiers that were put in requisition and organized via native influential figures in the concerned areas. They received commands from military officers in two affiliations(Dangju and Dusang affiliation) of Wanggyeong dispatched to the areas.
Third, entering the fifth century, Silla faced a need for a local military system at the national level and established a system to utilize local residents as troop resources. In this situation, they installed the first Beopdang Corps and its commander in a local base in 524 and gradually increased the number of its units according to the expansion of its territory and the progress of its local rule.
Fourth, the early Beopdang Corps was a military organization with the nature of combat forces as they did military training in preparation of actual battles under the supervision of military officers in the Dangju affiliation and even fought in the battleground in case of emergency. In the middle and late sixth century, however, the Beopdang Corps was refined as a full-blown local military system with Gwangyeokju as its military district, which marked the gradual conversion of the Beopdang Corps into a labor unit. The assignment of a military officer in the Dusang affiliation reflected this change of its nature.
Fifth, the Beopdang Corps, which grew stronger in its nature as a labor unit, had its military status lowered even greater in the seventh century when conquest wars became part of daily life across the nation. The extensive military system reform in the latter half of the seventh century resulted in the extinction of the Beopdang Corps. These findings indicate that the Beopdang Corps was a local military organization during the middle-ancient period of Silla, being created as an early local military system and lasting approximately 150 years.
Finally, the Beopdang Corps was reorganized into the Yeodapdang Corps after the military reform in the latter part of the seventh century. The attributes of the Beopdang Corps as a local military system were inherited by the Oi-yeogapdang Unit in the fullest sense. Another Yeogapdang Corps with the nature of a labor unit was differentiated and established in Wanggyeong and Sogyeong and reorganized into three types of Yeogapdang corps including the Gyeong- yeogapdang Unit, Sogyeong-yeogapdang Units, and Oi-yeogapdang Units.