Marriage, Social Status, and Family Succession in Medieval Korea (Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries)

MARRIAGE, SOCIAL STATUS, AND FAMILY
SUCCESSION IN MEDIEVAL KOREA

(THIRTEENTH-FIFTEENTH CENTURIES)
Sangkuk Lee
Hyunjoon Park
Despite their significance for historical demographic research, a major limitation

of Chinese genealogies is the relative lack of information on daughters, their
husbands, and their descendants, which prevents an examination of how the bound-
ary of family was extended through the marriage network. To fill this “hole” in
Chinese genealogies, we use the genealogy of the Andong Kwôn clan, published in
1476, the oldest existing genealogy in Korea. Interestingly, more than 90 percent of
those recorded in this Korean genealogy belong to the son-in-law line, revealing the
importance of marriage networks for family formation until the late fifteenth cen-
tury. By looking at the specific families that Andong Kwôn’s daughters married into
and the occupational titles of their husbands, we explore specific ways in which the
family boundary was expanded to include the son-in-law lines.
Keywords: marriage; social status; family succession; son-in-law line; genealogy;

medieval Korea
INTRODUCTION
Many studies have explored family relationships and demographic processes
using genealogies as sources for historical demography in premodern East Asia. In
Sangkuk Lee received his PhD from SungKyunKwan University in the Department of History, Seoul, South
Korea, and has been a visiting scholar and a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. His research has
focused on land systems and people who were bound by the land in medieval Korea. He has recently studied
family history and historical demography through household registers and genealogies of medieval Korea,
comparing East Asian countries, especially China. His recent publications include “The Reviewing about the
Relation of Land Ownership in Koryŏ Dynasty” (Quarterly Review of Korean History, 2006), and “The Trend
and Meaning of Population Survey in Koryŏ Dynasty” (Journal of Eastern Studies, 2005).
Hyunjoon Park is a Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.
His research interests include education, demography, and family in cross-national comparative per-
spectives, focusing on contemporary Korea and other East Asian countries. He has recently extended his
interest to study the historical demography of medieval Korea, using genealogies and household registers.
His recent publications include “Single Parenthood and Children’s Reading Performance in Asia,”
Journal of Marriage and Family (2007); and “Age and Self-Rated Health in Korea,” Social Forces (2005).
Journal of Family History, Vol. 33 No. 2, April 2008 123-138
DOI: 10.1177/0363199007313617
© 2008 Sage Publications
123
124 JOURNAL OF FAMILY HISTORY / April 2008
particular, a great deal of attention has been paid to Chinese genealogies. Studies
combined in Ebrey and Watson’s Kinship Organization in Late China investigated
social mobility, the power and resources of the elite, and the dynamics of local soci-
ety throughout a long period in China as revealed in genealogies.1 Historical demog-
raphers have relied on genealogies, along with other sources such as household
registers, to estimate fertility, mortality, and marriages in premodern China, demon-
strating the usefulness of genealogies for historical demographic research.2 Chinese
genealogies have been considered as comparable to English and French parish reg-
isters in terms of data coverage and reconstructing families.3
Using Chinese genealogies, historical demographers have identified the nature of the
“Chinese demographic regime,” which can be summarized by early and universal
marriage combined with the grand (joint) family system.4 This Chinese regime is in sharp
contrast to the regime of Western Europe, whose major features are late marriage, fre-
quent celibacy, and the stem family as described by Hajnal.5 In other words, by applying
modern demographic techniques to Chinese genealogies, historical demographic
research has revealed distinctive patterns of family and population changes in China,
which highlight that Western European findings may not be simply generalized to other
parts of the world without a detailed understanding of local contexts.
Despite the fundamental role of Chinese genealogies for demographic research, how-
ever, researchers have also pointed out important structural problems of genealogies.
Structural problems of Chinese genealogy were mainly caused by a recording formula.
It is obvious that the contents of the genealogy were influenced by compilers. Compilers
recorded the family members according to their concerns, which were to revere their
ancestors, honor the jok 族 , and bring the agnates together. The creation of their geneal-
ogy was also to show off the cohesion and prestige of their family to others beyond the
family.6 It is important to understand that Chinese genealogies were recorded on the basis
of patrilineage (sometimes the son line); leaving out information on mothers and daugh-
ters made them much less complete. This character of Chinese genealogy had been
formed during the Sung Dynasty (China 宋, 960-1279).7 In particular, the names of
daughters and their husbands were only occasionally recorded.8 Because of the incom-
plete information on daughters, it is not feasible to use genealogies to construct a com-
plete family map, including families that the daughters married into. In short, Chinese
genealogies included an abundant record on agnatic kin but incomplete information on
daughters, their husbands, and their descendants, which sets a limited knowledge of
marriage networks. This rule of recording in Chinese genealogies suggests that the com-
pilers might not regard the other lines such as sons-in-law as a family group, but just
include significant women in the families.9 Hence, using Chinese genealogies, it is very
difficult to investigate how marriage relationships were created and what factors affected
the selection of sons-in-law.
Although relatively little attention has been paid, genealogies were compiled in
other East Asian countries such as South Korea. Because of the influence of China
during the Chosôn Dynasty, especially from the seventeenth through nineteenth cen-
turies, Korean genealogies compiled after the sixteenth century had similar struc-
tures of presentation and rules of recording as Chinese genealogies.10 Interestingly,
however, Korean genealogies compiled before the Chinese influence show signifi-
cant differences in the rules of recording from Chinese genealogies. Most impor-
tantly, those early Korean genealogies recorded daughters’ husbands and their sons
and daughters, who were followed by their own spouses and children (henceforth,
the son-in-law line).
Lee, Park / MARRIAGE AND FAMILY IN MEDIEVAL KOREA 125
Among those early Korean genealogies, the genealogy of the Andong Kwôn clan
安東權氏成化譜 is the oldest existing genealogy in Korea. Published in 1476, this
genealogy contains the Andong Kwôn clan’s line from the progenitor, Kwôn Haeng
權幸, up to the descendants of the twenty-first generation, covering the tenth through
fifteenth centuries. Andong 安東 is the name of a region where they had long lived,
which is located in southeast Korea. Because the year of publication of this geneal-
ogy corresponded to the era of Cheonghwa 成化 in the Ming Dynasty (China明,
1368-1662), the genealogy of Andong Kwôn was called Cheonghwa Era Genealogy
of Andong Kwôn (henceforth, Cheonghwa Po, 成化譜).
The Cheonghwa Po, which is a record of family members of the Andong Kwôn clan
from the early Koryô Dynasty (918-1392) to the early years of the Chosôn Dynasty, did
not follow the recording rule of Chinese genealogies that mainly tracked patrilineages.
In sharp contrast to Chinese genealogies, the Cheonghwa Po recorded members in son-
in-law lines as well as son lines. In fact, more than 90 percent of the whole members
recorded in the Cheonghwa Po belong to son-in-law lines rather than son lines.11 The
fact that a majority of members recorded in the genealogy belonged to son-in-law lines
reveals that for those who compiled the Cheonghwa Po, the boundary of the family was
wide enough to include those members connected through marriages. This conceptual-
ization of family associated with the rule of recording in the Cheonghwa Po is in con-
trast to the conceptualization revealed in not only Chinese genealogies but also
genealogies compiled in the late Chosôn Dynasty. As mentioned earlier, along with the
influence of Chinese culture, genealogies compiled in late Chosôn adopted similar rules
of recording, revealing that their conceptualization of family also became similar to the
conceptualization in China.
In sum, the Cheonghwa Po offers an excellent opportunity to explore specific
forms and models of family formation through patrilineages and marriages until the
early Chosôn in Korea. Beginning with the tenth generation, the Andong Kwôn clan
branched off into mainly two lines, and the son-in-law line began to be recorded after
the eleventh generation. In this article, we specifically investigate how marriage
influenced the genealogical succession, exploring changes throughout time in fea-
tures of recording members from son-in-law lines. Furthermore, we examine how
such changes in family and marriage were related to a broad change in social struc-
ture during the transition period from the late Koryô to the early Chosôn periods.
DATA
The Cheonghwa Po
The Andong Kwôn clan had, as mentioned above, lived in and around Andong, a
region in southeast Korea, holding positions such as local headman (戶長, hojang),
which corresponded to the rank of provincial official by the early Koryô period.
Ultimately, they entered into the central government by the middle Koryô period.
Beginning at that time, the Andong Kwôn clan became powerful, expanding their
power in the following Chosôn Dynasty. Throughout this period, they produced the
most government officials for any clan except the Chônju Yi 全州 clan, which was
the family of kings in the Chosôn Dynasty.
In the early fifteenth century, when the Chosôn Dynasty’s political system was stable,
the seventeenth-generation descendant Kwôn Je 權踶 and his son Kwôn Ram 權擥 tried
to compile an Andong Kwôn clan genealogy by gathering related materials, but they
failed. In 1476, the Andong Kwôn clan’s genealogy was published by Seo Keojeong
徐居正, Kwôn Ram’s cousin who was the child of Kwôn Ram’s aunt. This geneal-
ogy contained the Andong Kwôn clan’s line from the progenitor Kwôn Haeng to the
twenty-first-generation descendants, covering the tenth through fifteenth centuries.
As mentioned earlier, this period included a political transition from the late Koryô
to the early Chosôn periods. Therefore, with the Cheonghwa Po we can see the con-
tinuation and change of the social structure during the transition period. Since it was
first published in 1476, the Andong Kwôn clan’s genealogy was updated several
times up to the twentieth century.
Since Wagner highlighted the potential of the Cheonghwa Po for genealogical
studies, several researchers have examined basic features of the Cheonghwa Po.12 In
addition to the major feature of the Cheonghwa Po that recorded a substantial num-
ber of members from son-in-law lines, another interesting feature of the Cheonghwa
Po is that it is a record of descendants according to the birth order regardless of gen-
der. A common rule found in other genealogies was to first record sons according to
the birth order, and then record daughters in the same way.13
Create a Machine-Readable Data File
We created a machine-readable data file from the Cheonghwa Po. In this data file,
each row represents each individual, and each column indicates a variable pertain-
ing to each individual. The data file contains a total of 10,254 individuals. There are
eight variables created for each individual: last name, first name, generation, gender,
son-in-law, lineage line, occupational title, and period. Note that in the Cheonghwa
Po, married daughters were recorded according to the name of their husbands. We
are interested in the husband surnames, because by using this information, we can
examine the families of husbands to whom Andong Kwôn clan daughters were mar-
ried. Given that marriages meant connections not only between two individuals but
also (more importantly) between two families, it is important to examine the families
of husbands by their surnames. An official title of a member’s occupation is a good
indicator of social position. We classified occupational titles into five categories:
high grade, middle grade, low grade, provincial official, and nonofficial title.
Depending on whether a member came from son lines or son-in-law lines, we clas-
sified individuals into two categories of lineage line. Note that in the Cheonghwa Po,
years of birth were not recorded, and only generations could be identified. Using
other historical publications that contained information on the years of birth and
death of some Andong Kwôn clan members,14 however, we could identify the his-
torical periods for each generation. The appendix provides numbers of individuals
recorded in the Cheongwha Po by gender and generation.
THOSE RECORDED IN THE ANDONG KWÔN

CLAN’S GENEALOGY
Sons and Daughters
The Cheonghwa Po is a record of the Andong Kwôn clan’s entries from the early
tenth century to the mid-fifteenth century. From the first to twenty-first generation,
it showed about 10,200 persons. Of course, not all people related to the Andong
100
100
80
67 67
64 62
58
60 54 54 54
40
20
0
early 13 mid 13 late 13 late 13 early 14 late 14 late 14 early 15 mid 15
century century century century– century– century century– century century
early 14 mid 14 early 15
century century century
Figure 1. Percentages of Sons by Periods in Cheonghwa Po
Kwôn clan were chosen by compilers. Compilers, including Seo Keojeong, would
select people related to the Andong Kwôn clan on the basis of their own interests.
Therefore, it is very crucial to know what the entry was composed of in the
Cheonghwa Po, so as to estimate their interests.
To show the composition of the entries, we classified them into sons and daugh-
ters. Daughters were recorded as sons-in-law (husbands of daughters) and nonmar-
ried daughters in the Cheonghwa Po. First of all, let us see the son-to-daughter ratio.
Figure 1 shows a son-to-daughter ratio in the Andong Kwôn clan from the early
thirteenth century through the mid-fifteenth century. As we mentioned before, the
number of recorded entries before the late thirteenth century was too small. The rea-
son for this is related to the process of making the genealogy. Before we examine
Figure 1 in detail, it is necessary to understand the political conditions before the
thirteenth century.
Kwôn Haeng, who was the Andong Kwôn clan’s progenitor, had lived in Andong in
Kyungsang-bukdo Province 慶尙北道. He was fully engaged with political activities in
the early tenth century. In those times, three states were in conflict on the Korean penin-
sula. This was the Later Three-Kingdoms period 後三國, and the states were Silla (新羅,
B.C. 57–A.D. 935), the Later Paekche (後百濟, founded by Kyônhwôn), and Koryô. In the
early tenth century, Wang Kôn 王建, who founded the Koryô Dynasty (高麗, 918-1392),
tried to unify the three states in the Later Three-Kingdoms period. In this vortex of war,
Kwôn Haeng supported Wang Kôn. Andong, where Kwôn Haeng had lived, was an
arena of competition among the three battling states. Due to his support, he became one
of the vassals of merit (功臣 kongsin).15
The fact that Kwôn Haeng was one of the vassals of merit was the most impor-
tant factor in becoming the progenitor of Kwôn’s clan. In general, many powerful
families regarded a person who had a good reputation and high official position as
the progenitor of the family. It was in the late Koryô Dynasty that this tendency grew.
The aristocracy In the Koryô tried to make their families more honorable. For example,
to accomplish this, the Kwangsan 光山 Kim 金 clan traced their progenitor back to
the early Koryô period. Probably, other families were the same.16 Selecting a vassal of
merit in the early Koryô period as their progenitor helped the descendants of the
Andong Kwôn clan develop the homogeneity of family conceptualization. Note that
this selection of the progenitor was made by descendants around the thirteenth century,
when the Andong Kwôn clan began to branch out. This was the reason why the
Andong Kwôn genealogy was maintained by one man from Kwôn Haeng to the eighth
descendant, Kwôn Iyue 權利輿. Therefore, Figure 1 becomes meaningful after the late
thirteenth century (henceforth, the period of the figure is the same).
We can see a transition of the ratio and address the son and daughter records that
changed during this period in Figure 1. During the thirteenth century, the percentage
of recorded sons was overall constant (around 65 percent). As soon as the fourteenth
century set in, however, the gap between the percentages of recorded sons and
daughters became narrower. During the period, the percentage of recorded sons was
maintained at 55 percent, and for daughters, 45 percent. These facts indicate that the
record of daughters was equally important as that of sons in the Cheonghwa Po.
Starting from the early fifteenth century, the gap between sons and daughters grew
larger. By the middle of the fifteenth century, the gap exceeded 20 percent, and we
can assume that it widened gradually after the middle of the fifteenth century. Sons
began to become much more important than daughters after the fifteenth century.
It would be useful to compare the Cheonghwa Po to other documents from the
same period to assess the extent to which daughters over sons were recorded in the
Cheonghwa Po. Fortunately, we can refer to a memorial inscription 墓誌銘 as a
source for the Koryô Dynasty. The memorial inscriptions of more than 300 people
were extant throughout about 470 years during the Koryô Dynasty. Because inscrip-
tions were recorded by a person’s descendants just after he or she died, the record
can be considered as providing valid information on the person. Although the sample
is not large, its value as a valid historical material cannot be minimized. By com-
paring the ratio of sons to daughters in inscriptions to the ratio in the Cheongwha Po,
we can assess the degree to which recording daughters in the Cheongwha Po was
complete. According to a study of those inscriptions, during the periods of 918-1149
and 1250-1299, the percentage of men was about 60 percent, whereas for other peri-
ods the percentage was about 55 percent.17 Comparing the percentages in the inscrip-
tions to those in the Cheonghwa Po reveals that although the ratio of sons to
daughters was relatively larger in the Cheonghwa Po than in the inscriptions until the
late thirteenth century, the ratio became similar after that. In short, the comparison
increases confidence in the validity of the Cheonghwa Po as a historical resource.
Sons, Sons-in-Law, and Nonmarried Daughters
As we stated earlier, the Cheonghwa Po did not include information on married

daughters, but on husbands of married daughters and on nonmarried daughters. To
better understand the nature of recording daughters, it is useful to separately exam-
ine married daughters and nonmarried daughters. In Figure 2, we present the pro-
portions of sons, married daughters (i.e., sons-in-law), and nonmarried daughters by
the historical period.
The relative share of husbands of married daughters (sons-in-law) increased until
the early fifteenth century, and since then it decreased rapidly. In contrast, the relative
share of nonmarried daughters was negligible until the early fifteenth century, and it
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
early 13 mid 13 late 13 late 13 early late 14 late 14 early 15 mid 15
century century century century– 14c–mid century century– century century
early 14 14 century early 15
century century
Son Son-in-law Nonmarried Daughter
Figure 2. Relative Proportion of Sons, Sons-in-Law, and Nonmarried Daughters by Period
increased since then. The sudden increase of nonmarried daughters in the mid-fifteenth
century may reflect that there were many daughters too young for marriage in the
mid-fifteenth century, when the Cheonghwa Po was published. And from the early
fourteenth century to the mid-fifteenth century, the number of sons increased steeply
and continuously. Moreover, we can notice a gradually growing gap between the
shares of sons and sons-in-law after the fifteenth century.
Considering these facts, the characteristics of the people recorded in the Cheonghwa
Po are as follows. Sons were recorded much more than daughters by the thirteenth cen-
tury. After that, the percentage of daughters increased, due to the recording not of daugh-
ters but of sons-in-law. This means that the recording of sons-in-law was very important;
that is, sons-in-law entries were regarded as the significant recording of the Andong
Kwôn clan after the thirteenth century. At some point around the fifteenth century,
the gap between sons and daughters grew bigger again. We can estimate that at the
time, sons were gradually much more important than daughters in the Andong Kwôn
clan.18 We can address this fact in Figure 2.
Therefore, the recording of sons-in-law affected the son-to-daughter ratio. We can
say that the sons-in-law data act as a yardstick to determine social structure and
marriage relationships from the Koryô to the early Chosôn periods by means of the
Cheonghwa Po. One of the very important factors recorded in the Cheonghwa Po is
that the Andong Kwôn clan regarded son-in-law lines as part of the same clan.
THE CRITERIA USED IN RECORDING MARRIAGE

RELATIONSHIPS AND NETWORKS
Son-in-Law Lines versus Son Lines
A genealogy is a documented recording of ancestors written by compilers at any

point in time. The entries of recorded ancestors were chosen according to the compiler’s
interests. It is very important to know the compiler’s criteria, because they are
reflected in the social structure. As we saw above, the important factors that deter-
mined the record in the Cheonghwa Po were direct (son) and son-in-law lines. That
is, the social structure was based on patrilineages and son-in-law lines that were cre-
ated through marriage networks.
Of course, not all patrilineages or son-in-law lines were recorded in genealo-
gies.19 Therefore our interest, especially among son-in-law lines, regards what crite-
ria were used in recording marriage relationships and networks. To answer this
question, we first examined son and son-in-law lines in the Cheonghwa Po.
We traced son-in-law lines as follows: the tenth-generation Kwôn Suhong 權守洪
had four children, one son and three daughters. Three daughters got married, and their
husbands were recorded in the Cheonghwa Po. Their names were Pang Kuel 方乞,
Kwôn Ryangjoon 權良俊, and Kim Rikyun 金利堅. And they were the first sons-in-
law recorded in the Cheonghwa Po. Pang Kuel had two daughters who gave birth to
children, including sons. Even though they had sons, all of them were regarded as part
of the son-in-law line, because their grandfather, Pang Kuel, was the son-in-law of
Kwôn Suhong. From the Andong Kwôn clan’s son lines’ perspective, all of them were
son-in-law lines. Kwôn Ryangjoon’s and Kim Rikyun’s descendants were also the same
as Pang Kuel’s. Thereafter, other son-in-law lines were also recorded in the Cheonghwa
Po. Based on this method, we traced and found all son-in-law lines.
Figure 3 shows a ratio of a son-in-law line to a son line. As we explained above,
son-in-law lines did not appear in the Cheonghwa Po before the early thirteenth cen-
tury, so the son-in-law line was 0 percent by that time. The meaningful change
started in the mid-thirteenth century, when son-in-law lines reached about 33 per-
cent. At the same time, the ratio of son lines fell before and after the thirteenth cen-
tury. We already addressed that the recording of sons-in-law increased at this time.
In the fourteenth century, son-in-law lines overtook son lines. Gradually, the gap
between son-in-law lines and son lines grew larger. The descendants of sons-in-law
increased, but the number of son lines fell rapidly. In the mid-fifteenth century, the
percentage of son-in-law lines was about 98 percent.
This fact is enough to arouse interest. Why did son-in-law lines increase so much,
and why is this significant? We need to answer these questions to determine the cri-
teria for inclusion in the Cheonghwa Po. We can make reference to Seo Keojeong’s
introduction in the Cheonghwa Po. He said, “Now thousands of people who take up
government positions are the descendants of the Andong Kwôn clan.”20 This refer-
ence shows what the compiler’s interests were at that time. Seo Keojeong, who was
a main compiler of the Cheonghwa Po, created the Cheonghwa Po to show the
Andong Kwôn clan’s prestige through marriage relationships and networks.
But it is not enough to explain the reason for Seo Keojeong’s reference. Although
the maternal and father-in-law lines were as important as the son-in-law line regard-
ing the marriage relationship point, they were not recorded in the Cheonghwa Po.
Therefore, we have to consider why compilers recorded not the maternal or father-
in-law lines but the son-in-law line. In addition, we have to consider the transition in
the records before and after the early Chosôn period. The recording of son-in-law
lines was minimized in the late Chosôn period after the Cheonghwa Po, but father-
in-law names were added. 21 In the two periods, the purpose of recording marriage
relationships must have been the same. But the contents of genealogies were obvi-
ously different in that the Cheonghwa Po recorded sons-in-law much more than
other genealogies.
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
early late early late early early mid late late early late late early mid
10 10 11 11 12 13 13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15
century century century century century century century century century– century– century century– century century
early14 mid14 early15
Son line Son-in-law line
Figure 3. A Component Ratio of a Son-in-Law Line to a Son Line
Considering that the contents of the genealogies were likely to be subject to social
influences, we need to understand the differences in social structure before and after the
early Chosôn periods. First of all, there was the difference in newly married couples’
places of residence. By the early Chosôn, sons-in-law lived in their wives’ home with
the parents-in-law because they depended on them to live. The Lee Kyubo 李奎報 case
is a good example. He wrote a eulogy for his father-in-law, and expressed the deepest
regret for his death as follows: “Nowadays married men go and live in [their] wives’
home, and depend on the father-in-law for all their needs. Therefore benefits from the
parents-in-law are the same as those from my parents.”22 As in the Lee Kyubo case,
many sons-in-law lived with parents-in-law, but every case was not the same. Their
place of residence would change according to property inheritance rather than remain
with the parents’ or parents-in-law’s side.23 After the sixteenth century, however, their
place of residence was more commonly on the parents’ side.
Second, there was a difference in regard to the property inheritance system. In the
late Chosôn period, this system centered on sons, especially the eldest son. But in
the early Chosôn period, inherited property was divided equally among all descen-
dants, even married daughters. Son Pyun’s judgment addressed this fact in the thir-
teenth century. When Son Pyun 孫抃 was a government official in Kyungsang
Province, a sister and a brother submitted a dispute to him about property inheri-
tance. Their father had passed his property to an elder sister on his death. At that
time, the brother was very young. When he grew up and demanded his allotment, his
elder sister rejected his demand. Son Pyun thought their father did not pass his prop-
erty to his son because of his age. So Son Pyun judged that the elder sister had to
share the father’s property with her younger brother, because the heart of parents
wants to be fair to all the children.24 As in this case, we can confirm that at that time,
property inheritance was divided equally among sons and daughters.
In addition, the difference in how to distribute inherited property has something
to do with the form of ancestor worship rites between the two periods. By the mid-
sixteenth century, all descendants, including married daughters, were responsible for
Table 1
The Proportion of the Andong Kwôn Clan’s Women
Whose Husbands Came from Each Clan
Unconfirmed
Surname Yi Kim Pak Jeong Yu Choi Kwôn Jo Yun and Others
% 18.0 12.4 5.7 4.7 4.7 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.3 38.6
performing ancestor worship rites by turns. The rotation rite (輪廻奉祀, yunhoi
pongsa) formed the basis to divide inherited property equally.25 After the seventeenth
century, this situation changed. A good example of this can be seen in the Puan 扶安
Kim clan. In the late seventeenth century, the Puan Kim clan declared that sons-in-law
and their descendants were no longer responsible for rites as follows: “Many sons-in-
law and their descendants did not participate at the wives’ home rites; even though they
participated in the rite, they had no devotion and respect. So they would rather not par-
ticipate than attend.”26 This conceptualization already began to appear in the sixteenth
century. For example, a mother in the Kwangsan Kim clan entrusted her husband and
her rite to her second daughter, and was heir to her second daughter for rites cost. Even
though there was a firstborn daughter, the daughter’s husband should hold his direct
line’s memorial service.27 In this way, sons-in-law and their descendants gradually had
no responsibility for wives’ rites after the seventeenth century.
Because of these differences in the social structure between before and after the
early Chosôn period, the Cheonghwa Po gave a great deal of weight to the son-in-
law line rather than to the maternal and wife’s line. The relationship between sons-
in-law and parents-in-law was stronger in the early Chosôn, when the Cheonghwa
Po was published, than in the late. This is the reason why compilers recorded not the
maternal or father-in-law lines but the son-in-law line as well as the son line.
Families to Which the Andong Kwôn Clan’s Daughters Married
The overwhelming number of son-in-law lines suggests that the Andong Kwôn clan
aggrandized their power and social position through their marriage networks and rela-
tionships, as revealed in Seo Keojeong’s reference. Identifying the specific features of
families to whom the Andong Kwôn clan’s daughters married will provide a deeper under-
standing of the nature of the marriage network. For this purpose, in Table 1 we present
major families by surname to whom the Andong Kwôn clan’s daughters married.
From the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fifteenth centuries, the Andong Kwôn clan
established marriage relationships with more than families. Some of them were part
of the royal family in the Koryô and Chosôn periods. Even the Andong Kwôn clan
got married to a royal family during the Won Dynasty (China 元, 1279-1368). The
Yi 李 clan had many marriage relationships with the Andong Kwôn clan. The next
were the Kim 金, Pak 朴, Jeong 鄭, Yu 柳, Choi 崔, and Kwôn clans.
It is much more effective to examine a transition of representative surnames of
sons-in-law from the thirteenth to the mid-fifteenth centuries for the marriage net-
work in the Andong Kwôn clan, so we traced the surnames of sons-in-law and
expressed four representative sons-in-law among them in Figure 4.
The most outstanding feature in Figure 4 is that the ratio of families of marriage
mates remained the same in the late fourteenth century. Before the mid-fourteenth
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
mid late late early late late early mid
13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15
century century century century– century century– century century
early mid early
14 century 14 century 15 century
Yi Kim Kwon Wang
Figure 4. A Transition of Representative Surnames of Sons-in-Law by Period
century, the ratio of families of marriage mates was very unstable and was made up
too much of a few families such as Kim and Kwôn. After the mid-fourteenth cen-
tury, there was no change in the ratio of families of marriage mates.
To put it concretely, in Figure 4, the most rapid transition appeared with the inter-
marriage between the Andong Kwôn and other Kwôn families. Marriage between
those with the same surname and the same family origin was prohibited by law since
the early Koryô Dynasty. Prohibition orders were issued twelve times throughout the
Koryô Dynasty. It was the goal to expand the range of prohibited marriages from a
first cousin in 1058 to a second cousin in 1096. Marriage among those with the same
surnames was also prohibited in 1309.28 Because of the prohibition order in 1309,
intermarriage between Kwôn families decreased rapidly from about 35 percent to
less than 5 percent in the mid-fourteenth century (Figure 4).
There were, however, cases of marriage between those with the same surname
and the same family origin, even up to the Chosôn Dynasty. In the years 1606 and
1630, in the Saneum 山陰 Household Register 戶籍, intermarriage was recorded at
5.9 percent and 5.8 percent respectively.29 This is also confirmed in Figure 5. After
the late fourteenth century, intermarriage between Kwôn families was about 5 per-
cent, which shows how significant the custom of intermarriage was for them.
We need to look at the Kim clan, too. The Kim clan established marriage rela-
tionships with the Andong Kwôn clan as sons-in-law by the mid-fifteenth century.
The Kim clan originated from the royal family of Silla. For this reason, they contin-
ued their influence from the Koryô to Chosôn periods.30 This seems to be the reason
why the Andong Kwôn clan married into the Kim clan. The marriage relationships
with the Kim clan would lead to political growth of the Andong Kwôn clan.
This trend also appeared in marriage relationships between the royal Wang 王 and
Yi families during the Koryô and Chosôn periods. After the Andong Kwôn clan
began to secure positions in the central government in the middle Koryô period, they
gradually came into political power. The main reason why they attained political
power was to establish marriage relationships with royal families such as the Wang
clan. This fact can be seen in Figure 4. The ratio of marriage relationships between
the Andong Kwôn and Wang clans increased rapidly from the late thirteenth to the
mid-fourteenth centuries. After the late fourteenth century, the ratio of marriage rela-
tionships between the two families came close to 0 percent. This shows that the
Andong Kwôn clan chose spouses based on their political status.
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
late 13 late 13 early 14 late 14 late 14 early 15 mid 15
century century– century– century century– century century
early 14 mid 14 early 15
Non Off. High Mid Low Prov. Off.
Figure 5. A Transition of Sons-in-Law Grade by Period
Another case was the marriage relations in the Yi clan, which began to have influ-
ence after the late thirteenth century. Finally, Yi Sônggye founded the Chosôn
Dynasty in 1392, so that clan became a royal family centered on Yi Sônggye. From
this time, the Andong Kwôn clan tended to marry Yi clan members. After the late
fourteenth century, the Andong Kwôn clan took many more members of the Yi clan
into their family as sons-in-law.
Therefore, we can see that the social status of the spouse family was another
requirement for being recorded in the Cheonghwa Po as a son-in-law. As we noted
above, a marriage relationship with a powerful family was of primary consideration;
a marriage network was based on the political growth of the Andong Kwôn clan. The
Andong Kwôn clan absorbed powerful families into its own genealogy.
Social Status of Sons-in-Law of the Andong Kwôn Clan
To what extent did individual ability have an influence on making a marriage rela-
tionship? If we know the son-in-law’s career, we can answer this question. Fortunately,
the Cheonghwa Po recorded sons-in-law’s careers. We traced sons-in-law’s careers in
terms of periods and grades, and divided the grades into five career ranks.
A high grade represents government officials such as the senior and junior grades of
the first to third court ranks. These were called tangsangkwan 堂上官 and occupied the
highest positions. Next to this category is the middle grade, the senior and junior grades
of the fourth to sixth court ranks. These were called chamsangkwan 參上官 and occu-
pied the grade of government officials next to tangsangkwan. A low grade means minor
officials who were called chamhakwan 參下官. Provincial officials were called hyangri
(鄕吏, assistants to local and central government officials), prospective government offi-
cials, and military men who were not considered government officials. Finally, nonoffi-
cials represented those who were noncareer individuals. The rest, like the king, queen,
and so on, were not included in Figure 5 due to their small numbers.
A transition shown in Figure 5 is that gradually the high grades decreased and the
number of nonofficials increased. By the mid-fourteenth century, the high grades
were a majority due to a high inclusion rate of sons-in-law of powerful families such
as Wang, Kim, and Yi. We can address this fact in Figure 6.
By the mid-fourteenth century, sons-in-law in the Yi clan occupied a large number

of high grades in Figure 6.1. Even though sons-in-law in the Kim clan were fewer than
those in the Yi clan, their high-grade positions were also a majority in Figure 6.2. The
Wang clan was the same. By the mid-fourteenth century, they mostly occupied high
grades, which is why high grades were a majority by the mid-fourteenth century in
Figure 5.
After the late fourteenth century, however, middle grades and nonofficial posi-
tions were the great majority in Figure 5. Note especially that nonofficial positions
were higher than 60 percent and the number of high-grade positions fell off rapidly,
as seen in Figure 6. The most dramatic change in the number of son-in-law families
was in the Wang clan. Figure 6.4 shows that the Wang clan was ruined throughout
two centuries, followed by the destruction of the Koryô Dynasty in 1392. Unlike by
the mid-fourteenth century, after the early fifteenth century there were no govern-
ment officials, even of the low grades. At the same time, the nonofficial ratio of sons-
in-law in the Yi and Kwôn clans gradually grew, which we can address in Figure 6.
This result shows that the official post of a son-in-law was less important than the
reputation of the family. As we can see in Figure 6.1, the political level of the families
had more influence than the official positions of each son-in-law. Even though more
than 70 percent of sons-in-law in the Yi clan were nonofficials, the Andong Kwôn clan
made marriage relationships with the entry of the Yi clan into royal status.
CONCLUSION
Although many studies using Chinese genealogies have extended our under-
standing of population changes and family in premodern East Asian societies, they
are limited in exploring the roles of marriage in family formation due to the relative
lack of information on son-in-law lines in Chinese genealogies. Without the part of
son-in-law lines, the whole picture of the family is not complete. By examining how
different families were connected through marriages, we can better understand how
the boundary of family was shaped through marriage networks.
To fill this hole in Chinese genealogies, we looked at the Cheonghwa Po, a
genealogy published in the early Chosôn. We highlighted the unique feature of the
Cheonghwa Po, which recorded son-in-law lines in greater detail than any other
existing genealogies, even in the late Chosôn, as well as Chinese genealogies that
primarily focused on patrilineage. Most of all, members belonging to son-in-law
lines occupied more than 90 percent of total members recorded in the Cheonghwa
Po, which indicates the importance of the marriage network for family formation in
the early Chosôn period. Moreover, in each generation after the thirteenth century, a
substantial number of sons-in-law were recorded, occupying a similar share with
sons among total members recorded. The substantial share of sons-in-law recorded
in the Cheongwha Po may indicate that family formation was achieved through the
marriage network as well as patrilineage. Our detailed analysis of the specific
families that Andong Kwôn’s daughters married into and the occupational titles of
their husbands, furthermore, demonstrated that the Andong Kwôn clan expanded its
political influence through marriage relationships and absorbed new members into
its family. In other words, marriage was considered as an important mechanism
through which to expand a family’s political power and maintain its social status.
Chart 6-1. Grade rates of Sons-in-law in the Yi Family by period
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
late 13 early 14century late 14 late 14century– early 15 mid 15
century– –mid century early century century
early 14century 15century
14century
Non Off. High Mid Low Pro.Off.
Chart 6-2. Grade rates of Sons-in-law in the Kim Family by period
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
late 13 early 14century late 14 late 14century early 15 mid 15
century– –mid century –early century century
early 14century 15c
14century
Chart 6-3. Grade rates of Sons-in-law in the Kwôn Family by period
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
late 13 early 14 late 14 late 14 early 15 mid 15
century century century century–early century century
–early –mid 15 century
14century 14century
Chart 6-4. Grade rates of Sons-in-law in the Wang Family by period
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
late 13 early 14 late 14 late 14 early 15 mid 15
century–early century–mid century century–early century century
14 century 14century 15century
Figure 6. Grade Rates of Representative Sons-in-Law by Family and Period

In sum, we highlight the potential of the Cheonghwa Po in extending previous

genealogical studies by facilitating research on family formation through the
marriage network as well as patrilineage succession. Therefore, our next goal is evi-
dent: to reconstruct a whole-family picture, including the son-in-law line, and to pro-
vide significant genealogical data pertaining to those sons-in-law who are often
missing in Chinese and other genealogies.
APPENDIX: NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS BY

GENDER AND GENERATION
Men Married Daughters Nonmarried

Generation (Sons) (Sons-in-Law) Daughters Total
1 1 0 0 1
2 1 0 0 1
3 1 0 0 1
4 1 0 0 1
5 1 0 0 1
6 1 0 0 1
7 1 0 0 1
8 1 0 0 1
9 3 0 0 3
10 6 0 0 6
11 6 3 0 9
12 12 6 0 18
13 27 11 1 39
14 37 23 0 60
15 85 72 5 162
16 205 162 6 373
17 513 425 12 950
18 1,090 898 25 2,013
19 1,929 1,239 142 3,310
20 1,564 790 210 2,564
21 478 188 73 739
Total 5,963 3,817 474 10,254
NOTES
1. Patricia Buckley Ebrey and James L. Watson, eds., Kinship Organization in Late China,
1000-1940 (Berkeley, Calif., 1986).
2. Susan B. Hanley and Arthur P. Wolf, eds., Family and Population in East Asian History
(Stanford, Calif., 1985); and Stevan Harrell, Chinese Historical Micro-Demography
(Berkeley, Calif., 1996).
3. Stevan Harrell, “On the Holes in Chinese Genealogies,” Late Imperial China 8, no. 2
(1987), 53-79.
4. Hanley and Wolf, Family and Population in East Asian History.
5. John Hajnal, “European Marriage Patterns in Perspective,” in Population in History, ed.
D. V. Glass and D. E. C. Eversley (London, 1965), 101-43.
6. Keith Hazelton, “Patrilines and the Development of Localized Lineages: The Wu of Hsie-ning
City, Hui-chou, to 1528,” in Ebrey and Watson, Kinship Organization in Late China, 156-58.
7. Miyazima Hirosi, “The Instruction of Chosôn Genealogies Which Is Possessed by the
Institute of Oriental Culture 東洋文化硏究所所藏の朝鮮半島族資料について,” in Oriental
Studies of Tomorrow 明日の東洋學, vol. 7 (Tokyo, 2002); and 陳英毅, “The Rise and Develop-
ment of Chinese Genealogies,” in Chinese Genealogy and Local History Conference Papers
(Shanghai, 2003), 35-38.
8. See Harrell, “On the Holes in Chinese Genealogies,” 55-58.

9. See Hazelton, “Patrilines and the Development of Localized Lineages,” 158-60.
10. Choi Jaiseok, 韓國家族制度史 (The history of the family system in Korea) (Seoul,
Korea, 1983); and Son Byungkyu, Hojeok 戶籍, (The Household Register) 1606-1923: A
Cultural History of Chosôn by Means of Recording Population (Seoul, Korea, 2007).
11. Edward W. Wagner, “Andong Kwôn Genealogy Published by 1476 and MunhwaYu
Genealogy Published by 1565,” in Seokdangnonchong 石堂論叢, vol. 15 (Busan, Korea,
1989).
12. Choi Jaeseok, “Genealogy and the Same Family System,” in Yeoksahakbo 歷史學報,
vol. 81 (Seoul, Korea, 1979); Song Junho, “The History of Recording Lineage and the
Explanation,” in Yeoksahakbo 歷史學報, vol. 87 (Seoul, Korea, 1980); and Park Yongwoon,
“A Phase of Koryô Society as Reflected in Andong Kwôn Clan,” in YeoksaKyoyuk 歷史敎育,
vol. 94 (Seoul, Korea, 2005).
13. Kwon Ryungdae, “The Research of Cheonghwa Po,” in A Collection of Learned
Papers in the National Academy of Science, vol. 20 (Seoul, Korea, 1981).
14. We used the historical materials from the Koryô and Chosôn Dynasties such as
Koryôsa (History of the Koryô), Koryôsa Chôryo (Essentials of Koryô history), and Chosôn
Dynasty sillok (Veritable records of the king in Chosôn) to estimate the periods.
15. Lee Ki-baek, A New History of Korea, trans. Edward W. Wagner (Cambridge, Mass.,
1984).
16. Kim Yongseon, “The Family Recording and the Genealogy in Koryô Dynasty,” in The
Study on the Inscription in Koryô Dynasty: Social History Inscribed on Stone (Seoul, Korea,
2004), 58-65.
17. Kim Yongseon, “The Marriage, Birth and the Span of Life of the Koryô Aristocracy,”
in The Study on the Inscription in Koryô Dynasty, 130-36.
18. See Miyazima Hirosi, “The Instruction of Chosôn Genealogies.”
19. Son Byunggyu, “The Extent of a Genealogy Record: Forced on Three Branch-Records
of the Lees of Hapcheon Written in 1926,” in Study of Old Text 古文書硏究, vol. 28 (Seoul,
Korea, 2006)
20. Seo Keojeong, ed., “Introduction,” in Cheonghwa Era Genealogy of Andong Kwôn
Clan 安東權氏成化譜 (Korea, 1476).
21. Choi Jaeseok, “Genealogy and the Same Family System.”
22. Lee Kyubo, “A Funeral Oration for Father-in-Law Daebukyung 大府卿 Chinmunkong
晉文公,” in DongkookYiSangkookjip 東國李相國集, vol. 37 (Korea, 1251).
23. Roh Myungho, “The Family System in Koryô Dynasty,” in Hankooksa 韓國史, vol.
15, National Institute of Korean History (Seoul, Korea, 1995), 75-95.
24. Yeoljeon 15, Son Pyun 孫抃, in Koryôsa 高麗史, vol. 102.
25. Choi Jaiseok, “The Family System in Chosôn Dynasty,” in Hankooksa 韓國史, vol. 25,
National Institute of Korean History (Seoul, Korea, 1995), 262-72.
26. Moon Sookja, “Inheritance of Property,” in Life History of Chosôn Dynasty, Society of
Korean Historical Manuscripts (Seoul, Korea, 1996), 97.
27. Lee Soonku, “The Spread of Jongbup 宗法 System of the Change of Family System
in the Middle Chosôn Dynasty”, in Hankooksa 韓國史, vol. 31, National Institute of Korean
History (Seoul, Korea, 1998), 222-26.
28. See Choi Jaiseok, “The Family System in Chosôn Dynasty,” 254-57.
29. See Choi Jaiseok, Hankook Gajok Jedo Sa 韓國家族制度史, 368-73.
30. Lee Sookun, Surname and Genealogy in Korean (Seoul, Korea, 2003).

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MARRIAGE, SOCIAL STATUS, AND FAMILY

SUCCESSION IN MEDIEVAL KOREA

Despite their significance for historical demographic research, a major limitation

Keywords: marriage; social status; family succession; son-in-law line; genealogy;

Create a Machine-Readable Data File

THOSE RECORDED IN THE ANDONG KWÔN

Figure 1. Percentages of Sons by Periods in Cheonghwa Po

Sons, Sons-in-Law, and Nonmarried Daughters

As we stated earlier, the Cheonghwa Po did not include information on married

Son Son-in-law Nonmarried Daughter

Figure 2. Relative Proportion of Sons, Sons-in-Law, and Nonmarried Daughters by Period

THE CRITERIA USED IN RECORDING MARRIAGE

A genealogy is a documented recording of ancestors written by compilers at any

Son line Son-in-law line

Figure 3. A Component Ratio of a Son-in-Law Line to a Son Line

Families to Which the Andong Kwôn Clan’s Daughters Married

Yi Kim Kwon Wang

Figure 4. A Transition of Representative Surnames of Sons-in-Law by Period

Non Off. High Mid Low Prov. Off.

Figure 5. A Transition of Sons-in-Law Grade by Period

Social Status of Sons-in-Law of the Andong Kwôn Clan

By the mid-fourteenth century, sons-in-law in the Yi clan occupied a large number

Chart 6-1. Grade rates of Sons-in-law in the Yi Family by period

Non Off. High Mid Low Pro.Off.

Chart 6-2. Grade rates of Sons-in-law in the Kim Family by period

Chart 6-3. Grade rates of Sons-in-law in the Kwôn Family by period

Non Off. High Mid Low Pro.Off.

Chart 6-4. Grade rates of Sons-in-law in the Wang Family by period

Non Off. High Mid Low Pro.Off.

Figure 6. Grade Rates of Representative Sons-in-Law by Family and Period

In sum, we highlight the potential of the Cheonghwa Po in extending previous

APPENDIX: NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS BY

Men Married Daughters Nonmarried

8. See Harrell, “On the Holes in Chinese Genealogies,” 55-58.

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