“先全州李氏行狀”을 통해 본 18세기 여성의 생활상

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reorganize the life of Jeonju Yissi by referring to the document Seonbi-Jeonju Yissi-Haengjang which was recently found, and based on this, to understand women’s dynamics in their daily life in the Joseon Dynasty period. Jeonju Yissi was of noble birth, but because of her father’s death, she had to depend on the family of her mother’s side for support with her mother. Because of this growth environment, Jeonju Yissi became her husband Choissi’s second wife. Her husband’s home produced government officials for three consecutive generations. In addition, his family established a consanguineous foundation and developed the village composed of kinsmen. Especially, as his brothers were in government service called Tongdeoknang as a Sangye, a government post, they enhanced the rank of their family in the village. Jeonju Yissi got married and settled down in the consanguineous village. Her husband became his uncle’s adopted son, and both her husband and his foster father obtained a rank called Tongdeoknang as a Sangye, but they managed a small farmer’s household. Jeonju Yissi cultivated the wives’ knowledge and value through her husband’s teaching. She had a son and a daughter 12 years after her marriage. She created a happy family that consists of 6 people. Even after her husband’s death, she kept faithful, strict, and isolated, remaining a widow for 33 years. Jeonju Yissi’s daily life was highly self-conscious by cultivating the knowledge and value faithful wives had to accumulate under the patriarchy based on the relationship by blood and marriage, and she became much more self-conscious after her husband’s death. Even though her life was self-sacrificing it was rather independent and dynamic in that she established her identity by living in moderation, and thrived her family and carry on her family line by making her son keep learning knowledge and building up his moral character. In this respect, Jeonju Yissi becomes a model as ‘a woman of virtue among women’.