19세기 서울 지역의 생원과 진사 －구한말 호적을 중심으로－

Abstract

In the Confucian society of Chosun, the gwageo(highest-level state examination to recruit ranking officials) played an important role in society. Although the gwageo was divided into liberal arts, military services, baccalaureat and civil services, liberal arts and the baccalaureat, that had the characteristics of a pre-exam for liberal arts, were considered particularly important in Chosun. The literary arts exam was important because it was the exam to recruit government officials. However, the baccalaureat was also considered important as the literary arts exam since it was the exam to recruit classic and literary licentiates. Not many people applied for the literary arts exam because the passing mark was high but the competition rate for the exam to recruit classic and literary licentiates was intense at 300~400:1. This was due to the fact that passing of the classic and literary licentiate examinations was the shortcut for not only individual success, but also, an honor for the family name. For such reasons, investigating the substance of Chosun’s classic and literary licentiates can be considered as a key factor in understanding the ruling power of the Chosun Dynasty. So far, the studies on classic and literary licentiates have stopped at revealing their residence and family backgrounds. The present study analyzed the classicand literary licentiates of Hanseongbu through the family registers of the late Chosun Dynasty to supplement the existing study method. In the family registry of the late period of Chosun, there are records of 35,163 heads of households. There were 401 cases, where the profession for the head of households and their 4 ancestors were listed as ‘classic licentiate’ and ‘literary licentiate’ in the family registry and among the entire family registry, there were 53 classic licentiates, which was approximately 0.15% of the total. Moreover, there were 42 residents of Hanseongbu among the candidates, which was 79% of the country’s total. This implies that Hanseongbu produced approximately 80% of successful candidates of the classic and literary licentiate examination, when the region was only 1/3 of the population. When expanding to their 4 ancestors instead of focusing on just the heads of households, there was 2.78% of Seoul households that had successful candidates of the classic and literary licentiate examination in their lineage. This number is 11 times the national average of 0.25% with the exclusion of the Hanseongbu. Furthermore, this number did not include the successful candidates among the officials, and the successful rate of the Hanseongbu region was so high that it could not be compared to any other region. When examining the cases where the fathers were high-ranking government officials, provinces were 12.5% and the Hanseongbu region was 35.1%. The size of homes were examined to reveal the economical status of successful candidates of the classic and literary licentiate examination of the Hanseongbu and the average size of homes for the successful candidates in the region was 15.3 rooms. Moreover, the average size of homes in regions excluding Hanseongbu was 4.4 rooms. When considering that the households in the Hanseongbu region with successful candidates of the classic and literary licentiate examination mostly lived in tile-roofed houses and price of land in Hanseongbu was higher than other regions, the economical gap between thefamilies with successful candidates in Hanseongbu and a normal families living in provinces widened further apart. Among the candidates of the classic and literary licentiate examination in the family registry, there were 353 literary licentiates and 48 classic licentiates. The discharge rate of literary licentiates was 1.5 times that of classic licentiates during King Gojong’s reign. On the family register, the number of literary licentiates was 7.4 times that of classic licentiates and this was a very unique number. The cases that listed classic licentiate as the profession for the head of the households were particularly nonexistent. This was due to the custom where successful candidates of classic licentiate examination were called as literary licentiates in the late period of Chosun.