선초 악장(樂章)에 형상화된 원경왕후(元敬王后)의 면모와 그 의미

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the aspects and meanings of Queen Wongyeong, King Taejong’s concubine and King Sejong’s mother, expressed in akjang(樂章) poems in the early Joseon Dynasty. Queen Wongyeong played a key role in helping King Taejong overcome the political crisis, but her life was not easy after King Taejong ascended to the throne. She had a serious conflict with King Taejong in the process of taking in concubines, and when he tried to punish her younger siblings for treason, she fiercely opposed this and was driven to the risk of being dethroned. Even during the reign of King Sejong, not only were the charges of treason against the queen’s family not resolved, but there was no clear movement for reinstatement. It was difficult to carelessly comment on his father’s decision, and reinstating Queen Wongyeong and her family members, who had supported Prince Yangnyeong, was likely to pose a serious threat to King Sejong’s status. It is for this reason that King Sejong took some action regarding Queen Wongyeong only after nearly 30 years had passed since his ascension to the throne. He tried to strengthen and formalize the status of Queen Wongyeong by specializing in uncontroversial historical facts from the founding period, and to realize this, he chose the akjang genre, which has very strong regularity and irreversibility. King Sejong’s such intention came at an appropriate time. In the latter half of his reign, King Sejong implemented a plan to compose large-scale works on the history of the founding of the dynasty, and the option of including his mother’s historical records could be properly considered. The resulting works are ‘Jeongmyeong’ of Botaepyeong, written by King Sejong himself, and chapters 108-109 of Yongbieocheonga, which he ordered his subjects to write. King Sejong focused on clearly imprinting his mother’s position. Above all, it is necessary to keep in mind that Queen Wongyeong’s achievements were treated individually. In both works, she was separated from King Taejong and set as the main character of an individual chapter, and her actual achievements were expressed in the contents of the chapter. In addition, it should be noted that her achievements are concrete. Rather than expressing typical praise in conventional phrases, Queen Wongyeong’s character, achievements, and significance were attempted to be vividly revealed through novel expressions. King Sejong’s intention to perpetuate Queen Wongyeong’s status through the composition of akjang poems was realized. Botaepyeong was adopted as the Jongmyojeryeak and became nationally recognized, and Yongbieocheonga had been repeatedly mentioned by later kings in the context of reflecting on the history of the founding of the dynasty. akjang poems depicting Queen Wongyeong are a clue to renewing our awareness of the female hero figure in Korean literature, because they show that women left a clear mark in the history of the founding of the dynasty and that their role was also decisive.