조선후기 경주 이조리 최씨 가문의 노비경영과 그 실태 − 호구단자를 중심으로 −

Abstract

This study examined the patterns of servant ownership in the Choi family of Ijo-ri, Gyeongju based on their Hogudanja. The study first examined the distribution of households in terms of members and their numbers by the period with a focus on the main household family, collateral families, and subordinates. The number of members in the main household family spanned from two to maximum eight. They were recorded on the Hogudanja after they reached a certain age. No daughters were recorded on the Hogudanja while daughter-in-laws were consistently recorded in it. Grown-up sons that were married did not establish a new household and instead remained in the households of their fathers until they inherited them, and this practice did not follow the statutory regulations. Collateral families hardly appeared in the Hogudanja until 1858, and up to six members of a collateral family were recorded in the Hogudanja since then. This change happened specifically in 1867, when the family of a deceased younger brother and the couple of a younger male cousin were registered in the Hogudanja of the family. Three households that were supposed to establish an independent household were registered under a single household. The number of subordinates except for servants such as Noyangcheos and Bibus was small. Noyangcheos disappeared in 1732 except for the old Hansancheo that had been a Yangcheo for many years before the year. In 1732, the old six Noyangcheos were gone with no Noyangcheos appearing. It is clearly due to the influence of the Noyangcheo Sosaengjongryang Act in 1731. The study then examined the changing patterns of servants by the number and period. The number of servants in the family peaked at 85 in 1687, repeated a small rise and fall pattern until 1813, and began a gradual downward trend since then. The family owned 41 servants in 1813, and the number was less than half the number of the family's servants in 1687. The number of servants in the family made a sharp drop after 1822. The number of resident servants in the family peaked at 40 in 1732, underwent fluctuations around 20, and dropped to under ten in 1789. Although the number of resident servants was 12 over then in 1825, the number never climbed over five since. These findings show a considerable reduction in the number of servants in the 19th century. There were several causes behind this reduction including omission from the family register, death, and escape. In the 18th century, a good number of servants ran away from the family, having huge impacts on the reduction of servants in the family. At one time, the family tried to secure a proper number of servants by purchasing them at a bargain, but the outcome was poor. There is a need to focus on the collapse of the servant reproduction structure as a cause behind the reduced number of servants even though it was not clearly revealed in the Hogudanja. The family had as many as 47 resident servants in 1783 ~ 1894, but it was an extremely rare case that their children became a servant, too. It became common for servants to run away or for resident servants to turn into out-resident servants in the family, but the number of the family's servants made a rapid decrease especially in the 19th century due to the suspended expansion and reproduction of such hereditary servants.