concubine

Concubine (後宮) is a term used in East Asia to refer to women other than the monarch 's wife who have received a special title . In fact, she was the king's concubine , and the representative example is Naemyeongbu Bongjak of the Joseon Dynasty . Bibin (妃嬪)[1] , bingeo (嬪御), ying concubine (媵妾)[2] , binying (嬪媵), court bean (宮嬪), court person (宮人)[3] , internal officer[4] , six palaces[5] Also called etc.

The original meaning of concubine is the back or inner part of the palace , and it is also used as rear palace, inner palace, inner hall, inner palace, inner palace, etc. It is the opposite of Oejo (外朝) and Oejeong (外庭), which are other titles for the area where the emperor takes care of government affairs and performs ceremonies with his subjects , and is the king's private space. Since the emperor's wife ( concubine ) lived here, it also came to be used as a word to refer to the emperor's wife, concubine, and maid.

Since then, Naejeon and Concubine, which have the same meaning, have been separated, and Naejeon (中殿·中宮·中宮殿) is frequently used to refer to the king's wife (皇后 王妃) and concubine to refer to the king's concubine. Naejeon (中殿·中宮·中宮殿) is defined as the king's main palace, and the concubine is defined as the king's side chamber.

The monarch of the monarch is called a male gun, not a male concubine.

It was a system that existed since ancient times when the custom of polygamy existed , and moreover, for a monarch , the owner of a country , to have many women, it was a symbol of the royal family 's dignity, and at the same time, it was also a tool to easily expand the monarch's power by forming alliances with influential families . In addition, by having many concubines, the royal family and the concubines' families were encouraged to keep each other in check, which also served to strengthen the power of the king by preventing power from being concentrated in just one noble family. What if we implement polygamy ?[6] So much so that if I brought up the topic, I would be treated like a crazy person (...)[7] Even in Goryeo , where monogamy was established , the king said he was an exception and brought in many concubines.

In addition to dignity and alliance, there were also factors for the stability of succession, and in a one-to-one situation between a man and a woman, obtaining only a male son was not as easy as one might think.[8] Combined with the high infant mortality rate of pre-modern times, the combination of monogamy and inheritance by legitimate eldest eldest son was extremely unstable in the law of succession to the throne .

In fact, in Europe , where monogamy was strictly observed and the succession rights of illegitimate children were not recognized, royal and noble families often had their dynasties cut off due to failure to produce heirs, not due to serious events such as sudden accidents or war .[9] There were no wars or annexations, but there were times when the king of one country doubled as the king of another country, such as the king of Germany doubled as the king of Spain , and the territory of the country suddenly increased enormously in that era. Most of the time, this happened when the succession rights were passed to foreign relatives due to the end of the line. European royal families already had frequent intermarriages and succession wars , so monogamy was applied as a fatal factor in continuing the dynasty.[10]

The entire palace inn system that encompasses the concubines and the empress ( queen ) is called Naemyeongbu , and it is a system that includes not only the empress and the concubines but also the court ladies who handle royal affairs . Therefore, conceptually, all court ladies are the monarch's women, so they are all concubines. However, in reality, this is impossible, so in many cases, only women who perform the role of the monarch's concubines and not royal duties are called concubines.[11] Usually, the concubine system refers only to the king's wives / concubines (including the empress and queen) among the internal register systems.

In principle, a concubine loses the right to reside in the palace after the death of her husband, the monarch. If there is no revival , it is common to become a nun , and if there is a revival, it is common to go out and live in that house.[12] Of course, there is an exception in cases where the concubine's own son ascends the throne as monarch . In China, in such cases, one could receive a status equivalent to that of an empress and sometimes even become a concubine , but this was not possible in Korea, especially Joseon , where the distinction between right and wrong was strict. And the tomb was called a circle , one level lower than the tomb , and the shrine was called a palace , which was lower than the temple . In principle, the tomb of a concubine was called Myo (墓), and only in the case of concubines who received some veneration, Won (園) was used. It was not decided to be a circle unconditionally. For example, this can be seen in the fact that the tomb of Lady Jang Heebin , who rose to the position of queen, was designated Daebinmyo rather than Daebinwon. The place where the queen's memorial tablet, a middle palace, is kept is called a jeon (殿). If the queen's memorial tablet is kept before her husband, the king, the queen's tablet cannot enter Jongmyo Shrine first. Therefore, it is given the highest rank among buildings that are used as a wedding hall to temporarily enshrine the memorial tablet until the husband's death, and is not used as the name of a shrine. The shrine of the king and queen is Jongmyo Shrine . Therefore, as a shrine, the concubine was given the title of palace, which is lower than myo (廟, meaning Jongmyo). That is the Seven Palaces , including Yooksang Palace next to the Blue House .

The title of the king's biological mother who lived in such an awkward manner was only established in the late Joseon Dynasty, because in the early Joseon Dynasty, a concubine's son never ascended the throne, or the biological mother was never alive even when a concubine's son or grandson ascended the throne. When Crown Prince Sado was lost and his son Jeongjo inherited the throne as the adopted son of Crown Prince Hyojang , Lady Hyegyeonggung Hong was placed in an awkward position, neither as a concubine nor as a queen concubine after King Yeongjo's death . As a last resort, King Jeongjo created the title ' womb' (慈宮), giving her a status equivalent to that of a queen , which was also applied to Subin Park, her biological mother, after King Sunjo's accession to the throne. However, from the 19th century until the fall of Joseon, there was no example of an heir born to a concubine ascending to the throne.[13] Looking at it broadly, the biological mother of Crown Prince Uimin, King Yeong , was Queen Sunheon, and since she also followed the etiquette of the imperial state , which was different from the etiquette of the feudal state of Joseon , as a result, the only example of the king's concubine giving birth to Yuan Won and later being called 'womb' when Yuan Won ascended to the throne was Subin Park.

In fact, even if a concubine remained in the palace, if her husband died, her role would disappear and become meaningless, so even if she was in the palace, she had nothing to do. There is the issue of financial pressure from the royal family, and as an individual concubine, it is much easier to live comfortably in the family life of a child who leaves the trembling life in the palace and becomes a monk.

When an empress or queen dies or is dethroned, if the concubine is from a prestigious family, is powerful, or is favored by the lord, she may, in rare cases, be officially crowned as empress or queen. In the case of the Chinese Empire , when a son becomes emperor, he becomes an empress dowager even if he was a concubine .[14] In the case of Joseon, King Seongjong 's concubine Suk's Yun received additional points because she was pregnant at the time and was promoted to official queen.[15] , Sukjong 's concubine Heebin Jang also gave birth to Won Won and became the official queen, but after her death , Sukjong prohibited the appointment of women from Naemyeongbu as queen.[16]

 more detailsConcubine system in Korean history documentcastPlease note.

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In Vietnam 's last dynasty, the Nguyen Dynasty, the emperor's wife was simply honored as Empress Dowager when she was alive, but after her death, she was honored as Empress.[17]

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 more detailsRoyal Mistress documentcastPlease note.

In media, this is a type of female character that frequently appears in historical works , fantasy works ( oriental fantasy ), romance fantasy , and romance martial arts works . In particular, it is an essential element of court romance , court intrigues , and royal court works .

In this genre, there is always at least one concubine who believes in the king's favor or the power of the family and is rude to the queen or tries to drive a wedge between the king and queen. However, realistically, this is impossible, especially in the internal register of the Joseon Dynasty.

As the king's confidant and mother of the nation, the queen was the highest-ranking woman in the country and was able to enjoy the position and authority to manage the palace and the women within the palace. The only people who could meet the queen directly were the king, previous kings, previous kings' queens, and the royal grandchildren of kings. In fact, except for a very small number of cases, such as the deposed queen Yun, who committed an act that could not be called high treason, Queen Dangyeong, who was forcibly divorced due to political issues, and Queen Inhyeon and Jang Hui-bin, who were dethroned by Sukjong himself, the queen was bound to preserve her position.

In a situation like this, where the king cannot do anything rashly to the queen, and in a caste society where the hierarchical relationship is clear, it is impossible for a concubine who is much lower in rank than the queen to humiliate the queen in front of the queen and speak ill of her to the king. Right now, during the Joseon Dynasty, the color of clothes for concubines was determined according to the rank in the internal register, so they could not dress more extravagantly than the queen, and they had to do what the queen told them to do immediately without compromising or refusing. Even if the king was very fond of his concubines, if he gave priority to the concubines over the queen, he would be criticized both inside and outside the country as a womanizer who destroyed the discipline of the royal family, and was stopped by his subjects. It was almost impossible for the king to give the concubines more power than the queen.

For example, Hyojong's concubine, Anbin Lee, was almost executed for accidentally saying 'you' to her own daughter, Princess Suknyeong, while Queen Inhyeon, who was King Sukjong's queen, was not criticized for beating her concubine, Heebin Jang, in front of everyone, but was praised by an officer for maintaining royal discipline. King Jungjong and Sukjong were very fond of their concubines, Lady Gyeongbin Park and Lady Heebin Jang, and at one point received appeals from their subjects to beware of off-coloring. Afterwards, when Sook-ui Mun, who was favored by King Yeongjo, believed only in King Yeongjo's favor and treated Yeongbin Lee, the biological mother of Crown Prince Sado and a superior, she was punished corporally by Queen Inwon, the queen dowager, and Yeongjo did not say anything about it.

Moreover, in the Joseon Dynasty, the children of concubines were, in principle, registered as the children of the royal family, and especially for the childless royal family, the children of the concubines were the ones who protected their position. Therefore, except for a few cases such as the deposed concubine Lady Yun, the relationship between the concubine and the queen was not bad in its own way. In fact, King Yeongjo's first queen, Queen Jeongseong, and King Jeongjo's second wife, Queen Hyoui, loved their adopted sons, Crown Prince Sado and Crown Prince Munhyo, as if they were their own sons, and were on good terms with their biological mothers, Lady Yeongbin Lee and Lady Uibin.

Even though the concubines were lower in rank than the queen, they were still recognized as the king's wives. The Royal Mistress, who was treated as an adulteress, was treated even worse. Moreover, when the king's favor fell, he had to act as a kind of disgrace on behalf of the king, not to mention the duck eggs of the Nakdong River. Moreover, unlike the concubines who were guaranteed at least a stable life even after the king passed away as long as they did not have a major accident, being kicked out put them in a miserable situation where it was difficult to even eat meals if the basics were severe. However, as she was favored by the king, she was able to exercise political and social influence, and even some royal mistresses, especially the Métresantitre, the official mistress of France, were treated as queens by taking on the role of queen, such as getting involved in politics and meeting foreign ambassadors.

Of course, the case of China is different. China also accepted Confucianism, but to a lesser extent than the Joseon Dynasty, and when a prince of his own birth ascended the throne, the concubine was crowned empress dowager along with the empress, his true wife, and was posthumously honored as empress, allowing her to enjoy the honor of having her hands joined with the emperor.[18] For this reason, in reality, in the Chinese imperial family, there were more frequent secret struggles among concubines than in the Joseon Dynasty in order to put a prince of her own birth on the throne and take the position of empress. In fact, among those who rose to the position of empress, there were more people from concubines than from empresses.[19]

※ Male concubine characters are listed in the Namchong document, and government characters are listed in the Royal Mistress document.