朝鮮中期 文科 及第者의 進出 = Political Careers of Successful Candidates in the Highest Civil Service Examination during the Middle Period of the Chosun Dynasty

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study is an attempt to analyse political careers of successful candidates in the Highest Civil Service Examintion(文科) during the middle period of the Chosun dynasty, and to examine in which government institutions and at what posts the candidates served most frequently, whether there can be found any pattern common to their political careers, and by what kind of factors their career achievement was affected. Major findings of the research are as follow:
First, while the analysis of previous records of successful candidates demonstrates that the ratio of the non-government-exam-passer(幼學) and the special appointee through ancestor's merit(蔭仕者) to the lower-government-exam-passer(生員·進士) tended to grow higher in this period than in the early Chosun period, the examination of candidates' political careers after their passing the Highest Civil Service Examination shows that the highest post to which they were appointed was mostly lower than that of earlier candidates. The tendency may be understood as an institutional refleftion of changing political configurations in the period.
Next, it is also found that nearly one half of successful candidates served at both the Three Offices(三司) and the Six Boards(六曺) in the course of their official service. This testifies to the fact that the two institutions held a very important position within the governmental structure of the middle Chosun.
Finally, the analysis of the general course of successful candidates' political careers offers a career pattern of their moving up from the Three Offices to the Six Boards, which was common to careers of the highest of officals like the High State Councillor(議政) and the Board Minister(判書). And this fact presents an additional evidence of the essential importance of the two governmental institutions. Candidates' moving up on this pattern, however, formed only a necessary but not sufficient condition for their successful elevation; their careers were heavily affected by various incidental faciors. The factors include both positive ones such as family background and factional relationship, on the one hand, and negative ones such as frequent appointment to a local post, bad health, short life, and personal cost involved in political incidents, on the other. For a candidate to achieve a full promotion, therefore, both necessary and sufficient conditions had to be fulfilled. His success in official life depended upon if the various factors were able to make up for one another without conflicting mutually.
(This study has been made with research grant provided by the Harvard Yenching Institute. I here express my sincere gratitude to the institute.)

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 序言
• Ⅱ. 及第者의 前歷과 最高經歷
• Ⅲ. 及第者의 經歷官署
• Ⅳ. 及第者의 進出樣相
• Ⅴ. 結語