新羅下代王位繼承과 上大等

The Succession to the Royal Throne and Sangdaedeung in the Late Period of Silla

Sangdaedeung is the highest ranking official in the court during the late period of Silla appointed by the king amongst the king's closestfamily members. Thus, he is the most trusted and powerful administrative official supporting the king. In this period, in the case when an legitimate heir to the royal throne is missing, Sangdaedeung will sometime succeed the throne. Nevertheless, the crown prince for the throne and a brother or uncle who is named in the king's last will to peacefully take the throne are first in line of blood relationship to have the right to the succession even if they are not Sangdaedeung. Therefore, the succession to the royal throne is based on blood relationship and the office of Sangdaedeung is not the primary requirement. On the other hand, there have been some extraordinary cases where Sangdaedeung without any blood tie to the king succeed the throne through installation and usurption in this period. However, they are rare cases. Specifically, there are two occasions, Sangdaedeung Kim Eon-seung(king Heongdeok) and Kim Myeong(king Minae) who were in confrontation with the king. Despite being close blood ties of the king, the right to the throne was beyond their reach since there were closer royal relatives. Therefore, they usurped the throne with political means to keep the throne within their lineage or regain the right to the throne. Although the office of Sangdaedeung was an important political factor in the succession to the throne, it was not the case that the right to the throne was given to Sangdaedeung even if there was no legitimate heir. The succession to the royal throne was based on blood ties. In other words, it was impossible for Sangdaedeung to succeed the throne if he did not have the proper blood relationship. Such possibility is only through extraordinary means of political and military power. However, even in these extraordinary cases, the succession was possible only because the blood tie as the condition of succession was satisfied in addition to secondary factors of political and military power.