益齎 李齊賢의 史學에 對하여

Yi Che-hyon s Philosophy of History

Yi Che-hyon’s position toward Koryo history rests largely on his observation and interpretation of the conflict of opinion between assertion of national identity and subservience to Yuan, a conflict that invariably arose under the impact of the pressure China repeatadly brought to bear on Koryo. Yi’s outlook on history is further colored by his position as a civil officer. Critical of certain features carried over from earlier times, he joined forces with other civil officials in fighting to establish their supremacy over their military colleagues. Yi Che-hyon’s scholarship and historiographical methods, surviving the fall of Koryo, go on to set the pace for early Yi historians not only in the compilation of the authorized history of the Koryo dynasty but indeed in the general historiography of the period. Traditionally, the Confucian-oriented civil bureaucracy of Koryo frequently clashed with the military clique which had held to its dreams of northward military expedition. Through the periods of rule by the military and then by a new pro-Yuan force in power, the civil officials had had to face serious setbacks until after the Mongols finally placed Koryo under their control. Neither the civil bureaucracy nor the literati was able to hold their own against Yuan. Acquiescence and resignation increasingly became the motif of their ideology. China’s official historiography and the doctrines of Neo-Confucianism, that had been incorporated into Yi Che-hyon’s philosophy of history, served not so much to sustain social order and personal conduct as to rationalize a passive submission to Yuan s wishes.