유교 군왕의 ‘기로(耆老)’ 정치 : 영조(英祖)의 전략적인 실천들을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the Confucian king’s politics of the elder statesmen (giro 耆老) by focusing on King Yeongjo’s strategic practices toward the Bureau of Elder Statesmen (Giroso 耆老所). First of all, when King Yeongjo joined the Giroso at the age of 51 in 1744, he visited the Spirit Longevity Hall (Yeongsugak 靈壽閣) and practiced the ritual of personally writing his name on the royal album (eocheop 御帖), and showed off his age-based status through the addition of personal notes (小識) following the preface of the royal album. Moreover, Yeongjo created a new culture of enjoying old age together by exchanging poems with his officials, and made the king’s writing his name on the royal album a national ritual. By strategically carrying out these cultural and institutional practices, King Yeongjo not only fulfilled his filial duty toward King Taejo (太祖) and King Sukjong (肅宗), but also tried to construct the sacred genealogy of long-lived kings. In response to his efforts, the old officials recognized the sacred authority of this symbolic genealogy by praising the fact that long-lived kings had made Joseon (朝鮮) into a country of benevolence-longevity (仁壽). In particular, the officials, sharing the Confucian idea that old age was a symbol of virtue and longevity bestowed by heaven and the ancestors, compared Yeongjo to the sage-king (聖王) of great virtue on the basis of the Doctrine of the Mean (中庸). And they tried to create age-based social authority by distinguishing themselves from their fellow subjects. In conclusion, King Yeongjo used old age as a strategic differentiation principle to develop the Confucian king’s politics of the elder statesmen, which raised the social and political authority of both the old king and his officials together in the Joseon Dynasty.