제국 안으로의 피신: 도적(Qulaɤan)과 몽골제국 권력

Abstract

This paper analyzes the universal existence of thieves and their survival to consider the nature of imperial power and administrative system under Mongol rule in the 13th to 14th centuries. In a broad sense, thieves were largely divided into robbers and thieves, the latter of which included brigandage, piracy, arson and tomb theft, activities categorized as robberies.<BR> Since the Chinggis Qan era (r. 1206–27), thieves have been “co-existent” in imperial societies, crossing into and beyond the political and legal boundaries of the Mongol empire. Incidents of thievery broke out and then quickly increased amidst daily crises such as war, disasters, taxation, and military conscription. They existed in cities, including capitals, while boundaries, forests and seas provided advantageous places for bandits to hide and gather. In particular, pirates were a group that appeared in East Asian history when the Yuan dynasty expanded travel by sea from Jiangnan to the winter capital of Dadu (present Beijing). This had political effects.<BR> Thieves were subject to prohibition and punishment. The punishment against thieves and robbers was mitigated and subdivided from capital punishment to retaliation punishment, and even into five punishments, from Chinggis Qan to Ayurbarwada Qa’an (r. 1311–20). Arrest of bandits was the responsibility of local officials and archers. Officials and people in charge of arresting thieves and bandits were called qulaɤančis in Mongolian. In the interrogations and trials of bandits, a joint hearing and trial was undertaken following a Mongolian legal tradition called ǰarqu.<BR> However, it was not easy to arrest and remove bandits. Officials were often wary of arresting thieves thanks to officials’ vacancy, old and ill incumbents, fear, the geographic and topographic conditions of mountains and waters, and the neglect of duties. Some officials made peace with the bandits, released them and colluded with them. Local populations often married or colluded with coastal people and seamen, making it difficult for the government to distinguish pirates. Some government officials and local people shifted their embezzlement, laziness and infliction of injury to thieves or bandits in order to conceal or relieve their own crimes.<BR> Above all, the amnesty of the great Qan helped to spark the generation of banditry. In a way, bandits were rivals in the struggle with the great Qan to protect the poor and refugees for reasons of charity and virtue. From another angle, the lax punishment and administration, which exemplify the empire’s limitations, constituted part of the foundation of the “Pax Mongolica,” or Mongol Peace.<BR> In short, thieves were symptomatic of the limitations of Mongol power, as both a product and a reflection of the Mongols and the economic system they created. Bandits created administrative burdens on the empire, but they clearly enjoyed and supported their activities, as they traveled continually back and forth between illegal and legal domains. The real weapons of survival to thieves were their agility, flexibility in collusion with government and religions, the art of stealing, and knowledge and technology of seas and ships.