An Analysis of Epitaphs from the Koryo Period and the Identification of Tomb Owners - Reexamination of the Epitaph of CHOI YUCHING(崔褎偁)

The epitaph of CHOI YUCHING(崔褎偁) that this study reexamines has, since its initial attribution to LEE GONGSEUNG(李公升) in 1981, been known for approximately forty‑five years as “the epitaph of LEE GONGSEUNG.” In the present paper, however, we have shown—by comparing the official posts recorded in the epitaph with those documented in the Koryosa(⾼麗史) and Koryosajeolyo(⾼麗史節要)—that the true subject of the epitaph was CHOI YUCHING.<br/> First, the sequence of offices held by the epitaph’s subject fails to correspond exactly with LEE GONGSEUNG’s career as recorded in the Koryosa and Koryosajeolyo. Although their tenures as Seungseon(承宣) and Jijusa(知主 事) overlap chronologically, significant discrepancies appear in the manner of appointment and in their terminal ranks, rendering the identification of the epitaph’s subject as LEE GONGSEUNG untenable.<br/> Moreover, the epitaph’s subject must have achieved the rank of Jaesin(宰⾂) sometime after the thirteenth year of King Uijong’s reign. Among the seven individuals elevated to Jaesin thereafter, only CHOI YUCHING—who entered office by virtue of eumseo(蔭敍), lacks his own extant epitaph, and whose final post was Dongjungseomunhapyeongjangsa (同中書⾨下平章事)—matches the epitaph’s criteria.<br/> A direct comparison of the offices and dates of tenure between the epitaph’s subject and CHOI YUCHING confirms a substantial correspondence. It follows that the epitaph in question should be regarded as CHOI YUCHING’s, rather than that of LEE GONGSEUNG.<br/> The epitaph further notes that father and son successively attained the rank of Jaesin. Earlier scholars, however, treated CHOI YUCHING and CHOI YUHANG(崔褎沆) as brothers—both sons of CHOI JASEONG(崔⾃成), who had served as Jaesin under King Injong. The present analysis vindicates this traditional view within the context of the epitaph itself.<br/> CHOI YUCHING’s highest office aligns with the distinctive pattern of Jaesin appointments under King Uijong, during which the post of Munhashijung(⾨下 侍中) was left vacant following the conferment of IM WONHU(任元厚). His progression through the Jaesin ranks—beginning as Jimunhaseongsa(知⾨下省 事), advancing to Chamjijeongsa(叅知政事), and finally to Pyeongjangsa(平章事) —mirrors the rapid promotions typical of Uijong’s Jaesin cohort. Evidence of CHOI YUCHING’s close rapport with King Uijong around the eleventh year of the latter’s reign further explains the speed of his advancement within the council.<br/> Beyond his personal career, CHOI YUCHING belonged to the Jaesin's house(相⾨) lineage, which had produced multiple Jaesin across generations; his son and son‑in‑law were likewise connected to other powerful houses. Although Uijong’s reign witnessed the rise of a “politics of faction” centered upon the king’s intimates, the enduring marital alliances among aristocratic houses that had been cultivated since Koryo’s early period remained operative —and indeed were being renewed—throughout Uijong’s court. This continuity of intermarriage among elite lineages underscores the persistent—and reproductively effective—networks of aristocratic kinship in mid‑Koryo politics.