These children are only recorded in the Yi family archives because they were adopted by other members of the Yi clan, not because their father reconised them. Indeed, there are almost certainly other children that he had but who were never adopted by Yi clan members and thus are not included anywhere. They were adopted into other families of the Yi clan only because the official consort of Prince Ui arranged for that to happen. She could have adopted one or more of them herself, as often happened in the Imperial line. That way, those whom she adopted would have remained in the Imperial line and continued to enjoy a chance in the line of succession. For whatever reason, she chose not to do so and thus not to give them that chance. As for Kojong, his succession is not due to where he stood in the line of descent. He succeeded on account of his adoption. Once he was adopted, he became the legal son and successor of the King, not his natural father. In Asian royal or noble families where adoption is part of the custom or religeous heritage, the adoption of "country kids" from a distant, even impoverished branch of the family is fairly common. There are numerous examples amongst Indian Hindu dynasties. Perhaps the most famous modern example was Maharaja Sayajirao III of Baroda. --Previous Message--
: a nice thing to do for an old lady - a
: ceremony of appreciation, as it were.
: However, the rules of succession in Korea
: are not hard and fast. Sometimes the choice
: of successor has been obvious, and sometimes
: it's been obvious that the next person in
: line by the rules should not be monarch, in
: which case a more appropriate person has
: been picked. In Kojong's case, there were
: some factions who could not agree, so this
: unknown country kid was tapped to be king.
: I'm unclear, therefore, following the rules,
: who would properly have a claim on any
: lands, and there is the question Christopher
: brings up of illegitimate offspring. To a
: degree, legitimacy is a western concept
: that's tough to apply here, but one can go
: by rank of the wives, concubines, and
: assorted bits on the side. My wife's
: grandfathers both had multiple partners of
: various sorts, and the lines of inheritance
: go in order of precedence - the first
: married, second, and so on - with the
: non-official partners or brief flings
: getting virtually no standing (although
: those offspring still engage in wishful
: thinking).
:
: In short, I think Yi Seok is so far out of
: it that he should give up and stick to his
: "revive the monarchy" campaign, to
: which I can see some merit, frankly. But he
: should be willing to allow the selected
: crown prince to have that role.
:
1
Message Thread
« Back to index