The Ranks of Concubines in the Joseon Period

dramasrok

14 years ago

When I watch historical Korean drama set in the Royal Court, it can be tricky to follow the strict hierarchical structure in the palace! Whilst I enjoy dramas like Dong Yi and Jewel in the Palace which centre around the ladies of the Royal Court, the titles and ranking system of the court ladies have really confused me. This inspired me to do a series of posts on the court ladies of the Joseon period (1392-1897) and in this post I will focus on the the ranks of the concubines.

What can we learn about the status of women in the Joseon palace watching Jewel in the Palace?

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Ranks of concubines and court ladies

The first thing to know is that the head of the court ladies (nemyeoung-bu) was the Queen.

As a member of the Royal Family, the Queen was above and separate from the court ladies and was not ranked in the same way. Obviously, the mother of the King (Dae-Bi-Ma-Ma) was also not in this ranking system. All the concubines and court ladies answered to the Queen.

The concubines and court ladies in the Joseon palace were collectively called the ne-myeong-bu (내명부 內命婦) but they were divided into two departments:

ne-gwan (내관) concubines

kung-gwan (궁관) court ladies

There were 9 ranks, but each rank had a senior and junior level (so 18 altogether). The top 4 ranks were held by the concubines and the remainder by the court ladies. So as we are only looking at the concubines in this post, we only have to worry about the top four ranks.

So let’s have a look at the chart below.

Confusingly, the two levels within each rank have very similar pronunciation! The senior level of each rank is Jeong (정 正 ) and the lower level is Jong (종 從). So just to make things a bit easier, I refer to the senior level as A and the junior level as B. (That’s just my idea though).

We can see that the top ranking concubine is the Royal Noble Consort 1A. (정1품) pronounced as Jeong-il-pum. The title for the top concubine was Bin. And one of the most famous concubines from the Joseon period was Jang Hee-bin.

Chart of the ranks of concubines in Joseon

RANK	ROMANIZATION	HANGUL	HANJA
Rank 1A 정1품 Jeong-il-pum	Bin	빈	嬪
Rank 1B 종1품 Jong-il-pum	Gui-in	귀인	貴人
Rank 2A 정2품 Jeong-i-pum	So-ui	소의	昭儀
Rank 2B 종2품 Jong-i-pum	Suk-ui	숙의	淑儀
Rank 3A 정3품 Jeong-sam-pum	So-yong	소용	昭容
Rank 3B 종3품 Jong-sam-pum	Suk-yong	숙용	淑容
Rank 4A 정4품 Jeong-sa-pum	So-won	소원	昭媛
Rank 4B 종4품 Jong-sa-pum	Suk-won	숙원	淑媛

Home KOREAN HISTORY The Ranks of Concubines in the Joseon Period

What was the concubine rank of the infamous Jang Hee-bin?

One of the most famous concubines from the Joseon period was Jang Hee-bin.

Bin became her official title as the top ranking concubine. Her name was Jang Ok-jong and she entered the palace as a young court lady. But when she attracted the attention of the king she became a special court lady (sang-gung) of King Sukjong. The special court lady had, as the name implies, a special status! But she was not on the concubine ranking system. To become an official concubine she would have to become pregnant.

At the beginning of the drama Dong Yi, Jang Hee Bin is a special court lady and addressed as Jang sang-gung. But when she becomes pregnant with the King’s child we see her promoted to a the junior rank 4 concubine, Sook-won. (and addressed as Suk-won ma-ma). There is a lavish ceremony and everyone involved has very big hair.

Eventually she moves up to the top concubine position (Bin) after giving birth to a son. (the future King Gyeongjong (r.1720-1724)

This is portrayed in Episode 17 of Dong Yi. In the ceremony, she is given the new title Jang Hee-bin. This means she is now second only to the Queen. But was it possible for a concubine to leave the ranking system of the concubines and be promoted to Queen?

Could a concubine become Queen?

Jang Hee-bin is often portrayed as an ambitious femme fatale who would do anything to become Queen. In fact, the saying goes that her energy was so strong that it lasted even after her death. So women who are looking for love visit her grave.

In the drama Dong Yi, Queen Inhyeon (Park Ha-sun) takes part in the ceremony to accept Lady Jang as a concubine.

There are issues with her promotion though, as she doesn’t come from the upper classes. She comes from the commoners’ class chung-in. So the Queen Mother is against her promotion to concubine.

(However, her view may be motivated by politics because Lady Jang’s promotion will strengthen the Southern faction if she gives birth to a son – which she does…)

So it’s noteworthy that Jang Hee-bin then goes on to become Queen. But she is only Queen for a while and it doesn’t end well.

This was because rumours spread that she had a role in the death of the Queen Mother. So King Sukjong later demoted her back to Hee-bin and passed a law that no concubine could ever become Queen.

Home KOREAN HISTORY The Ranks of Concubines in the Joseon Period

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What was the concubine rank of Dong Yi?

The drama Dong Yi (MBC 2010) portrays the story of the unusual case of the concubine Suk-bin.

She was another concubine of King Sukjong (r.1674-1720) who is the king most famous for his love life! Throughout his reign King Sukjong had seven concubines and three royal noble consorts: Hee-bin 희빈, Suk-bin 숙빈, and Myeong-bin 명빈.

Suk-bin’s story is rare as she came from the slave class. And yet she became the top ranking concubine (Bin) when she gave birth to King Sukjong’s son. (future King Yeongjo r.1724 -1776).

Other concubines in drama

Concubines often appear in historical dramas and can be part of dramatic political or romantic storylines. In particular, Jang Hee-bin is a strong character as she had the king’s love and attention.

The drama Yi San is about the reign of King Jeongjo and includes a love story between the king and his concubine Ui-bin.

Lower ranking concubines can add to great storylines too. For instance, in the drama Jewel in the Palace, we see Jang Geum’s friend promoted to a level 4 Suk-won. This is the lowest rank of a concubine.