A History of Korea (24 page)

Literature in unified Silla, especially the hyangga, was closely related to Buddhism. The hyangga was a poetic genre that had already appeared before unification. As Buddhism flourished and monks mainly constituted the intellectual class after unification, many hyangga poems were composed by these Buddhist monks. In 888 Queen Chins
ŏ
ng commanded the high courtier Wihong and the monk Taegu to compile an anthology of hyangga, titled
Samdaemok,
or Collection from the Three Periods of Silla History, but it has not survived. Fortunately
Samguk yusa
contains 14 hyangga poems on subjects that mainly include extolling the virtue of the Buddha, longing for a deceased loved one, praying for an easy passage into eternity, and entreating heaven to bring tranquility to the state. Although the hyangga was literature for the intellectual class, narrative literature appealed to the common people.
Samguk yusa
recorded a number of these Silla tales on subjects such as loyalty to the king and the state, and filial piety to parents.

As the study of Chinese classics became prevalent, unified Silla produced noted calligraphers. The most renowned Silla calligrapher was Kim Saeng, but no actual specimen of his calligraphy still exists. Kim In-mun, the son of King Muy
ŏ
l, was another well-known Silla calligrapher, and several specimens of his calligraphy have survived.
Samguk sagi
recorded the names of master painters,
including Solg
ŏ
, who was said to have drawn a mural painting on the wall of the Hwangnyong-sa temple, but none of their works remains today.

Unified Silla, in sum, developed a flourishing indigenous civilization, one of the most advanced in the world, and its high level of cultural achievements was well known to Tang China. Indeed, the Chinese called Silla the “country of courteous people in the East” and accorded the highest respect to the Silla envoy among the foreign representatives dispatched to the state.

Until the mid-eighth century, unified Silla enjoyed prosperity and a high level of civilization, but thereafter the kingdom experienced fierce struggles for power within the true-born aristocracy in the central government, the ensuing rise of the local gentry in the countryside that seized control over certain regions, and, later, “invasions” by Paekche and Kogury
ŏ
restorationists that finally led to the establishment of the Later Three Kingdoms in the early tenth century. Finally, the exhausted Silla kingdom faced its end by abdicating the throne in favor of Kory
ŏ
’s Wang K
ŏ
n in 935.

By the period of King Ky
ŏ
ngd
ŏ
k, Silla’s civilization had reached its climax both politically and in its artistic creativity. Kingly authority in Silla was so firmly established that it could easily control aristocratic defiance against the power of the throne. Beneath the surface, however, a movement to weaken regal power had already started among members of the true-bone aristocracy. Finally, in the period of King Hyegong (765–780), a rebellion against the king erupted.

The turning point in Silla’s fortunes began in 768, when Kim Tae-gong led a plot against the monarch. Heralding the beginning of the “late period” of Silla, this incident soon grew into a fierce power struggle involving 96 aristocrats who held the highest office rank of kakkan.
⁸
The power struggle among the true-born aristocracy continued for several years, in which a series of plots could be interpreted as an attempt to restore royal authority. Finally, in 780, in the course of suppressing the revolt of Kim Chi-j
ŏ
ng, Kim Yang-sang, a highborn aristocrat, and his partisans killed King Hyegong. With his death, the direct line of royal descent from King Muy
ŏ
l came to an end. Now Kim Yang-sang, who claimed to be a 10th -generation descendant of the late fourth-century king Naemul, himself took the throne as King S
ŏ
nd
ŏ
k (780–785). He was succeeded
by Kim Ky
ŏ
ng-sin (King W
ŏ
ns
ŏ
ng, 785–798), said to have been a 12th-generation descendant of King Naemul. Kim Ky
ŏ
ng-sin, in a contest for the throne, then defeated his rival Kim Chu-w
ŏ
n, who was a direct descendant of King Muy
ŏ
l. Subsequent kings all came from King W
ŏ
ns
ŏ
ng’s line of descent.

Now kingly authority virtually disappeared, and politics in the capital was characterized by the decisive role played by ephemeral coalitions of aristocratic forces. While the traditional aristocracy retained its prestige, the bone-rank system split into contending family groups, each struggling to maintain its own interests at the expense of the others. The kings were selected from among a large number of royal aspirants from collateral lines. During the remaining 155 years of its existence (780–935), Silla had 20 kings, many of whom met violent deaths in the vortex of the competition for the throne. Revolts and coups followed in rapid succession, as one group after another among the true-born aristocracy placed its candidate on the throne and massacred its rival candidates.

Political turbulence in the capital occasionally spilled over into the provinces. For instance, in 822, Kim H
ŏ
n-ch’ang rose up in rebellion at Ungju (present-day Kongju). Kim H
ŏ
n-ch’ang was the son of Kim Chu-w
ŏ
n whose rightful claim to the throne upon the death of King S
ŏ
nd
ŏ
k in 785 had been forcibly usurped by King W
ŏ
ns
ŏ
ng. Driven by this old grudge, Kim H
ŏ
n-ch’ang rebelled against the central government and proclaimed a new state, called Changan, or Long Peace. For a time, a wide area in present-day Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng, Ch
ŏ
lla, Ky
ŏ
ngsang, and Kangw
ŏ
n provinces rallied to his cause, but government forces defeated him. Three years later, in 825, his son, Kim P
ŏ
m-mun, again revolted and set up the capital at Hansan near present-day Seoul, but he, too, failed. Kim H
ŏ
n-ch’ang committed suicide, and Kim P
ŏ
m-mun was captured and executed by government forces.

After the suppression of the rebellion led by Kim H
ŏ
n-ch’ang and Kim P
ŏ
m-mun, the political situation was stabilized for a period. But the succession struggle among the true-bone aristocracy again erupted upon the death of King H
ŭ
ngd
ŏ
k (826–836) in 836. At first King H
ŭ
ngd
ŏ
k’s cousin, Kim Kyun-j
ŏ
ng, was set up as king, but he was killed by a nephew, Kim Che-ryung, who ascended the throne as King H
ŭ
igang (836–838). Two years later, in 838, however, King H
ŭ
igang himself was killed and succeeded by a second cousin, King Minae (838–839). At this point Kim U-jing, the son of Kim Kyun-j
ŏ
ng, garnered the support of Chang Po-go, who controlled the Ch’
ŏ
nghae-jin garrison on Wan-do. With Chang’s forces, he attacked King Minae, killed him, and ascended the
throne as King Sinmu in 839. Since the period of King Muns
ŏ
ng (839–857) these fierce struggles for power among the warring factions of the central aristocracy considerably abated, as a spirit of reconciliation was forced upon them by the increasing threats to their hegemony posed by regional power centers.

The power struggle within the true-bone aristocracy in the capital and ensuing political turmoil gave men of head rank 6 background and indigenous local elites, who had been greatly dissatisfied with the rigid bone-rank system, an opportunity to extend their power and influence. Members of head rank 6 lineage had long been discriminated against by true-born aristocrats in holding real power. Many of them studied in Tang China, acquired new knowledge, and returned home to emerge as the dominant intellectual class in Silla. They severely criticized unfair discrimination under the bone-rank institution. Some of them turned their backs on their nation, as exemplified by Ch’oe S
ŭ
ng-u, who served as Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n’s political adviser, and Ch’oe
Ŏ
n-wi, who acted as Wang K
ŏ
n’s brain trust.

Relaxed government control over the countryside caused the growth of powerful local elites, called the hojok, because they possessed wealth and armed might. Members of this local gentry grew from commanders of powerful military garrisons at strategic locations, individuals who engaged in maritime trade, and local landlords. As they emerged as power elites in the countryside, authority rapidly shifted away from the capital toward key regional centers.

Among members of the local gentry, leaders of military garrisons and seaborne commerce were more powerful than inland landlords, as they were in a better position to amass wealth and military force. To defend the country’s land frontiers, unified Silla originally established several military garrisons at strategically important locations, such as the Puk-chin, or Northern Garrison, located in present-day Samch’
ŏ
k, Kangw
ŏ
n province, and the P’aegang-jin garrison in present-day P’y
ŏ
ngsan, Hwanghae province, created in 658 and 782, respectively. As the threat of piracy to Silla’s thriving maritime trade intensified, several garrisons were established at important coastal points, such as the Ch’
ŏ
nghae-jin garrison on Wan-do, the Tangs
ŏ
ng-jin garrison in present-day Namyang, Ky
ŏ
nggi province, and the Hy
ŏ
lgu-jin garrison on Kanghwa-do in the Yellow Sea, created in 828, 829, and 844, respectively. The most important of these was Chang Po-go’s Ch’
ŏ
nghae-jin. These garrisons also were sources of military strength for the ambitious local power elites.

Chang Po-go apparently descended from a powerful local family that had already solidified its footing on the island of Wan-do. Thus, he could base his maritime operations on the island, organize other members of his lineage into his personal armed force, and finally become a virtual merchant prince who secured command of the Yellow Sea and the South Sea. Chang Po-go was the most prominent of these figures because of the scale of his maritime activity, but others also acted as seaborne power elites including Wang Pong-gyu, operating out of Kangju (present-day Chinju, South Ky
ŏ
ngsang province), and the man known as Chakcheg
ŏ
n, the grandfather of Wang K
ŏ
n, who was active in the Songak (present-day Kaes
ŏ
ng) area.

Meanwhile, powerful local families for several generations had exercised de facto control over particular regions in the countryside. Most of these local forces were indigenous local elites who had served as village headmen generation after generation. These local officials originally administered the rural population assigned to them on behalf of the central government, but as stronger village headmen brought weaker headmen in neighboring areas under their control, they increasingly expanded their power base in the countryside. These landlord elites usurped administrative power of officials dispatched from the central government and secured virtual independence in certain localities. They built fortifications around their power centers and therefore were known as s
ŏ
ngju. They commanded their own private forces recruited from the local populace who were under their control, or from the roaming landless peasantry, and thus became known as
changgun,
or generals.

By the late ninth century unified Silla had plunged into utter, uncontrollable confusion and this gave rise to the tumultuous Later Three Kingdoms period. The central government’s power dissipated when members of the influential local gentry splintered central government authority and a succession of peasant rebellions shook the state’s foundations. In particular, the growing strength of the local gentry weakened the sway of the central government over the countryside to such an extent that the government could not collect taxes from the local population. Confounding matters, King H
ŏ
n’gang (875–886) and Queen Chins
ŏ
ng (887–897) indulged in luxury and pleasure which exhausted the government’s financial resources. In a desperate attempt to overcome its financial crisis, the central government, in 889, used force to collect taxes from the peasant population.Now suffering the burden of heavy taxation levied by
both the central government and the local gentry, many peasants abandoned their land and roamed the countryside. Some of these landless wanderers barely subsisted, and others entrusted themselves to the protection of powerful local gentry households. Still others joined together in bands and lived by plundering. These so-called
ch’oj
ŏ
k
gangs, or grass brigands, comprised of impoverished peasants, became active throughout the country, and as they experienced a succession of alliances and ruptures, they grew into larger groups. Some attempted to rebel against the state and seize power.

The first peasant rebellion erupted in the present-day Sangju area in 889. This uprising was led by two men, W
ŏ
njong and Aeno. Soon one revolt followed on the heels of another throughout the country. Yanggil, in present-day W
ŏ
nju, Kihw
ŏ
n in present-day Chuksan, and Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n in present-day Ch
ŏ
nju were among the most prominent rebel leaders. In 896 a large force of brigands calling itself the
Ch
ŏ
kkoj
ŏ
k,
or Red Trousers Banditti, rebelled in the southwest coastal region and mounted a drive on the suburbs of the capital. Now, rebel strong-holds were firmly established and the authority of the central government was limited to a small area around the capital.