Empire's Twilight. Northeast Asia under the Mongols

458 Pages·2010·5.122 MB·English

by  David M. Robinson

Empire’s Twilight
Northeast Asia Under
the Mongols
Harvard-Yenching Institute
Monograph Series 68

Empire’s Twilight
Northeast Asia Under
the Mongols
David M. Robinson

Published by the Harvard University Asia Center
for the Harvard-Yenching Institute
Distributed by Harvard University Press
Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London 2009
© 2009 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College

Printed in the United States of America

The Harvard-Yenching Institute, founded in 1928 and headquartered at Harvard University, is a
foundation dedicated to the advancement of higher education in the humanities and social sci-
ences in East and Southeast Asia. The Institute supports advanced research at Harvard by faculty
members of certain Asian universities and doctoral studies at Harvard and other universities by
junior faculty at the same universities. It also supports East Asian studies at Harvard through con-
tributions to the Harvard-Yenching Library and publication of the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
and books on premodern East Asian history and literature.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, David M., 1965–
Empire’s twilight : northeast Asia under the Mongols / David M. Robinson.
p. cm. -- (Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 68)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-674-03608-6 (cl : alk. paper)
1. Mongols--East Asia--History--14th century. 2. East Asia--History--14th century. I. Title.
ds23.r63 2009
950'.24--dc22
2009022545

Index by the author

Printed on acid-free paper

Last number below indicates year of this printing
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
In memoriam
Joan M. Robinson
(1937–2005)

Acknowledgments
This book would have been impossible without the generous help of
colleagues and friends in the United States and East Asia. Yi Hŭi-sŭng
of the Andong Folk Museum kindly provided me with materials relat-
ing to the local religious shrines in Andong devoted to King Kongmin
and his queen. Professor Kim Ho-dong proved a gracious host during
my brief stay at Seoul University, providing stimulating conversation
and introductions to his energetic graduate students. One of these, Mr.
Sŏl Paek-wan, was particularly helpful in tracking down difficult-to-find
articles. Professor Min Hyŏn-gu of Koryŏ University patiently an-
swered my questions about the reign of Kongmin, and Chang Tong-ik
of Pukkyŏng University provided valuable bibliographic suggestions for
the late Koryŏ period. Professor Hong Sŏng-gu, now also of Pukkyŏng
University, arranged access to the rare book collection at Koryŏ Uni-
versity. I especially thank Professors Cho Yong-hŏn of Hong’ik Uni-
versity and Cha Hye-wŏn of Yŏnse University for introducing me to
scholars in Korea. Over the years, Professor A Feng of the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) has been invaluable in navigating
the library collections of Beijing. I also thank Professor Chen Gaohua
for his kind support of my work for the past decade and Professor Liu
Xiao (also of CASS) for his valuable assistance in Yuan sources. Profes-
sor Morihira Masahiko provided an expert synopsis of Mongolian and
Koryŏ sources in Seoul for me, a nearly total stranger. Yagi Takeshi,
Nakasuna Akinori, and Yang Longzhang saved me from a number of
viii Acknowledgments
translation blunders. Martin Heijdra has patiently fielded my biblio-
graphic queries over the years. Finally, I owe a great debt to Professor
Fuma Susumu for his limitless generosity during my time at Kyoto
University (1992–93, 1999–2000, 2003–4) in providing guidance with
sources, reading drafts, and giving me the opportunity to present early
versions of this work.
Research takes time and travel, which requires financial support. I
am deeply grateful to the Research Council of Colgate University for
making possible Korean-language study and two trips to Seoul. Gener-
ous fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and
the National Endowment for the Humanities provided essential sup-
port for research stints at Kyoto University and CASS. The tenure of
the former forced me to fundamentally recast my project, and the ten-
ure of the latter permitted me to complete the bulk of my research.
This book would have been impossible without their support.
I have presented portions of this work at several conferences and
seminars, including the Fritz Mote Memorial Conference (Princeton
University), the Ming Taizu and His Age Conference (Chinese Univer-
sity of Hong Kong), the International Order in East Asia and Ex-
change, Third International Symposium (Kyoto University), and the
Chinese Humanities Seminar (Harvard University). I owe a debt of
gratitude to those who offered criticisms, suggestions, and encourage-
ment. Professors Thomas Allsen, Elizabeth Endicott-West, William
Atwell, and John Duncan offered insightful comments on early ver-
sions of this book and saved me from many embarrassing mistakes.
Two anonymous readers for the press provided me with a wealth of in-
valuable suggestions and corrected many problems of romanization in
Korean and Mongolian. I am also indebted to students of my Mongol
Empire and Late Imperial China courses at Colgate University, who
good-naturedly suffered various iterations of the manuscript.
D.M.R.
Contents
Koryŏ Kings During the Mongol Period x
Mongolian Rulers xi
Introduction 1
1 Northeast Asia and the Mongol Empire 15
2 A Precarious Restoration 61
3 Koryŏ in the Great Yuan Ulus 98
4 The Red Turban Wars 130
5 Buffeted in the Storm 160
6 In the Wake of the Invasions 199
7 A New King of Koryŏ 220
8 Wider Perspectives 252
Epilogue 285
Reference Matter
Notes 293
Works Cited 393
Index 427
Koryŏ Kings During the Mongol Period
Adapted from Pak Yong-un, Koryŏ sidaesa, pp. 794–96.

Kojong 高宗 (1213–59)
Wŏnjong 元宗 (1259–74)
Ch’ungnyŏl 忠烈王 (1274–98.1)
Ch’ungsŏn 忠宣王 (1298.1–8)
Ch’ungnyŏl 忠烈王 (1298.8–1308.7)
Ch’ungsŏn 忠宣王 (1308–13)
Ch’ungsuk 忠肅王 (1313–30)
Ch’unghye 忠惠王 (1330–32)
Ch’ungsuk 忠肅王 (1332–39)
Ch’unghye 忠惠王 (1339–44)
Ch’ungmok 忠穆王 (1344–48)
Ch’ungjŏng 忠定王 (1349–51)
Kongmin 恭愍王 (1351–74)
U 禑王 (1374–88)
Chang 昌王 (1388–89)
Kongyang 恭讓王 (1389–92)