Journal of Korean Studies

One of the least-studied periods in Korean history is the century following the collapse of military rule in 1270, before the rise of Chosŏn at the end of the fourteenth century. To examine this period comprehensively, a scholar must not only work with Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Mongolian sources, but also be well versed in the individual histories of these areas. Few are willing to take on this daunting task, but for readers of English we now have an excellent window into this very period. Empire’s Twilight: Northeast Asia under the Mongols by David M. Robinson demands our respect. As Robinson notes from the start, because of the complexity of this subject, historians have long remained “confounded” by this period. With this publication, students and scholars should no longer be “confounded.”

Western scholarship has virtually ignored this period that saw the unraveling of the Mongol empire, and few scholars writing in Korean, Chinese, or Japanese have made this era a focus of their research. In the West, John Duncan, in his monograph The Origins of the Chosŏn Dynasty, has provided the most in-depth study of Korean society at that time, but his focus was more on internal dynamics than Koryŏ’s relations with the Yuan. Duncan also oversaw Peter Yun’s dissertation, “Rethinking the Tribute System: Korean States and Northeast Asian Interstate Relations, 600 to 1600,”¹ which also skirts this same period. In the Korean language there are a number of studies over the last twenty or so years that have tried to put this period in perspective, but these, like those in the West, have remained focused on Koryŏ specifically and do not try to provide a more global approach to understanding Koryŏ within the Mongol sphere. Here is perhaps Robinson’s greatest contribution.

Although this book focuses extensively upon Koryŏ within the Mongol empire, particularly during the “twilight years” of the empire from 1350 to its final collapse, it also looks beyond Koryŏ, bringing in perspectives from both Shangdu [End Page 206] and Daidu, the Mongolian capitals. Robinson does this by examining the character of interchange within the Mongol empire and also focusing on three personalities that dominate this period: two men and a woman. Toghan-Temür, the Mongol emperor Huizong or Shundi (1333–70), Koryŏ’s King Kongmin (1351– 74), and the Korean-born wife of Toghan-Temür, Empress Ki. In most studies to date, these three personalities have appeared only as opaque characters. Robinson gives life to them and through them provides a much more nuanced understanding of these twilight years.

The four themes that intersect this study are: “the need for a regional perspective versus that of a dynasty or country; the process and consequences of integration under the Mongols; the tendency for individual and family interests to trump those of dynasty, country, or linguistic affiliation; and finally, the need to see Koryŏ as part of the wider Mongol empire” (p. 6). What Robinson is attempting to do is unique in the study of East Asia or Northeast Asia and points to the direction future research should consider. Too often historians have been content to look at just one dynasty or country as a window into a period. One possible early exception is Charles Holcombe’s The Genesis of East Asia² where the author attempts to move beyond a country-by-country understanding and focus on the integration of the region. (To digress, when the history of Western Europe appears in most textbooks, authors pursue this very same approach looking at Western Europe as a collective, rather than just individual, diverse polities.) This is Robinson’s mission and he has made great strides in achieving this.

A second important perspective Robinson provides is that he tries to study the period in its own right. Granted he has titled this book Empire’s Twilight, well aware that great changes are about to come, but he seeks to understand the events and personalities of the age in light of the conditions these personalities confronted. None knew that the Ming and Chosŏn dynasties would shortly emerge, and all were struggling to be masters of the age at hand. Empire’s Twilight is organized into eight chapters moving from a broad introduction, to the Mongol empire and Northeast Asia in general, to a more nuanced examination of Koryŏ within this empire. The Red Turban Wars, which appear just momentarily in most textbooks, are given great emphasis in Robinson’s study. These peasant rebellions emerge out of the collapse of Yuan governance and become a symptom of the unrest that is increasingly buffeting the Mongol empire. That Koryŏ gets embroiled in this turmoil is partly because of the Mongol inability to suppress these rebels, but also as a result of Koryŏ’s playing an active role within the Mongol world.

In my own reading of late Koryŏ history, there have been many lacunae that have often left me looking for more information and here Robinson’s Empire’s Twilight provides a rich source of information. The reasons behind the Mongol successes in governing Korea and elsewhere remain a topic of hot debate. The Mongol penchant to rule indirectly by relying on local rulers is one secret. Robinson takes a step further and examines some of these local personalities. And [End Page 207] in terms of controlling Koryŏ, the Liaodong region (in modern Northeast Asia) plays a major role. First the Hong family, under the patriarch Hong Pogwŏn, became a major pawn in extending Mongol influence. Also, to counter possible Koryŏ ambitions, the Mongols propped up a scion of the Koryŏ ruling family, the Sim Prince, who in subsequent decades remained a latent challenge to the Koryŏ kings. This type of governance brought about the “overall effect,” which was “to efface dynastic borders and to highlight the notion of a center and its borders, all contained within the Mongol empire” (p. 31).

King Kongmin is a great example of this phenomenon. As Robinson points out, Kongmin was raised in a Mongol world but became a Korean monarch. Living in the Mongol capital, Kongmin “did not look like a Korean in many ways . . . he and most of his court plaited their hair in Mongol fashion and wore Mongol felt caps. Many donned tight-fitting riding tunics with pleated robes and sleeves” (p. 99) and used both Mongol and Korean names. His queen was from the Mongol imperial clan. And even if King Kongmin wished to pursue a somewhat more independent path for Koryŏ, once he was monarch, the Mongol empire remained a “daily reality” that could not be cast aside. Contemporary Korean historians have tried to understand Kongmin’s attempt to assert autonomy from Yuan control, but as Robinson describes, it is difficult to see Kongmin living in a world without reference to Mongol ways. Rather than seeking independence from Mongol rule, Koryŏ courts often pursued policies that would give them greater authority over their own court in Kaegyŏng and in response to internal Koryŏ politics. At the same time, Kongmin, like many kings in this period, was all too frequently embroiled in the struggles in Daidu.

Mid-fourteenth-century Northeast Asia was vexed by the Red Turbans. Robinson devotes nearly three chapters to understanding this rebellion that erupted in China, spread to Liaodong, and then filtered on into Koryŏ. It was a symptom both of waning Mongol control and weaknesses within the military. But the fact that both Yuan and Koryŏ survived these severe attacks shows that the Mongol empire was not yet ready to expire. Yet out of these attacks, the twilight of the empire clearly set in as new leaders such as Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming dynasty, and Yi Sŏnggye, founder of the Chosŏn dynasty, rose and dominated the future.

Robinson looks at conditions within Koryŏ quite closely, seeking to understand why the Red Turbans felt compelled to invade Koryŏ, sack Kaegyŏng, and force King Kongmin to escape to Andong. He concludes that the Red Turbans, in part because of Koryŏ action, did not see much difference between the Yuan and Koryŏ. In describing King Kongmin’s flight from and then return to Kaegyŏng after a fifteen-month absence, Robinson notes that King Kongmin continued to maintain a dual identity, attending to both Mongol and Koryŏ expectations of a monarch. But it was Koryŏ court politics, and particularly jealousy among his Koryŏ generals, that consumed much of the king’s attention and contributed to his own discomfort with the growing power of his generals. Robinson provides readers with an excellent analysis of the politics of King Kongmin’s reign. He [End Page 208] also brings new understanding into the machinations of the Yuan court, which was divided over whether to keep or sack Kongmin as king of Koryŏ. Noting that even in this episode, it was a family vendetta, particularly the interests of Empress Ki, that sought to oust Kongmin. Ultimately Kongmin’s value was too great, and the costs of trying to remove him from power caused the Yuan to back down.

There is indeed much to recommend in this book. Robinson diligently combs primary and secondary sources across several languages to bring to light this period. In reading his sources he has not been afraid to criticize the scholarship of others, challenging particular historians who sometimes allowed nationalism to creep into their own understanding. Robinson’s footnotes are prodigious and remain a model for all scholars. He enlivens the text with translations from primary sources that afford added insights into the issues at hand, whether they be through poetry or memorials to the throne. Ever conscious of the needs of the reader, he provides helpful maps and chronological lists of pertinent Koryŏ and Mongol rulers.

With such a vast undertaking, Robinson almost seems perplexed in trying to bring all of this to a conclusion. The final chapter wanders a bit as he tries to pick up threads from earlier chapters, and readers need to skip around the book to recall events that are linked to previous sections. Several points seem to be left hanging. The assassination of King Kongmin, a man who figures so prominently in the book, also begs more discussion, as does the role of the monk Sin Ton, who played such a controversial role in his court. Robinson naturally argues that this period, coming at the end of the Mongol empire, was vitally important in building a new order, and that much of this new order emerged naturally out of the “political, economic, cultural, and military integration of Northeast Asia under the Mongols” (p. 270). Here Robinson points to the rise of the Ming and its adoption of many Mongol precedents such as the use of eunuchs. The status of Liaodong, which had long been on the periphery between China and Korea, increasingly fell under the pale of Ming authority as a military zone, hence changing the nature of Northeast Asia geopolitics.

David M. Robinson is to be commended for taking up this immense task. Already an established historian of the Ming, he has generously served the field by building on this base to provide scholars, Korean and non-Korean alike, with a profound, objective look into Koryŏ within the Mongol empire in the late fourteenth century. For both students and scholars of pre-modern Korea, Empire’s Twilight is a must read.