# Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng

The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng (Korean: 한중록; Hanja: 閑中錄) is an autobiographical manuscript written by Lady Hyegyŏng of Joseon (6 August 1735 – 13 January 1816) that details her life during the years she was confined to Changgyeong Palace. The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong, or its direct translation Records Written in Silence (Korean: Hanjungnok), is a collection of four autobiographical pieces written within the ten-year period 1795 to 1805, which depict her life before and after being chosen to marry Crown Prince Sado.
The Memoirs portray Crown Prince Sado's descent into violent madness until his execution by order of his father, King Yeongjo. Although Lady Hyegyong's descriptions of her husband's madness and execution are the best known parts of her work, each of the four pieces concentrates on a different aspect of her life and has a different political purpose. Her narratives are a primary historical source of the period. They are also part of a wider body of Joseon female-authored works.

## Background

For a woman of her time, Lady Hyegyong was well-educated, and the family of her birth, the Pungsan Hong, were scholars and public servants. The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong displayed Lady Hyegyong's knowledge of the appropriate structure for literary works such as letters, court novels, and testimonials. This knowledge permitted her to write about a realm of politics generally reserved for men.
Lady Hyegyong as a Confucian wife was subject to her husband and her husband's family. She stated that she could not say any "unjust" word about them without becoming "unable to avoid the most cruel death by the gods of Heaven". She acknowledged this in her fourth memoir, recording that she was "deeply indebted to [King Yeongjo]" and that "her devotion to [Crown Prince Sado] reaches as high as the Heavens".
The Memoirs cannot be taken as accurate in every respect. JaHyun Kim Haboush was able to identify an inaccuracy in Lady Hyegyong's description of her younger brother's date of birth. According to Haboush, this might have been an attempt to protect her mother from criticism because the actual year her brother was born may suggest he was conceived when Lady Hyegyong's mother was in mourning for her mother and father-in-law. When a person was in mourning, they were supposed to be sexually abstinent.

## Structure

The memoirs included four distinct pieces written respectively in 1795, 1801, 1802, and 1805. The earliest was the most personal and the following pieces gradually became directed to the public.
The works detailed Lady Hyegyŏng's life during the years she was confined to Changgyeong Palace. They covered her marriage to Prince Sado, his descent into madness, and his death by decree of his father King Yeongjo. The memoirs have been translated into English by JaHyun Kim Haboush.

## The Memoir of 1795
### Form

Lady Hyegyong's first memoir of 1795 was dedicated to her nephew, the heir of her natal family, the Pungsan Hong. It was written to defend her father and herself for their actions before and after Crown Prince Sado's execution. It covered her idyllic childhood through to her knowledge of the intrigues of the eighteenth century Joseon court.
Lady Hyegyong's memoir is unusual because of its female authorship and because of the style of narration. Typically, family chronicles were written by men rather than a woman, here written at the request of her nephew. This departure from tradition may be because the author was well-educated and uniquely placed.
The narration is that of self-justification. Lady Hyegyong wrote to defend her decision not to commit suicide and that of her father not to commit suicide or to leave office after Crown Prince Sado's execution. The Memoir of 1795 is in the structure of a family chronicle and is unusual in the conveying of strong emotions. The thematic presentation is that of self-reflection rather than the more usual presentation of a morality tale for another generation. JaHyun Kim Haboush, the English translator of her Memoirs, states the view that the first memoir is less advice to her nephew than an emotive defence against the numerous accusations levied and scandals of the time.

### Content

According to palace tradition, Lady Hyegyong was invited to the royal palace as a young child along with other girls whose names were suggested for royal bridal selection. Lady Hyegyong described herself as favored from the outset by King Yeongjo and Queen Jeongseong. Lady Hyegyong described her introduction to life away from her parents as affecting because of the formalities and distancing that were required. She expressed regret that her position at court encouraged family members to become involved with court politics.
The Memoir of 1795 emphasized the affection and loyalty that Lady Hyegyong and her father both had for the royal family, in particular for Sado and Jeongjo. Such affection and loyalty to the King were relied on as justifying their reaction to the execution of Crown Prince Sado. Service to her own son was also emphasised as a means of protecting the dynastic line. In the aftermath of Sado's execution, Lady Hyegyong stated, "Like me, [my father's] only thought and concern was to protect the Grand Heir, and so, for the sake of the nation, he controlled his sorrow and did not retire from office".

## The Memoir of 1801
### Form

The Memoir of 1801, was written in protest at the execution of the writer's brother based on false charges of converting to Catholicism, and at the execution of her uncle based on accusations of disloyalty to Jeongjo's regency. This Memoir was written in the usual form of a memorial, a literary format typically used to express strong negative feelings. As JaHyun Kim Haboush clarified: "... there is a category [of memorials sent to the throne] reserved for those who felt aggrieved about something concerning themselves or persons close to them such as family members or mentors. Their memorials tended to be narratives in which the authors refuted unfavorable accounts by presenting contrary evidence and displaying appropriate emotion".
The aim of the memorial was to offer a convincing argument to refute a court decision. In this case, Lady Hyegyong attributed her brother's execution to factionalism within the Joseon court, not to any Catholicism. This memorial was unusual in that it addressed a King direct about a personal grievance. While memorials were traditionally used by male politicians to discuss public politics, Lady Hyegyong as the then current King's grandmother instead used the memorial form to raise a private issue with King Sunjo.

### Content

Much of the Memoir of 1801 was an exposition of Madam Jeong's court machinations against the Pungsan Hong family which, the author alleged, turned the King against them and accounted for the executions.
At the height of Madam Jeong's power, according to Lady Hyegyong, her rival had enough influence over Jeongjo to prevent him from becoming intimate with his wife. Furthermore, it was claimed that as Madam Jeong's son became more powerful at court and closer to Jeongjo, an alleged decline in Pungsan Hong influence led others to compose memorials attacking them. Lady Hyegyong claimed that this escalated to the point where the two executions were ordered.

## The Memoir of 1802
### Form

The Memoir of 1802 narrated the life of King Jeongjo, as a young boy grappling with the execution of his father. Lady Hyegyong wrote her third memoir after Jeongjo's sudden death. Addressed to her grandson King Sunjo, the memoir was used to introduce Jeongo's unfulfilled plan to restore honor both to Sado and the Pungsan Hong family. Allegedly Jeongjo intended his own son upon taking the throne to give full honors to both Sado and Lady Hyegyong. Any such plan was frustrated by Jeongjo's death.
Although Lady Hyegyong chose the form of a biography, it was used as a channel for exploring Jeongjo's character as a filial son dedicated to restoring his family's honor rather than for his depiction as a political figure. The Memoir presses the thwarted scheme by implying that Sunjo should show the same filiality to Jeongjo by completing what Jeongjo had left unfinished.

### Content

The Memoir of 1802 was designed to secure reinstated honor for Sado and the Pungsan Hong family. The text focuses on Jeongjo's reaction to Sado's death and his subsequent attempts to restore honor to his name. Lady Hyegyong described Jeongjo as "peerless in benevolence," and throughout her memoir she gives various examples of Jeongjo's filiality. She claimed he "served [her] with all the wealth and splendor available to the throne, yet he did not think it enough" and "still regretted he could not pay respect to his father morning and evening".
Lady Hyegyong claimed that because Jeongjo realized her own father's innocence and regretted his earlier actions, this proved his intelligence. Lady Hyegyong also mentioned court rumors suggesting that it was her father's idea to have Sado executed in the rice chest. This she denied as "ridiculous" as "[he] had witnessed [the execution] with his own eyes.

## The Memoir of 1805
### Form

In the Memoir of 1805 Lady Hyegyong gave a personal account of her husband, describing his eventual madness and execution. There had been public speculation surrounding Sado's execution or, as it came to be called, "the 1762 incident." According to Lady Hyegyong, Sado lived to be 27 years of age before his execution was ordered by his father, King Yeongjo. The execution was ordered because of accusations including the physical abuse, rape, and murder of servants. However, following a memorial sent to King Yeongjo by Jeongjo, sections of the Records of the Royal Secretariat detailing Sado's actions and execution were destroyed. With their erasure, conspiracy theories had surfaced regarding whether or not Crown Prince Sado actually committed crimes worthy of death as well as speculating who had thought up so gruesome a manner of execution.
Lady Hyegyong was the only living family member that had witnessed Sado's execution. She recorded her version of what happened both for the public, and for her royal grandson. This last was explicitly stated. She claimed the conspiracy theories surrounding Sado were "false and groundless". She claimed that it would be wrong of her to leave the King uninformed as to his direct ancestors. In such a case he would have been in "shameful ignorance". She deliberately created the sole surviving primary account to explain Sado's execution.
Lady Hyegyong used the Memoir to explain why she and her child, Jeongjo, lived on after Sado's execution. Traditionally, when the male head of a household was executed as a criminal, his wife and children were expected to follow him in death. It was pleaded that the unusual manner of the execution took the case beyond the traditional practice, which therefore should not be regarded as applying. Had Sado been executed as criminals normally were, his son, the remaining heir to the throne, would have been executed, as would the rest of his family.
If Sado were to have been executed as a criminal, his own son's reputation would also have been such as to damage the moral integrity of the royal line. The suggestion was that the unusual manner of Sado's death was designed to ensure that the royal family line remained legitimate. If that were correct, any suicide by Lady Hyegyong would have suggested criminality on the part of her husband. To ensure that Jeongjo's reputation was not affected by Sado's actions, King Yeongjo had also declared Jeongjo to be the adoptive son of Sado's long dead older brother.

### Content

Although Lady Hyegyong admits to being biased due to her devotion as Sado's wife, she nonetheless describes Sado as intelligent, compassionate, and handsome. Lady Hyegyong attributes Sado's madness and violence to his failed relationship with his father, King Yeongjo, as opposed having an innately evil nature. Lady Hyegyong ascribed Sado's eventual madness to the fact that immediately after birth he was kept from his parents to live instead in the Chosung Pavilion, traditional home of crown princes. Sado was raised by eunuchs and palace women servants, which Lady Hyegyong described as "unpleasant and peculiar".
While his parents visited often at first, as Sado grew older he saw them less and less. Lady Hyegyong explained this as due to factionalism at court. She noted that the servants attending to Crown Prince Sado also served Gyeongjong, the previous King whom Yeongjo was accused of poisoning. She claimed the servants were so rude to King Yeongjo and Lady Yi that it discouraged them from visiting the Pavilion. While Lady Hyegyong questioned why Yeongjo refused to replace them, Haboush notes that Yeongjo likely feared that by replacing Gyeongjong's servants, he would face rumors questioning his loyalty to his late brother. Lady Hyegyong also attributed Sado's abnormalities to her own belief that the Pavilion was cursed. The Pavilion was the previous residence of a consort of Yeongjo's father, Lady Chang, who was believed to have killed Queen Inhyon using black magic. Lady Hyegyong believed that this supernatural influence negatively affected Sado's development.
Although Sado had at first been a good student, his fear of his father prevented him from expressing himself clearly, leading to King Yeongjo continually admonishing him. As Sado did not see his father often and when he did Yeongjo's criticism grew increasingly harsh, Sado began to fear his father more and more. Lady Hyegyong described the first time Sado became violent as having taken place after he was criticized by his father in front of a large crowd.
The first person Lady Hyegyong saw Sado kill was a eunuch whom he beheaded. Sado brought the head to show his wife and her ladies-in-waiting. After this, she claimed, his behaviour escalated. Though she did not give any numbers of how many Sado killed or raped, she claimed it was so many that she could not remember. While she said he was not violent to her, Lady Hyegyong noted he would beat any women who resisted his sexual overtures and that he "tore their flesh" until they gave in. Despite the intensity of Sado's violence, Lady Hyegyong only reported one incident in which he harmed her- by throwing a go board at her head, damaging her eye. She stated that "the situation was so difficult that [she] was in constant danger, to the point of not knowing when [her] life would end". At the height of his violence, bodies and injured people had to be carried from the palace every day. As a crown princess, Lady Hyegyong's duties included replacing those injured and killed by Sado as well as compensating for the aftermath of his violence.
In one instance, after Sado left the royal palace without approval, Lady Hyegyong, along with some of Sado's principal eunuchs, created an elaborate ruse to hide Sado's absence. Thus, the chief eunuch pretended to be ill while locked up in Sado's chambers. There he was served by the rest of his servants as if he was actually the crown prince. Lady Hyegyong described Sado's absence as a "welcomed respite".
As Sado grew older, his fear and anger spread to other parts of his life. Although Lady Hyegyong was unaware of it, courtroom scripts of King Yeongjo and Crown Prince Sado's interactions revealed Yeongjo scolding Sado that "thunder on the previous night was a warning that [Sado] should develop moral virtue". Lady Hyegyong described Sado becoming so afraid of thunder that he would lie on the ground until the storm was over. She claimed Sado's fear grew so intense he became too afraid even to look at the character for thunder. Sado also developed a phobia of clothing that required him to burn clothing as part of a ritual.
Sado's obsessions as to clothing lengthened the time he required to dress. He used large amounts of clothing, so much so that his stipend as a crown prince could not cover the expenses. Lady Hyegyong in consequence reported being forced to borrow from her father for money to buy clothes as well as having to spend much of her own time making new clothes. Sado's process for getting dressed was sometimes deadly. Lady Hyegyong claimed that if servants "made the slightest error" in helping him, "people were hurt, even killed". Even his favorite consort, a woman named Bingae who gave birth to several of his children, was beaten to death after Sado became irritated with her while he was trying to get dressed.
King Yeongjo eventually learned of Sado's behaviour. Yeongjo met his son to confront him but no consequences were ordered because Sado attributed his actions to being "sad that [Yeongjo] does not love [him] and terrified when [Yeongjo] criticizes [Sado]". Instead the confrontation ended with Yeongjo promising to support his son better.
It was only later after his mother, Lady Sonhui, learned of Sado's growing madness that he faced punishment. After a rumor reached the court that Sado intended to assassinate his father, Lady Hyegyong received a note from Lady Sonhui announcing that she had to protect the dynasty and the royal Heir. Shortly afterwards, Sado was executed by being locked into a rice chest where he was left to die.

## Significance

The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong are some of the only pre-modern autobiographies written by a woman in East Asia. At the time when Lady Hyegyong began her memoirs, female narratives had become more frequent in Korea. Haboush suggests this increase in female narratives is connected to the decrease of yangban women's inheritance rights. On that basis, women wrote in order to document changes in customs and family structures. Korean script (hangeul) had been used by women and the uneducated ever since its invention by Sejong the Great in the later half of the 15th century.
Lady Hyegyong from her position at court provided details that official court records did not. Lady Hyegyong, described the private life of the court. Her subjects included King Yeongjo, King Jeongjo, and Princess Hwawan, thus making The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong a primary historical source as to them.
In contrast to Lady Hyegyong's narratives, royal figures were traditionally portrayed as exalted, moral personages in order to legitimize their reigns.

## In popular culture

The Memoirs have either inspired or have been adapted into other media.
* The novel The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble is based on the memoirs.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Choi Myung-gil in the 1988 MBC TV series The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Hong Ri-na in the 1988 MBC TV series The King of the Wind.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Ha Hee-ra in the 1998 KBS TV series Heaven Heaven.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Jung Ae-ri in the 2007 CGV cable miniseries Eight Days, Assassination Attempts against King Jeongjo.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Kyeon Mi-ri in the 2007 MBC TV series Yi San.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Kim Sung-ryung in the 2014 film The Fatal Encounter.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Park Eun-bin in the 2014 SBS TV series Secret Door.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Moon Geun-young in the 2015 film The Throne.
* Lady Hyegyŏng was played by Kang Mal-geum in the 2021 TV series The Red Sleeve.