Compilation of the Goryeosa

Also called: Goryeosa jeoryo

Under King Munjong, Jeong In-ji, Kim Jong-seo and others completed the Goryeosa, a history of Goryeo in annals-and-biographies form. The chronological Goryeosa jeoryo followed the next year.

Joseon set about writing Goryeo’s history right after its founding. Jeong Do-jeon’s Goryeo guksa (1395) was criticised for bending the record to justify the new dynasty and was revised several times. Late in Sejong’s reign (1449) a new annals-and-biographies history was ordered, and in 1451, the first year of Munjong, Jeong In-ji and others presented the 139-volume Goryeosa.

It consists of hereditary houses (sega), treatises, tables and biographies; following the usage for a vassal state, the Goryeo kings appear under sega rather than basic annals. Kings U and Chang, held to be descendants of Sin Don, were placed among the rebels in the biographies.

In 1452 Kim Jong-seo and others published the 35-volume Goryeosa jeoryo, which arranges the same material by date. With the Goryeo annals lost, the two works are the basic sources for Goryeo history.