조선시대 족보는 종법(宗法)이 조선 사회에 깊이 뿌리내리면서 생긴 결과물이다. 족보기록에는 국가에 대한 충(忠)과 부모에 대한 효(孝)，형과 어른에 대한 제(悌), 남편에 대한 부인의 열(烈) 등이 잘 드러나고 있다. 아울러 도학(道學)의 이념에 충실한 인물을 드러내어 가문의 위상과 족보의 가치를 높이려고 하였다. 족보기록에 이러한 유교이념에 투철한 인물이 많을수록 그 가문은 명문이고 족보는 더 가치가 빛났다. 특히 족보의 서문에서는 거의 대부분 그 문중의 충(忠)ㆍ효(孝)ㆍ열(烈)을 실천한 대표적인 인물을 언급하고 있다. 또한 생원ㆍ진사와 문과, 무과 등의 기록，관력 사항，문집이나 문헌 등의 저작 사항, 학문연 원(사제 관계) 사항, 묘갈, 행장 등 저 명학자의 집필 사항 등을 족보기록에 드러냄으로써 자신들의 가문의 위상을 높이려고 하였다. 이같이 조선시대 족보기록에는 충ㆍ효ㆍ열의 유교 이념과 오행, 십간，십이지 등을 통해 유교의 종법질서를 드러내어 유교적 예치사회를 구현하고자 했던 유교국가의 정치적 의도가 담겨 있었다. 조선왕조는 이러한 족보기록을 통해 양반문화를 오래 유 지할 수 있었다.

The study of the principle of human nature(性理學，seongnihak in Kr., xinglixuem Ch.)was established as the ruling ideology of Joseon dynasty from the onset of the new kingdom. And as a Confucian kingdom, loyalty to the state, filial piety toward parents, and respect for elders were especially emphasized in Joseon. Noble families were consolidated and people were educatedand controlled through various policies in order to realize these ideals. Of these policies, implementation of the regulation on agnatic descent and compilation of genealogy books in particular were important in spreading the Confucian ideals of loyalty and filial piety. Genealogy book, the product of Confucian development, became prevalent throughout Joseon society when the regulation on agnatic descent firmly established itself. The history of genealogy book began in Zhou dynasty China. The government office of Xiaoshl(小史) in Zhou dynasty was put in charge of establishing lineages and determining the order in which ancestor tablets are placed. In fact, the origin of genealogical records of later days can be traced to the Xiaoshl because a genealogy book is an instrument that clarifies the lineage and determines the order in which ancestor tablets are placed. During the Zhou dynasty, however, only the feudal lords expended effort in keeping genealogical records. It was not until Jin dynasty that the literati gradually began to create genealogy books for their own lineage, Su Xun(蘇拘) of Song China created his family’s genealogy book based on the regulation on four preceding generations. In it, Su Xun limited his ancestors to include only up to his great-great-grandfather, his descendants only down to Ms sons, and his relatives only to his third cousins. Su Xun attempted to realize the Confucian ideal of filial piety and respect for elders through this genealogical record. Joseon dynasty can trace the origin of its first genealogical record to the compilation effort of the Record of the Source of the Royal Family(瑋源錄, Seonwonnok ill Kr.) in 1412 (12th year of the reign of Taejong). This new era opened under the command of the royal family due to the fact that the royal house desired to justify its succession by distinguishing sons of primary wives from those of secondary wives and concubines after Taejong enacted a law that discriminated against sons of secondary wives and concubines. Thereafter, the royal family commanded Jongbusi, one of the court offices, to compile and stock the Royal Genealogy Record(國朝譜牒) and the Diagram of the King’s Four Preceding Generations of Ancestors(列聖八高祖圖). Compilation of the royal family’s genealogy book at court stimulated the literati to compile their own genealogy books. Genealogy Book of the Kwon Clan of Andong(安東權氏成化譜), the first genealogy book of a Joseon literati family, was compiled in 1476 (7th year of the reign of Seongjong). Genealogy books of early Joseon reveal Joseon society’s unique kinship system in that these records contain not only members of the patrilineal line but also members of the matrilineal line. With the adventof the Genealogy Bookof the Kim Clan of Gangneung(江陵金氏族譜) in the mid-16th century, however, compilation of genealogy books began to emphasizethe agnatic line, and at the forefront of spreading agnatic genealogical records were devout Neo-Confucian scholars of Sarim Faction who gained political power when Seonjo ascended to the throne in 1567. Genealogical records of Joseon went through great transformations during the Japanese Invasion of Joseon in 1592 and the Manchurian Invasion of Joseon in 1636. These two invasions demanded of Joseon society a restmcturing of its Confucian order, and Joseon yangban started to explore in depth the study of rites(禮學) as part of restructuring the Confucian order. Furthermore, various lineages compiled their own genealogy books as a symbol of solidarity within the lineage because the literati considered it especially necessary to create a new ― and broader―sense of social solidarity at the clan level after having experienced foreign invasions and political factionalism. Hence, agnatic villages began to form in 17th-century Joseon, with the noble families at the forefront of it. In particular, a shrine or private academy was built for the solidarity of the lineage members when the lineage contained an ancestor who had restored the declining clan to its former prosperity, held a high government rank, or served the kingdom meritoriously. And genealogy books were compiled at the clan level, thereby playing an important role in clarifying the regulation on agnatic descent and transmitting Confucian ideals. In the latter part of Joseon dynasty, clan descendants frequently visited the clan founder’s grave after Family Rites became widespread. Visiting the founder of the clan signifies remembering the spirit under which the clan was founded, or roots, through rites. As part of this effort, each clan consolidated its lineage by gatheringall sub-lineage genealogy books within the clan and compiling them into a unified lineage book that included all descendants of the lineage founder. This stimulated clans to compile even more sub-lineage genealogy books than before at the turn of the 19thcentury, which in turn created more activities in compiling unified lineage books among various clans. Loyalty to the state, filial piety toward parents, respect for elders, and wife’s devotion toward her husbandare key issues in the genealogical records of Joseon dynasty, and contents related to these main Confucian virtues can often be found in genealogy books of various clans. These Confucian ideals were used by the literati to elevate their families’ status and the value of their genealogy books via high-lighting family members who devoted themselves to the ideals of the study of the dk(道學).A family’s status became more elevated and its genealogy book more valuable as a greater number of family members followed the Confucian ideals. In particular, representative clan members who practiced loyalty, filial piety, and devotion are frequently mentioned in preface of a genealogy book. Another way to elevate the family status is through revealing information about who passed the civil service examinations, held which government posts, wrote which books or collections of essays, studied under which famous scholar, etc. in genealogical records. Moreover, genealogical records play the role of confimiing the accurate order in which ancestor tablets are placed that signifies the regulation on agnatic descentsystem. And to systematize the order of the placement of ancestor tablets, children were named after terms from the principle of mutual harmony of the Five Elements (五行), which arethe principle of wood creating fire, fire creating earth, earth creating metal, and metal creating water. Jeong Do-jeon’s house was the first in Joseon to create names for children by taking terms from the mutual harmony of the Five Elements. Jeong Do-jeon was the scholar who introducedthe ideals of the study of the principle of human nature at the time to Joseon dynasty when it was founded. Naming a child based on the Five Elements existed in 12th-century China―this custom was practiced in the days of Zhu Xi’s father Zhu Song. Zhu Yuan-zhang, who founded Ming dynasty, also created names from the Five Elements for Ms sons’ generation. But names based on mutual harmony of the Five Elements did not become popular in Joseon until the 16th century. Then, in mid-17th century, many clans such as the Kim clan of Gwangsan, the Yi clan of Yeonan, the Song clan of Eunjin, and the Yi clan of Jinseong began to create namesbased on mutual harmony of the Five Elements. Interestingly, the Yi clan of Jinseong adhered to the rule of the Five Elements’ mutual harmony, but as of the 19th century an additional rule was implemented in which the Chinese character for heart-mind(心) was incorporated into the names of each lineage head among Toegye Yi Hwang’s descendants. Yi Hwang is a renowned Joseon scholar of the study of the principle of human nature, and as such, usage of the heart-mind character(心) in the names of all lineage heads of Yi Hwang signifies that Yi Hwang’s descendants are the successors of the study of the principle of human nature. In addition to Yi Hwang’s descendants, most of the names of Joseon kings (from Hyojong to Gojong and Sunjong) and their brothers were created based on mutual harmony of the Five Elements. Records of Joseon families using names based on the ten celestial stems, twelve horary signs, and Chinese numbers appeared in the 19th century. This determination appears to have been made so that the temporal and spatial relationship of the order in which ancestor tablets are placed can be understood after genealogical records of a clan expanded from sub-lineage genealogy books to one unified lineage book. Joseon society was able to maintain its yangban culture for a long time, thanks to its genealogical records that contain the political intentions of a Confucian state to realize a Confucian society of “rule by rites”(禮治) by enforcing the regulation on agnatic descent through the Confucian ideals of loyalty, filial piety, devotion as well as the Five Elements, ten celestial stems, and twelve horary signs.