Drama setting: 17th century; set the time after the successful Qing invasion of Joseon in 1636-1637. Qing invaded Joseon in order to get Joseon to break ties with the previous Ming dynasty + since Joseon did not want to recognize the Qing. Aftermath, Joseon recognized the Qing dynasty + broke off all ties with the Ming. Joseon became a tribute state to the Qing.

Many women were abducted during the Qing invasion (this was shown in the kdrama ‘Tomorrow’) which is why the grandma is traumatized from the invasion.

It’s also why the grandma’s son disowned her, she was most likely abducted during the invasion and when she came back, she was disowned by her son.

Some links that help understand the drama better (like why the FL attempted suicide multiple times) or for those who are curious in reading.

• Great Twitter thread by @psychiatristysp on the drama

Articles about women in the Joseon dynasty 

• "Widows' Position and Agency in the Late Chŏson Dynasty" by Ji-Young Jung
• "Women’s Life during the Chosŏn Dynasty" by Hee-sook Han
• "The tragic fate of Joseon women" by Hahn Myeong-gi
• Women of the Joseon Dynasty (Part 1) by thetalkingcupboard
• Women of the Joseon Dynasty (Part 2) by thetalkingcupboard
• Excerpts 
from
 the 
Sôngjong 
sillok:
 Prohibition
 Against
 Remarriage 
of
 Women
, 1477

Articles about medical practices / forensic investigation / history during the Joseon dynasty

• KoreaMed
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Joseon
• ScienceDirect
• "The Characteristics of Joseon Medicine: Discourses on the Body, Illustration and Dissection" by Shin Dongwon
• "How Commoners Became Consumers of Naturalistic Medicine in Korea, 1600–1800" by Shin Dongwon
  • pdf
• "Medical licensing examination (uigwa) and the world of the physician officers (uigwan) in Korea’s Joseon Dynasty" by Nam Hee Lee
  • pdf
• Korean Journal of Medical History (In English)
  • "How did clinical medicine in Joseon in the 17th and 8th centuries come about?" by Oh Jae-geun
  • "The surface and the back of late Joseon medicine - Centered on medical knowledge system" by Jun-Ho Oh
  • "The Indigenization of Licorice and Its Meaning During the Early Days of the Joseon Dynasty" by Kyung-Rok Lee
  • "The Character and Meaning of the Reorganization of the Medical Institutions in the Early Chosun Dynasty" by Kyung-Rok Lee
  • "The Change of the Status of Joseon Medical Bureaucrats in the 15th and 16th Centuries" by Hun Pyeng Park, Jun-Ho Oh
  • "Processing Method & Distribution of Medicinal Plant Ginseng in Early Modern East Asia -Focusing on Ginseng as a Tribute Item of Joseon to the Ming Dynasty" by Doyoung Koo 
  • "A study on the Introduction and Use of Cold Damage Diseases-related Literature in the Early Joseon Dynasty: Focusing on Publishing, Citation, and Textbooks" by Hun Pyeong Park
• "Korean Anatomical Charts in the Context of the East Asian Medical Tradition" by Shin Dongwon 신동원, translated by Kim Yuseok 김유석.
  • pdf
• "From Woohwang Cheongsimwon* to Ginseng - The History of Medicine Use in the Joseon Era -*" by Seong-Su Kim
  • pdf
• "General Guide for Korean Acupuncture & Moxibustion" by Hyo-Jung Kwon, Yong-Suk Kim
  • pdf
• "A Study of the Sa-Ahm Five Element Acupuncture Theory" by Chang-Beohm Ahn, Kyung-Jun Jang, Hyun-Min Yoon, Cheol-Hong Kim, Young-Kwang Min, Chun-Ho Song, Jang-Cheon Lee
  • pdf
• Forensic investigation in the time of Joseon
• "Re-evaluation of the medical practice and the medicine in the later half of the Chosun dynasty" by Seong Su Kim
• Muwonrok/무원록
  • A forensic journal during the Joseon Dynasty
  • Double entry, poison and murder: historical sources examined at SOAS
  • 신주무원록(新註無寃錄)
  • ｢檢要｣에 대한 문헌학적 고찰
  • From the book King Sejong the Great: The Everlasting Light of Korea -
    • "Muwonrok, a treatise on forensic medicine" (Page 32); "Autopsy guidelines were printed in Newly Annotated Coroner’s Manual (Sinju Muwonrok) and distributed to all the judicial authorities. Based on the world's first forensic medical text Sewonrok (published in China in 1247) and its revised version Muwonrok (1303), Sinju Muwonrok was Choson Korea’s first manual of forensic medicine, made possible for use in Korea by the addition of detailed notes. The work consisted of two volumes, the first dealing with the laws and regulations concerning autopsies, including sample cases, and the second explaining the methods for ascertaining the cause of death by the signs of injury. The detailed and scientific Sinju Muwonrok, although written in the 15th century, is still considered sophisticated by the standards of modern forensic science as practiced today." (Page 54)
  • "In the aspect of postmortem examination, Forensic Science has a long history in Korea. Since the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), publications on forensic medicine imported from China were already used in the forensic field. In 1438, under King Sejong in the Joseon Dynasty, Shinjumuwonrok (the meaning of this book title is the “annotation of Muwonrok with Korean”) was published (see Jong-Min Chae, 2007, A Textbook of Legal Medicine, JeongmoonGaak). It was written by annotating the Chinese book Muwonrok (the meaning of this book title is the “elimination of resentment”). This publication was widely used to practically include forensic medicine analysis in trials. Also, officials were sent to the scene for first-hand autopsies." (Page 189-190) (Source)
    

(If you search ‘Joseon’ in the first two links, various articles about medical practices/history in the Joseon dynasty appear).

Other links

• "History of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in ancient China" by Yang Yu, Xiaojie Liu, Li Juan Wang, Sudena Wang & Hushan Ao (article about history of CPR in Chinese dynasties including the Qing which existed at the same time as the Joseon dynasty; Since Korea and China have been neighbors for a long time and traditional Korean medicine has been influenced by traditional Chinese medicine before (plus countries exchanging medical knowledge/practices w/ each other throughout history), it’s possible there was a medical practice similar to CPR during the Joseon dynasty.)
• "Historical difference between traditional Korean medicine and traditional Chinese medicine" by Wung-Seok Cha, Jun-Ho Oh, Hi-Joon Park, Sang-Woo Ahn, Se-Young Hong, Nam-Il Kim
• "Shanghanlun in Korea, 1610-1945" by Soyoung Suh
  • pdf
• Qing invasion of Joseon
• Google Scholar
  • Chosun medicine
  • Joseon medicine
  • Joseon medical
  • Choson medical
  • Choson medicine
  • Chosun medical
• Taylor & Francis Online
  • Choson
  • Joseon

So the King with boils is sort-of Injo?

Thank you. A good work to enlighten the story

This is so cool!! Thank you for sharing all this with us!