Jeonghui

Jeonghui Queen of the Joseon Dynasty
Spelling of names
Hangeul	정희
Hanja	貞 熹
Revised Romanization	Jeonghui
McCune-Reischauer	Chŏnghŭi
Life dates
Born on the	December 8, 1418
place of birth	Hanseong , Joseon
father	Yun Beon ( 윤번 )
Death dates
Died on	May 6, 1483
Place of death	Hanseong , Joseon
tomb	Gwangreung, Namyangju , Gyeonggi-do
Spouses, mistresses, offspring
husband	King Sejo
Sons	Prince Uigyeong (Yi Jang) King Yejong (Yi Hwang)
Daughters	Princess Uisuk
Remarks
Regent from 1469 to 1476

Jeonghui ( Korean : 정희 ) (born December 8, 1418 in Hanseong , Joseon ; † May 6, 1483 in Hanseong, Joseon) was queen and wife of the 7th King of the Joseon Dynasty ( 조선 왕조 ) (1392-1910), king Sejo ( 세조 ) and the first queen of the Joseon Empire ( 조선 ) who temporarily ruled the country. She was referred to as the "regent behind the bamboo curtain" because she ran state affairs on behalf of her son and later for her grandson.

Life

Queen Jeonghui was the daughter of Yun Beon ( 윤번 ), a Yeonguijeong ( 영의정 ) (Council of the Kingdom), who served under King Sejong ( 세종 ) in one of the highest positions of the hierarchy at court. Her mother came from the Papyeong Yun Klan ( 파평 윤 ), who provided numerous high-ranking courtiers at the royal court during the Goryeo dynasty ( 고려 왕조 ). Jeonghui, although educated, later stated that she could not speak classical Chinese , but that she could speak the Korean alphabet , Hangeul ( 한글 ), which had only been known in Joseon since 1446.

In 1428 she married Prince Suyang ( 수양 ), later King Sejo, and was introduced to the court as Nangnangbu daebuin ( 낭 낭부 대부인 ) (Royal Highness of Nangnang). The marriage resulted in two sons and a daughter. The second son later succeeded his father's death as King Yejong ( 예종 ) on the throne.

When Prince Suyang had taken power at court in a conspiracy against his nephew King Danjong ( 단종 ) and was crowned King Sejo in June 1455, Jeonghui became queen of the Joseon Empire. Sejo died thirteen years after his accession to the throne. Yi Hwang ( 이황 ), his second-born son, succeeded him on the throne as King Yejong at the age of 19.

Queen Jeonghui, already involved in state affairs at the end of the reign of her ailing husband, since her son was still too inexperienced to rule, actively intervened in the politics of the country during his reign as Queen Mother, which lasted only 14 months. After the death of her son, she made sure that her grandson Prince Jasan ( 자산 ) (birth name Yi Hyeol ( 이혈 )) was crowned king as Seongjong ( 성종 ) at the age of only 13 . This happened, although some princes in the line of succession should have come earlier, in a secret agreement between Queen Jeonghui and Han Myeong-hoe , who was a high-ranking figure at the court and at the same time the father-in-law of Prince Jasan. The successful move gave Jeonghui, as the queen's grandmother, further power and influence at court and on the affairs of government in the country.

In the second year after Seongjong's enthronement, he proclaimed Jeonghui and some elites of the court to be deserving personalities of the country, which granted them special privileges and power. In 1476, in the 7th year of King Seongjong's reign, Queen's grandmother Jeonghui declared that her grandson was now old enough to rule, thereby announcing her withdrawal from government affairs. During her seven-year reign, the Gyeongguk daejeon ( 경국 대전 ) (State Administration Code) was enacted and the Samgang haengsil ( 삼강 행실 ) (Code of Conduct) was created to promote Confucian moral education, Buddhist temples in the capital were closed and the measures of the anti-Buddhist political line strengthened in the politics of the country. Marriages between couples with the same family name were banned, public welfare improved, and the cultivation of silkworms for agriculture was further developed. None of these actions were directly ordered by Queen Grandmother Jeonghui. In contrast, she knew how to gently but persistently convince the responsible ministers and kept them away from negative influences of their relatives of the clan. As a result, there were no serious disputes at court. It also skilfully adapted itself to the political situation in order to simultaneously expand its influence and pursue its goals. She was the stabilizing factor for the throne and the kingdom.

Death and burial

In the first year after King Yejong's enthronement, Queen Jeonghui had the tomb of her consort King Sejo moved to Mount Unaksan ( 우 낙산 ) in Namyangju ( 남양주 ), Gyeonggi-do ( 경기도 ) in 1469 . When she herself died in 1483, she was buried next to her husband in the royal tomb Gwangneung ( 광능 ).

literature

• Lee Bae-young : Women in Korean History . Ewha Womans University Press , Seoul 2008, ISBN 978-89-7300-772-1 (English, Korean: 한국 역사 속의 여성들 . Translated by Lee Kyoung-hee).
• Jongmyung Kim : Queen Munjeong's (1501-1565) Statecraft and Buddhist View in Confucian Joseon . In: Korea Journal . Vol. 54, No. 2 , 2014, p. 62–86 (English, online [PDF; 461 kB ; accessed on May 13, 2019]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Kim : Queen Munjeong's (1501-1565) Statecraft and Buddhist View in Confucian Joseon . In: Korea Journal . 2014, p.  76 (English).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Lee : Women in Korean History . 2008, p.  158 .
3. ↑ Kim : Queen Munjeong's (1501-1565) Statecraft and Buddhist View in Confucian Joseon . In: Korea Journal . 2014, p.  73 (English).
4. ^ Lee : Women in Korean History . 2008, p.  159 .
5. ^ Lee : Women in Korean History . 2008, p.  160 f .
6. ^ Lee : Women in Korean History . 2008, p.  163 .
7. ↑ Bongsunsa . Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism , accessed May 13, 2019 .  
8. ↑ 공지 사항 . Cultural Heritage Administration , accessed May 13, 2019 .