Gwangjong

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Gwangjong
4th King of the Goryeo Dynasty

Spelling of names
Hangeul 광종
Hanja 光宗
Revised Romanization Gwangjong
McCune-Reischauer Kwangjong
Reign
Reign of 949
Reign until 4th July 975
predecessor King Jeongjong
successor King Gyeongjong
Life dates
Born on the 925
place of birth Songak , Goryeo
Birth Name 왕소
Hanja 王昭
Revised Romanization Wang So
McCune-Reischauer Wang So
father King Taejo
mother Queen Sinmyeong-Sunseong
Death dates
Died on 4th July 975
Place of death Kaesŏng , Goryeo
tomb Kaesŏng , Goryeo
Spouses, mistresses, offspring
Woman (s) Queen Daemok ( 대목 )
and two other ladies of the court
Sons Wang Ju ( 왕주 )
Prince Hyohwa ( 효화 )
Daughters Cheonchujeon ( 천추전 )
Bohwagung ( 보화 궁 )
Mundeok ( 문덕 )
Remarks
fourth son of King Taejo , founder of the Goryeo dynasty

King Gwangjong ( Korean 광종 ) (* 925 Songak , Kingdom of Goryeo ; † July 4, 975 in Kaesŏng, Goryeo) was the 4th King of the Goryeo Empire and the Goryeo Dynasty ( 고려 왕조 ) during his reign from 949 to 975 ( 918-1392).

Life

Gwangjong was the fourth born son of King Taejo ( 태조 ) and his third wife, Queen Sinmyeong-Sunseong ( 신명순 성 ). His birth name was Wang So ( 왕소 ). He came to the throne at the age of 25 when his brother King Jeongjong died in 949.

In 956, King Gwangjong passed a law called Nobi-angeom-beop ( 노비 안검 법 ), which restored many commoners who had been made slaves during the time of the later three kingdoms and had to work for the country's elites, to become free citizens of the kingdom were. Among other things, he curtailed the power of the former warlords, whose economic base was the slaves who were also used for military operations. Another advantage of this measure was that the exempt became taxpayers at the same time and now contributed to the welfare of the state and no longer to the wealth of an established class.

In 958, on the recommendation of a Chinese scholar, who is given by different names in the literature, he changed the system of criteria according to which people were selected and employed for civil service. With this he tried to replace the people who had got a post in the public sector of the state during the establishment of the state because of military merits and replaced them with people with appropriate qualifications. During his reign, he ran competitions for civil servants eight times. He also introduced a kind of dress code at court in 960, which was supposed to reflect the degree of authority and rank based on the colors of the robes. Purple, red, blue and green were the distinguishing features.

He proclaimed himself emperor and gave the capital of the empire, which was previously called Songak or Songdo, the name Kaesŏng and referred to it with Hwangdo ( 왕도 ) as the royal seat and capital of the empire. Pyongyang ( 평양 ), on the other hand, was referred to as Seodo ( 서도 ) and the capital of the empire to the west. Gwangjong achieved a power that King Taejo would have liked to have achieved when he established his empire, and he did not hesitate to eliminate the people who stood in the way or tried to oppose his reforms. He also ordered the structure of the Buddhist temples, sects, and institutions in the country and had the Gwibeopsa Temple ( 귀 법사 ) built in Kaesŏng and made the influential Buddhist priest Gyunyeo ( 균여 ) abbot there.

During his reign, King Gwangjong invested heavily in the country's military, had numerous garrisons built in the north to protect the northern border and steadily moved the border towards the Yalu River , which is called 압록강 (Apnokgang) in the Korean language . Tensions between Goryeo and the Liao dynasty in the north were inevitable.

With his reforms, King Gwangjong had brought a lot of unrest and frustration to the ruling class and aristocracy of the country, who saw the opportunity to restore old structures after his death in 975.

literature

  • Ki-baik Lee : A New History of Korea . Harvard University Press , Seoul 1984, ISBN 0-674-61576-X (English, Chinese: 韓國 史 新 論 . 1961. Translated by Edward W. Wagner).
  • John B. Duncan : The Origins of the Choson Dynasty . University of Washington Press , Seattle, London 2000, ISBN 978-0-295-99379-9 (English).
  • Han Young Woo : Ancient / Goryeo Era . In: A Review of Korean History . Volume 1 . Kyongsaewon Publishing Company , Pajubookcity, Gyeonggi-do 2010, ISBN 978-89-8341-091-7 (English, translated from Korean by Hahm Chaibong).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Han : Ancient / Goryeo Era . 2010, p.  369 .
  2. ↑ 광종 [ 光宗 , 925 ~ 975]. In: Doopedia . Doosan Corporation . Retrieved April 20, 2019 (Korean).
  3. ↑ a b Han : Ancient / Goryeo Era . 2010, p.  249 .
  4. ↑ a b c Duncan : The Origins of the Chosŏn Dynasty . 2000, p.  20 .
  5. ^ Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  104 f .
  6. ^ A b Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  105 .
  7. ↑ a b c Han : Ancient / Goryeo Era . 2010, p.  250 .
  8. ^ Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  125 .
  9. ^ Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  110 .
personal data
SURNAME Gwangjong
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wang So
BRIEF DESCRIPTION 4. King of the Goryeo Empire and the Goryeo Dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH 925
PLACE OF BIRTH Songak , Goryeo
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 975
Place of death Kaesŏng , Goryeo