Sejo

Sejo 7th King of the Joseon Dynasty
Portrait of King Sejo
Spelling of names
Hangeul	세조
Hanja	世祖
Revised Romanization	Sejo
McCune-Reischauer	Sejo
Reign
Reign of	June 11, 1455
Reign until	September 23, 1468
predecessor	King Danjong
successor	King Yejong
Life dates
Born on the	November 2, 1417
place of birth	Gyeongbokgung Palace, Hanseong
Birth Name	이유
Hanja	李 瑈
Revised Romanization	Yi Yu
McCune-Reischauer	Yi Yu
father	King Sejong
mother	Queen Soheon
Death dates
Died on	September 23, 1468
Place of death	Gyeongbokgung Palace, Hanseong
Spouses, mistresses, offspring
Woman (s)	Queen Jeonghui and three other ladies of the court
Sons	Prince Uigyeong (Yi Jang) Prince Haeyang (Yi Hwang) Prince Deokwon (Yi Seo) Prince Changwon (Yi Seong) and a son whose name is unknown
Daughters	Princess Uisuk

Sejo ( Korean : 세조 ) (born November 2, 1417 in Gyeongbokgung Palace ( 경복궁 ), Seoul ; † September 23, 1468 ibid), was the 7th king of the Joseon Dynasty ( 조선 왕조 ) during his reign from 1455 to 1468 (1392-1910) in Korea .

Life

Sejo was the second son of King Sejong the Great ( 세종 ) and his first wife Soheon ( 새헌 ). In 1428 he was named Prince Suyang by his father . He was the younger brother of King Munjong ( 문종 ) and uncle of King Danjong ( 단종 ), whom he ousted from the throne in a plot . When his brother Munjong died on May 14, 1452, he promised himself rights to the throne. This spoke Munjong but only his nearly 12-year-old son Danjong to. Since Danjong was too young to rule, Prime Minister Hwang Bo-in ( 황 보인 ) and his deputy General Kim Jong-seo ( 김 종서 ) took over the affairs of government for the young king.

With a weakened kingdom in mind, Prince Suyang instigated a conspiracy almost 1 1/2 years later . With the help of the scholar Han Myeonghoe ( 한 명회 ) and some other high-ranking royal servants, he let his younger brother, Prince Anpyeong ( 안평 ), appear to take over the throne. He then presented himself as the savior of the throne, took power in the palace and exiled his brother on Ganghwado Island ( 강화도 ), where he was poisoned eight days later. Hwang Boin and General Kim Jongseo were also killed.

Reign

After he had taken over the business of government as Prince Suyang and already exercised de facto power in the palace, he tried, with the help of the scholar Han Myeonghoe and his followers, to persuade Danjong to give up the throne. Danjong, only 14 years old, finally gave in to the pressure, so that Suyang could be enthroned as King Sejo on June 11, 1455 . Danjong remained king, but without any power.

In June 1456, Sejo resisted the attempt of the scholars Seong Sam-mun ( 성삼문 ), Bak Paeng-nyeon ( 박팽년 ), Ha Wi-ji ( 하위지 ), Yi Gae ( 이개 ), Yu Seong-won ( 유 성원 ) and the military Leader Yu Eung-bu ( 유응부 ) to put Danjong back on the throne. He had all six executed in what later became known in the scriptures as Sayuksin ( 사육신 ) (six royal servants killed). A year later he demoted King Danjong to Prince Nosan ( 노산군 ) and sent him into exile in Yeongwol ( 영월 ) in Gangwon-do Province ( 강원도 ).

In September 1457, Sejo fended off another attempt to bring Danjong back to the throne. This time he decreed the demotion of Danjong to the level of scholar. Danjong died shortly afterwards on October 24, 1457 under unexplained circumstances. Since Sejo had forcibly eliminated all of his adversaries in the course of time, he now had unlimited power, but his illegal appropriation of power raised the moral question among scholars of later generations as to whether usurpation , i.e. the illegal appropriation of power, with the Confucian principles may be compatible.

Sejo ruled the country with a strict hand, reorganized the army, away from border-based defense with three headquarters, towards a regional-oriented defense with five command posts: East, West, South, North and Central. To do this, he recruited a million men who could be called up for military service if necessary.

Sejo consolidated the monarchy and ensured an economic boom in the country. He had many books translated from Chinese into Hangul (Korean script), had manuals on agriculture developed for farmers and created a position responsible for sutra publications, which was supposed to translate the Buddhist texts into Korean .

In 1460, Sejo developed the administrative and economic rules based on the Gyeongje Yukjeon ( 경재 육전 ), the legal basis of the Joseon Dynasty, and called the entire work Gyeongguk daejeon ( 경국 대전 ) (National Code of Law). In the last year of his reign he devoted himself to the translation of the Gyeongguk daejeon . However, he had to leave the publication to his successor Yejong , who published the six volumes in 1469. He died on September 23, 1468 (September 8 of the lunar calendar).

literature

• Han Young Woo : Joseon Era . In: A Review of Korean History . Volume 2 . Kyongsaewon Publishing Company , Pajubookcity, Gyeonggi-do 2010, ISBN 978-89-8341-092-4 (English).
• Djun Kil Kim : The History of Korea . Greenwood Press , Westport, Connecticut 2005, ISBN 0-313-33296-7 (English).
• Kang Jae-eun : The Land of Scholars: Two Thousands Years of Korean Confucianism . Homa & Sekey Books , New Jersey 2005, ISBN 1-931907-37-4 (English).
• Peter H. Lee : Sourcebook of Korean Civilization . Volume I . Columbia University Press , New York 1996, ISBN 0-231-07912-5 (English).
• Charter J. Eckert, Ki-baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson, Edward W. Wagner : Korea Old and New, A History . Harvard University Press , Seoul 1990, ISBN 0-9627713-0-9 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kang : The Land of Scholars . 2005, p.  238 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Yeongwol area where King Danjong breathed his last breath . KBS World , December 14, 2012, accessed January 22, 2013 .  
3. ↑ Kang : The Land of Scholars . 2005, p.  239 .
4. ^ Lee : Sourcebook of Korean Civilization . 1996, p.  471 .
5. ↑ Woo : Joseon Era . Volume 2 , 2010, pp.  40 .
6. ↑ Eckert u. a .: Korea Old and New, A History . 1990, p. 111 .
7. ↑ Eckert u. a .: Korea Old and New, A History . 1990, p. 125 .
8. ↑ Gyeongguk Daejeon . Seoul Museum of History , accessed January 23, 2013 .