Taejo (Goryeo)

Taejo 1st King of the Goryeo Dynasty
Portrait of King Taejo from 943
Spelling of names
Hangeul	태조
Hanja	太祖
Revised Romanization	Taejo
McCune-Reischauer	T'aejo
Reign
Reign of	916
Reign until	943
predecessor	King Gungye
successor	King Hyejong
Life dates
Born on the	January 21, 877
place of birth	in the area of Songak , Silla
Birth Name	왕건
Hanja	王建
Revised Romanization	Wang Geon
McCune-Reischauer	Wang Kǒn
father	Sejo (Wang Ryung)
Death dates
Died on	4th July 943
Place of death	Songak , Goryeo
tomb	Hyeonneung, Songak , Goryeo
Spouses, mistresses, offspring
Woman (s)	Queen Sinhye ( 신혜 ) Queen Janghwa ( 장화 ) Queen Sinmyeong-Sunseong ( 신명순 성 ) Queen Sinjeong ( 신정 ) Queen Sinseong ( 신성 ) Queen Jeongdeok ( 정덕 ) and another 23 women of the court
Sons	Hyejong (Wang Mu) Wang Tae Jeongjong (Wang Yo) Gwangjong (Wang So) Daejong (Uk) Anjong (Uk) and numerous other sons
Daughters	eight daughters
Remarks
King Taejo was the founder of the Goryeo dynasty

King Taejo ( Korean 태조 ) (born January 21, 877 in the area around Songak , Kingdom of Silla , † July 4, 943 in Songak, Goryeo ), during his time as ruler under the name of King Wang Geon ( 왕건 ), was the Founder of the Goryeo Empire ( 고려 ) and the 1st king of the Goryeo Dynasty ( 고려 왕조 ) (918–1392) in Korea, which he founded . He was posthumously honored with the name Taejo, which translated means something like "Great Founder" .

Life

Wang Geon was born on January 21, 877 in the area around Songak ( 송악 ), later Kaesŏng ( 개성 ), into an upper class family. His father was Sejo ( 세조 ) (Wang Ryung) ( 왕륭 ). His grandfather Jakjegeon ( 작제건 ), along with a few other influential people, dominated the region's maritime trade at the time.

In the late 9th century, the United Silla Empire was in disintegration. There was riot and rebellion, under which the distribution of power was rearranged and the Later Goguryeo , Later Baekje and a remnant of the former Silla emerged, known as the later three kingdoms . In the former, King Gungye ( 궁예 ) ruled , who behaved as increasingly despotic and was deposed by his generals. One of these generals was Wang Geon, who achieved military honors under King Gungye and was initially appointed Sijung ( 시중 ) (Prime Minister) of the empire after King Gungye was deposed by the generals .

In 918 he seized power as king and renamed the Goguryeo empire in Goryeo, from which the name later the name Korea arose. He moved the capital of the empire to his hometown Songak, underscoring on the one hand the claim to want to found a new state and on the other hand securing the support of the upper class of the region from which he came. In contrast to his predecessor, Wang Geon made it clear that he was the successor of the former Goguryeo empire, whose borders he wanted to restore. But first he wanted to reunite the three kingdoms. Armed conflicts followed, in which Goryeo's military emerged victorious and so Wang Geon was able to achieve the surrender of the Silla Empire in 935 and that of the later Baekje Empire a short time later.

After the merging of the three kingdoms , an increasing number of upper-class refugees came from northern Balhae ( Kit ), which had fallen to the Mongolian Kitan as early as 926 , who were welcomed by Wang Geon and he gave them land.

During his time as king, Wang Geon had a total of six queens as his wife and made use of another 23 ladies of the court, all of whom came from the former kingdoms of Silla, Baekje and Goguryeo. He also gave his surname Wang and other surnames to local elites who supported him. As a result, there was a surge in family members and clans of the same name in his day.

Royal Palace

In 919, one year after the founding of the Goryeo Empire, King Wang Geon had the royal palace Manwoldae ( 만월대 ) built on the southern foothills of Mount Songak, near his hometown . The palace, whose name can be translated as "full moon terrace" , was the seat of all subsequent kings of the Goryeo dynasty until the palace was destroyed in 1361 by the red turbans falling from the north .

The ten dispositions

At the end of his life in 943, Wang Geon wrote "The Ten Orders " , called Hunyo Sipcho ( 훈요십조 ) in Korean . The document makes it clear what moved him and what his goals were for the formation and maintenance of the kingdom. He wrote the document in order to give his successors advice and instructions for the further development of the Goryeo empire. Wang Geon particularly emphasized the importance of Buddhism for the preservation of society and the state. The recommendation was also important to him not to ignore the doctrine of geomancy when building work , since he believed that heaven and earth must be kept in harmony.

The ten dispositions are currently only fully accessible in Chinese and Korean script (Hangeul) via Wikipedia, see here ko: 훈요십조 and in an English translation only partially via Columbia University of New York .

death

Tomb of King Taejo

King Wang Geon died on July 4, 943 and was posthumously named King Taejo. He found his final resting place in the royal tomb Hyŏllŭng near today's city of Kaes Kang in North Korea .

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).
• 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).
• Kyoung Moon Hwang : A History of Korea . 2nd Edition. Red Globe Press , 2016, ISBN 978-1-137-57357-5 (English).

Web links

Commons : Wang Geon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ro Myoung-ho : Traces of 1,100 years of Goryeo in Gyeonggi - The Foundation of the Goryeo Dynasty by King Taejo Wang Geon . GyeongGi Cultural Foundation , 2002, accessed April 13, 2019 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Han : Ancient / Goryeo Era . 2010, p.  369 .
2. ^ Hwang : A History of Korea . 2016, p.  31 .
3. ^ ^{A b c} Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  100 .
4. ^ Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  95 .
5. ^ Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  101 .
6. ^ Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  103 .
7. ↑ Han : Ancient / Goryeo Era . 2010, p.  246 .
8. ↑ ^{a b} Jeong Myoung-hee : Revisitinga Forgotten Kingdom . In: Koreana . Korea Foundation , 2018 ( online [accessed April 13, 2019]).
9. ^ The Ten Injunctions and the East Asia Cultures . GPAHelp.com , accessed April 13, 2019 .  
10. ^ The Ten Injunctions of Wang Kŏn (King T'aejo) . (PDF 155 kB) Columbia University , accessed April 13, 2019 .  
11. ↑ 왕 이 유조 를 남기고 별세 하다 . National Institute of Korean History , accessed April 13, 2019 .