Taejo (Joseon)

Taejo 1st King of the Joseon Dynasty
Portrait of King Taejo, recreated from an original in 1872, National Museum of Korea
Spelling of names
Hangeul	태조
Hanja	太祖
Revised Romanization	Taejo
McCune-Reischauer	T'aejo
Reign
Reign of	August 5, 1392
Reign until	October 14, 1398
predecessor	King Gongyang of the Goryeo Dynasty
successor	King Jeongjong
Life dates
Born on the	October 27, 1335
place of birth	Hamheung, Hamgyeong-do Province , Goryeo
Birth Name	이성계
Hanja	李成桂
Revised Romanization	Yi Seong-gye
McCune-Reischauer	Yi Sŏnggye
father	Yi Jachun
mother	Queen Uihye
Death dates
Died on	June 18, 1408
Place of death	Changdeokgung Palace (now in the Jongno-gu district in Seoul )
tomb	Geonwollung, Donggureung Cluster, Inchang-dong, Guri-si , Gyeonggi-do
Spouses, mistresses, offspring
Woman (s)	Queen Shinui Queen Sindeok Seong of the Wonju Won clan Jeonggyeong of the Goheung Yu clan Princess Hwaui of the Kim clan Chandeok of the Ju clan
Sons	Prince Jinan (Yi Bang-u) Prince Yeongan (Yi Bang-gwa) Prince Ikan (Yi Bang-ui) Prince Hwoean (Yi Bang-gan) Prince Jeongan (Yi Bang-won) Prince Deokan (Yi Bang-yeon)
Daughters	Princess Gyeongshin Princess Gyeongseon Princess Suksin Princess Uiryeong
Remarks
King Taejo was the founder of the Joseon Dynasty

King Taejo (* October 27, 1335 ; † June 18, 1408 ) Korean 태조 , maiden name Yi Seong-gye ( 이성계 ), was the founder of the Joseon dynasty and from 1392 to 1398 king of the Joseon kingdom he founded , which until 1897 existed as a kingdom and then as an empire until 1910. During his lifetime he called himself Yi Seong-gye or Yi Dan ( 이단 ) and was only called posthumous King Taejo (= great founder) after his death.

Life

Yi Seong-gye was born on October 27, 1335 (October 11, 1335 according to the lunar calendar) in Hamheung ( 함흥 ) in Hamgyeong-do Province ( 함경도 ) of the then Goryeo Empire ( 고려 ). He came from a family that belonged to a newly formed military class in Goryeo. His father, Yi Jachun ( 이자춘 ), played an important role in the reconquest of the Ssangseong Command ( 쌍성 총 관부 ) under King Gongmin ( 공민 ) (1330-1374) and was a commander during the period of the Yuan Dynasty ( 元朝 ) had occupied the north of Korea. His mother Uihye ( 의혜 ), whom Yi Seong-gye posthumously proclaimed queen after her death , was of Chinese descent.

Military career

Like his father, Yi Seong-gye became a soldier and gained fame and influence by successfully fighting the Wokou , the Japanese pirates who regularly raided the east coast of Goryeo and bullied the population. He also made a name for himself with Choe Yeong ( 최영 ), a fellow campaigner, in the fight against the Chinese gangs invading from the north, called Honggeonjeok ( 홍건적 ) (Red Turbans).

Choe Yeong became the commander and Yi Seong-gye his deputy. Meanwhile general, Yi Seong-gye received in 1388 from King U ( 우 ) (1365-1389) under the leadership of Choe Yeong the order to recapture the province of Liaodong (southern part of Liaoning , China ) behind the Yalu for Goryeo fell to the Chinese Ming Dynasty . However, due to the hopelessness of this project, he withdrew his troops, turned against Choe Yeong and decided to overthrow the royal government. He killed King U and his adversary Choe Yeong and initially ensured that King Us son could ascend the throne as King Chang ( 창 ) (1388–1389) at the age of only nine , but kept power in his hands. Together with his followers in the aristocracy, he finally ensured that a descendant of the seventh generation of King Sinjong ( 신종 ) (1144-1204) under the name Gongyang ( 공양 ) (1349-1394) was appointed the last king of the Goryeo dynasty but got little power and influence.

Accession to the throne and founding of the state

It was the scholar and statesman Jeong Do-jeon ( 정도전 ) (1342–1398) of the Goryeo dynasty who convinced Yi Seong-gye to found a new dynasty and radically reform the state. He provided the plan and, together with other radical-thinking scholars, the intellectual foundation for the new state. But first of all, Yi Seong-gye, together with Jeong Do-jeon and the reformer Jo Jun ( 조준 ), secured their military power in January 1391 by taking over the headquarters of the three armies in the state and in May 1391 led with the Gwajeonbeop ( 과전법 ), the Law of the reallocation of the land according to ranks, a reorganization of the lands, which on the one hand favored government officials who were well-disposed to Yi Seong-gye and disadvantaged his opponents, but on the other hand also reduced taxes and freed the simple peasants from forced labor and exploitation. As a result of this fundamental land reform, the conservative forces in the state were deprived of their power and influence and thus their economic basis was destroyed. But Yi Seong-gye did not abolish slavery , but instead made sure in 1388 that around 80,000 slaves, who were kept in Buddhist temples , now became slaves of the state and thus became a source of income because they now had to work for the state.

When Yi Seong-gye fell from his horse during a hunt in April 1392 and the moderate reformer Jeong Mong-ju ( 정몽주 ) wanted to use this opportunity to kill Yi Seong-gye and his followers, Yi Seong-gye's son, Yi Bang, thwarted -won ( 이방원 ), his plan and killed him. Thereupon Yi Seong-gye seized the throne himself on July 17, 1392, supported by over 50 of his deserving followers and thus laid the foundation of the new state, which he on the recommendation of the Emperor Hóngwǔ ( 洪武 ) of the Ming dynasty called Joseon and from then on this was under the reign of the Joseon dynasty until 1910 . Gongyang, the last king of the Goryeo dynasty, sent Yi Seong-gye into exile in 1392.

Regency

Believing that a ruler must be a person of integrity and virtue, Yi Seong-gye called the Goryeos dynasty immoral and the kings the puppets of the system. During his reign he introduced Neo-Confucianism as the state religion and thus replaced Buddhism as the leading religion and had numerous Buddhist temples dissolved.

Yi Seong-gye also corrected the previously hostile policy towards the Ming dynasty and sent a diplomatic delegation three times a year to special occasions at the court of the Ming emperor. In 1394 Yi Seong-gye decided after detailed geomantic investigations to make the city of Hanyang ( 한양 ) on the Hangang River ( 한강 ) the capital of the country and thus turned away from Kaesŏng ( 개성 ) as the previous capital. During his reign he strengthened the military and ensured a balance between the military and scholars in his state apparatus and thus initially consolidated his power base. However, Yi Seong-gye increasingly left the reformers Jeong Do-jeon and Jo Jun free and played a more passive role in the country's government. Finally, more and more scholars and some of the king's sons increasingly disagreed with the reforms in the administration of the country, which were carried out strictly according to Confucian rules. When Yi Seong-gye appointed the youngest of his sons, Yi Bang-seok ( 이방석 ), as his successor, a dispute broke out among his sons. Yi Bang-won ( 이방원 ), his fifth son, eventually killed the reformer Jeong Do-jeon, who was a supporter of Yi Bang-seok, ordered his brother's execution and banished his next elder brother. Because of this, Yi Seong-gye appointed his second son Yi Bang-gwa ( 이방 과 ) as his successor, who also ascended the throne in 1398 after Yi Seong-gye's abdication. In 1400 Yi Bang-gwa renounced pressure and finally took the throne in favor of his brother Yi Bang-won, with which Yi Bang-won was enthroned as King Taejeong ( 태성 ).

Yi Seong-gye died on May 24, 1408 in Changdeokgung Palace, which is now in the Jongno-gu district of Seoul . He was posthumously appointed King Taejo.

King Taejo was buried in the royal tomb Geonwolleung ( 건원릉 ) in the city of Guri-si ( 구리시 ) in the province of Gyeonggi-do ( 경기도 ).

literature

• Ki-baik Lee: A New History of Korea . Harvard University Press , Seoul 1984, ISBN 0-674-61576-X (English).
• Hiyoul Kim : Korean History . Asgard, St. Augustin 2004, ISBN 3-537-82040-2 .
• Michael J. Seth : A Concise History of Korea . From the Neolithic Period through the Nineteenth Century . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. , Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-0-7425-4005-7 (English).
• 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).

Web links

• 의 혜왕 후 ( 懿 惠王 后 ). In: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture . Academy of Korean Studies,accessed January 11, 2019(Korean). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Han : Joseon Era . 2010, p.  307 .
2. ^ ^{A b c d} Seth : A Concise History of Korea . 2006, p.  121 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Han : Joseon Era . 2010, p.  27 .
4. ^ Seth : A Concise History of Korea . 2006, p.  124 .
5. ↑ 의 혜왕 후 ( 懿 惠王 后 ). In: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture . Academy of Korean Studies , accessed January 11, 2019 (Korean).  
6. ↑ Kim : Korean History . 2004, p.  92 .
7. ↑ Han : Joseon Era . 2010, p.  28 .
8. ↑ ^{a b} Han : Joseon Era . 2010, p.  29 .
9. ↑ ^{a b} Han : Joseon Era . 2010, p.  30 .
10. ^ Seth : A Concise History of Korea . 2006, p.  162 .
11. ↑ Kim : Korean History . 2004, p.  93 .
12. ^ Seth : A Concise History of Korea . 2006, p.  122 .
13. ^ Lee: A New History of Korea . 1984, p. 189 .
14. ^ Lee: A New History of Korea . 1984, p. 172 .
15. ↑ Kim : Korean History . 2004, p.  94 f .
16. ↑ Geonwollung, King Taejo . In: Visit Kora . Korea Tourism Organization , accessed January 11, 2019 .