Yeonsangun of Joseon

Yeonsan-gun (23 November 1476 – 20 November 1506, r. 1494–1506), born Yi Yung, was the 10th king of Korea's Joseon Dynasty. He was the eldest son of Seongjong by his second wife, Lady Yoon. He is often considered the worst tyrant of the Joseon Dynasty, notorious for launching two bloody purges of the seonbi elite. He also seized a thousand women from the provinces to serve as palace entertainers, and appropriated the Seonggyungwan study hall as a personal pleasure ground. Overthrown, Yeonsan-gun did not receive a temple name.

Execution of his mother

Queen Yun, later known as the Deposed Queen Lady Yun, served Prince Yeonsan's father, Seongjong, as a concubine until the death of Queen Gonghye, Seongjong's first wife. With no royal heir, the King was urged by counselors to take a second wife to secure the royal succession. Lady Yun was chosen for her beauty, and was formally married in 1476. Several months later, she gave birth to her first son, Yi Yung, later to become Prince Yeonsan. The new Queen proved to be temperamental and highly jealous of Seongjong's concubines living inside the palace, even poisoning one in 1477. In 1479, she physically struck the King one night, leaving scratch marks. Despite efforts to conceal the injury, Seongjong's mother, Grand Queen Insu, discovered the truth and ordered Lady Yoon into exile. After several popular attempts to restore the deposed Queen Yun to her position at court, government officials petitioned that she be poisoned, and she was.

Two purges

The Crown Prince grew up and succeeded Seongjong in 1494. During his early reign, he was a wise and able administrator who strengthened the national defense and aided the poor. However, he also showed signs of a violent side when he killed Jo Sa-seo, one of his tutors, soon after becoming the king. He eventually learned of what had happened to his biological mother and attempted to posthumously restore her titles and position. When government officials belonging to the Sarim political faction opposed his efforts on account of serving Seongjong's will, he was displeased and looked for ways to eliminate them. In 1498 Kim Il Son, a disciple of Kim Jong-jik, included a paragraph in the royal record that was critical of King Sejo's usurpation of throne in 1455. Kim Il Son and other followers of Kim Jong-jik were accused of treason by a rival faction, giving Yeonsangun cause enough to order the execution of many Sarim officials^[1] and the mutilation of Kim Jong-jik's remains.^[2] This came to be known as the First Literati Purge (무오사화 戊午士禍).

In 1504, Im Sa-hong revealed to Yeonsangun details of his mother's death and showed him a blood-stained piece of clothing, the blood allegedly vomited by her after taking poison.^[3] Soon afterward, on March 20, 1504, Yeonsangun beat to death two of his father's concubines, Gwiins Jeong and Eom, for their part in his mother's death. His grandmother, Grand Queen Insu, formally the Queen Sohye, died when she was pushed by Yeonsagun after an altercation. He executed many government officials who had supported the execution of his mother, now posthumously known as Queen Jeheon, and ordered the grave of Han Myeong-hoi to be opened and the head cut off the corpse. He even punished officials known simply to be present at the royal court at that time, for the crime of not preventing the actions of those who abused his mother.^[4] Meanwhile, Im Sa-hong was promoted, and he and his allies received many important offices and other awards.^[5] This came to be known as the Second Literati Purge (갑자사화 甲子士禍).

Suppression of speech and learning

Yeonsangun closed Seonggyeongwan, the royal university, as well as Wongak-sa temple, and converted them to be his personal pleasure grounds, for which young girls and horses were gathered from the whole of the Korean Peninsula. He intended to open personal brothels in their place.^[6] He demolished a large residential area in the capital and evicted 20,000 residents to build hunting grounds.^[7] He also forced people into involuntary labor to work on these projects. Many commoners mocked and insulted the king with posters written in hangul. This provoked the anger of Yeonsangun, and he banned the use of hangul.

When ministers protested against his actions, he abolished the Office of Censors (whose function was to criticize inappropriate actions or policies of the King) and Hongmoongwan (a library and research center that advised the King with Confucian teachings).^[8] He ordered his ministers to wear a sign that read: "A mouth is a door that brings in disaster; a tongue is a sword that cuts off a head. A body will be in peace as long as its mouth is closed and its tongue is deep within." (口是禍之門 舌是斬身刀 閉口深藏舌 安身處處牢).)^[9] When the chief eunuch Kim Cheo-sun, who had served three kings, entreated Yeonsangun to change his ways, Yeonsangun killed him by shooting arrows and personally cutting off his limbs, in addition Yeonsangun punished his relatives down to the 7th degree. When Yeonsangun asked the royal secretaries whether such punishment was appropriate, they did not dare to say otherwise.^[10] He also exiled a minister of rites for spilling a drink that he had poured.

In stark contrast to the liberal era of his father, many people became afraid of his despotic rule and their voices were silenced.

Dethronement

In 1506, the 12th year of King Yeonsan, a group of officials – notably Park Won-jong,^{[lower-alpha 1]} Seong Hui-ahn, Yoo Soon-jeong and Hong Gyeong-ju^{[lower-alpha 2]} plotted against the despotic ruler. They launched their coup on 2 September 1506, deposing the king and replacing him with his half-brother, Grand Prince Jinseong. The king was demoted to prince, and sent into exile on Ganghwado, where he died the same year after only a few weeks.^[7] Consort Jang Nok-su, who was regarded as a 'femme fatale' who had encouraged Yeonsangun's misrule, was beheaded, Yeonsangun's young sons were also killed.

Family

• Father: King Seongjong of Joseon (20 August 1457 – 20 January 1494) (조선 성종)
  • Grandfather: King Deokjong of Joseon (1438 – 2 September 1457) (이장 의경세자)
  • Grandmother: Queen Sohye of the Cheongju Han clan (7 October 1437 - 11 May 1504) (소혜왕후 한씨)
• Mother: Queen Jeheon of the Haman Yun clan (15 July 1455 - 29 August 1482) (제헌왕후 윤씨)^[11]
  • Grandfather: Yun Ki-Gyeon (윤기견)
  • Grandmother: Lady Lee of the Yangseong Lee clan (양성 이씨)
• Consorts:

1. Deposed Queen Shin of the Geochang Shin clan (15 December 1476 - 16 May 1537) (폐비 신씨) ^[12][13]
   1. Unnamed son (1494 - 1494)
   2. Princess Hwishin (1495 - ?) (휘신공주)
   3. Unnamed daughter
   4. Deposed Crown Prince Yi Hwang (10 January 1498 - 24 September 1506) (폐왕세자 이황)
   5. Unnamed son (1500 - ?)
   6. Yi Seong, Grand Prince Changnyeong (1501 - 24 September 1506) (이성 창녕대군)
   7. Unnamed son (1501 - ?)
   8. Unnamed son
   9. Unnamed son (? - 1503)
2. Consort Suk-ui of the Yangseong Lee clan (숙의 이씨)^[14]
   1. Yi Gang-Su, Prince Yangpyeong (1498 - 24 September 1506) (이강수 양평군)
3. Consort Suk-ui of the Yun clan (숙의 윤씨)
4. Consort Suk-ui of the Kwak clan (숙의 곽씨)
5. Consort Suk-ui of the Kwon clan (숙의 권씨)
6. Consort Suk-ui of the Min clan (숙의 민씨)
7. Consort Suk-yong of the Heungdeok Jang clan (? - 1506) (장녹수 숙용 장씨)^[15][16]
   1. Princess Yi Yeong-Su (이영수)
8. Consort Suk-yong of the Damyang Jeon clan (? - 1506) (숙용 전씨)
   1. Unnamed daughter
9. Consort Suk-yong of the Jo clan (숙용 조씨)
10. Consort Suk-won of the Choi clan (숙원 최씨)
11. Consort Suk-won of the Kim clan (숙원 김씨)
12. Palace Lady Jeonggeum (내인 정금)
    1. Princess Yi Ham-Geum (이함금)
13. Lady Sukhwa of the Kim clan (숙화 김씨)
14. Lady Wol Ha-Mae (여완 월하매)
15. Lady Ahn (여원 안씨)
16. Unnamed concubine
    1. Prince Yi Don-Su (이돈수)
    2. Princess Yi Bok-Eok (이복억)
    3. Princess Yi Bok-Ham (이복합)
    4. Princess Yi Jeong-Su (이정수)
    5. Unnamed daughter

His eulogistic posthumous name

• King Heoncheon Hongdo Gyungmun Wimu the Great of Korea
• 헌천홍도경문위무대왕
• 憲天弘道經文緯武大王

In media

• In the television series Jang Nok-su, which portrays both him and his favorite concubine, the titular Jang Nok-su. Jang Nok-su is widely known as one of the most notorious femmes fatales in Korean history. She was beheaded after Yeonsangun was deposed.
• In the series Woman of the World (where the main characters are his half-brother's 3rd wife and her 2nd sister-in-law), the coup against Prince Yeonsan is one of the first scenes shown in the first episode. He is portrayed as slightly erratic and insane, trembling and sometimes falling to the ground
• In the television series Dae Jang Geum, he is portrayed as the worst king that Korea had ever had.
• He was the subject of the hit 2005 film King and the Clown,^[17] which gives a different depiction of Yeonsangun (as a king emotionally and perhaps sexually fascinated by an effeminate male court jester) and the story of deposed Queen Yun (who was portrayed differently as being set up by the Dowager Queen Insu and her husband's two jealous concubines).
• He was portrayed in the last episodes of 2008 television series The King and I.
• He was portrayed in the last 5 episodes of 2011 television series Queen Insoo.
• He was portrayed in the 2015 film The Treacherous.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yeonsangun of Joseon.

• List of Korea-related topics
• List of monarchs of Korea
• History of Korea
• Joseon Dynasty politics

Notes

References