Yeonsangun of Joseon
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- Yeonsan-gun is also the name of a county in North Hwanghae province, North Korea
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Yeonsan-gun (1476 – 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 Yun.
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[edit] Life and rule
He launched two purges of the seonbi elite, setting off a cycle of revenge which lasted for fifty years. He also seized a thousand women from the provinces to serve as palace entertainers, and appropriated the Seonggyungwan hall of study as a personal pleasure ground. Because he was overthrown, Yeonsan-gun did not receive a temple name.
Lady Yun served Yeonsangun's father, Seongjong, as a concubine until the death of Seongjong's first wife. With no royal heir, the king was urged by counsellors 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 Yeonsangun. The new queen proved to be highly jealous of Seongjong's concubines living inside the palace, even stooping to 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 Yun into exile. After several popular attempts to restore Lady Yun to her position at court, government officials arranged for her to be poisoned.
The crown prince grew up and succeeded Seongjong in 1494. He did not know what happened to his biological mother, but many corrupt officials such as Lim Sahong and You Ja Gwang revealed the truth to the king. The king was shocked; he arrested many officials who supported the idea of executing his mother Queen Jeheon and put all of them to death; this incident in 1498 is called the First Literati Purge (무오사화/戊午士禍). In 1504, he killed two of his father's concubines as well as his grandmother, Queen Insu. In the same year he killed many more Confucian scholars who had urged King Seongjong to depose his mother, and ordered the grave of Han Myung-hoi to be opened and the head cut off the corpse — Second Literati Purge (갑자사화/甲子士禍). After this massacre, many commoners mocked and insulted the king in posters written in hangul. This provoked the anger of Yeonsangun and he banned the use of hangul. He closed Seonggyungwan, the national university, and ordered people to gather young girls and horses from the whole Korean Peninsula for his personal entertainment. Many people were afraid of his despotic rule and their voices were quelled, in stark contrast to the liberal Seongjong era.
In 1506, a group of minority officials, notably Bak Wonjong, Seong Huian, Yu Sunjeong and Hong Gyeongju, plotted against the despotic ruler. They launched their coup in 1506, deposing the king and replacing him with his half-brother, Jungjong. The king was demoted to prince, and sent into exile. Yeonsangun died in exile that same year.
[edit] His eulogistic posthumous name
- King Heoncheon Hongdo Gyungmun Wimu the Great of Korea
- 헌천홍도경문위무대왕
- 憲天弘道經文緯武大王
[edit] Portrayal in media
Yeonsangun was portrayed in the television series Dae Jang Geum as the worst king that Korea had ever had. The first episode was shown with government officials in the reign of King Seongjong poisoning his mother, presumably Lady Yun (the deposed Queen Yun), while he was the first born but not yet the Crown Prince. After discovering the incident during his reign, he ordered an investigation leading to the Second Literati Purge. He was deposed when a civil rebellion occurred. Prince Jinsung, the future King Jungjong, succeeded him.
Also, he was portrayed in the 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 femme fatale in Korean history.
More recently, he was the subject of the hit 2005 movie The King and the Clown, which gives a different depiction of Yeonsangun (as a king emotionally and perhaps sexually fascinated in an effeminate male court jester) and the story of Lady Yun.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Seongjong |
Rulers of Korea (Joseon Dynasty) 1494–1506 |
Succeeded by Jungjong |
