Taejo of Joseon

Taejo of Joseon (4 November 1335 – 27 June 1408), personal name Yi Seong-gye, later Yi Dan, was the founder and first ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. After overthrowing the Goryeo dynasty, he ascended to the throne in 1392 and abdicated six years later during a strife between his sons. He was honored as Emperor Go following the establishment of the Korean Empire.
Taejo emphasized continuity over change. No new institutions were created and no massive purges occurred during his reign. His new dynasty was largely dominated by the same ruling families and officials that had served the previous regime. He re-established amicable ties with Japan and improved relations with Ming China.
Biography
Early life
Taejo's father was Yi Ja-chun, an official of Korean ethnicity serving the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. His mother, Lady Choe, came from a prominent family originally from Deungju (present-day Anbyŏn County, North Korea); her father, another Yuan official of Korean ethnicity, rose to the position of commander of a mingghan. For quite some time, Lady Choe had been rumored to be of Chinese ethnicity, but due to a lack of evidence and other historical documents that contradict this claim, Lady Choe and her family are recognized by modern historians as ethnic Koreans who served the Yuan dynasty after the Mongol invasions.
Historical context
By the late 14th century, the 400-year-old Goryeo dynasty established by Wang Geon in 918 was tottering, its foundations collapsing from years of war and de facto occupation by the disintegrating Mongol Empire. The legitimacy of the royal family itself was also becoming an increasingly disputed issue within the court, as the ruling house not only failed to govern the kingdom effectively, but was also affected by rivalry among its various branches and by generations of forced intermarriage with members of the Yuan imperial family, while King U's biological mother being a known slave led to rumors contesting his descent from King Gongmin.
Influential aristocrats, generals, and ministers struggled for royal favor and vied for domination of the court, resulting in deep divisions between various factions. With the ever-increasing number of raids against Goryeo conducted by Japanese pirates and the Red Turbans, those who came to dominate the royal court were the reformed-minded Sinjin faction of the scholar-officials and the opposing Gwonmun faction of the old aristocratic families, as well as generals who could actually fight off the foreign threats—namely Yi Seong-gye and his rival Choe Yeong. As the Ming dynasty started to emerge, the Yuan forces became more vulnerable, and Goryeo regained its full independence by the mid-1350s, although Yuan remnants effectively occupied northeastern territories with large garrisons of troops.
Military career
Yi Seong-gye started his career as a military officer in 1360, and would eventually rise up the ranks. In October 1361, he killed Park Ui, who rebelled against the government. In the same year, when the Red Turbans had invaded and seized Gaegyeong, he helped recapture the capital city with 3,000 men. In 1362, General Naghachu invaded Goryeo and Yi Seong-gye defeated him after being appointed as commander.
General Yi had gained prestige during the late 1370s and early 1380s by pushing Mongol remains off the peninsula and also by repelling the well-organized Japanese pirates in a series of successful engagements. Following in the wake of the rise of the Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor), the royal court in Goryeo split into two competing factions: the camp led by General Yi (supporting the Ming) and the one led by General Choe (supporting the Yuan).
When a Ming messenger came to Goryeo in 1388 to demand the return of a significant portion of Goryeo's northern territory, General Choe Yeong seized the opportunity and played upon the prevailing anti-Ming atmosphere to argue for the invasion of the Liaodong Peninsula (Goryeo claimed to be the successor of the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo; as such, restoring Manchuria as part of Korean territory was a tenet of its foreign policy throughout its history).
A staunchly opposed Yi Seong-gye was chosen to lead the invasion; however, at Wihwa Island on the Amrok River, he made a momentous decision known as the Wihwado Retreat, which would alter the course of Korean history. Aware of the support he enjoyed from both high-ranking officials and the general populace, he decided to revolt and return back to Gaegyeong to secure control of the government.
Revolt
General Yi swept his army from the Amrok River straight into the capital, defeated forces loyal to the king (led by General Choe, whom he proceeded to eliminate), and forcibly dethroned King U in a de facto coup d'état, but did not ascend to the throne himself. Instead, he placed on the throne King U's eight-year-old son, Wang Chang, and following a failed restoration attempt of the former monarch, had both of them put to death. Yi Seong-gye, now the undisputed power behind the throne, soon forcibly had a distant royal relative named Wang Yo (posthumously King Gongyang) crowned as the new ruler. After indirectly enforcing his grasp on the royal court through the puppet king, he proceeded to ally himself with Sinjin scholar-officials such as Jeong Do-jeon and Jo Jun.
One of the most widely known events that occurred during this period was in 1392, when one of Yi Seong-gye's sons, Yi Bang-won, organized a banquet for the renowned scholar and statesman Jeong Mong-ju, who refused to be won over by General Yi despite their assorted correspondence in the form of archaic poems, and continued to be a faithful advocate for the old regime. Jeong Mong-ju was revered throughout Goryeo, even by Yi Bang-won himself, but in the eyes of the supporters of the new dynasty he was seen as an obstacle which had to be removed. After the banquet, he was killed by five men on the Seonjuk Bridge. This bridge has now become a national monument in North Korea, and a brown spot on one of the stones is said to be one of Jeong Mong-ju's bloodstains that turns red when it rains.
Reign
In 1392, Yi Seong-gye forced King Gongyang to abdicate, exiled him to Wonju (where he and his family were secretly executed), and crowned himself as the new ruler, thus ending Goryeo's 475 years of rule. In 1393, he changed his dynasty's name to Joseon.
Among his early achievements was the improvement of relations with the Ming; this had its origin in Taejo's refusal to attack their neighbor in response to raids from Chinese bandits. Shortly after his accession, he sent envoys to inform the court at Nanjing that a dynastic change had taken place. Envoys were also dispatched to Japan, seeking the re-establishment of amicable connections. The mission was successful, and Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was reported to have been favorably impressed by this embassy. Envoys from the Ryūkyū Kingdom were received in 1392, 1394 and 1397, as well as from Siam in 1393.
In 1394, the new capital was established at Hanseong (present-day Seoul).
When the new dynasty was officially promulgated, the issue of which son would be the heir to the throne was brought up. Although Yi Bang-won, Taejo's fifth son by his first wife Queen Sinui, had contributed the most to his father's rise to power, he harbored a profound hatred against two of Taejo's key allies, Jeong Do-jeon and Nam Eun.
Both sides were fully aware of the mutual animosity and felt constantly threatened. When it became clear that Yi Bang-won was the most worthy successor, Jeong Do-jeon used his influence to convince the king that the wisest choice would be the son that he loved most, not the son that he felt was best for the kingdom.
In 1392, the eighth son of King Taejo (his second son by Queen Sindeok), Yi Bang-seok, was appointed as crown prince. After the sudden death of the queen in 1396 and while Taejo was still in mourning for his wife, Jeong Do-jeon began conspiring to pre-emptively kill Yi Bang-won and his brothers to secure his position in the royal court.
In 1398, upon hearing of this plan, Yi Bang-won immediately revolted and raided the palace, killing Jeong Do-jeon, his followers, and the two sons of the late Queen Sindeok. This incident became known as the 'First Strife of Princes'. Aghast at the fact that his sons were willing to kill each other for the throne and psychologically exhausted by the death of his second wife, Taejo immediately named his second son, Yi Bang-gwa (posthumously King Jeongjong), as the new successor and abdicated.
Thereafter, Taejo retired to the Hamhung Royal Villa and maintained distance with his fifth son for the rest of his life. Allegedly, Yi Bang-won sent emissaries numerous times, and each time the former king executed them to express his firm decision not to meet his son again. This historical anecdote gave birth to the term Hamhung Chasa, which means a person who never comes back despite several nudges. However, recent studies have found that Taejo did not actually execute any of the emissaries; these people died during revolts which coincidentally occurred in the region.
In 1400, King Jeongjong pronounced his younger brother Yi Bang-won as heir presumptive and voluntarily abdicated. That same year, Yi Bang-won assumed the throne of Joseon at last; he is posthumously known as King Taejong.
Death
King Taejo died ten years after his abdication, on 27 June 1408, in Changdeok Palace. He was buried at Geonwonneung, Dongguneung Cluster, in present-day Guri, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The tomb of his umbilical cord is located in Geumsan County, South Chungcheong Province, also in South Korea.
Family
Father: Yi Ja-chun, King Hwanjo of Joseon (조선 환조 이자춘) (1315 – 18 April 1360)
Grandfather: Yi Chun, King Dojo of Joseon (조선 도조 이춘) (? – 24 July 1342)
Grandmother: Queen Gyeongsun of the Munju Park clan (경순왕후 박씨)
Mother: Queen Uihye of the Yeongheung Choe clan (의혜왕후 최씨)
Grandfather: Choe Han-gi, Internal Prince Yeongheung (영흥부원군 최한기)
Grandmother: Lady Yi, Grand Princess Consort of Joseon State (조선국대부인 이씨)
Consorts and their respective issue:
Queen Sinui of the Cheongju Han clan (신의왕후 한씨) (4 September 1337 – 23 September 1391)
Yi Bang-u, Grand Prince Jinan (진안대군 이방우) (1354 – 13 December 1393), first son
Yi Bang-gwa, Prince Yeongan (영안군 이방과) (1 July 1357 – 26 September 1419), second son
Yi Bang-ui, Grand Prince Ikan (익안대군 이방의) (1360 – 26 September 1404), third son
Yi Bang-gan, Grand Prince Hoean (회안대군 이방간) (1364 – 9 March 1421), fourth son
Yi Bang-won, Prince Jeongan (정안군 이방원) (16 May 1367 – 10 May 1422), fifth son
Yi Bang-yeon, Grand Prince Deokan (덕안대군 이방연) (– ), sixth son
Princess Gyeongshin (경신공주) (? – 22 March 1426), second daughter
Princess Gyeongseon (경선공주), third daughter
Queen Sindeok of the Goksan Gang clan (신덕왕후 강씨) (14 June 1356 – 13 August 1396)
Princess Gyeongsun (경순공주) (? – 7 August 1407), first daughter
Yi Bang-beon, Grand Prince Muan (무안대군 이방번) (1381 – 26 August 1398), seventh son
Yi Bang-seok, Grand Prince Uian (의안대군 이방석) (1382 – 26 August 1398), eighth son
Consort Seong of the Wonju Won clan (성비 원씨) (? – 29 December 1449)
Royal Princess Jeonggyeong of the Goheung Yu clan (정경궁주 유씨)
Princess Hwaui of the Gim clan (화의옹주 김씨) (? – 14 December 1428)
Princess Sukshin (숙신옹주) (? – 8 February 1453), fifth daughter
Lady Chan-deok of the Ju clan (찬덕 주씨)
Princess Uiryeong (의령옹주) (? – 1 February 1466), fourth daughter
Palace Lady Gim (궁인 김씨)
Ancestry
One of the many issues demonstrating the early strained relationship between Joseon and Ming was the debate of Taejo's genealogy, which began as early as 1394 and became a sort of diplomatic friction that lasted over 200 years. The Collected Regulations of the Great Ming erroneously recorded 'Yi Dan' (Taejo's personal name) as the son of Yi In-im, and that Yi Dan killed the last four kings of Goryeo, thereby establishing Ming's opinion of Taejo as an usurper first and foremost, from the time of the Hongwu Emperor when he repeatedly refused to acknowledge him as the new sovereign of the Korean Peninsula. The first mention of this error was in 1518 (about 9 years after the publication), and those who saw the publication made petitions towards Ming demanding for redress, among others left chanseong Yi Gye-maeng and minister of rites Nam Gon, who wrote Jonggye Byeonmu. It took until 1584 (after many Ming envoys had seen the petitions), through chief scholar Hwang Jeong-uk, that the issue was finally addressed. The Wanli Emperor commissioned a second edition in 1576 (covering the years between 1479 and 1584). About a year after its completion, Yu Hong saw the revision, and returned to Joseon with the good news.
Legacy
Although Taejo overthrew Goryeo and expelled officials who remained loyal to the previous dynasty, many regard him as a revolutionary and a decisive ruler who eliminated an inept, obsolete and crippled governing system to save the nation from foreign forces and conflicts.
The resulting safeguarding of domestic security led the Koreans to rebuild and further discover their culture. In the midst of the rival Yuan and Ming dynasties, Joseon encouraged the development of national identity which was once threatened by the Mongols. However, some scholars, particularly in North Korea, view Taejo as a mere traitor to the old regime and bourgeois apostate, while paralleling him to General Choe Yeong, a military elite who conservatively served Goryeo to death.
His diplomatic successes in securing Korea in the early modern period are notable.
Gallery
In popular culture
Portrayed by Im Dong-jin in the 1983 KBS TV series Foundation of the Kingdom.
Portrayed by Kim Mu-saeng in the 1983 MBC TV series The King of Chudong Palace and in the 1996 KBS TV series Tears of the Dragon.
Portrayed by Lee Jin-woo in the 2005–2006 MBC TV series Sin Don.
Portrayed by Oh Jae-moo in the 2012 SBS TV series Faith.
Portrayed by Ji Jin-hee in the 2012–2013 SBS TV series The Great Seer.
Portrayed by Yoo Dong-geun in the 2014 KBS1 TV series Jeong Do-jeon.
Portrayed by Lee Dae-yeon in the 2014 film The Pirates.
Portrayed by Lee Do-kyung in the 2015 JTBC TV series More Than a Maid.
Portrayed by Son Byong-ho in the 2015 film Empire of Lust.
Portrayed by Chun Ho-jin in the 2015–2016 SBS TV series Six Flying Dragons.
Portrayed by Kim Ki-hyeon in the 2016 KBS1 TV series Jang Yeong-sil.
Portrayed by Lim Jong-yun in the 2016 film Seondal: The Man Who Sells the River.
Portrayed by Kim Yeong-cheol in the 2019 JTBC TV series My Country: The New Age and 2021 KBS1 TV series The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won.
Portrayed in the mobile/PC game Rise of Kingdoms.
See also
List of monarchs of Korea
House of Yi
References
Notes
Sources
Goodrich, Luther Carrington and Fang, Zhaoying. (1976). Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368–1644 (明代名人傳), Vol. I; Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368–1644 (明代名人傳), Vol. II. New York: Columbia University Press. ; ;
Hussain, Tariq. (2006). Diamond Dilemma: Shaping Korea for the 21st Century. (다이아몬드딜레마). Seoul: Random House. 10-1-430-30641-6/; OCLC 180102797; OCLC 67712109
Kang, Jae-eun and Lee, Suzanne. (2006). The Land of Scholars : Two Thousand Years of Korean Confucianism. Paramus, New Jersey: Homa & Sekey Books. ; OCLC 60931394
Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). Nipon o daï itsi ran; Annales des empereurs du Japon. (compiled by Hayashi Gahō in 1652). Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 251800045
Joseon monarchs
Joseon Buddhists
Korean Buddhist monarchs
1335 births
1408 deaths
14th-century Korean people
Goryeo Buddhists
Korean generals
14th-century monarchs in Asia
Founding monarchs
People from Kumya County
Leaders who took power by coup