Taejo of Goryeo (31 January 877 – 4 July 943), also known as Taejo Wang Kǒn (; ), was the founder of the Goryeo dynasty, which ruled Korea from the 10th to the 14th century. Taejo ruled from 918 to 943, achieving unification of the Later Three Kingdoms in 936.

Background
Wang Kǒn was born in 877 to a powerful maritime merchant family based in Songak (modern Kaesong) as the eldest son of Wang Ryung (). According to the Pyeonnyeon tongnok (편년통록; 編年通錄), quoted in the Goryeosa, Wang Kon's grandfather Chakchegon was the son of Emperor Suzong of Tang. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture and the Doosan Encyclopedia, this is hagiographical. The Pyeonnyeon tongnok (c. late 12th century) said: While on a sea voyage to meet his father, Emperor Suzong of the Tang dynasty, 16-year-old Chakchegon encountered a dragon king, slayed a shape-shifting fox, and married a dragon woman; the dragon woman later transformed into a dragon and went away. According to the Seongwollok (성원록; 聖源錄), quoted in the Goryeosa, the "dragon woman" was a daughter of gakgan Dueunjeom  from Pyeongju (modern day Pyongsan County).Modern historians believe that Wang Kon's ancestors were a powerful local strongmen that conducted maritime trade with China for generations. According to the Gaoli tujing (c. early 12th century) by the Song dynasty envoy Xu Jing, Wang Kon's ancestors were Goguryeo nobility. According to Jang Deokho: His ancestors were Goguryeo refugees who settled around Songak, accumulating great wealth through maritime trade and gaining control of the region, including the Ryesong River. During the Later Silla period, the northern regions, including Songak, were the strongholds of Goguryeo refugees, and Wang Kon's hometown of Songak would become the original capital of Later Goguryeo in 901.

Rise to power
Wang Kon began his career in the turbulent Later Three Kingdoms. In the later years of Silla, many local leaders and bandits rebelled against the rule of Queen Jinseong, who did not have strong enough leadership or policies to improve the condition of the people. Among those rebels, Kung Ye of the northwestern region and Kyŏn Hwŏn of the southwest gained more power. They defeated and absorbed many of the other rebel groups as their troops marched against local Silla officials and bandits. In 895, Kung Ye led his forces into the far northwestern part of Silla, where Songdo was located. Taejo's father, Wang Ryung, along with many local clans, quickly surrendered to Kung Ye. Wang Kon followed his father into service under Kung Ye, the future leader of Taebong, and he began his service under Kung Ye's command.

Wang Kon's ability as a military commander was soon recognized by Kung Ye, who promoted him to general and even regarded him as his brother. In 900, he led a successful campaign against local clans and the army of Later Baekje in the Chungju area, gaining more fame and recognition from the king. In 903, he led a famous naval campaign against the southwestern coastline of Later Baekje at Keumsung, later Naju, while Kyon Hwon was at war against Silla. He led several more military campaigns, and also helped conquered people who lived in poverty under Silla rule. The public favored him due to his leadership and generosity.

In 913, he was appointed as prime minister of the newly renamed Taebong. Its king, Kung Ye, whose leadership helped found the kingdom but who began to refer to himself as the Buddha, began to persecute people who expressed their opposition against his religious arguments. He executed many monks, then later even his own wife and two sons, and the public began to turn away from him. His costly rituals and harsh rule caused even more opposition.

Rise to the throne and founding of Goryeo

In the night of July 24, 918, four top-ranked generals of Taebong—Hong Yu (홍유; 洪儒), Pak Hyŏn-gyŏng (배현경; 裵玄慶), Sin Sung-gyŏm and Pok Chigyŏm (복지겸; 卜智謙)—met secretly and agreed to overthrow Kung Ye's rule and crown Wang Kon as their new king. Wang Kon first opposed the idea but later agreed to their plan. Kung Ye was overthrown in a coup and killed near the capital, Cheorwon. On the sunrise of the next day, the generals installed Wang Kon as the new king. Taejo renamed the kingdom Goryeo, thus beginning the Goryeo Dynasty. The next year he moved the capital back to his hometown, Gaegyeong.

He promoted Buddhism as Goryeo's national religion, and laid claim to the northern parts of the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria, which he considered his rightful legacy as the successor of Goguryeo. According to the Goryeosa, in 918, the ancient capital of Pyongyang had been in ruins for a long time and foreign barbarians were using the surrounding lands as hunting grounds and occasionally raiding the borders of Goryeo; therefore, in his first year as king, Wang Kon ordered his subjects to repopulate the ancient capital, and soon sent his cousin Wang Sing-nyŏm to defend it. Afterward, he decreed Pyongyang as the Western Capital. He also sought alliances and cooperation with local clans rather than trying to conquer and bring them under his direct control.

The War of the Later Three Kingdoms
In 927, Kyon Hwon of Later Baekje led his forces into Silla's capital, Gyeongju, capturing and executing its king, King Gyeongae. Then he established King Gyeongsun as his puppet monarch before he turned his army toward Goryeo. Hearing of the news, Taejo planned a strike with 5,000 cavalrymen to attack Kyon's troops on the way back home at Gongsan near Daegu in the Battle of Gongsan. He met the Later Baekje army and suffered a disastrous defeat, losing most of his army including his generals Kim Nak and Sin Sung-gyom, the very same man who crowned Wang as a king. According to the legend, Taejo and Sin Sung-gyom exchanged their armor so that the king would be able to escape the battlefield. While Wang Geon escaped the battlefield, Sin and the remaining army fought bravely against the Later Baekje army. But eventually his army was routed and in the woods Sin was shot with arrows and was killed by the enemy. Taejo escaped from this mountain and fled alone to Apsan Mountain (ko), and he spent a few days hiding in a large cave at the peak of Apsan. While Taejo retreated from the battle and fled to Apsan Mountain, he left many place names related to him in Daegu. However, Goryeo quickly recovered from defeat and successfully defended Later Baekje's attack on its front.

In 935, the last king of Silla, King Gyeongsun, felt there was no way to revive his kingdom and surrendered his entire land to Taejo. Taejo gladly accepted his surrender and gave him the title of prince, and accepted his daughter as one of his wives (Wang had six queens, and many more wives as he married daughters of every single local leader). It caused much disgust to Kyon Hwon. Kyon's father, Ajagae, who held his own claim to the Sangju region, also defected and surrendered to Goryeo and was received as the father of a king.

In the same year, Kyon Hwon's oldest son, Kyon Sin-gŏm, led a coup with his brothers Yang-gŏm and Yong-gŏm, against their father, who favored their half-brother, Kŭmgang, as his successor to the throne. Kyon Hwon was sent into exile and imprisoned in the temple of Geumsansa, but escaped to Goryeo and was treated like Taejo's father, who died just before his surrender.

Goryeo victory and unification
In 936, Wang led his final campaign against Sin-gom of Later Baekje. Sin-gom fought against Taejo, but facing much disadvantage and inner conflict, he surrendered to Taejo. Wang finally conquered Later Baekje, and unified the nation for the second time since Unified Silla; he ruled until 943, and died from disease.

Taejo sought to bring even his enemies into his ruling coalition. He gave titles and land to rulers and nobles from the various countries he had defeated: Later Baekje, Silla, and also Balhae, which disintegrated around the same time. Thus he sought to secure stability and unity for his kingdom which had been lacking in the later years of Silla.

After the destruction of Balhae by the Khitans in 926, Balhae's last crown prince and much of its ruling class sought refuge in Goryeo, where they were warmly welcomed and included into the ruling family by Taejo, thus uniting the two successor nations of Goguryeo. Taejo felt a strong familial kinship with Balhae, calling it his "Relative Country" and "Married Country", and protected Balhae refugees, many of whom were also of Goguryeo origin. This was in strong contrast to Later Silla, which had endured a hostile relationship with Balhae.

Taejo displayed strong animosity toward the Khitans who had destroyed Balhae. The Liao dynasty sent 30 envoys with 50 camels as a gift in 942, but he exiled the envoys and starved the camels under a bridge in retribution for Balhae, despite the major diplomatic repercussions. Taejo proposed to Gaozu of Later Jìn that they attack the Khitans as revenge for the destruction of Balhae, according to the Zizhi Tongjian. Furthermore, in his Ten Mandates to his descendants, he stated that the Khitans are no different from beasts and should be guarded against.

Legacy

The unification of the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 was very important in Korean history; the unification of 668 CE by Silla was only a unification of approximately half of the peoples of the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity (who at the time largely considered themselves one people divided among many states), since the northern part was ruled by Balhae, which asserted itself as a reincarnation of Goguryeo. However, Wang Kon's unification in 936 was a more complete unification (in which only a single state emerged among the people, as opposed to the 7th century, when two, Unified Silla and Balhae, emerged); the people of the Korean Peninsula thereafter remained under a single, unified state until 1948, when Korea was divided into north and south by Soviets and U.S. forces.

The modern name of "Korea" is derived from the name "Goryeo," which itself is derived from "Goguryeo," to whose heritage (and by extension, territory) Wang Kon and his new kingdom laid claim. As the first ruler to more fully unite the people of the Korean Peninsula under a single state, many modern-day Koreans look to his example for applicability to the current state of division on the Korean Peninsula.

During the early Goryeo dynasty, the title of taeja () was only a peerage title for sons of the king; a separate title existed for the heir apparent called the jeongyun().

Family
Great-grandmother: Queen Jeonghwa
Grandfather: Uijo of Goryeo
Grandmother: Queen Wonchang
Father: Sejo of Goryeo
Mother: Queen Wisuk
Consorts and their Respective Issue(s):
Queen Sinhye of the Chŏngju Yu clan – No issue.
Queen Janghwa of the Naju O clan
 Crown Prince Wang Mu (912 – 23 October 945)
Queen Sinmyeongsunseong of the Chungju Yu clan
Wang Tae
 Wang Yo (923 – 13 April 949)
 Wang So (925 – 4 July 975)
Wang Jeong, King Munwon the Great
Jeungteong
Princess Nakrang
Princess Heungbang
Queen Sinjeong of the Hwangju Hwangbo clan (900 – 19 August 983)
Wang Uk (d. 969)
Queen Daemok
Queen Sinseong of the Gyeongju Kim clan
Wang Uk (d. 996)
Queen Jeongdeok of the Chŏngju Yu clan
Prince Wangwi
Prince Inae
Prince Wonjang
Prince Joyi
Queen Munhye
Queen Seonui
Princess Wang (공주 왕씨)
Grand Lady Heonmok of the Pyeong clan
Prince Sumyeong
Lady Jeongmok of the Wang clan
Grand Royal Consort Sunan
Lady Dongyangwon of the Pyeongsan Yu clan
Wang Ui, Prince Hyomok
Wang Won, Prince Hyoeun
Lady Sukmok of the Im clan
Prince Wonnyeong (d. 976)
Lady Cheonanbuwon of the Im clan
Wang Imju, Prince Hyoseong (d. 976)
Prince Hyoji
Lady Heungbokwon of the Hongju Hong clan
Wang Jik
Princess Wang (공주 왕씨)
Lady Daeryangwon of the Hapcheon Yi clan – No issue.
Lady Hudaeryangwon of the Yi clan – No issue.
Lady Daemyeongjuwon of the Wang clan – No issue.
Lady Gwangjuwon of the Wang clan – No issue.
Lady Sogwangjuwon of the Wang clan
Prince Gwangjuwon (d. 945)
Lady Dongsanwon of the Suncheon Bak clan – No issue.
Lady Yehwa of the Haeju Wang clan – No issue.
Lady Daeseowon of the Dongju Kim clan – No issue.
Lady Soseowon of the Dongju Kim clan – No issue.
Lady Seojeonwon – No issue.
Lady Sinjuwon of the Gang clan – No issue.
Lady Wolhwawon – No issue.
Lady Sohwangjuwon  – No issue.
Lady Seongmu of the Pyeongsan Bak clan
Prince Hyoje
Prince Hyomyeong
Prince Beopdeung
Prince Jari
Princess Wang (공주 왕씨)
Lady Uiseongbuwon of the Uiseong Hong clan
Grand Prince Uiseongbuwon
Lady Wolgyeongwon of the Pyeongsan Bak clan – No issue.
Lady Mongryangwon of the Pyeongsan Bak clan – No issue.
Lady Haeryangwon – No issue.

Popular culture
 Portrayed by Kim Myeong-jin in the 1970 film Wang-geon, the Great.
 Portrayed by Choi Soo-jong and Oh Hyun-chul in the 2000-2002 KBS1 TV series Taejo Wang Geon.
 Portrayed by Lee Mun-soo in the 2002–2003 KBS TV series The Dawn of the Empire.
 Portrayed by Joo Myung Nam in the 2009 KBS TV series Empress Cheonchu.
 Portrayed by Nam Kyung-eup in the 2015 MBC TV series Shine or Go Crazy.
 Portrayed by Jo Min-ki in the 2016 SBS TV series Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo.
 In the 2018 Channel A program Thousand Days Unofficial History - Episode 73 (ko)
 Leads the Korean civilization the games Sid Meier's Civilization III and IV
 In the 2022 musical Taejo Wang Geon

See also

Family tree of the Goryeo Dynasty
Rulers of Korea
History of Korea
Wang (family name)
Tomb of King Wanggon
Founding legends of the Goryeo royal family
Taejo Wang Geon (TV series)

References

External links

 

877 births
943 deaths
Korean generals
10th-century Korean monarchs
Goryeo writers
People from Kaesong
Founding monarchs
Korean Buddhist monarchs
House of Wang