Thefounding legends of the Goryeo royal family is a mythical account of the ancestral family ofWang Kŏn, who united the Korean Peninsula during theLater Three Kingdoms period and founded theGoryeo dynasty of Korea.
According to thePyeonnyeon Tongnok (편년통록;編年通錄) written by Kim Gwan-ui during theGoryeo period, the origin of the Goryeo royal family is fromGoguryeo.[1] Hogyŏng, who called himself General Seonggol, came fromMount Baekdu and traveled far and wide, finally settling down in Songak (modernKaesong) and starting a family. While hunting on Mount Pyeongna, he met a widowedmountain spirit who asked for his hand in marriage and to become the king of the mountain.[2]
Gang Chung, a son of Hogyŏng, planted pine trees on Mount Songak so that rocks wouldn't be visible in order to fulfill a prophecy, based onfeng shui, that his descendant would unite the "Sam Han" (삼한;三韓),[2] another name for theThree Kingdoms of Korea.[3] He begot a son named Po-yuk, whose daughter Chin-ŭi had a child named Chakchegŏn with a member of the royal family of theTang dynasty; according to theGoryeosa, which cites thePyeonnyeon Tongnok, the father of the child wasEmperor Suzong.[4] The union fulfilled a prophecy given to Boyuk by a sage that theSon of Heaven from the Tang dynasty would come to him and become his son-in-law.[5]
After reaching adulthood, Chakchegŏn, who was described as courageous and exceptionally intelligent, set sail for Tang to meet his father Emperor Suzong. However, he was caught in a storm in the middle of theYellow Sea and encountered a dragon woman (용녀;龍女) whom he brought back home and married.[4] TheSeongwonnok (성원녹;聖源録) identifies the "dragon woman" as the daughter of a man fromPyongsan County namedTu Ŭn-chŏm (두은점;豆恩坫),[6] Pyongsan County was called Pyeongju (평주;平州) during theGoryeo period,[7][8][9][10][11] and was home to GeneralSin Sung-gyŏm of thePyongsan Sin clan, who sacrificed himself to save Wang Kŏn at the Battle of Gongsan. The dragon woman, known posthumously asQueen Wonchang, gave birth to Wang Ryung, whose son Wang Kŏn would become the founder of Goryeo.[4]
The story that Wang Kŏn was descended from either Suzong or Xuanzong was dismissed in the Goryeosa.[12] TheEncyclopedia of Korean Culture interprets Chakchegŏn being the son of Emperor Suzong of the Tang dynasty as a hagiography and his marriage to the dragon woman from the Yellow Sea as symbolic of the maritime influence of Wang Kŏn's ancestors, who engaged in trade with China for generations.[6] Likewise, theDoosan Encyclopedia agrees that the claim of Emperor Suzong being Wang Kŏn's great-grandfather was invented to increase the legitimacy of the Goryeo royal family by linking it to the Tang royal family.[13] According to Bae Han-cheol, the father of Chakchegŏn was a Korean merchant from one of the "Silla Quarters" (신라방;新羅坊) in China, which were autonomous settlements of Korean merchants in the Tang dynasty.[14][15]
Xu Jing (서긍;徐兢), an envoy from theSong dynasty who went to Goryeo in 1123, documented in theGaoli Tujing (선화봉사고려도경;宣和奉使高麗圖經) that the ancestors of the Goryeo royal family were a great clan of Goguryeo.[16][17]
Thedaedongbo (a compilation genealogy book of related clans) of the Sinchon Gang clan claims that Gang Hogyeong was the 67th generation descendant of Gang Hu (강후;康侯), a grandson ofKing Wen of theZhou dynasty. However, the historical veracity of that claim cannot be verified.[18] Furthermore, the true progenitor of the Sinchon Gang clan is considered to be Gang Ji-yeon, a 14th generation descendant of Gang Hogyeong, not Gang Hogyeong himself.[19]
손호술은 그가 귀인임을 알아보고 작은딸 진의와 맺게 하였는데, 진의는 숙종과 동침한 후 왕건의 할아버지 작제건(作帝建)을 낳았다고 한다. 그러나 이 이야기는 고려 왕실의 정통성을 강조하기 위해 왕건의 가계를 당나라의 황실과 연계하여 지어낸 것으로 보인다.
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