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| Hyeonjong 현종 顯宗 | |||||||||||||
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| King of Joseon | |||||||||||||
| Reign | June 1659 – 17 September 1674 | ||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Hyojong | ||||||||||||
| Successor | Sukjong | ||||||||||||
| Born | (1641-03-14)14 March 1641 Mukden,Great Qing | ||||||||||||
| Died | 17 September 1674(1674-09-17) (aged 33) Changdeokgung,Hanseong,Joseon | ||||||||||||
| Burial | Sungneung Mausoleum,Dongguneung Cluster,Guri, South Korea | ||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||
| Issue among others... | Sukjong of Joseon | ||||||||||||
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| Clan | Jeonju Yi | ||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Yi | ||||||||||||
| Father | Hyojong of Joseon | ||||||||||||
| Mother | Queen Inseon | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Korean Confucianism(Neo-Confucianism) | ||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 이연 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 李棩 |
| RR | I Yeon |
| MR | I Yŏn |
| Monarch name | |
| Hangul | 현종 |
| Hanja | 顯宗 |
| RR | Hyeonjong |
| MR | Hyŏnjong |
| Art name | |
| Hangul | 양성헌 |
| Hanja | 養性軒 |
| RR | Yangseongheon |
| MR | Yangsŏnghŏn |
| Courtesy name | |
| Hangul | 경직 |
| Hanja | 景直 |
| RR | Gyeongjik |
| MR | Kyŏngjik |
| Monarchs of Korea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseon monarchs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hyeonjong (Korean: 현종;Hanja: 顯宗; 14 March 1641 – 17 September 1674), personal nameYi Yeon (이연;李棩), was the 18th monarch of theJoseon ofKorea. His reign was mostly marked by heavy conflict among the nation'spolitical factions on various issues, particularly on funeral rites. He was also the only king in Joseon's more than 500 year-long history to not have any concubines.[1]
Hyeonjong was born in 1641 as the first son ofKing Hyojong as Yi Yeon, while his father was still in China as a captive of theQing dynasty; thus he was born atShenyang before the Qing dynasty officially moved its capital toBeijing after defeatingMing dynasty in 1644, which made him the first and only monarch of Joseon to be born abroad.[2][3] He returned to Korea in 1645 along with his father and became Crown Prince in 1651.
The Yesong Controversy refers to a conflict concerning the funeral of Hyojong. When he died in 1659, his son Hyeonjong succeeded his father as theruler of Joseon. The conservative Westerners faction and the liberal Southerners faction argued about how long Queen Jangryeol,King Injo's second wife, should have to wear the funeral garment according to theConfucian form of funeral. The Westerners, headed bySong Si-yeol, contended that she needed to wear the funeral garment for only a year, while the Southerners and their leaderHeo Jeok wanted a 3-year period. This conflict arose because there was no previous record about Confucian funeral requirements when somebody's second stepson who actually succeeded the family line dies. The Westerners wanted to follow the custom for a second stepson, while the Southerners thought Hyojong deserved a 3-year funeral since he actually succeeded King Injo in the royal line.
The final decision was up to young King Hyeonjong; He chose to enforce a 1-year period, which would keep the Westerners as the major faction. However, at the same time, Hyeonjong did not remove Heo Jeok from office of Prime Minister, in order to prevent the Westerners from threatening royal authority. The feud between the Southerners and the Westerners was highly intensified by the funeral issue; Earlier, after the fall of the Greater Northerners in 1623, the Westerners and the Southerners formed political alliance under the leadership of King Hyojong, but on the funeral issue, both sides were intractable, leading to a greater probability of confrontations.
Hyeonjong at first maintained the balance of two factions by compromising between them with the 1-year period of the Westerners and keeping Southerner Heo Jeok as Prime Minister, and the two factions resumed a peaceful relationship temporarily. However, in 1674, when Queen Inseon, Hyojong's wife and Hyeonjong's mother, died, the funeral issue came up again; The Southerners wanted Queen Jaeui to wear the funeral garment for one year while the Westerners preferred a nine-month period. This time Hyeonjong listened to the Southerners and selected their method, making the Southerners faction as major political faction over the Westerners. The funeral controversy continued even after Hyeonjong died in 1675, and it was settled by Hyeonjong's successorKing Sukjong, who banned all debate about the issue. The controversy even affected the publishing of official history of Hyeonjong's era; at first it was written chiefly by Southerners but later it was revised by Westerner historians.
In 1666, during Hyeonjong's reign, DutchmanHendrick Hamel left Korea after more than thirteen years of captivity. He returned to theNetherlands, where he wrote a book about Joseon Dynasty and his experience in Korea, which introduced the kingdom to many Europeans.[4]
From 1670 to 1671, Korea endured a devastatingfamine brought on by cold weather and poor harvests. While the death toll remains difficult to measure, hundreds of thousands of Koreans may have died.
Hyeonjong stopped Hyojong's insuperable plan of northern conquest since Joseon had become a tributary state of the Qing Dynasty. Furthermore, after a series of victories against the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty had become too mighty to resist. However, Hyeonjong continued Hyojong's military expansion and reconstruction of the nation, devastated by theSeven-Year War and two Manchu invasions. He also encouragedastronomy and printing. He also legally banned the marriage between relatives and those who share the samesurnames. He died in 1674, and his son Sukjong succeeded him.
Consort(s) and their respective issues
Hyeonjong of Joseon Born: 15 March 1641 Died: 17 September 1674 | ||
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| Preceded by | King of Joseon 1659–1674 | Succeeded by |
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| King of Joseon (1392–1897) |
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| Emperor of Korea (1897–1910) | |||||||
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| King Yi[note 4] (1910–1947) |
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