| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 왕건 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 王建 |
| RR | Wang Geon |
| MR | Wang Kŏn |
| Monarch name | |
| Hangul | 태조 |
| Hanja | 太祖 |
| RR | Taejo |
| MR | T'aejo |
| Courtesy name | |
| Hangul | 약천 |
| Hanja | 若天 |
| RR | Yakcheon |
| MR | Yakch'ŏn |
| Posthumous name | |
| Hangul | 신성대왕 |
| Hanja | 神聖大王 |
| RR | Sinseong daewang |
| MR | Sinsŏng taewang |
Taejo (Korean: 태조;Hanja: 太祖; 31 January 877[citation needed] – 4 July 943), personal nameWang Kŏn (왕건;王建), also known asTaejo Wang Kŏn (태조 왕건;太祖 王建;lit. 'Great Progenitor Wang Kŏn'), was the founder of theGoryeo Dynasty ofKorea. He ruled from 918 to 943, achieving unification of theLater Three Kingdoms in 936.[1]
Wang Kŏn was born in 877 to a powerful maritime merchant family ofGoguryeo descent based in Songak (modernKaesong) as the eldest son ofWang Ryung. According to thePyeonnyeon tongnok (편년통록;編年通錄), quoted in theGoryeosa, Wang Kŏn's grandfatherChakchegon was the son ofEmperor Suzong of Tang.[2] According to theEncyclopedia of Korean Culture and theDoosan Encyclopedia, this is hagiographical.[2][3] ThePyeonnyeon 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.[4] According to theSeongwollok (성원록;聖源錄), quoted in theGoryeosa, the "dragon woman" was a daughter of Tu Ŭn-chŏm from Pyongju (modern-dayPyongsan County).[2][5] The story that Wang Kŏn was descended from either Suzong or Xuanzong was dismissed by the Joseon compilers of theGoryeosa.[6] Modern historians believe that Wang Kŏn's ancestors were influential Goguryeoichojoks (lords) that conducted maritime trade with China for generations.[7] According to theGaoli tujing (c. early 12th century) written by theSong dynasty envoy Xu Jing, Wang Kŏn's ancestors were Goguryeo nobility.[8] 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 theRyesong River.[9] During theLater Silla period, the northern regions, including Songak, were the strongholds of Goguryeo refugees,[10][11] and Wang Kŏn's hometown of Songak would become the original capital ofLater Goguryeo in 901.[12]
According to a document created during the reign of KingUijong of Goryeo, the Sillan monkDoseon prophesied that Wang Kŏn would rise to power and become king after visiting Wang Kŏn's father.[13]
Wang Kŏn began his career in the turbulentLater Three Kingdoms. In the later years ofSilla, many local leaders and bandits rebelled against the rule ofQueen Jinseong, who did not have strong and wise enough leadership or policies to improve the poor condition of the people. Among those rebels,Kung Ye of the northwestern region andKyŏn 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 Kŏn followed his father into service underKung Ye, the future leader ofTaebong, and he began his service under Kung Ye's command.
Wang Kŏn'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 ofLater Baekje in theChungju 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.
| Monarchs of Korea |
| Goryeo |
|---|
|
In the night of July 24, 918, four top-ranked generals of Taebong—Hong Yu (홍유;洪儒),Pae Hyŏn-gyŏng (배현경;裵玄慶),Sin Sung-gyŏm andPok Chigyŏm (복지겸;卜智謙)—met secretly and agreed to overthrow Kung Ye's rule and crown Wang Kŏn as their new king. Wang Kŏn 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 Kŏn as the new king.[14] Taejo renamed the kingdomGoryeo, 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.[15] According to theGoryeosa, in 918, the ancient capital ofPyongyang 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 Kŏn ordered his subjects to repopulate the ancient capital,[16] and soon sent his cousinWang Sing-nyŏm to defend it. Afterward, he decreed Pyongyang as the Western Capital.[17] He also sought alliances and cooperation with local clans rather than trying to conquer and bring them under his direct control.
In 927, Kyon Hwon of Later Baekje led his forces into Silla's capital,Gyeongju, capturing and executing its king,King Gyeongae. Then he establishedKing 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 atGongsan nearDaegu in theBattle of Gongsan.[18] He met the Later Baekje army and suffered a disastrous defeat, losing most of his army including his generals Kim Nak andSin 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 Kŏn 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.[19] Taejo escaped from this mountain and fled alone to the mountainApsan [ko], and he spent a few days hiding in a large cave at the peak of Apsan.[20] While Taejo retreated from the battle and fled to Apsan Mountain, he left many place names related to him in Daegu.[21] 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 hisfirst cousin as his fifth wife and queen (Wang had six queens, and many more wives as he married daughters of every single local leader). In turn, King Gyeonsun married King Taejo's eldest daughter,Princess Nakrang, whose daughter also intermarried into the royal Wang clan through her marriage withKing Gyeongjong; the grandson of King Taejo and Queen Sinmyeong.
It caused much disgust to Kyon Hwon. Kyon's father,Ajagae, who held his own claim to theSangju 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,Kyŏn Sin-gŏm, led a coup with his brothers Yang-gŏm and Yong-gŏm, against their father, who favored their half-brother, Kŭm-gang, as his successor to the throne. Kyon Hwon was sent into exile and imprisoned in the temple ofGeumsansa, but escaped to Goryeo and was treated like Taejo's father, who died just before his surrender.
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 sinceUnified 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 alsoBalhae, 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'slast 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 ofGoguryeo.[22] Taejo felt a strong familial kinship with Balhae, calling it his "Relative Country" and "Married Country",[23][24] and protected Balhae refugees, many of whom were also of Goguryeo origin.[15][23] This was in strong contrast to Later Silla, which had endured a hostile relationship with Balhae.[25]
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.[26] Taejo proposed to Gaozu ofLater Jìn that they attack the Khitans as revenge for the destruction of Balhae, according to theZizhi Tongjian.[23][27] Furthermore, in his Ten Injunctions to his descendants, he stated that the Khitans are no different from beasts and should be guarded against.[26]
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 theKorean 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 Kŏn'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 andBalhae, emerged); the people of theKorean Peninsula thereafter remained under a single, unified state until 1948, when Korea was divided intonorth andsouth 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 Kŏn and his new kingdom laid claim.[15] As the first ruler to more fully unite the people of the Korean Peninsula under a single state, many modern-dayKoreans look to his example for applicability to the current state of division on the Korean Peninsula.
During the early Goryeo dynasty, the title oft'aeja (태자;太子) was only a peerage title for sons of the king; a separate title existed for theheir apparent called thechŏngyun (정윤;正尹).
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
왕건의 가문은 고구려의 유민으로서 대대로 개성지방을 중심으로 해상무역을 통해 막대한 부(富)를 이룩했고, 축적된 부를 기반으로 송악일대를 장악했을 뿐 아니라, 예성강 일대에서 강화도에 이르는 지역에 튼튼한 세력기반을 구축하고 있었다.
Taejo of Goryeo Born: 31 January 877 Died: 4 July 943 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas King ofLater Goguryeo | King of Goryeo 918–943 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| New office | Prime Minister ofTaebong 913–918 | Office abolished |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
