| Yeonsangun 연산군 燕山君 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King of Joseon | |||||
| Reign | 20 January 1495 – 18 September 1506 | ||||
| Enthronement | 25 January 1495Injeongjeon Hall,Changdeokgung,Hanseong | ||||
| Predecessor | Seongjong | ||||
| Successor | Jungjong | ||||
| Crown Prince of Joseon | |||||
| Reign | 6 September 1483 – 20 January 1495 | ||||
| Predecessor | Crown Prince Yi Hwang | ||||
| Successor | Deposed Crown Prince Yi Hwang | ||||
| Born | (1476-11-23)23 November 1476 Gyotaejeon Hall,Gyeongbokgung,Hanseong,Joseon (now Seoul,South Korea) | ||||
| Died | 20 November 1506(1506-11-20) (aged 29) Gyodong-myeon,Ganghwa County,Gyeonggi Province,Joseon (nowIncheon, South Korea) | ||||
| Burial | Yeonsangunmyo Mausoleum,Dobong District,Seoul, South Korea | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue details... | 11 sons, 6 daughters | ||||
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| Clan | Jeonju Yi | ||||
| Dynasty | Yi | ||||
| Father | Seongjong of Joseon | ||||
| Mother |
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| Religion | Korean Confucianism(Neo-Confucianism) | ||||
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 이융 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 李㦕 |
| RR | I Yung |
| MR | I Yung |
| Royal title | |
| Hangul | 연산군 |
| Hanja | 燕山君 |
| RR | Yeonsangun |
| MR | Yŏnsan'gun |
Yeonsangun orPrince Yeonsan (Korean: 연산군;Hanja: 燕山君; 23 November 1476 – 20 November 1506), personal nameYi Yung (이융;李㦕), was the 10th monarch of theJoseon dynasty ofKorea. Often considered the worst tyrant in Joseon's history and perhaps allKorean history, he is notorious for launchingtwo bloody purges, seizing hundreds of women from all over the peninsula to serve as palace entertainers, and appropriatingSungkyunkwan as a personal pleasure ground. Yeonsangun's despotic rule provided a stark contrast to the liberal era ofhis father, and as a much-despised overthrown monarch, he did not receive atemple name.
Lady Yun, later known as theDeposed Queen Yun, served Yeonsangun's father,King Seongjong, as aconcubine until the death ofQueen Gonghye, Seongjong's first wife. With no heir, the king was urged by counselors to take a second wife to secure theroyal succession. Lady Yun was chosen for her beauty and was formally married in 1476. Several months later, she gave birth to Yi Yung.
The new queen proved to be temperamental and highly jealous of the other concubines, even going as far as poisoning one of them in 1477. One night in 1479, she physically struck her husband (the king) and left scratch marks. Despite his efforts to conceal the injury, Seongjong's mother,Royal Queen Dowager Insu, discovered the truth and ordered Lady Yun into exile. After several attempts to restore the deposed queen to her former position, government officials petitioned that she be executed. Queen Yun died in 1482, after being ordered to commit suicide by drinking poison.
The crown prince grew up believing that he was the son ofQueen Jeonghyeon, his father's third wife. He succeeded to the throne in 1495 and during his early reign, he was a wise and able administrator who strengthened the national defense and aided the poor. However, he also showed signs of a violent side when he killed Jo Sa-seo, one of his tutors, soon after becoming king.
Yeonsangun eventually learned the truth about his biological mother and attempted to posthumously restore her titles and position. However, government officials belonging to theSarim faction opposed his efforts on account of serving Seongjong's will, and greatly displeased, Yeonsangun started looking for ways to eliminate them.
In 1498,Kim Il-son [ko], a disciple ofKim Chong-jik, included a paragraph in the royal records that was critical ofKing Sejo'scoup d'état (1455). Kim Il-son and other followers of Kim Chong-jik were accused of treason by a rival faction, giving the king cause enough to order the execution of many Sarim officials[1] and the mutilation of Kim Chong-jik's remains. This came to be known as theFirst Literati Purge (Muo Sahwa; 무오사화, 戊午士禍).
In 1504,Im Sa-hong revealed to Yeonsangun the details of his mother's death and showed him a blood-stained piece of clothing that was obtained from Lady Yun's mother, the blood allegedly vomited by her after taking poison.[2]
Subsequently, Yeonsangun beat to death two of his father's concubines, Lady Jeong and Lady Eom, for their part in his mother's death. His grandmother,Grand Royal Queen Dowager Insu, also died soon after he pushed her during an altercation. He sentenced to death many government officials who had supported the execution of his mother, nowposthumously honored as "Queen Jeheon" (제헌왕후;齊獻王后), and ordered the grave ofHan Myŏnghoe to be opened and the head to be cut off the corpse.
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Yeonsangun went as far as punishing officials who were simply present at the royal court at that time, for the crime of not preventing the actions of those who abused his mother.[2] This came to be known as theSecond Literati Purge (Gapja Sahwa; 갑자사화, 甲子士禍). Meanwhile, Im Sa-hong and his allies were promoted and they received many important offices and other rewards.[2]
Yeonsangun closedSungkyunkwan, the royal university, as well as the templeWongaksa, and converted them into personal pleasure grounds, for which young girls were gathered from theeight provinces.[3] He also demolished a large residential area in the capital and evicted 20,000 residents to build hunting grounds.[4] People were forced intoinvoluntary labor to work on these projects. Many commoners mocked and insulted him with posters written inhangul, and in retaliation, Yeonsangun banned the use of the script. Furthermore, Yeonsangun was the only monarch of the Joseon dynasty who tried to dismantle Buddhism in Joseon; he attempted to abolish the system of head monasteries and examinations during his reign.[5]
When court officials protested against his actions, he abolished theOffice of Censors (whose function was to criticize any inappropriate actions or policies of the king) and theOffice of Special Advisors (a library and research institute that advised the king withConfucian teachings).[6] He ordered his ministers to wear a sign that read: "A mouth is a door that brings in disaster; a tongue is a sword that cuts off a head. A body will be in peace as long as its mouth is closed and its tongue is deep within" (口是禍之門 舌是斬身刀 閉口深藏舌 安身處處牢).[7]
Chief Eunuch Kim Cheo-sun, who had served three kings, tried to convince him to change his ways, but Yeonsangun killed him by shooting him with arrows and personally cutting off his limbs. In addition, he also punished the eunuch's relatives down to the7th degree, and when he asked the royal secretaries whether such punishment was appropriate, they did not dare to say otherwise.[8]
On July 19, 1504, the 10th year of Yeonsan's reign, threetuseos[a] (투서;投書) written in Hangul and mocking and insulting him for his tyranny were discovered. Thetuseos criticized him for his violence towards his ministers and his lust for women. The author was unidentifiable. Enraged, Yeonsan ordered a total ban on the learning, teaching, or using of Hangul, and ordered the fiveHansung administrative districts to identify and report all the individuals who knew how to use it, and to punish people who did not report on their neighbors. He also ordered comparisons of the handwriting of people who had been reported. In addition, he offered high-ranking titles and large amounts of money as rewards for identifying the author.[9]
On July 22, Yeonsan ordered the beheading of people who were using Hangul, and severe beatings (곤장;棍杖) for persons who did not report others. He ordered his court's ministers to burn all the books in their homes with Hangulgugyeol footnotes. However, he allowed Hangul books translated fromhanja, orUnhaeseo (언해서;諺解書).[10] These books were often the works of a former monarch, and it is speculated that even a tyrant like Yeonsan could not have purged the achievements of the former monarchs, who were also his ancestors.[10]
The rounding up of people who knew Hangul and the investigations continued through early August, but they failed to catch the culprit, and Yeonsan's short-lived Hangul ban was over. Later in December, Yeonsan himself ordered the translations of "calendar-books" (역서;曆書) into Hangul, and in September of the following year he ordered the translation and recital of a "mourning script" (제문;祭文) regarding a dead court woman.[10]
In 1506, the 12th year of Yeonsangun's reign, a group of officials — notablyPak Wŏnjong,[b]Sŏng Hŭian,Yu Sunjŏng, and Hong Gyeong-ju[c] — plotted against the despotic ruler. They launched their coup in September 1506, deposing the king and replacing him with his younger half-brother,Grand Prince Jinseong. The king was demoted to "Prince Yeonsan" (Yeonsangun; 燕山君, 연산군) and sent into exile onGanghwa Island, where he died after two months.[4] His concubine,Jang Nok-su, who had encouraged and supported his misrule, was beheaded. In addition, despite the new king's reluctance, Yeonsangun's four young sons were alsoforced to commit suicide by poison only a few weeks later.[11]
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Yeonsangun of Joseon Born: 23 November 1476 Died: 20 November 1506 | ||
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| Preceded by | King of Joseon 25 January 1495 – 18 September 1506 | Succeeded by |
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| Posthumous[note 1] | |||||||
| King of Joseon (1392–1897) |
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| Emperor of Korea (1897–1910) | |||||||
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| Daewongun[note 3] | |||||||
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| King Yi[note 4] (1910–1947) |
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