Gwanghaegun of Joseon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Injo coup)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Gwanghaegun
광해군
光海君
King of Joseon
Reign6 March 1608 – 12 April 1623
PredecessorSeonjo
SuccessorInjo
Regent of Joseon
Regency1592–1608
MonarchSeonjo
Born4 June 1575
Hanseong, Joseon
Died7 August 1641(1641-08-07) (aged 66)
Jeju-mok, Jeolla Province, Joseon
Burial
Gwanghaegunmyo Mausoleum, Namyangju, South Korea
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1587; died 1623)​
Issue4 sons, 1 daughter
Names
Yi Hon (이혼; 李琿)
ClanJeonju Yi
DynastyYi
FatherSeonjo of Joseon
MotherRoyal Noble Consort Gong
ReligionKorean Confucianism (Neo-Confucianism)
Korean name
Hangul
이혼
Hanja
李琿
RRI Hon
MRI Hon
Royal title
Hangul
광해군
Hanja
光海君
RRGwanghaegun
MRKwanghaegun

Gwanghaegun or Prince Gwanghae (Korean: 광해군; Hanja: 光海君; 4 June 1575 – 7 August 1641), personal name Yi Hon (이혼; 李琿), was the 15th monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. As he was deposed in a coup d'état, he did not receive a temple name.

Biography

[edit | edit source]

Birth and background

[edit | edit source]

Gwanghaegun was the second son of King Seonjo; born to Royal Noble Consort Gong, a concubine, who died a year after his birth. He had one older brother.

When Japan invaded Joseon to attack the Ming Empire, he was installed as Crown Prince. When the king fled north to the border of Ming, he set up a branch court and fought defensive battles. During and after the Imjin Wars (1592–1598), despite being Crown Prince, he acted as the de facto ruler of the Joseon Dynasty in 1592, commanding battles and taking care of the reconstruction of the nation after the devastating wars, in the place of old and weak King Seonjo.[1]

Although it brought prestige to him, his position was still unstable. He had an elder but incompetent full-brother Prince Imhae (임해군; 臨海君) and a younger but legitimate half-brother Grand Prince Yeongchang (영창대군; 永昌大君), who was supported by the Lesser Northerners faction. Fortunately for Gwanghae, King Seonjo's abrupt death made it impossible for his favorite son Yeongchang to succeed to the throne.[citation needed]

Violence of Greater Northerner faction

[edit | edit source]

Before King Seonjo died in 1608, he named Prince Gwanghae as his official successor to the throne and ordered his advisers to make a royal document. However, Lyu Young-gyong of the Lesser Northerners faction hid the document and plotted to install Grand Prince Yeongchang as king, only to be found out by the head of the Great Northerners faction (대북; 大北), Chŏng Inhong. Lyu was executed immediately.

After the incident, Gwanghae tried to bring officials from various political and regional background to his court, but his plan was interrupted by Greater Northerners including Yi I-cheom and Chŏng Inhong. Then, Greater Northerners began to take members of other political factions out of the government, especially Lesser Northerners. In 1613, the Greater Northerners moved against Grand Prince Yeongchang; his maternal grandfather, Kim Je-nam, along with his maternal uncles, was found guilty of treason and executed, while Yeongchang was sent into exile, where he too was executed in 1614. At the same time, Greater Northerners suppressed the Lesser Northerners. In 1618, with the help of Court Lady Kim, Grand Prince Yeongchang's mother, Queen Inmok, was stripped of her title and imprisoned along with his younger half-sister, Princess Jeongmyeong. Gwanghae had no power to stop this even though he was the official head of the government.[citation needed]

Lua error: not enough memory.

Achievements

[edit | edit source]

Despite his poor reputation after his death, he was a talented and pragmatic politician. He endeavored to restore the country and sponsored the restoration of documents. As a part of reconstruction, he revised land ordinance and redistributed land to the people; he also ordered the rebuilding of Changdeokgung along with several other palaces. Additionally, he was responsible for the reintroduction of the hopae identification system after a long period of disuse.[2]

In foreign affairs he sought a balance between the Ming Empire and the Manchus. Since he realized Joseon was unable to compete with Manchu military power, he tried to maintain friendly relationship with the Manchus while the kingdom was still under the suzerainty of Ming, which angered the Ming and dogmatic Confucian Koreans. The critically worsened Manchu-Ming relationship forced him to send ten thousand soldiers to aid Ming in 1619.[3] However, the Battle of Sarhū ended in Manchu's overwhelming victory. The Korean General Gang Hong-rip lost two-thirds of his troops and surrendered to Nurhaci. Gwanghaegun negotiated independently for peace with the Manchus and managed to avoid another war. He also restored diplomatic relations with Japan in 1609 when he reopened trade with Japan through the Treaty of Giyu, and sent his ambassadors to Japan in 1617.

In the domestic sphere, Gwanghaegun implemented the Daedong law, which let his subjects pay their taxes more easily. However, this law was activated only in Gyeonggi Province, which was the largest granary zone at that time, and it took a century for the law to be extended across the whole kingdom. He encouraged publishing in order to accelerate reconstruction and to restore the kingdom's former prosperity. Many books were written during his reign, including the medical book Dongui Bogam, and several historical records were rewritten in this period. In 1616, tobacco was first introduced to Korea and it soon became popular amongst the Korean aristocracy.

Dethronement and later life

[edit | edit source]
File:광해군 일기.jpg
Gwanghaegun's diary

On April 11, 1623, Gwanghaegun was deposed in a coup by the Westerners faction that was crucially justified by Queen Inmok who was freed from prison during the coup.[4] The coup directed by Kim Yu took place at night, Gwanghaegun fled but was captured later.[5] He was confined first on Ganghwa Island and then on Jeju Island, where he died in 1641.[6] He does not have a royal mausoleum like the other Joseon rulers. His and Lady Ryu's remains were buried at a comparatively humble site in Namyangju in Gyeonggi Province. The Westerners faction installed Neungyanggun as the sixteenth king Injo who promulgated pro-Ming and anti-Manchu policies, which resulted in two subsequent Manchu invasions.

Legacy

[edit | edit source]
File:광해군묘.jpeg
Gwanghaegun's tomb

Gwanghaegun is one of only two deposed kings who were not restored and given a temple name (the other one being Yeonsangun).

He remains a polarizing figure among historians. Historian Oh Hang-nyeong strongly criticized the king, writing that he "practically used up the country's entire budget solely for the construction of palaces, his policies were flawed and moreover, he was absent in many of the cabinet meetings. Gwanghaegun failed to communicate with his servants and with his people." However, historian Lee Duk-il praised the king, did that he "indeed made some political errors, but during his reign, the famous oriental medical book 'Donguibogam' was published and he created the tax system 'Daedong law' that was enforced for the benefit of the people." Despite the controversy over the king's handling of domestic policies, most historians have a positive assessment of Gwanghae's acts regarding foreign affairs.[7]

Family

[edit | edit source]
  • Father: King Seonjo of Joseon (Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: not enough memory.; 26 November 1552 – 16 March 1608)
  • Mother: Royal Noble Consort Gong of the Gimhae Kim clan (Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: not enough memory.; 16 November 1553 – 13 June 1577)
    • Grandfather: Kim Hui-cheol (Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 15 July 1519 – 14 August 1596)
    • Grandmother: Lady Gwon of the Andong Gwon clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1525–?)

Consort(s) and their respective issue

  1. Deposed Queen Yu of the Munhwa Yu clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 15 August 1576 – 31 October 1623)
    1. First son (1592)
    2. Second son (1596)
    3. Deposed Crown Prince Yi Ji (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 31 December 1598 – 22 July 1623), third son
    4. Fourth son (1605–1610)
  2. Royal Noble Consort Su of the Yangcheon Heo clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1595–1623)[a]
  3. Royal Consort Gwi-in of the Papyeong Yun clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1602 – 14 March 1623)
    1. Princess Hwain (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1619–1664), first daughter
  4. Royal Consort So-ui of the Pungsan Hong clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1584–1623)
  5. Royal Consort So-ui of the Andong Gwon clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1586–1624)
  6. Royal Consort Suk-ui of the Wonju Won clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1588–?)
  7. Royal Consort So-yong of the Dongnae Jeong clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1592–1623)
  8. Royal Consort So-yong of the Pungcheon Im clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1598–1628)
  9. Royal Consort So-won of the Yeongsan Shin clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1594–?)
  10. Royal Consort Suk-won of the Han clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1585–?)
  11. Court Lady Kim (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1584–1623)
  12. Court Lady Yi (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1585–?)
  13. Court Lady Choe (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1585–?)
  14. Court Lady Jo of the Hanyang Jo clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1596–?)
  15. Court Lady Byeon of the Wonju Byeon clan (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.; 1585–?)
[edit | edit source]

Film and television

[edit | edit source]

Music

[edit | edit source]
  • Referenced in rapper Agust D's 2020 regnal march inspired Daechwita.[8][9] Both the song's lyrics and accompanying Lumpens music video draw further from the 2012 film Masquerade with Agust D portraying a scarred tyrant threatened by the arrival of his modern era doppelganger.[10][11]

Literature

[edit | edit source]
  • Gwanghae's Lover, a 2013 novel written by Euodia. Originally posted on web portal Naver, it is a love story about Gwanghae and a time traveling high school girl.[12]

See also

[edit | edit source]

Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.

Notes

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ Her personal name was Heo Jeong-sun (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.)

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  2. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (p252)
  3. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  4. ^ Schmid, Alban. The Institutional Power of Chosŏn Korea’s Queen Dowagers. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2024.
  5. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  6. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  7. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  8. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  9. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  10. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  11. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
  12. ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.

Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.

  • Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.

Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.

Retrieved from "http://70.231.62.181/index.php?title=Gwanghaegun_of_Joseon&oldid=492772"