Gyeongjong of Joseon

Gyeongjong
King of Joseon
Reign 12 July 1720 –11 October 1724
Predecessor Sukjong of Joseon
Successor Yeongjo of Joseon
Born (1688-11-20)20 November 1688
Changdeok Palace, Korea
Died 11 October 1724(1724-10-11) (aged 35)
Burial Uireung. Seokgwan-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul
Spouse Queen Danui,
Queen Seonui
House House of Yi
Father King Sukjong of Joseon
Mother Royal Noble Consort Hui of the Jang clan
Korean name
Hangul 경종
Hanja 景宗
Revised Romanization Gyeongjong
McCune–Reischauer Kyŏngjong
Birth name
Hangul 이윤
Hanja 李昀
Revised Romanization I Yun
McCune–Reischauer I Yun
Courtesy name
Hangul 휘서
Hanja 輝瑞
Revised Romanization Hwiseo
McCune–Reischauer Hwisŏ

Gyeongjong (20 November 1688 – 11 October 1724, reigned 1720–1724) was the 20th king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He was the son of King Sukjong by Royal Noble Consort Hui of the Jang clan.

Biography

In 1690, Gyeongjong's designation as heir to the throne precipitated a struggle between the Noron and the Soron political factions, which supported Gyeongjong of Joseon.

Following the death of King Sukjong in 1720, Royal Prince Successor Hwiso (Yi Yun, 이윤 왕세자) ascended the throne at age 33 as King Gyeongjong. When Sukjong died in 1720, he supposedly told Yi Yi-myoung to name Yeoning-geum as Kyungjong's heir, but suspicions arose between Soron, Noron enemies, from the absence of a histriographer or recorder.

Gyeongjong suffered from ill health during his reign, and the Noron political faction pressured Gyeongjong to step down in favor of his half-brother, Prince Yeoning. In 1720, two months after his enthronement, his half brother, Prince Yeoning (the future King Yeongjo) was installed as Royal Prince Successor Brother (wangseje, 왕세제, 王世弟) to handle state affairs, since the king weak health made impossible for him to manage politics.

[this part was missing]It is said that [end],[1] Gyeongjong's mother, Lady Jang, is to blame for his illnesses. She was sentenced to death by poison, in 1701. Following the ruling, Lady Jang begged to see her son, the Crown Prince (later Gyeongjong). As she dashed towards him to greet him, she inflicted a severe injury to the Crown Prince's lower abdomen that left him sterile and unable to produce an heir. Due to King Gyeongjong’s fragile health, he had no energy or time to do anything significant in the four years of his reign.[2]

This aggravated the power struggle and led to a big massacre, namely the Shinimsahwa (辛壬士禍).[3] The Norons sent memorials to the king to no effect while the Sorons used this to their advantage—claiming the Noron faction were trying to usurp power and subsequently getting their rival faction removed from several offices. Members of the Soron faction then came up with an idea to assassinate the heir (Yeoning-geum) under the cover of hunting for a white fox said to be haunting the palace, but Queen dowager Inwon protected him and he was able to keep living, after this he said to the king he rather would go and live as a commoner.

During his four years reign, there were two major incidents of massacre; one is Sinchuk-oksa in which the ruling political party, Soron, swept the opposition Noron, a group that insisted that Gyeongjong's half-brother, Prince Yeoning, handle national affairs on behalf of the weak and ailing king during the first year of Gyeongjongreign 1720 and the other one is Imin-oksa which took place in the 2nd year of his reign, circa 1722. History calls both incidents as Sinim-sahwa. During his reign, he made small guns in imitation of the western weapons and reformed the land measurement system in the southern parts of the country.[4]

King Gyeongjong died in 1724 and was entombed in the Cheonjangsan Mountain of Yangju. The title of the tomb was granted as the Uireung.

There was some speculation from Soron party members that his half-brother, Prince Yeoning, had something to do with his death due to the earlier attempt by the Noron faction to have him replace Gyeongjong on the throne, but several historiographers now conclude that he could have died of eating spoiled seafood, as described in Homer's book, The History of Korea.[5] “But we may well doubt the truth of the rumour, for nothing that is told of that brother indicates that he would commit such an act, and in the second place a man who will eat shrimps in mid-summer, that have been brought thirty miles from the sea without ice might expect to die.”[6]

After his death, the chronicles of Gyeongjong's rule were published in 1732 under the reign of Yeongjo's reign. A few of Gyeongjong's youthful calligraphic works have also survived:

Family

  • No issue
  • No issue

His full posthumous name

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.exploringkorea.com/uireung-tomb/
  2. ↑ http://www.exploringkorea.com/uireung-tomb/
  3. ↑ Royal Palaces and tomb http://jikimi.cha.go.kr/english/royal_palaces_new/Uireung.jsp?mc=EN_05_02_08
  4. ↑ Uireng, Royal tomb of Queen Seonui http://www.seongbuk.go.kr/pms/contents/contents.do?contseqn=508&sitecdv=S0000200&menucdv=04010600&decorator=user02En
  5. ↑ http://archive.org/stream/historyofkorea02hulbuoft#page/164/mode/2up
  6. ↑ Uireung - A Story of King Sukjong and King Gyeongjong http://samedi.livejournal.com/359996.html
  7. ↑ His consorts were entitled, at their respective marriages, as "Princess Consort to the Prince Successor" (세자빈) before being given the title "Queen" (왕후)
  8. ↑ Daughter of Shim Ho (심호)
  9. ↑ Daughter of Eo Yu-gu (어유구)
Gyeongjong of Joseon
Born: 1688 Died: 1724
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Sukjong		 King of Joseon
1720–1724 		Succeeded by
Yeongjo
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