Seongjong (Korean: 성종; Hanja: 成宗; 28 August 1457 – 29 January 1495), personal name Yi Hyeol (이혈; 李娎), was the ninth monarch of the Joseon dynastyofKorea. Before succeeding his uncle, King Yejong, he was known as Grand Prince Jalsan (잘산대군; 乽山大君).
Yi Hyeol was born as the second son of Crown Prince Yi Jang and Crown Princess Su of the Cheongju Han clan. His father however died few months after his birth.[2] In 1461, he was named Prince Jasan (자산군) which was changed to Prince Jalsan (잘산군) in 1468.[3]
Despite having an older brother and his uncle leaving behind a biological son, Jalsan was chosen as successor and was made the adopted son of King Yejong and his second wife, Queen Han (posthumously known as Queen Ansun).[2]
After he ascended to the throne, his biological father was honored with the temple name "Deokjong" (덕종; 德宗), while his mother became queen and was given the honorary name "Insu" (인수; 仁粹).
Since Seongjong was only 12 when he was crowned, his grandmother Grand Royal Queen Dowager Jaseong, ruled the nation along with his biological mother Queen Insu, and his aunt (and adoptive mother) Queen Dowager Inhye. In 1476, at the age of 19, he began to govern the country in his own name.[2]
After the death of his first wife in 1474, Seongjong decided to promote one of his concubines, Lady Yun, to the status of primary wife and queen. Lady Yun was later executed due to her attempts to poison other concubines and harm the King, and her execution would become a major reason behind the tyranny of Seongjong's successor, Yeonsangun of Joseon.
His reign was marked by the prosperity and growth of the economy, based on the laws laid down by Taejong, Sejong, and Sejo. He himself was a gifted ruler. In 1474, the Grand Code for State Administration, started by his grandfather, was completed and put into effect. Seongjong also ordered revisions and improvements to the code.
He greatly expanded the Office of Special Advisors (Hongmungwan; 홍문관, 弘文館), an advisory council to the king, which also served as royal library and research institute; he strengthened the Three Offices (Samsa; 삼사, 三司) – Office of the Inspector General (Saheonbu), Office of Censors (Saganwon) and Office of Special Advisors (Hongmungwan)– as a check and balance on the royal court. For the first time since Sejong the Great, Confucian scholars whose political views clashed with those of the conservative officials (members of the nobility who had helped Taejong and Sejo in their rise to power), were brought to court. By appointing able administrators regardless of their political views, Seongjong made his rule more effective and his policies resulted in many positive innovations, increasing his number of supporters. During Seongjong's reign, he also prohibited the construction of new monasteries and the ordination of new monks.[4]
Taesil (placental burial chamber) of King Seongjong
The king himself was an artist and intellectual, and liked to argue about the finer points of politics with the more liberal scholars. He encouraged the publication of numerous books about geography and social etiquette, as well as areas of knowledge that benefited the common people.
It was under Seongjong's reign that the "Widow Remarriage Ban" (1477) was enacted, which strengthened pre-existing social stigma against women who remarried by barring their sons from public office.[5] In 1489, Yi Gu-ji, a woman from the royal clan, committed suicide at his order and was erased from family records, when it was discovered that she had cohabited with her slave after being widowed.[6]
In 1491, Seongjong started a military campaign against the Jurchens on the northern border, like many of his predecessors. Led by General Heo Jong (허종; 許琮), the campaign was successful, and the defeated Jurchens commanded by Udige (兀狄哈) retreated to the north of Amrok River.
He died in January 1495 and is buried in the south of Seoul. The tomb is known as Seonneung (선릉) and 35 years later, his third wife, Queen Jeonghyeon, was also interred here. Seongjong was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Yi Yung.
^Uhn, Cho (1999). "The Invention of Chaste Motherhood: A Feminist Reading of the Remarriage Ban in the Chosun Era". Asian Journal of Women's Studies. 5 (3): 45–63. doi:10.1080/12259276.1999.11665854.. Issue Purchase: 30 days to view or download: EUR 127.00.
^ 성종실록 (成宗實錄) [Veritable Records of Seongjong] (in Korean and Literary Chinese). Vol. 226. 1499.
# denotes that the king was deposed and never received a temple name.
^Those who were listed were not reigning monarchs but posthumously recognized; the year following means the year of recognition.
^Only the crown princes that didn't become the king were listed; the former year indicates when one officially became the heir and the latter one is that when one died/deposed. Those who ascended to the throne were excluded in the list for simplification.
^The title given to the biological father, who never reigned, of the kings who were adopted as the heir to a precedent king.
^The de jure monarch of Korea during the era was the Emperor of Japan, while the former Korean emperors were given nobility title "King Yi" instead.
