January 31, 2013 <Back to Index>
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Taejo of Goryeo (January 31, 877 – July 4, 943) was the founder of the Goryeo Dynasty, which ruled Korea from the 10th to the 14th century. Taejo ruled from 918 to 943. Taejo Wang Geon was born in 877 and was a descendant of a merchant family at Songdo (present day Kaesŏng), who controlled trade on the Yeseong River. His father, Wang Ryung (왕륭, 王隆), gained much wealth from trade with China. His ancestors were known to have lived within ancient Goguryeo boundaries, thus making Wang Geon a man of Goguryeo by descent. Taejo began his career in the turbulent Later Three Kingdoms period (후삼국 시대; 後三國時代). In the later years of Silla, many local leaders and bandits rebelled against the rule of Queen Jinsung, who did not have strong leadership or policy to improve the condition of the people. Among those rebels, Gung Ye (궁예; 弓裔) of northwestern region and Gyeon Hwon (견훤; 甄萱) of southwest gained more power. They defeated and absorbed much of the other rebellion groups as their troops marched against local Silla officials and bandits. In 895, Gung Ye led his forces into the far northwestern part of Silla, where Songdo was located. Wang Yung, along with many other local clans, quickly surrendered to Gung Ye. Wang Geon followed his father into service under Gung Ye, the future leader of Taebong, and he began his service under Gungye's command. Wang Geon's ability as a military commander was soon recognized by Gung 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 of Later Baekje in Chungju area, gaining more fame and recognition from the king. In 903, he led a famous naval campaign against the southwestern coastline of Hubaekje, while Gyeon 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, Gung Ye, whose leadership helped in the foundation of the kingdom
but 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. In 918, four top-ranked generals of Taebong — Hong Yu (홍유; 洪儒), Bae Hyeongyeong (배현경; 裵玄慶), Shin Sung-gyeom (신숭겸; 申崇謙) and Bok Jigyeom (복지겸; 卜智謙) — met
secretly and agreed to overthrow Gungye's rule and crown Wang Geon as
their new king. Wang Geon first opposed the idea but later agreed to
their plan. The same year Gung Ye was overthrown and killed near the capital, Cheorwon.
When Gung Ye was assassinated in 918, the generals installed Wang Geon
as the new king of this short lived state. He was crowned king and
renamed the kingdom Goryeo, 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 called for the
reconquest of the northern parts of Korea and Manchuria, which were
controlled by Balhae.
Balhae's rule over vast regions of Manchuria and parts of Siberia were
overthrown by the Khitan invasion in 926, and the majority of its
people came to Goryeo as refugees led by Balhae's last Crown Prince Dae Gwang-hyeon. Taejo accepted them as his citizens, since Balhae and Goryeo came from common ancestry (Goguryeo), and captured the old, then abandoned, capital city of Goguryeo, P'yŏngyang.
He also sought an alliance and the cooperation of local clans rather
than trying to conquer and bring them under his direct control. In 927, Gyeon Hwon of Hubaekje led forces into Silla's capital, Gyeongju, capturing and executing its king, King Gyeongae.
Then he established King Gyeongsun as his puppet monarch before he
turned his army toward Goryeo. Hearing of the news, Taejo planned a
strike with 5000 cavalrymen to attack Gyeon's troops on the way back
home at Gongsan near Daegu. He met Hubaekje forces and suffered a disastrous defeat, losing most of his army including his generals Kim Nak and Shin Sunggyeom,
the very same man who crowned Wang as a king. However, Goryeo quickly
recovered from defeat and successfully defended Hubaekje'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 his daughter as one of his wives (Wang had six queens, and
many more wives as he married daughters of every single local leader).
It caused much disgust to Gyeon Hwon. Gyeon's father, who held his own
claim of Sangju region, also defected and surrendered to Goryeo and was received as the father of an emperor. In the same year, Gyeon Hwon's oldest son, Singeom (신검; 神劍),
led a coup with his brothers Yanggeom and Yonggeom, against their father,
who favored their half - brother, Geumgang, as his successor to the
throne. Gyeon Hwon was sent into exile and imprisoned in a Buddhist
temple (Geumsan Temple), 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 Singeom of Later Baekje.
Singeom fought against Taejo, but facing much disadvantage and inner
conflict, he surrendered to Taejo. Wang finally occupied Hubaekje
formally, and unified the nation for the first time since Gojoseon; 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 also Balhae,
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. The
unification of the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 CE was very important in
Korean history; the unification of 668 CE by Silla was only a
unification of approximately half of the peoples of the Korean 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 Geon'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 CE, when two, Unified Silla and Balhae,
emerged); the people of the Korean Peninsula thereafter remained under
a single, unified state (even when changing dynasties, to the Joseon Dynasty, in 1392 CE) until 1948, when Korea was divided into north and south by Russian and U.S occupation 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 Geon and his new
kingdom laid claim. As the first ruler to more fully unite the people
of the Korean Peninsula under a single state, many modern day Koreans look to his example for applicability to the current state of division on the Korean Peninsula.
During the Goryeo dynasty, 태자 or crown prince didn't mean heir to the throne. It was a kind of peerage title which was given to sons of emperor. 정윤 or Jung-yun was the title for heirs to the throne. |