History of Joseon
The Joseon dynasty ruled Korea from 1392 to 1897.
The history of Joseon is largely divided into two parts: the early period and the late period; some divide it into three parts, including a middle period. The standard for dividing the early and the late periods is the Imjin War. The standard for dividing the early and the middle periods is the Jungjong coup, while the standard for dividing the middle and the late periods is the Imjin War or the Qing invasion.
The whole period of the Joseon dynasty through also to 1910 is included in the royal archives now part of the National Museum of the Annals of the Joseon dynasty at Pyeongchang opened in the autumn of 2023.
Rise to prominence
By the late 14th century, the 400-year-old Goryeo dynasty established by Wang Kŏn in 918 was tottering, its foundations collapsing from years of war and de facto occupation by the disintegrating Mongol Empire. The legitimacy of the royal family itself was also becoming an increasingly disputed issue within the court, as the ruling house was claimed to not only have failed to govern the kingdom effectively, but was also supposedly tarnished by generations of forced intermarriage with the Yuan dynasty and rivalries among its various branches, while King U's biological mother being a known slave led some to debate his descent from King Gongmin. Influential aristocrats, generals, and ministers struggled for royal favor and domination of the court, resulting in deep division among various factions. With the ever-increasing number of raids conducted by Japanese pirates and the invasions of the Red Turbans, those who came to dominate the royal court were the reform-minded Sinjin faction of the scholar-officials and the opposing Gwonmun faction of the old aristocratic families, as well as generals who could fight off the foreign threats: namely Yi Sŏng-gye and a former superior and rival, Ch'oe Yŏng.Following the struggle between the emerging Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuanzhang and the Mongol Yuan dynasty, Goryeo remained neutral with its monarchs attempting to maintain friendly diplomatic relations with both as the conflict remained inconclusive. The royal court in Goryeo split into two factions: the group led by General Yi and the camp led by General Ch'oe. When a Ming messenger came to Goryeo in 1388 to demand the return of a significant portion of Goryeo's northern territory, General Ch'oe seized the chance and argued for the invasion of the Liaodong Peninsula. A staunchly opposed Yi was chosen to lead the invasion; however, at Wihwa Island on the Yalu River, he revolted and traveled back to Gaegyeong. He proceeded to eliminate General Ch'oe and his followers and began a coup d'état, overthrowing King U in favor of his son, King Chang, in 1388. He later killed King U and his son after a failed restoration and forcibly placed a royal named Yo on the throne, who became King Gongyang. After indirectly enforcing his grasp on the royal court through the puppet king, Yi proceeded to ally himself with members of the Sinjin aristocracy, such as Chŏng To-jŏn and Cho Chun. One of his first acts as the de facto generalissimo of Goryeo was to pass the Gwajeon Law, which effectively confiscated land from the wealthy and generally conservative Gwonmun aristocrats and redistributed it among Yi's supporters in the Sinjin camp. In 1392, Yi's fifth son, Yi Pang-wŏn, after failing to persuade a noteworthy aristocrat named Chŏng Mong-ju, a supporter of the old dynasty, to swear allegiance to the new reign, had Chŏng Mong-ju killed by five assassins, including Jo Yeong-gyu, at Seonjuk Bridge near Gaegyeong, eliminating a key figure in the opposition to Yi Sŏng-gye's rule. That same year, Yi dethroned King Gongyang, exiled him to Wonju, and ascended the throne. The Goryeo dynasty had come to an end after almost 500 years of rule.
Elimination of the vestiges of Goryeo
In the beginning of his reign, Yi Sŏng-gye, now King Taejo, intended to continue using the name Goryeo for the country he ruled and simply change the royal line of descent to his own, thus maintaining the facade of continuing the 500-year-old Goryeo tradition. However, numerous threats of mutiny from the drastically weakened but still influential Gwonmun nobles—who continued to swear allegiance to the remnants of the Goryeo dynasty, now the demoted Wang clan—and the overall belief in the reformed court that a new dynastic title was needed to signify the change led him to declare a new dynasty in 1393. He called it the Kingdom of Great Joseon in an effort to revive an older dynasty by the same name. However, the new dynasty came to be referred to, even by historians today, simply by the name of its ruling house.With the declaration of the new royal house, concerns were voiced on how to handle the remaining descendants of the deposed Wang family. King Taejo and his officials felt that if the legitimacy of their rule were ever questioned by the remaining members of the Goryeo dynasty, they might have to suppress a mass rebellion or even risk losing the recently gained throne. In the end, Taejo had his prime minister, Chŏng Tojŏn, summon the Wang family to the coast of the Yellow Sea and instruct them to board a ship bound for Ganghwa Island, where they were told they would live quietly out of the government's sight. However, the entire ploy was a trap. A crew member on board was instructed beforehand to smash a hole in the hull as soon as the ship had entered sufficiently deep waters. The ship sank, and the members of the Goryeo dynasty akin to the recent Kings of Mongolian descent were drowned. According to an urban legend, after the fate became known of the Wangs gullible enough to board the doomed ship reached their relatives on the mainland, most of them changed their surnames from Wang to Ok by adding an extra brush stroke, thus hiding their true descent. Meanwhile, the female lines were spared and those who were of the Wang clan but distant enough to have no claim over the Goryeo throne were forced to change their surnames to that of their maternal side. Nonetheless, most Korean clans up to the time now have the lineage of Goryeo kings due to intermarriage.
Calls for a new capital followed the demise of those closest to the throne of the Goryeo dynasty. Although Gaegyeong had served well as the seat of government for over 400 years, it was a tradition for new dynasties in Korea to move their capitals, as this was considered fortuitous according to the Chinese feng shui philosophy of geomancy. Gaegyeong was also thought to have long since lost the energy required to maintain a permanent capital.
Three sites were officially considered for the new capital: the foot of Mount Gyeryong and the cities of Muak and Hanyang. The location near Mount Gyeryong was rejected because of its relatively rough terrain and lack of convenient communication. Muak was seriously considered before King Taejo decided that Hanyang was the most fitting candidate. Hanyang outranked its rivals in various respects. Not only was it easily accessible from sea and land, and geographically at the center of the Korean Peninsula, but the fertile Han River valley on which the ancient city was situated had historically been the most contested region among the Three Kingdoms of Korea. For centuries, Hanyang had also been said to be blessed, and Korean geomancers claimed that the city occupied a sacrosanct place flowing with geomantic energy. Furthermore, it had large mountains to the north and smaller mountains to the south for defense, with a large plain in between; thus, the city would fit the customary north–south axis. In 1394, Hanyang was declared the new capital and formally renamed Hanseong. That year, the foot of Mount Bugak was chosen for the foundation of the main palace. Development and construction of the city and its complicated system of avenues, gates, walls, civilian residences, educational facilities, government buildings, and five main palace complexes began in 1394 as well. The official royal residence, Gyeongbok Palace, was completed in 1395, while the less important Changdeok Palace was completed in 1405. Other royal palaces followed, and by the end of the first half of the 15th century, the capital had been completed.
Early strife
King Taejo had two wives, both of whom bore him sons. His first wife, Queen Sineui, who died before the overthrow of Goryeo, gave birth to six sons. Taejo's wife upon his ascension to the throne, Queen Sindeok, had two sons. When the new dynasty was established, Taejo brought up the issue of which son would be his successor. Although Taejo's fifth son by Queen Sineui, Yi Pang-wŏn, had contributed most to his father's rise to power, he harbored a profound hatred of two of his father's key allies in the court, Prime Minister Chŏng To-jŏn and Nam Eun. Both sides were fully aware of the mutual animosity and felt threatened. When it became clear that Yi Pang-wŏn was the most worthy successor to the throne, Chŏng used his influence on the king to convince him that the wisest choice would be the son whom Taejo loved most, not the son he felt was best for the kingdom. In 1392, the eighth son of King Taejo —Grand Prince Uian —was appointed Prince Royal, or successor to the throne. After the sudden death of the queen, and while King Taejo was still in mourning, Chŏng conspired to kill Yi Pang-wŏn and his brothers to secure his position in the court. In 1398, upon hearing of this plan, Yi Pang-wŏn immediately revolted and raided the palace, killing Chŏng, his followers, and the two sons of the late Queen Sindeok. This became known as the First Strife of Princes.Aghast at the fact that his sons were willing to kill one another for the crown, and psychologically exhausted from the death of his second wife, King Taejo immediately crowned his second son—Yi Pang-gwa, later King Jeongjong—as the new ruler. Soon after, he departed to the northern city of Hamhung.
One of King Jeongjong's first acts as monarch was to revert the capital to Kaesong, where he is believed to have been considerably more comfortable. Meanwhile, Yi Pang-wŏn, not discouraged by the fact that his elder brother held the throne, began plotting to be established as Royal Prince Successor, the traditional title for brothers appointed as heir presumptives to the throne when the incumbent had no issue. However, Yi Pang-wŏn's plans were opposed by Taejo's fourth son, Yi Pang-gan, who also yearned for power. In 1400, the tensions between Yi Pang-wŏn's faction and Yi Pang-gan's camp escalated into an all-out conflict that came to be known as the Second Strife of Princes. In the aftermath of the struggle, the defeated Yi Pang-gan was exiled to Tosan, while those who had urged him to battle Yi Pang-wŏn were executed. Thoroughly intimidated, King Jeongjong immediately invested Pang-wŏn as heir presumptive and voluntarily abdicated. That same year, Pang-wŏn finally assumed the throne of Joseon, becoming King Taejong. In 1401, the Joseon Dynasty was officially admitted into a tributary relationship with the Ming dynasty of China.
In the beginning of Taejong's reign, Taejo refused to relinquish the royal seal that signified the legitimacy of a king's rule. Uncomfortable at the fact that his father did not recognize him as a de jure ruler because of the family deaths he had caused, Taejong sent several messengers, among them his childhood friend Bak Sun, to recover the royal seal. However, Taejo assassinated every messenger that came into sight of his guards as a sign of his fury at Taejong, who remained unaware of their fates. This episode became known as the Case of the Hamhung Envoys, and the term "Hamhung envoy" is still used in the Korean language to refer to a person who has gone on an assignment and has not been heard from.