Princess Noguk


Princess Supreme Noguk, also known as Queen Indeok and Queen Mother Indeok during her stepson, King U of Goryeo's reign. She was a Yuan dynasty imperial family member as the great-granddaughter of Darmabala, and a niece of Princess Joguk who became a Korean queen consort though her marriage with Gongmin of Goryeo as his primary wife. Her personal name was Borjigin Budashiri. She was the last Mongol to become queen consort of Goryeo.

Biography

The future Princess Noguk was born Budashiri, a member of the Yuan dynasty's ruling Borjigin clan and a great-great-great-granddaughter of Kublai Khan. Though her birth year is unknown, she is recorded as having married the reformist monarch Gongmin of Goryeo in the Yuan capital of Khanbaliq in 1349, after which she went to live in Goryeo.
Noguk's marriage followed a practice established by Kublai Khan, where female members of the Yuan imperial clan were married to Goryeo princes in order to maintain Yuan hegemony on the Korean peninsula. By contrast with earlier marriages between the Yuan and Goryeo dynasties, however, Budashiri's marriage to Gongmin was described as happy and after her arrival in Goryeo, the Yuan gave Budashiri title as Princess Seungui.
When King Gongmin restored Goryeo's independence, the Princess rejected her homeland, and by helping her husband she monopolized his love to her. Despite their close relationship, they were childless. Budashiri then became pregnant fifteen years after marriage, but died in 1365 from complications related to the childbirth.
After her death, King Gongmin was said to have been deeply saddened and became indifferent to politics with entrusted great tasks to a Buddhist monk, Pyeonjo, who was executed in 1371. King Gongmin was killed in his sleep by Hong Ryun, Choe Man-saeng, and others in 1374.

Legacy

King Gongmin began the construction of a tomb near Kaeseong after the queen's death. The queen was interred under the mound Jeongreung, and her husband was later buried under an accompanying mound known as Hyeonreung.
In 1367, she posthumously received the title "princess supreme" – typically accorded to aunts of emperors.
According to the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, the tenth king Yeonsan believed that Princess Noguk had looked similar to his mother, the deposed Queen Yun, so he collected the princess' portraits at government offices.

In popular culture

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