Sukbin Choe


Sukbin Choe, of the Haeju Choe clan, is one of best known consorts of King Sukjong of Joseon and the biological mother of King Yeongjo.

Biography

Early life

Lady Choe was born on the sixth day of the eleventh lunar month in the eleventh year of the reign of King Hyeonjong, which translates to 17 December 1670 in the Gregorian calendar. She was the younger daughter of Choe Hyo-won and Lady Hong of the Namyang Hong clan. She had one elder brother, Choe Hu, who married Lady Ahn of the Sunheung Ahn clan, and one unnamed elder sister who married Seo Jeon.

Palace maid

Lady Choe entered the palace at the age of 7. She belonged to the cheonmin, which was the lowest class during the Joseon period. It is unknown how her first encounter with the King happened. The most accepted version is that she was a musuri during the time when Queen Inhyeon was exiled and Jang Ok-jeong had attained the status of queen. One night, Lady Choe was praying for the Deposed Queen's well-being when Sukjong, who was returning to the palace from a trip, overheard her and was moved by her words. The book Sumunrok authored by Yi Mun-jeong describes the events that led to the execution of Jang Ok-jeong. The author who lived during Sukjong's time, recorded the encounter as follows:

Royal consort

Lady Choe's status within the palace rose rapidly. In 1693, she became Sukjong's consort with the fourth junior rank of sugwon, after giving birth to a prince who died young. One year later, she was elevated to the second junior rank of sugui, after giving birth to another son, Yi Geum. In 1695, she was again elevated to the first junior rank of gwiin. In 1698, she gave birth to a stillborn prince. In 1699, she was promoted to the first senior rank of bin, with the adjective suk, meaning "pure/virtuous".
Lady Choe openly supported Queen Inhyeon and was against Jang Ok-jeong, whom history has described as an evil and cruel woman. By 1693, the King was growing disillusioned with Queen Jang and the Namin faction. In 1694, King Sukjong brought back Queen Inhyeon and demoted Jang Ok-jeong.
In 1701, Queen Inhyeon died of an unknown cause. Some historiographers believe she was poisoned, but this is unconfirmed. According to one version, Sukjong found Jang Ok-jeong in her room with a shaman, making merry over having caused the Queen's death through black magic. Another interpretation based on a vague passage of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty states that it was Lady Choe who told the King that sorcery had been used to try to bring harm to the Queen. Under the title "Queen's Will" it is written:
However, the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty recorded in 1701, state that Min Jin-won and Min Jin-hu, the deceased Queen Inhyeon's elder brothers, informed King Sukjong of Jang Ok-jeong's sorcery, claiming that in doing so they were in compliance with Queen Inhyeon's last request to them before dying. According to Min Jin-won, the rumor in the palace was that Jang Ok-jeong had been using a shaman to curse the Queen and she learned of these rumors.
Regardless of how the King learned of this, he decided to look into the matter and discovered the truth behind the rumors that Jang Ok-jeong had built a shamanist altar within her quarters, where effigies with the name of the Queen were found. Later, her ladies-in-waiting declared that she had ordered them to shoot arrows at a portrait of Queen Inhyeon three times at day, and had buried dead animals in her palace's garden. Despite the many pleas of the Soron faction to pardon her, the King felt her conduct was too wicked, and in 1701, he ordered that Jang Ok-jeong and all the others involved should die by poisoning. After sentencing her, King Sukjong passed a law forbidding royal consorts from becoming queen.
A misunderstanding exists that Lady Choe was next in line to become queen, but this has no basis. Two other consort from the yangban class, Gwiin Park, who gave birth to a prince in 1699, and Gwiin Kim, who was part of the same political faction as Lady Choe, were probably more suited for the position of queen. Lady Choe's low birth was an impediment to her becoming queen as Joseon was a Confucian society ruled by the class system. This clearly affected the life of her son, King Yeongjo, who was threatened at the start of his rule partially because of his mother's class. Later, when his rulership was firmly established, he considered it a personal insult if his mother's background was mentioned.

Later life

Between 1699 and 1702, Lady Choe was the principal benefactor of Gakhwangjeon Hall in Hwaeomsa Temple.
In 1703, Queen Inwon adopted Prince Yeoning, who was known to be her favorite and whom she regarded as her own son.
In 1704, the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty state that for Yeoning's marriage, the King ordered a very grand and expensive ceremony. The nobles complained about the big cost and excessive favoritism showed to the Prince, since he was not even the crown prince, but a concubine-born son.
The Annals state that later that same year, Sukjong gifted his winter retreat, Ihyeon Palace, to Lady Choe. The residence was later conferred to their son to consummate his marriage in 1711. It is said that it was a large and spacious complex located in the capital city.
In 1711, when Queen Inwon came down with smallpox, Lady Choe ordered the palace women to go out and look for remedies among the commoners to save the Queen, who in the end survived.
In 1716, Lady Choe was taken out of the palace while ill. Later that same year, Sukjong received a message from Yeoning informing him that his mother's health had worsened and asking for more medical help.
In 1717, Sukjong retired from politics and allowed his son, Crown Prince Yi Yun, to take over most of the affairs of the government.

Death

In 1718, Lady Choe died at the age of 47, in Ihyeon Palace. That same year, Sukjong declared the Crown Prince as regent.
On her memorial tablet, under the description of her character it is written:
Her tomb is located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is called Soryeongwon and was designated as Historical Site No. 358.
Sukjong died in 1720, supposedly after telling Yi Yi-myoung to name Prince Yeoning as Gyeongjong's heir.
When her son became king, he set up an altar near her grave, as a display of his deep filial piety. In addition to building memorial tablet halls on the four spots around her grave, he also erected gravestones, the contents of which were written by him in her memory.
Her memorial tablet was enshrined in Chilgung, the place which houses the memorial tablets of seven other royal consorts who gave birth to kings but didn't become queens themselves.
Lady Choe was given the posthumous name Hwagyeong. She was later elevated to Hwideok and to Ansun.

Controversy of rank

Her only surviving son was Prince Yeoning, who was known to be a child prodigy and became one of the greatest kings in Joseon's history. King Sukjong was very proud and his treatment of him tended towards the lavish. But because the Prince was the son of a low-born concubine, the officials who were born in noble houses and had noble wives maintained a condescending view of him and his biological mother, and were quick to lecture Sukjong on frugality and modesty, despite the King repeatedly ignoring them.
Although Yeongjo in his adulthood was very sensitive about the origins of his mother, one cannot deny the deep love he had for her. He wrote many poems and said in one of them:
Yeongjo fought the court to have Lady Choe recognized as his public mother, instead of being regarded as a "private parent" like the biological mothers of other kings who were never queens themselves. However, the officials were opposed to it as this meant they would have to honor her and give the King the right to visit her tomb often as part of royal rites.
During the time he was fighting this, there are two interesting accounts of his feelings about this situation. In 1739, the day before the scheduled visit to Lady Choe's tomb, dissatisfied with the protocols that the Ministry of Rites had drawn up, he censured two officials who were directly responsible for them. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty explains the measure:
On another occasion, the King was leaving her tomb for the palace. About to mount the palanquin, he instead summoned the Minister of Military Affairs, Kim Son-gung. Breaking into sobs, he said:
In the end, he got what he wanted and Lady Choe was recognized as his public mother.

Family

; Parents
  • Father: Choe Hyo-won
  • Mother: Lady Hong of the Namyang Hong clan, Madame of the First Rank
; Sibling
  • Elder sister: Lady Choe of the Haeju Choe clan
  • Elder brother: Choe Hu
; Husband
; Issue