Hyegong of Silla
Hyegong of Silla | |
Hangul | 혜공왕 |
---|---|
Hanja | 惠恭王 |
Revised Romanization | Hyegong Wang |
McCune–Reischauer | Hyegong Wang |
Birth name | |
Hangul | 김건운 |
Hanja | 金乾運 |
Revised Romanization | Gim Geon-un |
McCune–Reischauer | Kim Kŏnun |
Monarchs of Korea |
Silla |
---|
(Post-unification) |
|
Hyegong of Silla (758–780) (r. 765–780) was the 36th ruler of the Korean kingdom of Silla. Being the only child between King Gyeongdeok and Lady Manwol, Hyegong was the last descendant of King Muyeol to sit on the throne. Because of this, Hyegong's reign is often regarded as the end of the middle period of the Silla state.
Hyegong became king at the age of 8, and did not adapt well to the role. According to Samguk Sagi, Hyegong's dissolute life as a young monarch kept the palace in disarray. They faced rebellions led by high officials ( and others) in 768, 770 and 775. Faced in 780 with another rebellion led by his ichan Kim Ji-jeong, the monarch dispatched sangdaedeung Kim Yang-sang to put down the uprising, but the rebel forces managed to storm the palace and assassinated Hyegong and other royal family members. Kim Yang-sang, who was an eleventh-generation descendant of King Naemul, then took the throne as King Seondeok.[1]
Records show that Hyegong's behaviour was effeminate and showed either homosexual or bisexual tendency.[2] Records have traditionally described the monarch as "a man by appearance but a woman by nature". In Dongsa Gangmok, Ahn Jeong-bok described Hyegong's reign as "peculiar, for it was said that the king became a man as a woman, and for the king played with girl's toys as a child."[3] Today's historians often speculate that Hyegong was a trans woman.[4]
See also[]
- Unified Silla
- List of Korean monarchs
- List of Silla people
References[]
- ^ "혜공왕(惠恭王) - 한국민족문화대백과사전". encykorea.aks.ac.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2018-05-13.
- ^ 김, 부식. 삼국사기·삼국유사(이병도 역) (in Korean).
- ^ "한국고전종합DB". db.itkc.or.kr. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
- ^ "누가 혜공왕을 시해했을까". h21.hani.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-20.
- Silla rulers
- 780 deaths
- 8th-century monarchs in Asia
- 758 births
- LGBT people from Korea
- Medieval LGBT people
- LGBT royalty
- 8th-century Korean people
- Korean history stubs