Lady Kim of the Eonyang Kim clan was a widow who became a concubine during the

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

dynasty, first serving King Chungnyeol and later his son, King Chungseon. She was known as Won-bi (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 원비,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 院妃; lit. ''Primary Consort'') during Chungnyeol's reign, and Suk-bi (

: 숙비,

: 淑妃; lit. ''Pure Consort'') during Chungseon's reign.

Biography

Early life and relatives

The future Lady Sukchang, who was an outstanding beauty during her lifetime, was born into the Eonyang Kim clan, as the seventh child of Kim Yang-gam and Lady Jeong, the great-granddaughter of Jeong Mun-cheong from the Jeongju Jeong clan. She had three older brothers (Kim Gwang-gye, Kim Gwang-yeon and Kim Mun-yeon, Prince Eonyang), three older sisters and one younger sister.

Marriage and palace life

First marriage

Lady Kim firstly married Choi Mun (최문, 崔文). However, they produced no children and he died early, making her a widow at a young age. But considering the social customs of that time, her widowhood wasn't a big problem.

Second marriage

After Crown Prince Won killed one of the consorts of King Chungnyeol, he gave Lady Kim to his father. In 1297, she was honoured with the title of ''Won-bi'' (원비, 院妃). She had no children with Chungnyeol.

Third marriage

After King Chungnyeol's death in 1308, Lady Kim formed a good relationship with King Chungseon, who frequently visited Kim Mun-yeon's house. She was given the title of ''Suk-bi'' (숙비, 淑妃). Kim Mun-yeon was elevated to ''Cheomuisirangchanseongsa'' (첨의시랑찬성사), an official of the second rank. While this happened, the inspector general,

U Tak U Tak (, 1262-1342), also known as Woo Tak, was a Korean Neo-Confucian scholar and philosopher during Korea’s Goryeo dynasty. He was also commonly known as ''Yeokdong Seonsaeng'' (). His pen names were Baekun and Danam, his courtesy names wer ...

, and some of the officials, disproved of the King of having a relationship with his late father's concubine, so they then went to the palace and raised the ''Jibusangso'' (지부상소, 持斧上疏) for the King to reconsider his actions. It was speculated that King Chungseon took Lady Kim as a wife by following the Mongolian custom, where it was acceptable for the son to take his father's concubines, except for his biological mother and his father's primary wife. The ''Goryeosa'', written by

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

Confucian scholars, criticized the conduct of the King in taking Lady Kim as his consort. Because Chungseon was greatly favoured by Yuan's

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, he asked her to gift Lady Kim a ''gogo'' (고고), a unique Mongolian headdress. It is said that after receiving the gift, Lady Kim held a banquet for the Mongol

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. To honour her mother, Lady Jeong, Suk-bi held a banquet attended by ministers. When she held another banquet at ''Eunjawon'' (은자원), the ministers participated again. The clothes she usually wore were no different from that of the Queen. She did not have a good relationship with the King's sixth consort, Heo Sun-bi, since Lady Heo had also received a ''gogo'' from Yuan.《고려사》권89〈열전〉권2 – 순비 허씨 During a banquet, the two women changed their outfits five times to show off their luxurious clothes and ''gogo''. In 1312 ( Chungseon's 4th year of reign), the King built a private house for Lady Kim in Samhyeon (삼현), and 13 years later, while the King's body was transferred from Yuan to

, his mortuary was also set up in Suk-bi's palace. There are no records left about the date of Lady Kim's death or the location of her tomb. She was posthumously honoured as Lady Sukchang, Royal Consort Won of the Eonyang Kim clan (

: 숙창원비 언양 김씨,

: 淑昌院妃彦陽金氏).

References

External links

Lady Sukchang
on ''

Encykorea The ''Encyclopedia of Korean Culture'' is a Korean language encyclopedia published by the Academy of Korean Studies and DongBang Media Co. The articles in the encyclopedia are aimed at readers who want to learn about Korean culture and history, ...

'' .
Lady Sukchang
on '' EToday News'' . {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Sukchang Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Royal consorts of the Goryeo Dynasty Consorts of Chungseon of Goryeo