Hwanjo of Joseon (20 January 1315 – 3 June 1361), personal name Yi Ja-chun (

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 le ...

: 이자춘,

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, ...

: 李子春), Mongolian name Ulus Bukha (吾魯思不花), was a minor military officer of the

Yuan Empire The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

, who later transferred his allegiance to

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 unificat ...

. He was the father of

Yi Seong-gye Taejo of Joseon (4 November 1335 – 27 June 1408), born Yi Seong-gye (), was the founder and first ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. After ascending to the throne, he changed his name to Yi Dan (), and reigned from 1392 to 1398. He was ...

, the founder of the

Joseon Dynasty 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 r ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. He was given the

temple name Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of the Sinosphere for the purpose of ancestor worship. The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during the Shang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by other dyna ...

Hwanjo by his grandson, King Taejong.

Biography

Yi Ja-chun was a

mingghan Mingghan was a social-military unit of 1,000 households created by Genghis Khan. From this group could be recruited a Mongol regiment of 1,000 men. It is part of the ancient method of organization developed by the nomads of Central Asia based on the ...

(chief of one thousand) of the Yuan Dynasty in

Ssangseong Prefectures The Ssangseong Prefectures were administrative divisions of the Yuan dynasty established in 1258 in modern-day Kumya County, South Hamgyong Province, North Korea. It was founded as a base for conquest and domination of northern Goryeo territory ...

(雙城; present-day Kŭmya County, South Hamgyŏng Province,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

- territory which was then administered by the Mongol Empire as part of the terms of the vassaldom of

to the empire). After Ssangseong was annexed by Goryeo under

King Gongmin Gongmin of Goryeo (23 May 1330 – 27 October 1374), also known by his Mongolian name, Bayan Temür., was 31st ruler of Goryeo from 1351 to 1374. He was the second son of King Chungsuk. Biography Early life Goryeo had been a semi-autonomou ...

, he migrated to Hamju and got promoted to manho (the equivalent of the Mongolian tümen, lit. ''ten thousand'' or chief of ten thousand). He married a Goryeo-Korean lady from Anbyeon, who became

Queen Uihye Queen Uihye of the Yeongheung Choi clan () was the biological mother of Yi Seong-gye, the founder of the Joseon dynasty and the primary wife of his father, Yi Ja-chun. By her grandson, Taejong of Joseon's order, she then posthumously elevated her ...

, the mother of Yi Seong-gye. He died in Hamgyong in 1361. Since he was glamorized by his descendants, descriptions of Yi Ja-chun's life tend to be contradictory to each other. For example, he is said to have risen to the rank of scholar-official. However, when he died, the king at the time expressed condolences for Ja-chun as if for scholar-officials, implying that Yi Ja-chun was not a scholar-official.

Family

*Father: King Dojo of Joseon (? - 1342) (조선 도조) **Grandfather: King Ikjo of Joseon (조선 익조) **Grandmother: Queen Jeongsuk of the Yeongheung Choi clan (정숙왕후 최씨) *Mother: Queen Gyeongsun of the Munju Park clan (경순왕후 박씨) **Grandfather: Park Gwang (박광) *Consorts and their Respective Issue: **Lady Yi of the Hansan Yi clan (한산 이씨, 夫人李氏; d. 1333) ***1st son: Yi Won-gye, Grand Prince Wanpung (이원계 완풍대군, 李元桂, 完豊大君; 1330–1388) ***2nd son: Yi Cheon-gye, Grand Prince Yeongseong (이천계 영성대군, 李天桂; 1333–1392) ***1st daughter: Lady Yi (부인 이씨, 夫人李氏) – married Kang U (강우, 康祐) ** Queen Uihye of the Yeongheung Choe clan (의혜왕후 최씨) ***3rd son: Yi Seong-gye, King Taejo of Joseon (이성계 조선 태조, 李成桂; 1335–1408) ***2nd daughter:

Princess Jeonghwa Wang Doin, known by her title of Princess Jeonghwa, was the illegitimate daughter of Gangjong of Goryeo and the second wife of Choe Chung-heon. According to ''Goryeosa The ''Goryeosa'' (), or ''History of Goryeo'', is the main surviving hi ...

(정화공주, 貞和公主) – married Jo In-byeok, Internal Prince Yongwon (조인벽 용원부원군, 趙仁壁龍原府院君) ** Kim Go-eum-ga, Princess Jeongan (김고음가, 金古音加; 정안옹주, 定安翁主; d. 1404) – posthumously honoured as "Royal Noble Consort Jeong of the Kim clan" (정빈 김씨, 定嬪金氏). ***4th son: Yi Hwa, Grand Prince Uian (이화 의안대군, 李和義安大君; 1348–1408) **Unknown woman ***5th son: Yi Yeong (이영, 李英; d. 1394)

In popular culture

*Portrayed by Jeon Byung-ok in the 2005–2006 MBC TV series '' Shin Don''. *Portrayed by Jung Dong-gyu in the 2012 SBS TV series ''

Faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

''. * Portrayed by

Lee Soon-jae Lee Soon-jae (; born November 16, 1934) is a South Korean actor. He has had a prolific career on the small and big screen spanning over six decades, and was given a second-class Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit for his work as an actor. Early an ...

in the 2015–2016 SBS TV series ''

Six Flying Dragons ''Six Flying Dragons'' () is a South Korean television series starring Yoo Ah-in, Kim Myung-min, Shin Se-kyung, Byun Yo-han, Yoon Kyun-sang and Chun Ho-jin. It aired on SBS on Mondays and Tuesdays at 22:00 for 50 episodes beginning on October ...

''.

Biography

Family

In popular culture

References

See also