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Kyŏn Hwŏn (; 867 – 27 September 936, ruled from 892 – March 935) was the
king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
and founder of Later Baekje, one of the Later Three Kingdoms of Korea, and reigned from 892 to 935. Some records render his name as Chin Hwŏn (). He was also the progenitor of the Hwanggan Kyŏn clan. Substantial accounts of his life are preserved in the '' Samguk sagi'', which presents a single narrative, and the ''
Samguk yusa ''Samguk yusa'' (; ) or ''Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms'' is a collection of legends, folktales, and historical accounts relating to the Three Kingdoms of Korea (Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla), as well as to other periods and states before, d ...
'', which presents excerpts about him from various sources.Gyeon Hwŏn
at
Doosan Encyclopedia ''Doosan Encyclopedia'' () is a Korean-language encyclopedia published by Doosan Donga (). The encyclopedia is based on the ''Dong-A Color Encyclopedia'' (), which comprises 30 volumes and began to be published in 1982 by Dong-A Publishing (). ...
Gyeon Hwon
at Britannica Korea


Background

Records say that Kyŏn Hwŏn was born with the surname Yi, not Kyŏn. Most accounts agree that Kyŏn Hwŏn's father was
Ajagae Ajagae was a military and rebel leader in the Sangju area during the waning years of Unified Silla who led a local rebellion which seized Sangju and is remembered primarily as the father of Kyŏn Hwŏn, the founder and first king of Later Baekj ...
, a
farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...
and rebel leader surnamed Yi, and that he was born in what is today Gaeun-eup in Mungyeong, South Korea, as the oldest of six children. However, Kyŏn Hwŏn later changed his family name to Kyon. Some argue that he changed his surname to start afresh as the founder of the new state of Later Baekje. Kyŏn Hwŏn is considered the progenitor of the Hwanggan Kyŏn clan. His sons, Sin-gŏm, Yang-gŏm, Yong-gŏm and Kŭm-gang, used the surname Kyŏn (or Chin), not Yi. His mother was from the
Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...
area, but her exact identity is not known; Ajagae had two wives, Lady Sangwon and Lady Namwon, and Kyŏn Hwŏn was born to his first wife. Legends state that his mother was from Gwangju and gave birth to her firstborn son after having physical contact with a
worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...
disguised as a man, and that Kyŏn Hwŏn grew up drinking the milk of a
tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...
.Kyŏn Hwŏn
at Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
The
Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...
court of Queen Jinseong was heavily corrupt and embroiled with political confusion. Widespread famine ravaged the country, driving many of the people into rebel forces. Village headmen, and new military forces arose and created power bases all over the country. The government who had tried to implement a forceful taxation plan found itself in the face of rebellions led by bandits, local nobles, and rebel leaders. It was during this time that Kyŏn Hwŏn's father Ajagae led a local peasant revolt and set up base in
Sangju Sangju (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Although Sangju is rather rural, it is very old and was once a key city. Along with Gyeongju, it gives rise to half of the name of the Gye ...
.


Early life and founding of Later Baekje

Kyŏn Hwŏn is said to have left home at 15 to join the Silla army and became the commander of Silla forces in the
Jeolla Jeolla Province (, ) was one of the historical Eight Provinces of Korea during the Kingdom of Joseon in southwestern Korea. It consisted of the modern South Korean provinces of North Jeolla, South Jeolla and Gwangju Metropolitan City as wel ...
region. While his father grabbed power in the Sangju region, he independently marshalled local peasants to his cause, and soon gathered many followers. In 892, Kyŏn Hwŏn seized the cities of Wansanju and Mujinju, taking over the old territory of
Baekje Baekje or Paekche (; ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the h ...
and winning the support of the people in the area who were hostile to Silla. Kyŏn Hwŏn declared himself the king of Later Baekje and established his capital at Wansanju in 900. He established government, made diplomatic ties with Tang China, and continuously pursued the expansion of his kingdom amidst much conflict with Kung Ye of Later Goguryeo.


Reign

After crowning himself as ruler of Later Baekje, Kyŏn Hwŏn sent his army to present-day Hapcheon, southwest of the Silla capital
Gyeongju Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of ...
, but the campaign failed and the army retreated. Then in 910, when Wang Kŏn, the general of the rival kingdom of Majin, attacked and captured the city of Naju, the very city in which Kyŏn Hwŏn had started his rebellion, he made an attempt to retake the city from Wang but failed. In 918, Kung Ye, who had been maintaining his rule by acts of terror, was dethroned and murdered by his own army commanders. His general and chief minister Wang Kŏn was crowned as their new ruler, marking the beginning point of
Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...
.Taejo
at
Doosan Encyclopedia ''Doosan Encyclopedia'' () is a Korean-language encyclopedia published by Doosan Donga (). The encyclopedia is based on the ''Dong-A Color Encyclopedia'' (), which comprises 30 volumes and began to be published in 1982 by Dong-A Publishing (). ...
Kyŏn Hwŏn sent another major expedition to Hapcheon in 920 and finally succeeded in taking over the region, forcing King Gyeongmyeong into an alliance with Goryeo. Then he invaded the present-day
Andong Andong () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in South Korea, and the capital of North Gyeongsang Province. It is the largest city in the northern part of the province with a population of 167,821 as of October 2010. The Nakdong Ri ...
area, but his troops were defeated by local Silla guards. Kyŏn Hwŏn was forced to make peace with Goryeo after the battle, through a hostage exchange of royal family members. However, when his nephew Chin Ho died, he killed the Goryeo hostage Wang Shin, cousin of Wang Kon, and resumed war against Goryeo. In 927, Kyŏn Hwŏn led his army himself and directly attacked the Silla capital of Gyeongju. King Gyeongae was unprepared for this attack, and he chose suicide over capture by the invading army of Later Baekje. Kyŏn Hwŏn then established Kim Pu (who became King Gyeongsun) as the next Silla king. On his way back, he was met by the forces led by Wang Kŏn, and easily defeated the Goryeo army, killing many of Wang's notable generals and warriors, with Wang barely escaping through the daring self-sacrifice of his general Sin Sung-gyŏm and Kim Nak. One year later he took over the city of
Jinju Jinju (; ) is a city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It was the location of the first (1592) and second (1593) Sieges of Jinju by Japanese forces during the Imjin War. The Republic of Korea Air Force Education and Training Comman ...
from Silla.


Decline and fall

Later Baekje and Goryeo were in constant state of hostilities without one being completely dominant over the other. However, in 930, the Later Baekje troops faced a heavy defeat at the
Battle of Gochang A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...
(present-day
Andong Andong () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in South Korea, and the capital of North Gyeongsang Province. It is the largest city in the northern part of the province with a population of 167,821 as of October 2010. The Nakdong Ri ...
) and was unable to recover from the loss. Kyŏn Hwŏn attempted to reverse the current by sacking the Goryeo capital of Gaeseong, but his army suffered another defeat in 934. Not only was Later Baekje reeling from military defeats, the kingdom was in internal disarray. In 935, Kyŏn Hwŏn's eldest son Kyŏn Sin-gŏm, who had been slighted as heir to the throne in favor of his younger brother Kŭm-gang, overthrew Kyŏn Hwŏn with the aid of his brothers Yang-gŏm and Yong-gŏm. Sin-gŏm killed Kŭm-gang and confined Kyŏn Hwŏn to the temple Geumsansa, but Kyŏn Hwŏn escaped and fled to Goryeo and his old enemy Wang Kŏn, who welcomed him and provided him with land and slaves. King Gyeongsun of Silla formally surrendered to Goryeo in 935. The following year, at Kyŏn Hwŏn's request, he and Wang Kŏn led a massive Goryeo army to Later Baekje and the kingdom fell. Kyŏn Hwŏn died the same year of an inflamed tumor.


Diplomacy

Unlike his rival Kung Ye, Kyŏn Hwŏn was active in diplomacy; he was formally confirmed by the Chinese kingdoms of
Wuyue Wuyue (; ) was a Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic state of China and one of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period#Ten Kingdoms, Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of History of China, Chinese history. It wa ...
and Later Tang as the legitimate ruler of Later Baekje. In addition, he sought an alliance with the newly formed and rising Liao Dynasty in the north, which was founded by the Khitans, in order to surround Goryeo from both north and south, respectively. Kyŏn Hwŏn also sent envoys to Heian Japan during his reign for mainly commercial reasons; the Jeolla region, where Kyŏn Hwŏn began his kingdom, was the center of trade in East Asia during the period and had already served as the base for traders such as Chang Pogo. However, despite all of his diplomatic, military and trade abilities Kyŏn Hwŏn lacked the political astuteness to found a viable state; his Later Baekje government system was not very much different from the one of Silla, which had been proven to be ineffective in centralizing the power of the local landlords and merchants. In the end, Later Baekje was not able to exercise influence over many of its people, paving the way for Goryeo to incorporate the kingdom and unify the Korean peninsula.


Wives and children


According to the ''Samguk sagi''


Wives

: *Unnamed primary wife *Concubine: Lady Gobi ()


Children

: *1st son Kyŏn Sin-gŏm (885–936) *2nd son Kyŏn Yang-gŏm (; d. 936) *3rd son Kyŏn Yong-gŏm (; d. 936) *4th son Kyŏn Kŭm-gang (; d. 935) *8th son Kyŏn Nŭng-ye () *1st daughter Kyŏn Ae-bok


According to the ''Samguk yusa''


Wife

*Lady Sangwon of the Pak clan ()


Children

*1st son Chin Song () *2nd son Chin Kyom-noe () *3rd son Chin Yong-sul () *4th son Chin Ch'ong-chi () *5th son Chin Chong-u () *7th son Chin Wi-hung () *8th son Chin Ch'ong-gu () *1st daughter Lady Kuktae ()


See also

* Later Baekje * Kung Ye * Wang Kon * Later Three Kingdoms *
History of Korea The Lower Paleolithic era on the Korean Peninsula and in Manchuria began roughly half a million years ago. Christopher J. Norton, "The Current State of Korean Paleoanthropology", (2000), ''Journal of Human Evolution'', 38: 803–825. The earl ...


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyŏn, Hwŏn 860s births 936 deaths 10th-century Korean monarchs Later Baekje people Silla people People from Sangju People of the Later Three Kingdoms