Post by ajk on Jun 11, 2023 21:03:14 GMT -5
Watched the first episode and was surprised by what a complicated situation we were tossed right into. That’s not a criticism, just the reality of it. So here’s some information that I dug up after watching the episode. Hopefully it helps give everybody a better understanding of what’s going on (or at least helps anyone else like me who doesn’t know the story well).
First, here’s a passage from the Wikipedia page for King Yeongjo. He’s the father of Prince Sado, who I assumed would be the main character, but it sounds like this version of the story will examine Yeongjo just as much if not more so. I’ve added some qualifiers in parentheses to help make things clearer.
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In 1720, King Sukjong (19th king of Joseon) died and Crown Prince Yi Yun, Sukjong's eldest son, ascended to the throne as King Gyeongjong (20th king), at the age of 33. Before he died in 1720, Sukjong supposedly told Yi I-myeong (a prominent scholar/official) to name Prince Yeoning (Gyeongjong’s younger half-brother, and the future King Yeongjo/21st king) as Gyeongjong's heir, but in the absence of a historiographer or scribe, no record exists. At this time, the Noron faction unsuccessfully tried to pressure the new king to step down in favor of his younger half-brother.
A few months after the Gyeongjong's enthronement, Prince Yeoning (future King Yeongjo) was installed as Crown Prince Brother. This aggravated the power struggle and led to a great massacre, namely the Shinim literati purge. The Noron sent petitions to the king to no effect while the opposing Soron faction used this to their advantage — claiming the Noron were trying to usurp power and subsequently getting their rival faction removed from several offices.
Members of the Soron faction then came up with a plan to assassinate Yeoning under the pretense of hunting for a white fox said to be haunting the palace, but he sought shelter with his adoptive mother, Queen Dowager Hyesun. Afterwards, he told the king that he would rather go and live as a commoner.
On 11 October 1724, King Gyeongjong died. The Soron accused Yeoning of being involved in his brother's death due to the earlier attempt of the Noron faction to have him placed on the throne. Many historians, however, now believe that he could have died from food poisoning caused by contaminated seafood, as he displayed symptoms of the illness. Homer Hulbert described this in his book The History of Korea, where he said, "…nothing that is told of that brother indicates that he would commit such an act, and in the second place a man who will eat shrimps in mid-summer, that have been brought 30 miles from the sea without ice might expect to die". On 16 October 1724, Prince Yeoning ascended the throne as King Yeongjo, the 21st ruler of Joseon.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeongjo_of_Joseon
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So this is basically the same kind of thing we’ve seen a lot of. Different factions lining up behind people who will give them power, and trying to outmaneuver each other. The assassination attempt, that’s what opens up the first episode.
Things get a bit more complicated with the women. To start with, it helps to know about King Sukjong’s (19th king’s) women. This comes from a mixture of Wikipedia pages and the New World Encyclopedia page about King Sukjong. There were a total of six women:
--Queen Ingyeong (personal name Kim Ok-hye), (1661 − 1680), of the Gwangsan Kim clan, was the wife and first queen consort of King Sukjong. She was queen consort of Joseon from 1674 until her death in 1680. She bore two children who died as infants and also had one miscarriage, and was never able to produce an heir. She died of smallpox.
--Queen Inhyeon (1667 - 1701), of the Yeoheung Min clan, was the second wife and queen consort of King Sukjong. She was Queen of Joseon from 1681 until her deposition in 1688 (political infighting got her kicked out of the position and replaced as queen by concubine Jang hui-bin). But she was reinstated in 1694 and stayed queen until her death in 1701. She is one of the best-known queens in Korean history and her life has been portrayed in many historical dramas.
--Queen Inwon (1687 –1757), of the Gyeongju Kim clan, was the third wife and fourth queen consort of King Sukjong. She was queen consort of Joseon from 1702 until her husband's death in 1720. She was honored as Queen Dowager Hyesun during the reign of her step-son King Gyeongjong, and later as Grand Queen Dowager Hyesun during the reign of her adoptive son, King Yeongjo.
As we start the story, Inwon is the only one left alive. She’s the older woman who saves the prince/future Yeongjo from assassination in the first scene. (She’s his adoptive mother, apparently because the prince’s mother wasn’t of appropriate lineage so he needed to be legitimized to inherit the throne.) And the important point here is that none of these three queens were able to bear a child. Along with the three queens there were three concubines:
--Royal Noble Consort Jang Huibin of the Indong Jang clan (1659 - 1701), (personal name Jang Ok-jeong) was a consort of King Sukjong and the mother of King Gyeongjong. She was the Queen of Joseon from 1689 until her deposition, in 1694. (Actually Episode 1 informed us that she was executed! For “cursing queen Inhyeon,” whatever that means.)
--Lady Choi (Sook-bin) - There are no records of her life before she became King Sukjong's concubine. She was a water maid in the palace. One night, she was praying in her chamber for Queen In-hyeon's health when King Sukjong, who was passing by after a trip outside of the palace, heard her and, moved by her kindness towards the queen towards whom he regretted being so harsh, made her his concubine. She became Sook-bin after the birth of a son (the future King Yeongjo) in 1694 and had two princesses.
Lady Park (Myeong-bin) - There are no known records about her except that she was a daughter of nobility (yangban). She had one son, Prince Yeun-rueng.
All of this matters just to understand the lineage. Jang Hui-bin produced the older brother, who became King Gyeongjong, and Lady Sook-bin produced the younger brother, who became King Yeongjo. Not positive but I’m guessing the only one of these six who we’ll actually see in the series is Queen Inwon.
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Okay and finally, King Yeongjo’s wives. This is where we get directly to Sado. Yeongjo had a total of seven women, but at this point in the story we need only focus on two.
--Queen Jeongseong (1693 –1757), of the Daegu Seo clan, was the first wife of King Yeongjo of Joseon and the adoptive mother of Crown Prince Sado.
--Lady Young-bin – Crown prince’s mother…Royal Noble Consort Yeongbin Yi of the Jeonui Yi clan (1696 —1764), was a concubine of King Yeongjo of Joseon and the mother of Crown Prince Sado. She is most well known for advising Yeongjo to execute their son, who suffered from serious mental illnesses. Of the 2 boys and 12 girls of Youngjo, 1 boy and 6 girls were hers. Three of the girls died and she now has Hwa-pyung, Hwa-yup, and Hwa-wan left. Hwa-wan was the young girl we saw in this episode, getting scolded for trying to sit next to Lady Hyegyeong.
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Sukjong_of_Joseon#:~:text=King%20Sukjong%20had%20three%20Queens,after%20reigning%20for%2046%20years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kind of a lot here but going through it all helped me understand way better what was going on in the first episode. If I’ve misstated or mis-edited anything here, somebody please do correct me and I’ll revise it ASAP.
First, here’s a passage from the Wikipedia page for King Yeongjo. He’s the father of Prince Sado, who I assumed would be the main character, but it sounds like this version of the story will examine Yeongjo just as much if not more so. I’ve added some qualifiers in parentheses to help make things clearer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1720, King Sukjong (19th king of Joseon) died and Crown Prince Yi Yun, Sukjong's eldest son, ascended to the throne as King Gyeongjong (20th king), at the age of 33. Before he died in 1720, Sukjong supposedly told Yi I-myeong (a prominent scholar/official) to name Prince Yeoning (Gyeongjong’s younger half-brother, and the future King Yeongjo/21st king) as Gyeongjong's heir, but in the absence of a historiographer or scribe, no record exists. At this time, the Noron faction unsuccessfully tried to pressure the new king to step down in favor of his younger half-brother.
A few months after the Gyeongjong's enthronement, Prince Yeoning (future King Yeongjo) was installed as Crown Prince Brother. This aggravated the power struggle and led to a great massacre, namely the Shinim literati purge. The Noron sent petitions to the king to no effect while the opposing Soron faction used this to their advantage — claiming the Noron were trying to usurp power and subsequently getting their rival faction removed from several offices.
Members of the Soron faction then came up with a plan to assassinate Yeoning under the pretense of hunting for a white fox said to be haunting the palace, but he sought shelter with his adoptive mother, Queen Dowager Hyesun. Afterwards, he told the king that he would rather go and live as a commoner.
On 11 October 1724, King Gyeongjong died. The Soron accused Yeoning of being involved in his brother's death due to the earlier attempt of the Noron faction to have him placed on the throne. Many historians, however, now believe that he could have died from food poisoning caused by contaminated seafood, as he displayed symptoms of the illness. Homer Hulbert described this in his book The History of Korea, where he said, "…nothing that is told of that brother indicates that he would commit such an act, and in the second place a man who will eat shrimps in mid-summer, that have been brought 30 miles from the sea without ice might expect to die". On 16 October 1724, Prince Yeoning ascended the throne as King Yeongjo, the 21st ruler of Joseon.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeongjo_of_Joseon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So this is basically the same kind of thing we’ve seen a lot of. Different factions lining up behind people who will give them power, and trying to outmaneuver each other. The assassination attempt, that’s what opens up the first episode.
Things get a bit more complicated with the women. To start with, it helps to know about King Sukjong’s (19th king’s) women. This comes from a mixture of Wikipedia pages and the New World Encyclopedia page about King Sukjong. There were a total of six women:
--Queen Ingyeong (personal name Kim Ok-hye), (1661 − 1680), of the Gwangsan Kim clan, was the wife and first queen consort of King Sukjong. She was queen consort of Joseon from 1674 until her death in 1680. She bore two children who died as infants and also had one miscarriage, and was never able to produce an heir. She died of smallpox.
--Queen Inhyeon (1667 - 1701), of the Yeoheung Min clan, was the second wife and queen consort of King Sukjong. She was Queen of Joseon from 1681 until her deposition in 1688 (political infighting got her kicked out of the position and replaced as queen by concubine Jang hui-bin). But she was reinstated in 1694 and stayed queen until her death in 1701. She is one of the best-known queens in Korean history and her life has been portrayed in many historical dramas.
--Queen Inwon (1687 –1757), of the Gyeongju Kim clan, was the third wife and fourth queen consort of King Sukjong. She was queen consort of Joseon from 1702 until her husband's death in 1720. She was honored as Queen Dowager Hyesun during the reign of her step-son King Gyeongjong, and later as Grand Queen Dowager Hyesun during the reign of her adoptive son, King Yeongjo.
As we start the story, Inwon is the only one left alive. She’s the older woman who saves the prince/future Yeongjo from assassination in the first scene. (She’s his adoptive mother, apparently because the prince’s mother wasn’t of appropriate lineage so he needed to be legitimized to inherit the throne.) And the important point here is that none of these three queens were able to bear a child. Along with the three queens there were three concubines:
--Royal Noble Consort Jang Huibin of the Indong Jang clan (1659 - 1701), (personal name Jang Ok-jeong) was a consort of King Sukjong and the mother of King Gyeongjong. She was the Queen of Joseon from 1689 until her deposition, in 1694. (Actually Episode 1 informed us that she was executed! For “cursing queen Inhyeon,” whatever that means.)
--Lady Choi (Sook-bin) - There are no records of her life before she became King Sukjong's concubine. She was a water maid in the palace. One night, she was praying in her chamber for Queen In-hyeon's health when King Sukjong, who was passing by after a trip outside of the palace, heard her and, moved by her kindness towards the queen towards whom he regretted being so harsh, made her his concubine. She became Sook-bin after the birth of a son (the future King Yeongjo) in 1694 and had two princesses.
Lady Park (Myeong-bin) - There are no known records about her except that she was a daughter of nobility (yangban). She had one son, Prince Yeun-rueng.
All of this matters just to understand the lineage. Jang Hui-bin produced the older brother, who became King Gyeongjong, and Lady Sook-bin produced the younger brother, who became King Yeongjo. Not positive but I’m guessing the only one of these six who we’ll actually see in the series is Queen Inwon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay and finally, King Yeongjo’s wives. This is where we get directly to Sado. Yeongjo had a total of seven women, but at this point in the story we need only focus on two.
--Queen Jeongseong (1693 –1757), of the Daegu Seo clan, was the first wife of King Yeongjo of Joseon and the adoptive mother of Crown Prince Sado.
--Lady Young-bin – Crown prince’s mother…Royal Noble Consort Yeongbin Yi of the Jeonui Yi clan (1696 —1764), was a concubine of King Yeongjo of Joseon and the mother of Crown Prince Sado. She is most well known for advising Yeongjo to execute their son, who suffered from serious mental illnesses. Of the 2 boys and 12 girls of Youngjo, 1 boy and 6 girls were hers. Three of the girls died and she now has Hwa-pyung, Hwa-yup, and Hwa-wan left. Hwa-wan was the young girl we saw in this episode, getting scolded for trying to sit next to Lady Hyegyeong.
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Sukjong_of_Joseon#:~:text=King%20Sukjong%20had%20three%20Queens,after%20reigning%20for%2046%20years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kind of a lot here but going through it all helped me understand way better what was going on in the first episode. If I’ve misstated or mis-edited anything here, somebody please do correct me and I’ll revise it ASAP.
