Heungseon Daewongun
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 A portrait of Daewongun around 1869. |
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The Taewon'gun, or formally Heungseon Heonui Daewonwang also known to the western diplomats as Prince Kung, (1821–1898) was the title of Yi Ha-eung, who was the regent of Joseon during much of the later 19th century. Daewongun literally translates as "prince of the great court", a title customarily granted to the father of the reigning monarch when that father did not reign himself. While there had been three other Daewongun during the Joseon Dynasty, so dominant a place did Yi Ha-eung have in the history of the late Joseon dynasty that the term Daewongun usually refers specifically to him.
The Daewongun was the father of the penultimate Joseon monarch Gojong, and for many years during Gojong's minority, and even afterward, he effectively wielded royal power. During the mid 1860s he was the main proponent of isolationism and the instrument of the persecution of native and foreign Catholics, a policy that led directly to the French naval expedition against Korea in 1866. The early years of his rule also witnessed a large effort to restore the largely dilapidated Gyeongbok Palace, the seat of royal authority.
During his thirty year political life he was engaged in recurrent power struggles with Empress Myeongseong, the wife of the king. He had himself chosen her as the bride for his son, wrongfully anticipating she would remain a docile figure indulgent to his own political ambitions. She finally had him sent into exile in 1882, but he returned four years later and was able to briefly regain power in 1895 with Japanese aid.
In the capital he kept his own residence at Unhyeong Palace in central Seoul not far from the royal compound at Gyeongbok Palace. It can still be visited today.
In 1908, he was raised to the rank of Imperial Prince by his grandson, Emperor Sunjong, with the title of Heungseon Heonui Daewonwang.
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