Former Yan

Former Yan (前燕)
燕
←
 
←
337–370 →
Capital Jicheng (棘城) (337-341)
Longcheng (341-350)
Jicheng (薊城) (350-357)
Yecheng (357-370)
Government Monarchy
Emperor
 -  337-348 Murong Huang
 - 348-360 Murong Jun
 - 360-370 Murong Wei
History
 -  Murong Huang's claim of princely title 23 November 337[1][2] 337
 - Murong Jun's claim of imperial title 4 January 353[3][4]
 - Fall of Yecheng 11 December 370[5][6]
 -  Disestablished 370

The Former Yan (Chinese: 前燕; pinyin: Qiányàn; 337-370) was a state of Xianbei ethnicity during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China.

Initially, Murong Huang and his son Murong Jun claimed the Jin Dynasty (265-420)-created title "Prince of Yan," but subsequently, in 352, after seizing most of the former Later Zhao territory, Murong Jun would declare himself emperor, and after that point, the rulers of the Former Yan declared themselves "emperors".

History

In winter 342, the Xianbei of Former Yan, ruled by the Murong clan, attacked Goguryeo's capital, and destroying the capital Hwando and forcing its King Gogukwon to flee for a while. The Xianbei used the Goguryeo people for slave labor. Buyeo was also destroyed by the Xianbei in 346, the Korean peninsula also became subject to Xianbei migration.[7] The Xianbei enslaved 50,000 men and women from Goguryeo in addition to taking the queen mother and queen prisoner after the capital was seized during their 342 invasion of Goguryeo.[8]

Rulers of the Former Yan

Temple names Posthumous names Family names and given name Durations of reigns Era names and their according durations
Chinese convention: use family and given names
Taizu (太祖 Taìzǔ) Wenming (文明 Wénmíng) 慕容皝 Mùróng Huǎng 337-348 Yanwang (燕王 Yànwáng) 337-348
Liezong (烈宗 Lièzōng) Jingzhao (景昭 Jǐngzhāo) 慕容儁 Mùróng Jùn 348-360 Yanwang (燕王 Yànwáng) 348-353
Yuanxi (元璽 Yuánxǐ) 353-357
Guangshou (光壽 Guāngshoù) 357-360
Did not exist You (幽 Yōu) 慕容暐 Mùróng Wěi 360-370 Jianxi (建熙 Jiànxī) 360-370

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "兩千年中西曆轉換". Sinica.edu.tw. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
  2. ↑ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 95.
  3. ↑ "兩千年中西曆轉換". Sinica.edu.tw. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
  4. ↑ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 99.
  5. ↑ "兩千年中西曆轉換". Sinica.edu.tw. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
  6. ↑ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 102.
  7. ↑ Charles Roger Tennant (1996). A history of Korea (illustrated ed.). Kegan Paul International. p. 22. ISBN 0-7103-0532-X. Retrieved 2012 February ninth. Soon after, the Wei fell to the Jin and Koguryŏ grew stronger, until in 313 they finally succeeded in occupying Lelang and bringing to an end the 400 years of China's presence in the peninsula, a period sufficient to ensure that for the next 1,500 it would remain firmly within the sphere of its culture. After the fall of the Jin in 316, the proto-Mongol Xianbei occupied the North of China, of which the Murong clan took the Shandong area, moved up to the Liao, and in 341 sacked and burned the Koguryŏ capital at Hwando. They took away some thousands of prisoners to provive cheap labour to build more walls of their own, and in 346 went on to wreak even greater destruction on Puyŏ, hastening what seems to have been a continuing migration of its people into the north-eastern area of the peninsula, but Koguryŏ, though temporarily weakened, would soon Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  8. ↑ Chinul (1991). Buswell, Robert E., ed. Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen. Translated by Robert E. Buswell (abridged ed.). University of Hawaii Press. p. 4. ISBN 0824814274. Retrieved 22 April 2014.