Queen Jeonghui

Queen Jeonghui (Hangeul:정희왕후, Hanja:貞熹王后, Revised Romanization: Jeonghui Wanghu) (8 December 1418 – 6 May 1483) was Queen Consort to King Sejo of Joseon and the mother of Sejo's successor King Yejong of Joseon. Following her husband's death in 1468, she served as regent for her weak son from 1468 to 1469 and for her young grandson from 1469 to 1477. She was from the Papyeung Yun clan.

Biography

Queen Jeonghui was born on the eleventh day of the eleventh lunar month in the eighteenth year of King Taejo's reign. Her father Yun Beon (Hangul: 윤번, Hanja: 尹璠) (1384–1448) would later become Prime Minister. Her mother was Yun Beon's wife Lady Lee (Hangul: 이씨, Hanja: 李氏). She married the then-Grand Prince Suyang in 1428, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month in the tenth year of King Sejong's reign. She became Queen Consort upon her husband's accession to the throne in 1455.

Queen Jeonghui became regent when her son, Yejong of Joseon ascended to the throne in 1468, because he was physically ill. According to records of this era, political decisions were taken by the Queen and three subjects nominated by King Sejo.

In 1469, King Yejong died at the age of 20 and was succeeded by his nephew, Queen Jeonghui's grandson King Seongjong. As Seongjong was only 13 at the time of his accession, Queen Jeonghui ruled the nation in Seongjong's name along with her daughter-in-law, Seongjong's, Queen Insu (whose husband had never actually been king). During her regency, common farmers were granted the right to cultivate fields that had originally belonged to the military. In 1474, the code of law, first ordered by King Sejo, was completed and put into effect.

Queen Jeonghui's regency ended in 1477, when King Seongjong, now 20 years old, assumed the reins of government himself. She died in 1483, on the thirtieth day of the third month in the fourteenth year of King Seongjong's reign.

Issue

King Sejo and Queen Jeonghui had three, or possibly four, children:

• Yi Jang, Prince Successor Uigyeong (이장 의경세자 (1438 – 2 September 1457), titled as Prince Dowon (도원군) until his father's accession
• Princess Uisook (의숙공주) (1442–1477), married 11 June 1455 Jeong Hyeon-jo (정현조), son of Chief State Chancellor Jeong In-ji)
• Yi Hwang, Grand Prince Haeyang (이황 해양대군) (1450–1469), later King Yejong of Joseon
• Possible daughter, known through various names such as Yi Se-hui (이세희), Yi Se-jeong (이세정), Princess Uiryeong (의령공주), and Princess Uihwa (의화공주)

External links

• Korea Heads