Taejo of Joseon

Taejo (* 1335, † 1408), born as Seong- gye I, was the founder of the Joseon Dynasty and the king of the Korean Joseon Kingdom from 1392 to 1398.

As a general during the Goryeo Dynasty, he fought against the Mongols and Wokou and thereby gained considerable influence. In 1388 he was commissioned, the behind the Yalu located Liaodong province (southern part of Liaoning, China) recapture of Goryeo, which had now fallen to the Chinese Ming Dynasty. However, because of the hopelessness of this project, he withdrew his troops and decided instead to overthrow the royal government.

1392 the last king of Goryeo was sent into exile and Taejo himself took over the throne. In 1394 he made Hanyang, today's Seoul, the capital of his kingdom instead of Kaesong. He normalized relations with Ming China, replacing Buddhism as the state religion by Confucianism. Because of power struggles between his sons he gave in 1398 on his throne and retired to a large extent by the state affairs back.

Family

1st Woman: Queen Sin -ui - Second son was Banggwa, later King Jeongjong - 5th son was Bangweon, later King Taejong

2nd wife: Queen Sindeok († 1396, buried in Jeongneung, GangBuk -gu ) had two sons and a daughter