Queen Hyosun

Queen Hyosun of the Pungyang Jo Clan (1716–1751) was crown princess of Joseon for one year before the death of her husband Crown Prince Hyojang. She was never known by the title queen during her lifetime.[1] Both Hyosun and her husband were posthumously made the adopted parents of the future King Jeongjo in an attempt to distance the boy from the crimes of his birth father.[2]

Queen Hyosun 효순왕후
Crown Princess of Joseon
Tenure	1727–1728
Predecessor	Princess Consort Seo
Successor	Princess Consort Hyegyeong
Born	8 January 1716 Kingdom of Joseon
Died	30 December 1751 (1751-12-31) (aged 35) Changgyeonggung, Kingdom of Joseon
Spouse	Crown Prince Hyojang
Posthumous name 효순현빈→효순왕후→효순소황후 孝純賢嬪→孝純王后→孝純昭皇后
House	Pungyang Jo
Father	Jo Munmyeong
Mother	Lady Wanghungbu of the Yi clan of Jeonju

Queen Hyosun
Hangul	효순왕후
Hanja	孝純王后
Revised Romanization	Hyosun wanghu
McCune–Reischauer	Hyosun wangu

Biography

Hyosun was the daughter of Jo Munmyeong, a government official aligned with the Soron faction,[3] and his second wife, who was from the Yi clan of Jeonju. She married Crown Prince Hyojang in 1727 when she was 9, on which occasion her father-in-law, King Yeongjo, gifted her a book of instructions that he had written.[4]

Hyosun's husband died of an unknown illness in 1928 when she was 12 years old.[4] She remained in the palace and reportedly developed a good relationship with the wife of the new crown prince, Lady Hyegyeong.[5]

Hyosun died in the winter of 1751. King Yeongjo was reportedly deeply saddened by her death and led the mourning rites.[6]

Posthumous treatment

Hyosun was initially granted the posthumous title of Lady Hyosun Hyeon (Hangul: 효순현빈) and venerated in the same temple as her deceased husband.[7] Her brother-in-law, Crown Prince Sado, was killed in 1762, and Yeongjo issued a decree that made Hyosun and Hyojang the adoptive parents of Sado's eldest son, in a move seen as an attempt to preserve the boy's legitimacy as an heir.[2] On King Jeongjo's succession, Hyosun thus received the posthumous title of Queen Hyosun (Hangul: 효순왕후).[8]

Queen Hyosun was granted the title of Empress Hyosun (Hangul: 효순소황후) in 1908 when Emperor Sunjon succeeded to the throne.[9]

Family

• Father: Jo Munmyeong (1680–1732) (조문명)
  • Grandfather: Jo Insu (1648–1692) (조인수)
  • Grandmother: Lady Jeonggyeong of the Gwangsan Kim clan (1649–1722) (정경부인 광산 김씨)
• Mother: Lady Wanghungbu of the Jeonju Yi clan (d.1734) (완흥부부인 전주 이씨)
  • Grandfather: Yi Sangbek (1648–1721) (이상백)
  • Grandmother: Lady of the Goryeong Shin clan (고령 신씨)
• Husband: Crown Prince Hyojang 15 February 1719–16 November 1728) (효장세자)
  • Adopted son: Jeongjo of Joseon (28 October 1752–18 August 1800)

References

Notes

1. Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty: Yeongjo, Vol. 40, Day 16, Month 3, Year 11 (1735)
2. Kim Haboush (2013), p. 18.
3. Kim Haboush (2013), p. 349.
4. Kim Haboush (2013), p. 64.
5. Kim Haboush (2013), p. 73.
6. Kim Haboush (2013), p. 279.
7. Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty: Yeongjo, Vol. 75, Day 22, Month 1, Year 28 (1752)
8. Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty: Jeongjo, Vol. 1, Day 19, Month 3, First Year (1776)
9. Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty: Sunjon, Vol. 2, Day 11, Month 5, Year 1 (1908)

Works

• Kim Haboush, JaHyun (2013). The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea (2 ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20055-5.