Joseon - Part 5

-1450- King Munjong is enthroned.
   -Sickly, perhaps also broken mentally by the death of his father (King Sejong).
-1452- King Munjong dies, replaced by his son, King Danjong (age 11).
   -Only ruled in name, as the real power lay with 2 generals- Hwangbo In and Kim Jongseo.
   -Another problem for King Danjong was his uncle, Yi Yu (the future King Sejo), who was a charismatic leader, a powerful archer, and a Buddhist.  He also believed that the king should have all the power, contrary to the Confucian belief that a king should be a benevolent ruler who allocated governmental responsibilities to his courtiers.
-1453- possibly believing that the elite had too much power, Yi Yu uncovered an alleged plot by the 2 generals to take over the throne, so he organized a band of warriors to go to the house of Hwangbo In and killed him, then they went back to the palace to inform the king about what had happened.
   -King Danjong realized that Yi Yu was making a power grab, seeing through his ruse, but begged for his life.
      -Yi Yu let the king live, but used him to lure the other courtiers back to the palace, where they were ambushed and murdered (along with, eventually, their families).  This included the murder of Kim Jongseo.  Yi Yu also killed Kim Jongseo's younger brother, exiling him to Ganghwa Island and then poisoning him.
   -The rival courtiers executed, the Hall of Worthies brought under control, and the king's power completely neutered, Yi Yu sent King Danjong to another palace, from the main Gyeongbeok Palace to Changdeok Palace.
      -Yi Yu then rewarded all of his own flunkies with land and slaves.
-Eventually Yi Yu completely stripped King Danjong of his royal title, and then crowned himself as King Sejo!
   -He immediately consolidated power by demoting officials and centralized the six main ministries to be under his control.
   -King Sejo also sent out many officials as "governors" of provinces, but really this was just to get them out of Seoul.
      -Of course, during this time many plots to overthrow King Sejo began to form, but they never got off the ground and were always busted.
      -Many officials and their families were either killed or exiled.  As a final precaution, (King?) Danjong was stripped of all of his titles and exiled to Gangwon-do, but this still proved to be troublesome to King Sejo, so he finally just had him killed!
-As king, King Sejo reorganized the military and made it more professional, and also cut down on excesses in the court to make more money and cut overall waste.
   -Also tried to streamline the cumbersome legal code.
   -Also established a government bureau of medicine, and set up pharmacies.
   -Also set up a historical records system.
-During this time there were some clashes with the Jurchen as well, who were sometimes accompanied by allied Ming forces.
   -Sometimes the Ming dynasty felt that Joseon was getting too authoritative towards the Jurchen, and would attack Joseon in order to warn them to back off of Manchuria since China considered this region to be Chinese territory.
-1467- a rebellion broke out in Hamgyeong Province, but this was quickly quelled.
-1468- King Sejo dies, replaced by his son, King Yejong.
   -However, King Yejong was sickly and weak, so his mother, Queen Jeonghee, ruled in his stead.
-1469- King Yejong dies, replaced by his nephew, King Seongjong.