This is the royal tomb of Queen Sindeok , from the Gang family. She was the second lawful wife of the founder King Taejo of the Joseon Dynasty. Following the custom of Goryeo, King Taejo, Yi Seonggye, had two wives: one married at the hometown and the other married at the capital city . Queen Sindeok from the Gang family was the wife married in the capital city. She was installed as Hyeonbi when the Joseon Dynasty was founded. When Hyeonbi, whom he loved very much, died suddenly, King Taejo chose a site for her royal tomb inside the capital city. He even decided on a place for his own grave mound, the Sureung, on the right side of the Hyeonbi’s mound, and named it the Jeongneung (the place where the current British Embassy is located). The present Junggu, Jeongdong, was originated from the first title of royal tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, the Jeongneung. The well-constructed Jeongneung came to be treated coldly when King Taejong, the 5th son of Queen Sinui (the lawful wife of King Taejo), ascended the throne. King Taejong permitted the building of a residential town up to 100 steps from the tomb area, allowing families in power build a mansion by cutting the trees in the forest of the Jeongneung. When the Gwangtong Bridge (the current Gwanggyo Bridge) was washed away by a flood, he used the Byeongpungseok, a long, wide and square-shaped stone to protect the tomb at the back like a folding screen) to restore the stone bridge, and other woods and stones to build the Taepyeonggwan, lodgings for the Chinese envoys in the Joseon Dynasty). After the death of King Taejo, the tomb of Queen Sindeok was moved to Yangju , Saeulhallok , the current place of the Jeongneung. The ancestral tablet of Queen Sinui was placed with that of King Taejo in the ancestral shrine of the royal family and she was treated as his only lawful wife. And Queen Sindeok was demoted to a royal concubine. As the Jeongneung was not placed in the ancestral shrine of the royal family, it was left as a nameless tomb for several hundred years rather than being treated as a tomb of a queen. It was restored in 1669 (the 10th year of King Hyeonjong) for the first time in 260 years. On the first day when she was placed in the ancestral shrine of the royal family with her eulogistic title of Queen Sindeok recovered, the rain poured down in the entire area of the Jeongneung. This rain was called the Sewonjiu , a rain to ease Queen’s ill feeling).
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 06:26:33 +0000
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