Royal Certificate of Meritorious Subject Issued to Yi Chung-won

The Wanyang Buwongun Yi Chung-won Hoseong Gongsin Gyoseo is the royal certificate that bestowed a citation and honours on Yi Chung-won in the tenth month of 1604, the thirty-seventh year of King Seonjo. It is a scroll made by pasting several layers of thick mulberry paper onto silk, measuring 230 cm in width and 36 cm in height, with a total length, including the blank sections at front and back, of 298.3 cm. Those who rendered great service in quelling the Japanese invasions of 1592–1598 were divided into two categories of merit: Hoseong and Seonmu. Officials who accompanied the king from Seoul to Uiju throughout the war were designated Hoseong Gongsin, meritorious subjects of royal attendance, while the generals who fought and defeated the Japanese forces, and the envoys who travelled to Ming China to request reinforcements and grain, were designated Seonmu Gongsin, meritorious subjects of military pacification. The certificate records, in order, an account of Yi Chung-won's achievements, the rewards and privileges granted to meritorious subjects, the list of meritorious subjects, and supporting documentation; Yi Chung-won is recorded twelfth among the second-rank subjects. This certificate is an important source not only for Yi Chung-won's personal biography but also for the study of the history of the Japanese invasions, and it is also highly valued for its artistic merit, being written in the calligraphy of Han Seok-bong, one of the four great calligraphers of the early Joseon period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seongnam, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물