Yeongchangdaegun Tomb

Yeongchangdaegun Yi Ui (1606–1614) was the only son born to King Seonjo as a daegun, a prince born of a queen consort; his mother was Queen Inmok. Yeongchangdaegun was loved by King Seonjo, but Seonjo died while he was still a young child, and he was supported by figures of the Sobuk faction such as Yu Yeong-gyeong. King Gwanghaegun and Yi I-cheom, who resented them, brought about a prosecution known as the "Case of the Seven Sons of Concubines". This was a fabricated case (an unjust prosecution) in which many people were executed on the charge that Yu Yeong-gyeong and others had plotted to enthrone Yeongchangdaegun, and that Kim Je-nam, father of Queen Inmok, was also involved. As a result, Yeongchangdaegun was demoted to commoner status and placed under wirianchi, banishment enclosed within a thorn-bramble fence, on Ganghwado Island, where at the age of nine he was murdered by Jeong Hang, the prefect of Ganghwa. With the Injo Restoration of 1623, Yeongchangdaegun was restored to his former status and properly reburied. In modern times the burial mound has been fitted with retaining border stones, and set before it are a tomb-marker stele, a spirit-repose stone, an offering table and an incense-burner stone, flanked on either side by stone figures of child attendants and civil officials and by guardian stone pillars. The tomb-marker stele is in the isu-bangbu style, its capstone carved with a dragon and its base a square pedestal; the capstone bears a dragon carved front and back, each grasping a wish-fulfilling jewel. The offering table rests on drum-shaped stone supports below, and the square incense-burner stone is of a very distinctive form. The spirit-path stele beside the mound was erected in 1990. The stone furnishings of Yeongchangdaegun's tomb are outstanding works that stand as a benchmark for royal tomb sculpture of the early 17th century.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Anseong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물