光海君의 즉위 환경과 明의 존재

Abstract

Prince Gwanghae met the Imjin War in 1592 as he became the Crown Prince while being the second son of a concubine of his father, the King Seonjo. After that, he led war cabinet and toured Hamgyeong-do, Gangwon-do, Hwanghae-do, Pyeongan-do, and Jeolla-do, leading the war and playing a major role in pacifying public sentiment. Prince Gwanghae's popularity was bound to rise as his father Seonjo did not play a significant role in overcoming the war as he fled to Uiju at the beginning of the war. For this reason, the Ming military commanders at the time regarded Seonjo as incompetent and demanded his resignation. On the other hand, they praised prince Gwanghae's ability and emphasized that Prince Gwanghae should be crowned king, replacing Seonjo. Seonjo, who was in crisis, declared that he would resign himself. However, this was merely a false gesture to test the loyalty of his subordinates and a means to keep Prince Gwanghae in check. The Ming commanders praised the Prince, but the Ming government refused to recognize Prince Gwanghae as the crown prince because he was King Seonjo's second son. Under such circumstances, when King Seonjo remarried and Grand Prince Yeongchang was born, Gwanghae faced a major political crisis. The officials of the royal court of Choseon colluded with King Seonjo and plotted to have Grand Prince Yeongchang ascend to the throne instead of Prince Gwanghae. When King Seonjo died suddenly in 1608, Prince Gwanghae ascended to the throne. However, the Ming court still did not recognize him as king. In addition, they sent Yan-I kui and others as envoys under the pretext of investigating the legitimacy of Gwanghae as the new king. Liaodong's warlord Lee-Cheng liang also attempted to attack Choseon under the pretext that King Gwanghae's authority was not approved by the Ming dynasty. King Gwanghae, in crisis, provided huge amounts of silver to Yan-I kui and others to eliminate any further attempts to challenge his authority. And in 1609, he finally received an official investiture from the Ming dynasty as the new king of Choseon. The time when Prince Gwanghae became king was a time when the Ming dynasty's influence on Choseon had grown tremendously. This was because Choseon, who had been hit by the Imjin War, got out of the crisis with military aid from the Ming. However, after the Japanese invasion, the Ming dynasty showed a volatile attitude to Prince Gwanghae and tried to tame him. Because of this, Prince Gwanghae had both fear and antipathy towards Ming. It is in this background that King Gwanghae's differing attitudes in regards to Ming can be understood.