Yuri of Silla
Encyclopedia
Yuri of Silla was the third king of Silla
Silla
Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the longest sustained dynasties in...

, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea
Three Kingdoms of Korea
The Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium...

. He is commonly called Yuri Isageum.

Name

As a descendent of Silla's founder Hyeokgeose, his surname was Park
Park (Korean name)
Park is a common and time-honoured Korean surname, founded by King Hyeokgeose. All Parks are descendants of him in principle except naturalized people...

.

His title was Isageum, also recorded as Ijilgeum or Chijilgeum. This title is a change from Geoseogan (the first king Hyeokgeose) and Chachaung (second king Namhae
Namhae of Silla
Namhae of Silla was the second king of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He is commonly called Namhae Chachaung, chachaung being an early Silla title.Namhae is the only king who is called Chachaung...

). The actual Silla word is thought to be Itgeum http://kdaq.empas.com/koreandb/history/kpeople/person_view.html?n=3904. Imgeum is the modern Korean word for "King".

Background

Yuri was the son of Silla's second ruler, Namhae
Namhae of Silla
Namhae of Silla was the second king of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He is commonly called Namhae Chachaung, chachaung being an early Silla title.Namhae is the only king who is called Chachaung...

, and his queen Lady Unje. It is unclear how many siblings Namhae had, but he did have a sister. This sister, Princess Ani, was married to a non-Sillan man named Talhae, who originated from an island nation called Tapana. Talhae became a very highly ranked official and Namhae seemed to prefer him as successor instead of his son. This is revealed on Namhae's deathbed, but Talhae insists that the prince's rise to the throne would be righteous and allowed Yuri to become the next ruler of Silla.

Reign

According to the Samguk Sagi
Samguk Sagi
Samguk Sagi is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The Samguk Sagi is written in Classical Chinese and its compilation was ordered by Goryeo's King Injong Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of...

, the principal source for events of this period, Yuri centralized rule over the aristocracy by turning the six tribes into six official administrative divisions of Silla. He is said to have granted surnames to each of the clans: Yi
Lee (Korean name)
Lee is the common English spelling of 이 , a common Korean family name. The proper pronunciation in South Korea is like the English letter "E", although in North Korea the name is still written as "리" and pronounced "Lee". Many times South Koreans will knowingly introduce themselves as "Lee" to...

, Choe, Son
Son (Korean name)
Son or Sohn or Shon is a common Korean family name. As of 2000, there are 415,182 people by this surname in South Korea.-origin:*Gui clan of Qi from Shun...

, Jeong, Bae, and Seol
Seol (Korean name)
Seol or Sul is a Korean family name, spelled 설 in hangul and 薛 in hanja.People who have this name include:* Seol Ki-Hyeon, South Korean-Soccer player* Sol Kyung-gu, South Korean-Actor...

. He is also said to have created 17 bureaucratic rank levels. However, modern scholars doubt that these occurred so early in Silla's development.

Silla was attacked by Lelang commandery
Lelang Commandery
Lelang was one of the Chinese commanderies which was established after the fall of Gojoseon in 108 BC until Goguryeo conquered it in 313. Lelang Commandery was located in the northern Korean peninsula with the administrative center near modern P'yongyang....

 and other tribes, but made peace with Maekguk (probably Dongye
Dongye
Dongye, which means the Eastern Ye, was a Korean chiefdom which occupied portions of the northeastern Korean peninsula from roughly 3rd-century BCE to around early 5th-century. It bordered Goguryeo and Okjeo to the north, Jinhan to the south, and China's Lelang Commandery to the west...

, present-day Chuncheon
Chuncheon
Chuncheon is the capital of Gangwon Province, South Korea. The city lies in the northeast of the country, located in a basin formed by the Soyang River and Han River. There are some large lakes around the city, most notably Lake Soyang and Lake Uiam...

). The Samguk Sagi records that Silla conquered Iseoguk (present-day Cheongdo), but this appears to be a mistaken recording of an Yurye
Yurye of Silla
Yurye of Silla , also known as Yuri or by his official title Yurye Isageum, was the fourteenth ruler of the Korean state of Silla. He was a Seok and the son of King Jobun, but his mother was a Park and a descendant of Bak Hyeokgeose.The Samguk Sagi relates that Yurye's mother conceived from...

-era event.

During Yuri's reign, the Silla people celebrated a holiday during the 15th day of the 8th month, where two teams of women would compete in a contest. The losers of the contest would have to prepare songpyeon
Songpyeon
Songpyeon is a traditional Korean food made of glutinous rice. It is a variation of tteok, consisting of small rice cakes traditionally eaten during the Korean autumn harvest festival, Chuseok. They have become a popular symbol of traditional Korean culture...

, rice cakes, meats, fruits, and other food, shared by everyone in a feast. This is said to have been the origin of the modern Korean holiday Chuseok
Chuseok
Chuseok , originally known as Hangawi , is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Like many other harvest festivals, it is held around the Autumn Equinox...

.

Also during Yuri Isageum's reign was the rise of the Gaya confederacy
Gaya confederacy
Gaya was a confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period.The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is 42–532 CE...

 as a military power in the region. Silla was under constant rivalry with Baekje already, but Gaya in the middle was even more of a direct threat.

Succession

Yuri Isageum had two sons, but his dying words were to make his brother-in-law, Seok Talhae, his successor to the throne. Yuri Isageum died in 57 AD after 34 years of reign.

See also

  • Three Kingdoms of Korea
    Three Kingdoms of Korea
    The Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium...

  • Rulers of Korea
  • List of Korea-related topics
  • Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea
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