Taebong
Taebong was a state established by
Gung Ye (궁예; "") on the
Korean peninsula in
901, during the
Later Three Kingdoms period.
Gung Ye was known as a bastard son of
King Heonan or of
King Gyeongmun. A soothsayer prophesied that the new-born baby would bring disaster to
Silla, so the King ordered his servants to kill him. However, his nurse hid Gung Ye and raised him secretly.
He joined
Yang Gil's rebellion force in 892. Silla, after nearly a millennium as a centralized kingdom, was quickly declining, and Gung Ye instigated his own rebellion in present-day
Kaesŏng in 898. He eventually defeated Yang Gil and other local lords in central Korea to proclaim himself king of Hu Goguryeo in 901. He changed the state's name to
Majin in 904, and eventually to
Taebong in 911 (see
#names). Taebong at its peak consisted of territory in the present-day provinces
Hwanghaebuk- and
-nam-do,
Gyeonggi-do,
Gangwon-do,
P'yŏngan-namdo and
Chungcheongbuk-do.
In his later days, Gung Ye proclaimed himself a Buddha and became a tyrant who sentenced death to anyone opposing him, including his own wife Kang. As a result, in 918 four of his own generals " Hong Yu (홍유; 洪'), Bae Hyeon-gyeong (배현경; 裵玄慶), Sin Sung-gyeom (신숭겸; "崇謙) and Bok Ji-gyeom (복지겸; 卜智謙) " overthrew Taebong and installed
Wang Geon as king. Soon thereafter, the
Goryeo dynasty was proclaimed.
Taebong influenced
Goryeo culturally.
Gung Ye was originally a
Buddhist monk. He encouraged
Buddhism and changed the manners of national ceremonies Buddhist, including the
Palgwanhoe ("관회; 八關會) and
Seokdeungnong (석"롱; 石燈籠). These changes survived the death of
Gung Ye and the fall of Taebong.
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List of Korea-related topics*
History of Korea
