Born: circa 606 CE
Died: 647 CE
Many expected ancient Korea’s first female sovereign to fail. The Chinese Tang Empire was of the opinion that enemies were simply emboldened by a female ruler, whilst a twelfth-century Confucian scholar remarked that it was lucky her kingdom wasn’t destroyed under her rule, as ‘according to heavenly principles, the yang [male] is hard while the yin [female] is soft’ (whatever that means). Well, this soft female seems to have done a pretty good job as Queen and, rather than destroying the kingdom of Silla over which she ruled, she may well have even contributed to its eventual triumph over the Korean peninsula.
Since the first century BCE, ancient Korea had been dominated by three kingdoms – Baekje, Goguryeo and Silla – which battled constantly for pre-eminence. Born in around 606 CE as Princess Deokman, Seondeok ascended the throne of Silla in 632, succeeding her father, King Jinpyeong, who had ruled the kingdom for fifty-three years. He had had no male heir and, as only those who were members of the ‘sacred bone class’ – the highest social level in Silla – could succeed the throne, Seondeok was duly crowned. High-born women may well have had relatively high status in ancient Korea during this period, and it wasn’t unknown for women to rule over small areas of the Silla kingdom, but this was the first time a woman had ruled as regent in her own right.
The History of the Three Kingdoms (The Samguk sagi) written by the abovementioned Confucian scholar, Gim Busik, relates that even before Seondeok’s reign, she had proven herself ‘generous, benevolent, wise and smart’ – ideal traits for any would-be queen, it would seem. And as befitting of a well-meaning sovereign, one of her first acts after ascending the throne was to organise a relief campaign to provide aid for poor commoners in the countryside. Seondeok also had to address the problem that her kingdom, whilst prosperous, was still facing constant attacks by its neighbours and had lost territory, particularly to Baekje. In the face of such a threat, she enlisted the help of two key officials, her nephew Gim Chunchu (future king of Silla) and renowned general Gim Yushin, thereby beginning the unification process which eventually resulted in Silla conquering the other two kingdoms in the 670s whilst deepening its relations with the Tang dynasty in China.
In 641 a Baekje attack on Silla led to the death of Gim Chunchu’s daughter. Seeking revenge, Chunchu asked Seondeok’s permission to approach the ruler of Goguryeo, King Yeongnyu, and request his assistance against Baekje. The Goguryeo king agreed to help but only on the condition that Silla return some of its territory, which Seondeok refused, and Chunchu was promptly imprisoned. In a bid to rescue him, Seondeok then mobilised a 10,000-strong army under General Gim Yushin. When King Yeongnyu discovered this, the threat of such a force heading to his kingdom was enough to prompt him to release Chunchu.
Two years later, following further attacks from Goguryeo and Baekje, Seondeok sent representatives to the Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty in China requesting his urgent assistance. Keen to benefit from the rivalry of the three kingdoms, Taizong was happy to oblige. The Emperor said he would first attack the Liaodong Peninsula between China and the Korean peninsula to divert the attention of the Goguryeo and at the same time carry out a naval campaign on the west coast to do the same with Baekje. He also offered to supply thousands of Tang army flags and uniforms so that Silla soldiers could disguise themselves as fearsome Chinese warriors. In addition, Taizong insisted on placing a Chinese prince as an interim ruler in Silla, which would put an end to the troubles in the kingdom – the implication being that the presence of a female ruler sends an open invitation to enemies to try their luck.
Not unsurprisingly, Seondeok refused this last request but diplomatically managed to secure Tang military assistance anyway – thereby laying down the foundations for a future alliance between Silla and China. The joint army they formed, however, would suffer defeat at the hands of the Goguryeo, as they would another three times over the next decade, and it wouldn’t be until the 660s, after Seondeok’s reign, that Silla would ultimately conquer the kingdoms of Baekje and Goguryeo.
Seondeok was more successful when it came to the domestic rule of Silla, centralising the rule of state further, and most notably supporting the spread of Buddhism. Rulers at this time found Buddhism a useful tool in consolidating their influence and endorsing the sovereign as ruler. The History of the Three Kingdoms relates that an especially large number of Buddhist temples were built during Seondeok’s reign. As most were wooden structures, they haven’t survived, but the remnants of one of Seondeok’s temples – Hwangnyong (‘Temple of the Illustrious Dragon’) – is visible in present-day Gyeongju. The Queen’s father began its construction but Seondeok added a nine-storey wooden pagoda, reported to be 80 metres tall, making it one of the highest structures in East Asia at the time and the tallest wooden structure in the world.
Seondeok seems to have elicited fierce loyalty amongst her people and she was worshipped almost as the reincarnation of Buddha. Stories also still abound in Korea of her mystical powers, in particular the prophecies she issued during her reign, all of which were said to have come true. One legend relates how, on hearing a chorus of white frogs suddenly appearing and croaking by the Jade Gate Pond at the Yeongmyosa Temple, Seondeok surmised that 500 Baekje enemy soldiers were hiding in a particular valley west of the capital, Gyeongui. As a result, she immediately ordered two generals to lead 2,000 of her best soldiers to the valley, where the Baekje army and their reinforcements were destroyed. When asked how she knew this, she reported that the frogs represented soldiers, white meant they came from the west, and the jade gate was a euphemism for female genitalia, so she knew they would be hiding in the ‘Woman’s Root Valley’.
Another surviving structure that bears witness to the cultural and technical advances made during Seondeok’s reign is the Cheomseongdae astronomical observatory of Gyeongju. This structure may have been part of a larger complex as the Silla capital of Gyeongju was already thriving as a scientific hub, particularly in the field of astronomy and astrology. Historical accounts point to it being built during the reign of Seondeok, and its twenty-seven layers of stone correlate with the Queen being the twenty-seventh monarch of Silla. With a window that captured the sun’s rays, it’s thought the observatory acted like a sundial, telling the time, setting the agricultural calendar and forecasting the weather; it would have formed a central place in the economic life of people. (Some even say its bottle-like shape represents the feminine form and thus could have been a temple dedicated to Seondeok, but the most favoured view is that it was an observatory.)
Seondeok never married or had children – possibly to avoid political conflict – and the two subsequent queens of Silla similarly remained unwed. Seondeok did apparently predict the exact date of her death: 17 January 647, and she chose as her successor her cousin, Kim Seung-man, named Jindeok, proving that the people of Silla were receptive to female rulers and that Seondeok’s reign must not have been quite so disastrous as others predicted. Far from it, at a time of war and violence, Seondeok held her kingdom together, advanced Buddhism and culture in Silla and paved the way for future queens, both in her successor and the ninth-century Jinseong, who would rule as Korea’s third and final female ruler. Zip forward over a thousand years and Seondeok’s story has been told in an immensely popular South Korean TV drama of the same name, her life even now immortalised on the small screen.
Born: circa 1166
Died: circa 1213
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