CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Muryeong of Baekje

king of Baekje (501–523)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ497878
Source-derived summary

Muryeong (461/462–523) was the 25th king of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, reigning from 501 to 523. During his reign, Baekje remained allied with Silla against Goguryeo, and expanded its relationships with China and Japan. According to Samguk sagi, he was 8 cheok tall, kind and generous, whom people followed naturally.

Background

The Tomb of King Muryeong calls him King Sama (斯麻), and records his birth year as 462. Mur is king surname and Yeong is personal name.

The Samguk sagi calls him King Muryeong, with the personal name (휘) of Sama (斯摩). He is described as the second son of the 24th king Dongseong, though the Nihonshoki pertains that he was the son of Prince Gonji (곤지), and thus Dongseong's half brother. He became king when Dongseong was assassinated by the court official Baek Ga. The following year, he crushed a planned rebellion by Baek Ga.

Other records

China's Liang shu gives his surname as Yeo and personal name as Yung, and states that he restored Baekje into a strong nation.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Muryeong of Baekje” as king of Baekje (501–523). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current 175-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 0462. The account is most persuasive where Muryeong, Baekje and king can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as king of Baekje (501–523). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q497878. VIAF identifies the subject as 103640960. The Library of Congress control number is nr93046116. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Muryeong of Baekje”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Muryeong of Baekje primary sources, Muryeong of Baekje archive and Muryeong research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Muryeong of Baekje”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Muryeong of Baekje” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.