Queen Sindeok
Queen consort of Joseon (1356 - 1396)
Queen Sindeok (Korean: 신덕왕후; Hanja: 神德王后; 20 July 1356 – 23 September 1396), of the Goksan Kang clan, was the second wife of King Taejo, the founder of Joseon. Known as Queen Hyeon during her tenure, she was queen of Joseon from 1392 until her death in 1396. She served as Taejo's political advisor and had great influence in the founding of Joseon. Following the establishment of the Korean Empire, she was honored as Empress Sindeokgo.
Biography
Early life
The future Queen Sindeok was born during the reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo, as the younger daughter among four sons and two daughters. Her father was Kang Yun-seong and her mother was a lady from the Jinju Kang clan.
Lady Kang's uncle, Kang Yun-chung (강윤충), married a daughter of Grand Prince Wanchang, Yi Seong-gye's uncle. Through this relationship, she was able to come into contact with Yi Seong-gye and soon became his wife.
Marriage
According to legends, Yi Seong-gye's first meeting with Lady Kang happened as such: one day while hunting a tiger, Yi Seong-gye got thirsty and found a well, and there was a woman at the well. When Yi Seong-gye asked the woman to pour him some water, she poured water into a gourd and then floated a handful of willow leaves on top of the water.
“Queen Sindeok” enters the record as queen consort of Joseon (1356 - 1396). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Queen, Sindeok and consort can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Queen Sindeok” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Queen, Sindeok and consort provides the most credible route into that argument.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12604162. VIAF identifies the subject as 50643884. The Library of Congress control number is n85012232. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1356, 1396 and 1392.
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This entry incorporates text from “Queen Sindeok” 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.