Jungjong of Joseon
11th King of Joseon Dynasty in Korean history
Jungjong (Korean: 중종; Hanja: 中宗; 25 April 1488 – 9 December 1544), personal name Yi Yeok, was the 11th monarch of Joseon. The eighth surviving son of King Seongjong, he ascended to the throne upon the deposition of his eldest half-brother, the tyrannical Yeonsangun.
Biography
Rise to power
In September 1506, on the day Yeonsangun was deposed, soldiers belonging to the coup's leaders surrounded the house of Grand Prince Jinseong. He was about to commit suicide, thinking that his older half-brother was finally going to kill him, but after being dissuaded by his wife, Lady Shin (later known as Queen Dangyeong), Grand Prince Jinseong found himself becoming the eleventh king of Joseon, after the tenth king of Joseon, Yeonsangun of Joseon.
Cho Kwangjo's reforms
Jungjong worked hard to wipe out the remnants of Yeonsangun's era by reopening Sungkyunkwan (the royal university) and the Office of Censors (which criticizes inappropriate actions of the king). However, during the early days of his reign, the new king could not exert the royal power freely as those who put him on the throne held immense control over the country. When three of the main leaders of coup died of old age or natural causes in the next eight years, Jungjong began to assert his authority and carried out large-scale reforms with the help of Cho Kwangjo and other Sarim scholars, despite much opposition from conservative nobles who had participated in the 1506 rebellion.
Cho Kwangjo strengthened local autonomy by establishing a self-governing system called Hyangyak, promoted Confucian writings by translating them into hangul (Korean native script) and distributing them widely, pursued a land reform that would distribute land more equally between the rich and poor, and introduced a supplementary system to recruit talents for the government. He believed that any talented people, including slaves, should be appointed as officials regardless of social status. The Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty state that during his time as Inspector General (taesahŏn; 대사헌), he enforced the laws strictly so that no official dared to receive a bribe or exploit the local populace.
“Jungjong of Joseon” enters the record as 11th King of Joseon Dynasty in Korean history. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jungjong, Joseon and 11th can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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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 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q483008. VIAF identifies the subject as 267395881. The Library of Congress control number is n85077711. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1488, 1544 and 1506.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jungjong of Joseon” 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.