Min Yu-jung (閔維重, November 13, 1630 – June 29, 1687) was a civil official, royal in-law, and politician of the mid-to-late Joseon period who served in positions including Magistrate of Hanseong. He was the father of Queen Inhyeon, that is, the father-in-law of King Sukjong. He was the sixth-generation ancestor of Queen Myeongseong and Yeoheung Bu Daebudaein Min. He was the son of Min Gwang-hun, Vice Minister of the Board of Revenue, and the younger brother of Min Si-jung and Min Jeong-jung. He became a Jongmyo배향 merit subject by being enshrined in the shrine of King Hyojong at Jongmyo.
In terms of factional affiliation, he was of the Noron faction of the Westerners (西人).
생애
Min Yu-jung was born to Min Gwang-hun, a governor, and his wife Lady Yi. His grandfather was Min Gi (閔機), Right State Councilor during the reign of King Seonjo, and his mother was Lady Yeon'an Yi, daughter of Yi Gwang-jeong. Through his mother Lady Yeon'an Yi, he became a relative of Hong U-won of the Cheongnam faction of the Southerners and Heo Jeok of the Taknam faction of the Southerners. Heo Jeok was a nephew of Lady Yangcheon Heo, the maternal grandmother of Lady Yeon'an Yi, and Hong U-won was even closer: he was the husband of Lady Yeon'an Yi's younger sister, making him a great-uncle by marriage to Min Yu-jung. However, these relations became somewhat strained following the Ye Song Controversy.
His elder brothers were the scholar Min Si-jung and the official Min Jeong-jung. In particular, Min Jeong-jung actively participated in court affairs, took the lead in reforming governmental abuses, promoting talented people, and eliminating corruption, and also drew Southerner figures into political life. However, following the Rites Controversy and the active support of some Southerners for Consort Hui Jang, these brothers and the Southerners became irreconcilable enemies.
Originally a disciple of Song Jun-gil of Dongchun Hall, he took Song Jun-gil's daughter, of the Eunjin Song clan, as a concubine wife, and thereby returned to the tutelage of Song Si-yeol, becoming Song Si-yeol's disciple. Thereafter he honored Song Jun-gil and Song Si-yeol as exemplars and supported their ritual theories.
In 1651 he passed the civil service examination of the Jeunggwang Sisi with 15th place in the third rank. In 1656 (the 7th year of King Hyojong) he served successively as Jeongeon, Sasa, Jipyeong, Heonnap, Bukyori, Ijo Jeongnang, Gyoli, Suchan, Bueungyo, Eungyo, Sagan, Jiui, and Byeongjo Jeongnang; in 1665 as Governor of Jeolla Province, Vice Minister of Personnel, Grand Remonstrator, Vice Chief Royal Secretary of the Right, Chief Royal Secretary of the Left, Grand Academician of the Royal Academy, Vice Director of the Office of Special Advisors, Vice Minister of Justice, Governor of Chungcheong Province, and Governor of Pyeongan Province; and in 1671 as Minister of Justice, Grand Censor-General, Minister of Revenue, Magistrate of Hanseong, and Vice Right Chancellor. His faction was the Westerners, and within them he belonged to the Sandang (山黨) faction centered on Song Si-yeol and Song Jun-gil. He attacked the Handang (漢黨) faction centered on Kim Yuk, and greatly quarreled with Kim Jwa-myeong and Kim U-myeong (brothers and fathers of Queen Myeongseong Kim), sons of Kim Yuk, and with Kim Seok-ju (son of Kim Jwa-myeong). Later, serving as Vice Right Chancellor and Left Chancellor, he concurrently held the posts of Right Tutor of the Crown Prince and Director of the Royal Lectures. However, in 1674, following the Second Rites Controversy, the Sandang led by Song Si-yeol fell from power, and soon after King Sukjong ascended the throne and replaced the ruling party with the Southerners. Indignant, he resigned his posts and lived in Chungju. Later, impeached by the Southerners, he was exiled to Heunghae (a town in present-day Yeongil County, North Gyeongsang Province). In 1680, with the Gyeongsin Reform, he was returned to office and, assisting his elder brother Min Jeong-jung—Song Si-yeol's closest aide and an ally of Kim Seok-ju—he took the lead in expelling the Southerners and became a power figure. During this process, when the Westerners split again into the Noron and Soron, he joined the Noron. Thereafter he served as Minister of Public Works and Minister of Revenue, then as Chief of the Royal Secretariat of Justice and Minister of War.
In 1681, while serving as Minister of War, his second daughter by his concubine wife of the Eunjin Song clan (Queen Inhyeon) was made the second consort of King Sukjong upon recommendation by Song Si-yeol and Kim Seok-ju. Thereupon he rose to the status of royal father-in-law, becoming Lord Yeoyang and Grand Minister of the Royal Relatives' Office. The following year he led the establishment of the Geumwiyeong (Forbidden Guard Command) and served as its commander. As royal in-law, he monopolized and controlled military and financial power, handled public affairs at will, and his relatives monopolized official posts, prompting a flood of critical memorials. Yun Jeung, the leader of the Soron, declined an official post bestowed by King Sukjong and openly criticized the power of the "Three Relatives" (三戚: Cheongpung Kim, Gwangsan Kim, and Yeoheung Min) as his reason. Eventually, even Yi Jing-myeong, of the same Noron faction, submitted a memorial criticizing the king's relatives for the successive disasters, saying, "The cause of the continued calamities is the rampant power of the in-law clan; the Queen (Consort, Queen Inhyeon) should be admonished (勉戒: to warn and awaken her)." Because Yi Jing-myeong was severely punished for the crime of defaming the royal consort, the Noron faction was greatly shaken.1 Indignant, Min Yu-jung requested an audience with his son-in-law King Sukjong and urged that Yi Jing-myeong and Yun Gyeong-gyo (of the Soron), who had insulted him, be severely punished; afterward he was no longer allowed to meet King Sukjong privately.2 Soon he gave up all his offices and secluded himself at home, and in the following year, on June 29, 1687,3 he died at the age of 58.4
After his death he was buried at Seorak-ri, Yeoju, and was posthumously granted the title Grand Minister of the Ministry of Personnel... Specifically, he was posthumously appointed Chief State Councilor (領議政) with the title Grand Master of Merit, Senior Grand Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. He was enshrined in the shrine of King Hyojong, at the Yeongok Seowon in Jangheung, and at the Gubong Seowon in Byeokdong. His posthumous name was Munjeong (文貞), and he was a Confucian scholar highly accomplished in the Confucian classics.
가족 관계
He was the father of Queen Inhyeon and the sixth- and seventh-generation ancestor of Queen Myeongseong and Queen Sunmyeong Hyo.5
- Grandfather: Min Gi (閔機)
- Father: Min Gwang-hun (閔光勳)
- Mother: Lady Yeon'an Yi, daughter of Yeonwon Bu Wongun Yi Gwang-jeong
- Elder brother: Min Jeong-jung (閔鼎重)
- Sister: Yeoheung Min clan
- Principal wife: Lady Haepung, Deokbu Yi clan (德水 李氏), Yi Hyo-a (granddaughter of Prince Sunhwa, daughter of Yi Gyeong-jeung)
- First concubine: Lady Eunseong, Eunjin Song clan (恩津 宋氏) — daughter of Dongchundang Song Jun-gil
- Eldest son: Min Jin-hu (閔鎭厚)
- Second son: Min Jin-won (閔鎭遠)
- Grandson: Min Chang-su (閔昌洙)
- Grandson: Min Hyeong-su (閔亨洙) — fifth-generation ancestor of Queen Sunmyeong Hyo
- Grandson: Min Tong-su (閔通洙)
- Eldest daughter: Yeoheung Min clan — married to Yi Man-chang
- Second daughter: Queen Inhyeon
- Third daughter: Yeoheung Min clan — married to Sin Seok-hwa
- Second concubine: Lady Pungchang, Pungyang Jo clan (豊壤 趙氏)
- Third son: Min Jin-yeong (閔鎭永)
- Fourth daughter: Yeoheung Min clan — married to Yi Jang-hwi
- Fifth daughter: Yeoheung Min clan — married to Hong U-jo
- Secondary wives
- Illegitimate son: Min Jin-chang (閔鎭昌, elder half-brother of Min Jin-yeong)
- Illegitimate son: Min Jin-o (閔鎭五, younger half-brother of Min Jin-yeong)
관련 작품
드라마
기타
Heo Jeok (許積), a moderate leader of the Southerners, was a maternal relative of Min Yu-jung on his mother's side, being a cousin of his maternal grandmother Lady Yangcheon Heo's family, and was a nephew of Lady Yangcheon Heo's family.
참고 자료
- Han Young-woo (October 20, 2001). Queen Myeongseong and the Korean Empire (First edition). Seoul: Hyohyung Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 89-86361-57-4.
각주