Queen Seondeok of Silla

Infobox Korean name
rr=Seondeok wang
mr=Sŏndŏk wang
hangul=선덕왕
hanja=善德王

Seondeok (Sŏndŏk) reigned as Queen of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 632 to 647. She was Silla's twenty-seventh ruler, and its first reigning queen.

election as Heiress

Before she became queen, Seondeok was known as Princess Deokman. She was the eldest of King Jinpyeong's three daughters. The son of her sister Princess Ch'on-myong became a king in his own right while Seondeok's sister, Princess Seon-hwa (Sŏnwha) eventually married the King of Baekje and became mother of Uija.

Because he had no sons, Jinpyeong had selected Seondeok as his heir. The act was not unusual within Silla, as women of the period had already had a certain degree of influence as advisors, dowager queens, and regents. Throughout the kingdom, women were heads of families since matrilineal lines of descent existed alongside patrilineal ones. The Confucian model, which placed women in a subordinate position within the family, was not to have a major impact in Korea until the mid Joseon period in the fifteenth century. During the Silla kingdom, the status of women remained relatively high, but they were expected to do their duties and not try to do activities that were considered to be unwomanly.

Reign

In 634, Seondeok became the sole ruler of Silla, and ruled until 647. She was the first of three female rulers of the kingdom, and was immediately succeeded by her cousin Jindeok (Chindŏk), who ruled until 654.

Sondok's reign was a violent one; rebellions and fighting in the neighboring kingdom of Baekje filled her days. Yet, in her fourteen years as queen of Korea, her wit was to her advantage. She kept the kingdom together and extended its ties to China, sending scholars there to learn. Like Tang's Empress Wu Zetian, she was drawn to Buddhism and presided over the completion of Buddhist temples.

She built the "Tower of the Moon and Stars," or Cheomseongdae, considered the first observatory in the Far East. The tower still stands in the old Silla capital of Gyeongju, South Korea.

Legends

It is believed that Seondeok's selection as her father's successor were attributed to displays of perceptive intelligence in childhood. One such story entails that her father received a box of peony seeds from the emperor of China accompanied by a painting of what the flowers looked like. Looking at the picture, unmarried Seondeok remarked that while the flower was pretty it was too bad that it did not smell. "If it did, there would be butterflies and bees around the flower in the painting." Her observation about the peonies' lack of smell proved correct, one illustration among many of her intelligence, and thus ability to rule.

There are two other accounts of Seondeok's unusual ability to perceive events before their occurrence. In one account, it is said that Seondeok once heard a hoard of white frogs croaking by the Jade Gate pond in the winter. Seondeok interpreted this to indicate an impending attack from the Kingdom of Paekche (the croaking frogs were seen as angry soldiers) to the northwest (derived white symbolizing the west in astronomy) of Silla at the Woman's Valley (interpreted from the Jade Gate, a term related to women). When she sent her generals to the Woman's Valley, they were able to successfully capture two thousand Paekche soldiers. The second account involved the prediction of the exact day, almost to the minute, of her own death at 37 years of age.

ee also

* Three Kingdoms of Korea
* History of Korea
* Rulers of Korea
* List of Korea-related topics