Twice ToldSukjong Sillok, year 13, month 1, day 7: Yi Seon's memorial against Pak Sun's posthumous name
- Language
- Chinese
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 10 October 2026
In 1686 the court gave the posthumous name Chungmin to Pak Sun, the envoy killed in 1402. The next year the inspector-general Yi Seon wrote this memorial asking for the name to be taken back, and the Veritable Records of King Sukjong copy it whole. It is the only text we found that sets out, in one place and in order, what the court’s own records say about the second northern journey, and it names the descendants’ version it argues against. The National Institute of Korean History serves the text and the page images of the Taebaeksan print (the memorial begins at the foot of the first leaf and runs on to the second); we read it against the images. The print has no punctuation; the marks below are the Institute’s. Words for the Ancestor and the king (聖祖, 太宗) begin a new column in the print, as honorific style requires.
○大司憲李選上箚曰: 恭惟我聖祖。 於太宗辛巳春, 自楓岳幸安邊, 太宗起復成石璘, 詣行在起居, 石璘善爲開陳, 卽蒙聖祖回鑾。 明年仲冬, 聖祖又自澄波渡, 駕向北關, 次金城縣, 先遣從臣咸承復、裵尙忠等於前路, 致有安邊府使趙思義、永興判官金繾等, 發兵之事, 時上護軍朴淳, 實受命, 自京師至咸州, 敎諭監司及守令, 以勿從思義等, 遂被害於軍中, 而護軍宋琉, 亦到咸州, 踵死其後。 當是時, 京師戒嚴, 思義等兵, 轉向關西, 而聖祖駐思義軍中, 帥臣李天佑, 自京師來住古孟州, 與思義兵相遌, 僅以身免, 及聖祖出次安州, 思義兵夜驚潰散, 思義以數十騎, 走還安邊, 終見獲於官軍。 於是帥臣李天佑、李彬、崔雲海等, 陪衛聖祖, 由平壤還松都。 太宗出迎于金郊驛, 天佑等, 以扈駕功, 受賜馬之典, 而趙思義及他從臣十餘人, 皆伏嚴誅, 以此見之, 則朴淳有何回天之功, 其後孫所謂聖祖因淳言決意南還云者? 本非其時事實也。 大槪朴淳等受命入北, 竟不生還, 則可謂無負職責, 太宗宜其重加悼憐, 備擧恤典。 思義等之動兵震京師, 宜其次第用法, 以鎭人心, 而然自聖祖而言, 則其時陪從諸臣, 擧陷重辟, 其悼憐傷歎, 又何異太宗之於朴淳? 而至今終不得滌名丹書, 則朴淳之死於聖祖者, 其何可獨加追奬? 而今乃不察大體, 徒循後孫之願, 錫以美稱, 豈不大乖義理乎? 仍請收還贈謚之命。” 答曰: “箚辭如此, 當令依箚施行。”
Translation
The inspector-general Yi Seon submitted a memorial. It said: “I respectfully recall that in the spring of Taejong’s sinsa year [1401] our Sacred Ancestor went from Mount Pungak to Anbyeon. Taejong recalled Seong Seok-rin to office during his mourning period and sent him to the Ancestor’s lodging to ask after him. Seok-rin laid out the case skilfully, and the Ancestor at once turned his carriage back. The following midwinter the Ancestor again set out, by the Jeungpa ferry, toward Bukgwan, the Hamgyeong region, and halted at Geumseong county, sending his attendants Ham Seung-bok, Bae Sang-chung and others ahead on the road. This led to Cho Sa-ui, magistrate of Anbyeon, and Kim Gyeon, assistant magistrate of Yeongheung, and others raising troops. The senior guard general Pak Sun in fact received orders and went from the capital to Hamju. He told the governor and the magistrates not to follow Sa-ui and the rest, and was killed in the army. The guard officer Song Yu also came to Hamju, and died there after him. At that time the capital was under martial law and Sa-ui’s troops turned toward Gwanseo, the Pyeongan region west of the pass. The Ancestor was staying in Sa-ui’s army. The commander Yi Cheon-u came from the capital and was at old Maengju, met Sa-ui’s troops, and barely escaped with his life. When the Ancestor moved out and halted at Anju, Sa-ui’s troops were thrown into panic in the night and scattered. Sa-ui fled back to Anbyeon with a few dozen riders and was finally taken by the government army. Then the commanders Yi Cheon-u, Yi Bin, Choe Un-hae and others escorted the Ancestor by way of Pyongyang back to Songdo, and Taejong went out to meet him at Geumgyo station. Yi Cheon-u and the others were rewarded with horses for guarding the carriage, while Cho Sa-ui and more than ten other attendants were all executed in strict punishment.Seen this way, what achievement of turning the situation around did Pak Sun have? The descendants say that the Ancestor decided to return south because of Sun’s words. That was not the fact of the time. In sum, Pak Sun and the others took orders and went north and did not come back alive, so it can be said that they did not fail in their duty. It was fitting for Taejong to mourn and pity them deeply and grant the full customary honours and benefits. As for Sa-ui and the others who raised troops and shook the capital, it was right to apply the law in turn to calm people’s hearts. But from the Ancestor’s side, the attendants who accompanied him then all incurred capital sentences, and his mourning, pity, grief and lament for them can have been no different from Taejong’s for Pak Sun; yet to this day they have not been able to have their names cleared from the register of the condemned. How can Pak Sun, who died through the Ancestor, be singled out for praise after the fact? Now, without looking at the whole matter and simply following the descendants’ wish, to give him a fine title is a great offence against what is right. I ask that the order granting the posthumous name be taken back.” The king answered, “The memorial says so; it will be carried out as the memorial asks.”
Notes
- 李選 (Yi Seon) held the post of 大司憲 (daesaheon), head of the Office of the Inspector-General. 聖祖 (“Sacred Ancestor”) is Taejo, and 太宗 is Taejong, his son; the writer addresses a king two centuries later.
- 辛巳 is the sixty-year cycle name for 1401, Taejong’s first year. 明年仲冬 is “the following midwinter”, the eleventh month of 1402. 楓岳 is the Diamond Mountains. 北關 means the Hamgyeong region; 關西 means the Pyeongan region west of the pass.
- 起復 means recalling an official to office during his mourning period; the Sillok of 1401/4/17 explains that Seong Seok-rin had not finished mourning his mother.
- 重辟 (heavy penalty) means a capital sentence.
- 澄波渡 is read Jeungpa in the Korean translation of this entry; the Taejong Sillok’s Korean gives the ferry as Jingpa.
- 丹書 (“red writing”) is a register of the condemned; we read 滌名丹書 as clearing a name from it.
- 回天 (literally “turning heaven around”) is an idiom for reversing a grave situation; here it is the descendants’ phrase for Taejo’s decision to come home.
- The memorial agrees on the facts with the Taejong Sillok entries of 2/11/8, 2/11/11, 2/11/18, 2/11/27, 2/12/7 and 2/12/8, and adds who escorted Taejo and who was punished. It does not mention Muhak. It is an argument, written in 1687 to remove an honour; the Sillok does not report whether the order was withdrawn (see 13/1/22 and sources.md).
- Yi Seon’s account of the 1401 journey and of Seong Seok-rin’s mission matches Taejong 1/4/17 and 1/4/28.