Queen Seon Deok (TV series)
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Queen Seon Deok)
The Great Queen Seon Deok is a South Korean historical drama aired on MBC. It chronicles the life of Queen Seondeok of Silla.
Official MBC synopsis
Deokman (Queen Seondeok’s childhood name) was born a twin but a prophecy led to her abandonment as a baby. She was later brought back to the Silla palace, where she joined forces with her twin sister Princess Chonmyong to oppose Mi-shil a royal concubine, who wanted to seize power. Mi-shil devised sinister plans to have the two Silla princesses exiled from the kingdom, and in a secretive battle, Princess Chonmyong was assassinated by Mi-shil. However Princess Deokman shrewdly enlisted the help of General Kim Yusin and eliminated her archenemy Mi-shil. She became the first female ruler of the Silla kingdom.
Cast
Main cast
Extended Cast
International broadcast and its parody
- In the United States the drama aired on MBC America during the summer of 2009 through February 2010.
- In the Philippines, GMA Network acquired the rights to broadcast it outside Korea. It currently airs at GMA Network where it gained high ratings and popularity. The theme song that was used was a cover of Angels Brought Me Here sung by the singing-trio La Diva. It airs at the said station Monday to Thursday at 10:20 in the evening after Diva and before Saksi.
- Bubble Gang, a Philippine Comedy Show, also aired by GMA Network made a parody of this drama entitled Queen Sang Joke. The main character is Jokeman, a princess that always says funny jokes. They call her "Prinsesa Jokeman".
Queen Seondeok of Silla
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seondeok reigned as Queen[1] of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 632 to 647[2]. She was Silla's twenty-seventh ruler, and its first reigning queen.
Selection as Heiress
Before she became queen, Seondeok was known as Princess Deokman (덕만(德曼)). She was the oldest of King Jinpyeong's three daughters. The son of her sister Princess Cheonmyeong became a king in his own right while Seondeok's sister, Princess Seonhwa eventually married King Mu of Baekje and became mother of Uija[3].
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 was relatively high, but there were still restrictions on female behavior and conduct. Women were discouraged from activities that were considered inappropriate for women.
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 (the other two being: Jindeok of Silla and Jinseong of Silla), and was immediately succeeded by her cousin Jindeok, who ruled until 654.
Seondeok'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 "Star-Gazing Tower," 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 when she was a princess. One such story (both in Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa) entails that her father received a box of peony seeds from the Emperor Taizong of Tang 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 horde of white frogs croaking by the Jade Gate pond in the winter. Seondeok interpreted this to indicate an impending attack from the Kingdom of Baekje (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 Baekje soldiers.
The second account is about her death. Some days before her death, she gathered her officials and bidded, "When I die, bury me near the Dori-cheon(忉利天, "Heaven of Grieved Merits")." Decades after her death, Munmu of Silla, 30th king constructed Sacheonwang-sa(四天王寺 "Temple of the King of the Four Heavens") in her tomb. Then nobles realized that one of the Buddha's saying, "Dori-cheon is above the Sacheonwang-cheon" was accomplished by the Queen.
Family
- Father: King Jinpyeong (眞平王 진평왕)
- Mother: Lady Maya of the Kim clan (摩耶夫人金氏 마야부인김씨)
- Sisters:
- Princess Cheonmyeong (天明公主 천명공주)[4]
- Princess Seonhwa (善花公主 선화공주)
- Kim Yong-chun (金龍春 김용춘), Princess Cheonmyeong's husband, 13th Pungwolju.
- Jang Seo-dong (璋暑童 장서동), Princess Seonhwa's (supposed; see explanation above) husband, later Mu of Baekje (武王 무왕).
- Kim Chun-chu (金春秋 김춘추), Princess Cheonmyeong and Kim Yong-chun's 1st Son, 18th Pungwolju, later King (Taejong) Muyeol (太宗武烈王 태종무열왕).
- Kim Yeon-chung (金蓮忠 김연충), Princess Cheonmyeong and Kim Yong-chun's 2nd Son.
- King Uija (義慈王 의자왕), Princess Seonhwa's (supposed; see explanation above) Only Son.
- Kim Yong-chun (金龍春 김용춘), Princess Cheonmyeong's husband, 13th Pungwolju.
- Heumban (欽飯 흠반) - one of Queen Seondeok's relatives.
- Eulje (乙祭 을제) - reigned in place of Queen Seondeok in times of war.
- Kim Alcheon
References
- ^ She was sometimes referred to as (female) King Seondeok.
- ^ Il-yeon: Samguk Yusa: Legends and History of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea, translated by Tae-Hung Ha and Grafton K. Mintz. Book One, page 57. Silk Pagoda (2006). ISBN 1596543485
- ^ Seonhwa's existence is controversial due to the discovery of historical evidences which shows that King Uija's mother was Queen Sataek, not Seonhwa
- ^ Later became the Empress Dowager Munjeong (文貞太后 문정태후) on his son's rule.
- ^ Brother of King Jinpyeong.
