Grave of a Man who Went from Nobody to Somebody

Yereung is the royal tomb of King Cheoljong and his queen. This king has a dramatic story about his enthronement.

His predecessor, King Heonjong, died without an heir in 1849, and the dead king’s mother moved fast to find the best candidate to be the heir to the throne. Finally, she found a young, uneducated farmer living at a remote village to the west of the capital. Actually, he was a grandson of a royal family member, who was banished as a victim of political strife. For the queen, he was surely closest in line of succession to the throne, and swiftly declared him the heir to the throne.

The young farmer became the 25th king of the dynasty at the age of nineteen. However, the dead king’s mother became the queen grandmother, and she ruled the country as his regent. In fact, he was chosen to be king not because he was the most legitimate heir to the throne but because he was a royal with no power behind him. So, the dynasty in this period was under the control of the powerful queen grandmother and her relatives.

Gradually, the king came to prepare himself to rule the country with his own plan. He tried hard to make his country to a better place for common people to live in. However, even after the queen grandmother’s regency ended, there was not much for him to do. He died at the age of thirty three, just fourteen years after enthronement.