Goryeo official under King Chungnyeol who served as privy councillor and military commissioner; nicknamed 'cheolgo' (iron cake) for his integrity
| Life | 1298 |
| Era | 고려 후기 |
| Clan | 죽산 안씨 |
An Jeon (安戩, ?-1298) was a late-Goryeo official of the Juksan An clan, introduced as a great-grandson of An Yeong-ui in the line of the Old Juksan An that counts him as first ancestor. Wikipedia gives no birth year, parents, spouse or children; his biography rests on the Goryeosa biography of An Jeon. A vice-minister An Jeon sent to the Mongols in 1249 is regarded as a different person of the same name.
Under King Wonjong he passed the examination young under Ryu Gyeong and served as censor. Early in Chungnyeol's reign he became surveillance commissioner of Jeolla. Displeased with the arrogance of men such as Oh Suk-bu of the royal falcon bureau, he did not pay them the courtesies, and they slandered him and Sin Jwa-seon, blaming them for the death of a sparrowhawk. The king meant to exile both to an island but the royal secretary Bak Hang objected strongly and it ended in dismissal.
He later entered the personnel bureau and, in 1285, as examiner of the national examination selected 55 men including Yun Sin-geol. The following year, as left royal secretary, he opposed the king's plan to appoint a eunuch as an observer; when the king insisted on granting a sixth-rank post he repeatedly asked to resign and finally treated the king's words as acceptance of his proposal and had his name struck from the appointment list. He rose in 1287 to deputy privy councillor and pacification commissioner of Chungcheong, in 1288 to privy councillor and went to Yuan as envoy; in 1290, when the Hadan raiders invaded, he served as military commissioner of Gyeongsang and Chungcheong, and in 1291 of the northwest. He died in 1298. Though in charge of appointments he never took sides and acted upright, so contemporaries called him 'cheolgo,' the iron rice cake.
The Goryeosa records that as surveillance commissioner of Jeolla he refused to honor the falcon bureau's influence and was slandered, but the royal secretary Bak Hang objected and it ended in dismissal.
Cheolgo (鐵餻) is explained as 'iron rice cake.' It was the nickname for someone who, though in charge of selecting and appointing officials, joined no faction and acted upright.
Wikipedia records no descendants. He is linked to the An Yeong-ui line of the Old Juksan An, which published its genealogy in 1805.