Late-Goryeo civil official who passed the 1362 examination and refused to serve Joseon
| Era | 고려 말·조선 초 |
| Clan | 온양 방씨 |
Bang Sun (方恂) was a civil official of late Goryeo of the Onyang Bang clan. His original name was Bang Deuk-ju, his pen name Mansongdang, and the clan gives his posthumous name as Munui. His name is written 方恂 in epitaphs and the genealogy and 方旬 in the Goryeosa and Goryeosa Jeoryo. Of the 15th generation, he was a grandson of Bang Seo, founder of the Panseo-gong branch, and son of Bang Eon-hwi, a scholar of the Royal Secretariat.
He passed the civil examination in 1362; clan sources say he did so in the same class as Jeong Do-jeon and Yi Sung-in, and Yi Sung-in's collected works reportedly include a poem addressed to him. He went on to serve as section chief, royal secretary, secretariat official, rector (jwaju) of the National Academy and director of the Office of Documents. The Goryeosa biography of Yi Ja-song records that under King U, Rector Bang Sun and Han Heung-su, vice mayor of Kaesong, accused the official Kim Jeong-hwi before the police bureau and had him exiled.
When Joseon was founded he was appointed vice minister of rites but refused to serve and is said to have lived in hiding with his colleague Dunchon Yi Jip at Sutgol in Gwangju (today's Taepyeong-dong, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam) out of loyalty to Goryeo. According to the Encyclopedia of Seongnam Culture, he was caught and killed at Geumchon in Hwanghae Province, and clan sources tell the same story, adding that he did not stop his son Bang Un-sil and grandsons from becoming merit subjects of the Joseon founding.
His marriages linked him to leading families of the transition. His wife was the eldest daughter of Yun Ho, a Joseon founding merit subject, and his daughter, Lady Sungnyeong, married Nam Gyeong-mun, eldest son of Chief State Councillor Nam Jae; their sons included Nam Ji, later Left State Councillor, and Nam Hwi, who married Princess Jeongseon, fourth daughter of King Taejong. These ties are recorded in Nam Gu-man's Yakcheonjip and Yi Saek's Mogeunjip. His grandson Bang Gang passed the examination in 1447 and became a royal secretary, and his third son Bang Yu-ryang set up a household at Botonggol in Sangdaewon-dong, Seongnam, founding the Bang village there.
He was buried with his wife at Taepyeong-dong, Seongnam (the former site of Inha Hospital), and the grave was moved in 1969 for city development; as no remains were found, it appears to have been a burial of his clothes. Clan sources give the new site as Yangbeol-ri, Opo-myeon, Gwangju, Gyeonggi.
His sons included Bang Un-sil (a Joseon founding merit subject), Bang Hui-u and Bang Yu-ryang, and his grandson Bang Gang became a royal secretary. Bang Yu-ryang's descendants formed the Bang village at Botonggol, Seongnam. His daughter's sons included Left State Councillor Nam Ji and Nam Hwi, husband of Princess Jeongseon.