Merit subject in suppressing Yi Si-ae's rebellion and Right State Councillor; pen name Sanguudang; posthumous title Chungjeong
| Life | 1434 ~ 1494 |
| Era | 조선 전기 |
| Clan | 양천 허씨 |
Heo Jong (1434-1494) was an early Joseon official and statesman of the Yangcheon Heo clan, with courtesy names Jonggyeong and Jongji, pen name Sanguudang and posthumous title Chungjeong. His great-grandfather was Heo Gi, grandfather Heo Bi (magistrate of Yangyang) and father Heo Son (a county magistrate); his younger brother was Left State Councillor Heo Chim. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture gives his mother as a daughter of Choe An-seon. After the licentiate examination in 1456 he passed the special civil examination in 1457.
In 1459 he won King Sejo's trust with a memorial urging open channels of speech, rejection of heterodoxy and regular royal lectures, and in 1460 he served as clerk of the Pyeongan military commander during a Jurchen incursion. In 1465 he helped manage the northern border as aide to Han Myeong-hoe, and in 1466 became military commander of Hamgil but resigned for his father's mourning. Recalled when Yi Si-ae's rebellion broke out in 1467, he was named a first-class Jeokgae merit subject and Lord of Yangcheon for helping to put it down alongside Jo Seok-mun, Gang Sun, Eo Yu-so and Nam I.
He afterwards served as governor of Pyeongan, military commander of Jeolla, inspector-general, and minister of war, rites, revenue and personnel. He was a fourth-class Sunseong jwari merit subject in 1471, was sent as inspector of Pyeongan in 1477 when the Jianzhou Jurchen raided, and in 1481 presented a defense map of the northern frontier. In 1488 he served as welcoming and escorting envoy to the Ming envoys Dong Yue and Wang Chang, and in 1491, when the Jurchen chief Udige raided Hamgil, he defeated him as commander of the northern campaign. The date he became Right State Councillor is 1492 in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture but 1494 in a Wikipedia summary, so sources differ; he died in 1494 (the 25th year of King Seongjong).
Besides his military role he was learned in scholarship and medicine, serving concurrently as supervisor of the royal clinic, abridging the Uibang yuchwi as the Uimun jeongyo and taking part in compiling the Hyangyak jipseongbang and Sinchan gugeup ganibang. He translated the Yeonju sigyeok and Hwangsan'gok sijip into Korean and annotated the Somun chung-gong-jip; his collected works are the Sanguudang-jip. He is said to have been named an honest official under Seongjong.
His younger brother Heo Chim rose to Left State Councillor, so the two were called the brother ministers.
The Chungjeong-gong branch association says Heo Jong's grandsons Heo Heup and Heo Hang compiled the clan's first genealogy, the Gichuk-bo, in 1529.
The location of his tomb was not confirmed here.