First commander of the Ssangseong Commandery; son of the clan founder Jo Ji-su
| Life | 1273 |
| Era | 고려 후기 |
| Clan | 한양 조씨 |
Jo Hwi (趙暉, ?-1273) was a local strongman of Goryeo's northeast who surrendered to the Mongols in 1258 and became the first commander of the Ssangseong Commandery. Of the Hanyang Jo clan, he is listed in the genealogy as a son of the founder Jo Ji-su; the family had long lived in Yongjin County (around today's Muncheon and Wonsan in South Hamgyong).
When Mongol troops invaded the Hwaju area in 1258, Jo Hwi and Tak Cheong of Jeongju incited the people of Deungju, Munju and other fortresses to surrender. Taking advantage of weakened defenses after the Northeastern Military Commissioner Sin Jip-pyeong withdrew to an island, they killed Sin Jip-pyeong, the Deungju vice-magistrate Bak In-gi, the Hwaju vice-magistrate Kim Seon-bo and capital troops, and handed the land north of Hwaju to the Mongols, who established the Ssangseong Commandery with Jo Hwi as commander and Tak Cheong as chiliarch, a post Tak's descendants also inherited. The next year he led Mongol troops against Hangye Fortress but was beaten back by the Night Patrol of Defense Commissioner An Hong-min, and he also seized gifts sent by the Goryeo king to the Mongols. The History of Goryeo places him among its traitors.
The commandery passed to his son Jo Yang-gi, grandson Jo Rim and great-grandson Jo So-saeng for four generations and 99 years, until King Gongmin recovered Ssangseong in 1356. Jo Yang-gi's daughter, Jo Hwi's granddaughter, became the second wife of Yi Chun (Dojo), grandfather of Yi Seong-gye, the first link between the clan and the Joseon royal house; the preface of the Veritable Records of King Taejo also notes that Dojo married 'Lady Jo, daughter of the Ssangseong commander'. When Jo Hwi's grandson Jo Don returned to Goryeo and helped recover Ssangseong, the family took a new path. Jo Hwi is seen as the starting point of the clan's rise in the northeast and as a figure reflecting the complex situation of the frontier under Mongol domination.