Late-Goryeo minister (Jeongdangmunhak, Grand Academician), posthumous title Jeongpyeong
| Life | 1340 ~ 1391 |
| Era | 고려 말 |
| Clan | 달성 서씨 |
Seo Gyun-hyeong (1340-1391) was a late-Goryeo official of the Dalseong Seo clan, great-grandson of the founder Seo Jin and thus fourth generation. He passed the civil examination in 1360 (the 9th year of King Gongmin) and in 1366 became Ujeongeon, a remonstrance post that gave him a voice at court at a young age.
In 1388 he travelled to Ming China as an envoy with the rank of Munhapyeongni, the year in which the army sent toward Liaodong turned back at Wihwado and politics changed course. In 1389 (the first year of King Gongyang), as Jeongdangmunhak, he is recorded as having killed the deposed King U at Gangneung on royal order. Wikipedia presents this as his best-known act, and he also appears as a character in historical dramas about Jeong Do-jeon and Yi Bang-won. It was a political event of the dynastic transition and judgments of it differ.
He served as Grand Academician of the Office of Royal Decrees in 1390 and died in 1391 while Provincial Inspector of Yanggwang Province. His posthumous title is Jeongpyeong. His son Seo Chim was an early-Joseon official said to have studied under Jeong Mong-ju, and the Champan-gong branch descends from Seo Chim's brother Seo Hwan. Few records detail his life, so no information on a collected works or tomb could be confirmed here.
His place in the genealogy is clear. After the founder Seo Jin (generation 1), his son Seo Gi-jun (2, Dogwanjwarang) and grandson Seo Yeong (3, Chanseongsa), Seo Gyun-hyeong is generation 4 and his son Seo Chim generation 5. The lines of Seo Chim's three sons Seo Mun-han, Seo Mun-gan and Seo Mun-deok and of his brother Seo Hwan split into today's branches. In a family with a tradition of enfeoffment over three generations of the founder's line, Seo Gyun-hyeong is the first figure whose examination success and high office are clearly attested, and he is the first figure whose examination success and high office are specifically confirmed in sources such as Wikipedia.
Wikipedia records that he passed the civil examination in 1360 (the 9th year of King Gongmin) and became Ujeongeon in 1366. Genealogies and encyclopedias may give a fuller promotion record, but only the examination and the Ujeongeon appointment were directly confirmed here.
He went to Ming China as Munhapyeongni in 1388 and in 1389, as Jeongdangmunhak, carried out the royal order to kill the deposed King U at Gangneung. As the father of Seo Chim, a reputed disciple of Jeong Mong-ju, he is the link that carries the Dalseong Seo story into the Joseon period.
He served as Grand Academician in 1390 and became Provincial Inspector of Yanggwang Province in 1391, dying in office; his posthumous title is Jeongpyeong. His life closed just before the end of Goryeo, so it straddles the passage of the clan's fortunes from Goryeo to Joseon.
The location of his tomb could not be confirmed here.
His son Seo Chim; the Champan-gong branch descends from his son Seo Hwan.