Governor of Gyeonggi killed in the Imjin War; Hoseong Merit Subject
| Life | 1546 ~ 1592 |
| Era | 조선 중기 |
| Clan | 청송 심씨 |
Sim Dae (沈岱, 1546–1592) was a mid-Joseon official who died a martyr in the Imjin War. Of the Cheongsong Sim clan, with the courtesy name Gongmang, the pen name Seodon and the posthumous title Chungjang, he was a fifth-generation descendant of Chief State Councillor Sim On; his father was Sim Ui-geom and his mother a daughter of Sin Gwang-han.
He passed a palace civil examination in 1572, served in the Office of Special Counselors and became a censor in 1584. As the court began to divide into Easterners and Westerners, he spoke out as a censor against the evils of faction.
When the Imjin War broke out in 1592 he worked to raise loyalist troops, won the king's trust and became a royal secretary, escorting King Seonjo through Pyongyang to Uiju. That September he succeeded Gwon Jing as Governor of Gyeonggi and planned to retake Seoul in concert with people inside the capital, but while waiting at Sangnyeong he was killed in a Japanese night attack.
The Japanese displayed his head in the streets of Seoul, and it is said to have looked alive even after sixty days. After the war he was posthumously named Minister of Personnel, recorded as a Hoseong Merit Subject and enfeoffed as Prince Cheongwon.
Clan records note that in the same war Queen Insun's brother Sim Chung-gyeom escorted the king as Minister of War and became a Hoseong Merit Subject, while Sim U-sin raised volunteers and died defending Jinju fortress with Kim Cheon-il. Sim Dae's tomb is in Namsa-myeon, Cheoin-gu, Yongin, designated a Gyeonggi Provincial Monument in 1972; his descendants are known as the Chungjang-gong line after his posthumous title.
The Tomb of General Sim Dae is in Namsa-myeon, Cheoin-gu, Yongin, designated a Gyeonggi Provincial Monument in 1972.
His descendants are known as the Chungjang-gong line of the clan.