king bojang of goguryeo

colspan="2" bgcolor="#FFCCCC" \| King Bojang of Goguryeo
colspan="2" \| Korean Name
width="150" \| Revised Romanization	width="150" \| Bojang-wang
width="150" \| McCune-Reischauer	width="150" \| Pojang-wang
width="150" \| Hangul	width="150" \| 보장왕
width="150" \| Hanja	width="150" \| 寶臧王

King Bojang (?-682, r. 642-668) was the 28th and last monarch of the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. After the kingdom's fall, he served for a time as a military governor for the Tang Dynasty. The period of his rule over Goguryeo is recounted in the final two books of the Goguryeo annals in the Samguk Sagi. King Bojang was the nephew of King Yeongnyu. In 642, the general Yeon Gaesomun carried out a coup d'etat and slew King Yeongnyu together with many of his supporters. Bojang was then placed on the throne. For most of his reign, King Bojang was a puppet ruler, giving a veneer of legitimacy to Yeon Gaesomun's military rule. For example, at Yeon's instigation he supported Taoism and issued edicts repressing Buddhism in the country, which had formerly been officially Buddhist. After the death of Yeon Gaesomun in 666, Bojang was unable to gain control over the country, which instead was wracked by a succession struggle between Yeon's sons. Weakened by this struggle, the Goguryeo capital fell to Tang and Silla forces in the ninth lunar month of 668, and King Bojang was captured. He was taken into exile by the Tang forces. In 677, faced by increasing problems ruling the former inhabitants of Goguryeo, Tang crowned him "King of Joseon" and put him in charge of the Liaodong commandery of the Protectorate General to Pacify the East. However, King Bojang reportedly continued to foment rebellions against Tang, forming alliances with the Mohe tribes. He was eventually banished to Szechuan in 681, and died the following year. Because King Bojang was the last ruler of Goguryeo, he did not receive a temple name after his death.

King Bojang Of Goguryeo

See also