Lady Daeseowon

Lady Daeseowon
Royal consort of Goryeo
PredecessorLady Yehwa
SuccessorLady Soseowon
Born?
Seoheung, North Hwanghae Province
Died?
Seoheung, North Hwanghae Province
SpouseTaejo of Goryeo
HouseDongju Gim (by birth)
House of Wang (by marriage)
FatherGim Haeng-Pa (김행파)
ReligionBuddhism
Korean name
Hangul
대서원부인
Hanja
Revised RomanizationDaeseowon Buin
McCune–ReischauerT'aesŏwon Pu'in

Lady Daeseowon of the Dongju Gim clan[1] (Korean대서원부인 김씨; Hanja大西院夫人 金氏; lit. Lady of the Grand Western Region) was the daughter of Gim Haeng-Pa who became the 20th wife of Taejo of Goryeo.[2] She was the older sister of Lady Soseowon, her husband's 21st wife. In 922, their father moved to Seogyeong (now Pyongyang) under King Taejo's command.

One day, when Taejo went to Seogyeong, Gim Haeng-Pa met him on the road with the group he was hunting with and asked Taejo to come to his house. Taejo then agree this and came to Gim's house which he had his two daughters to take care of Taejo for one night each. However, after that day, Taejo didn't return again and as a result, that two women went back home and became nuns. Later, when Taejo heard these story, he took pity on the two sisters and called them, but when Taejo saw them, he said:

"Since you have already gone home, you cannot take it away from you."
"너희가 이미 출가하였으므로, 그 뜻을 빼앗을 수 없다."

Seogyeong then built 2 Temples under Palace's command, there were: "Grand Western" (대서원; 大西院) and "Little Western" (소서원; 小西院) with each had a field and slaves, so that the two sisters were each to live there. Because of this, the older sister named "Lady (Dae)Seowon" and the younger sister named "Lady (So)Seowon".[3]

  1. ^ 성씨정보 고려 왕후록(王后錄) - 고려의 왕비 :+. Surname Info (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  2. ^ 고려시대 史料 Database. Goryeosa (in Korean). Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  3. ^ Min, Myung (2005). 고려이야기 1(창비 아동문고 158) [Stories of Goryeo 1(Changbi Children's Library 158)] (in Korean). Changbi Publishers. p. 40. ISBN 9788936441586. ISBN 89-364-4158-2