History UsefulNotes / YeonsangunOfJoseon

Yeonsan-gun (연산군, literally "Prince Yeonsan"; birth name 이융, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS variously transliterated as I Yung, Yi Yung or Lee Yung]]) (23 November 1476 - 20 November 1506) was the tenth king of Korea's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon Joseon]] dynasty and part of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfI. [[RoyallyScrewedUp He had the dubious honour]] [[TheCaligula of being the worst tyrant in all of Korean history]] until the Kims of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea came along.

Yeonsan-gun (연산군, literally "Prince Yeonsan"; birth name 이융, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS variously transliterated as I Yung, Yi Yung or Lee Yung]]) (23 November 1476 - 20 November 1506) was the tenth king of Korea's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon Joseon]] dynasty and part of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfI. [[RoyallyScrewedUp He had the dubious honour]] [[TheCaligula of being the worst tyrant in all of Korean history]] until the Kims of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea and Yoon Seok Yeol of South Korea came along.

Yeonsan-gun (연산군, literally "Prince Yeonsan"; birth name 이융, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS variously transliterated as I Yung, Yi Yung or Lee Yung]]) (23 November 1476 - 20 November 1506) was the tenth king of Korea's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon Joseon]] dynasty and part of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfI. [[RoyallyScrewedUp He had the dubious honour]] [[TheCaligula of being the worst tyrant in all of Korean history]] until the Kims of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea and Yoon Seok Yeol came along.

Yeonsan-gun (연산군, literally "Prince Yeonsan"; birth name 이융, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS variously transliterated as I Yung, Yi Yung or Lee Yung]]) (23 November 1476 - 20 November 1506) was the tenth king of Korea's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon Joseon]] dynasty and part of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfI. [[RoyallyScrewedUp He had the dubious honour]] [[TheCaligula of being the worst tyrant in all of Korean history]] until the Kims of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea came along.

Yeonsan-gun (연산군, literally "Prince Yeonsan"; birth name 이융, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS variously transliterated as I Yung, Yi Yung or Lee Yung]]) (23 November 1476 - 20 November 1506) was the tenth king of Korea's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon Joseon]] dynasty. [[RoyallyScrewedUp He had the dubious honour]] [[TheCaligula of being the worst tyrant in all of Korean history]] until the Kims of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea came along.

* ''The Wind Orchid'' (1985)

* ''Series/InsuTheQueenMother'' (2011)

* ''Insu, the Queen Mother'' (2011)

* ''Hong Gil-dong'' (1998)

* ''Series/QueenForSevenDays'': He's one of the main characters and is part of a (fictional) SiblingTriangle with [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Yi/Lee]] Yeok over the title character. The series portrays him fairly sympathetically while still showing his cruelty and insanity ([[HistoricalVillainDowngrade though it ignores some of his vilest actions]]).

Next Yeonsan had the ''[[SarcasmMode brilliant]]'' idea of driving people out of their homes, demolishing part of the capital, and forcing the now-homeless people to build new hunting grounds. The people were furious about this, so Yeonsan banned all forms of writing to stop them making posters criticising him. [[FromBadToWorse Then he kidnapped thousands of women and turned the royal university into his personal brothel.]]

* ''Prince Yeonsan'' (1961). The film starts before he takes the throne and chronicles his StartOfDarkness.
* Title character of ''Tyrant Yeonsan'' (1962).

* ''The Diary of King Yeonsan'' (1988), another depiction of how he became a tyrant.

* ''The Treacherous'' (2015) depicts him as being controlled, along with the rest of the court, by his seemingly loyal retainer.

* ''Song of a Mother's Thoughts'' (1972): First part of ''A 500-Year History of the Lee Dynasty's Women''. Yeonsan-gun is a minor character.
* ''The Wind Orchid'' (1985): Part four of the series ''500 Years of Joseon Dynasty''. Again Yeonsan-gun is a minor character.

* ''Jang Nok-su'' (1995): He's one of the main characters.
* ''Im Kkeokjeong'' (1996): He's a minor character. Incidentally he's played by Yu In-chon, [[RoleReprise who played him in the 1988 film]] ''The Diary of King Yeonsan''.

* ''Prince Yeonsan'' (1961). The film starts when he's still a prince and chronicles his StartOfDarkness.

* ''Song of a Mother's Thoughts'' (1972): First part of ''A 500-Year History of the Lee Dynasty's Women'' (이조여인 오백년사, ''Ijoyeoin Obaengnyeonsa''). Yeonsan-gun is a minor character.

* Appears in the 1972 series ''Samogog'' (사모곡). Very little information is available about the series in Korean, and none at all in English.

* ''Series/QueenForSevenDays'': He's one of the main characters, played by Lee Dong-gun, and is part of a (fictional) SiblingTriangle with [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Yi/Lee]] Yeok over the title character. The series portrays him fairly sympathetically while still showing his cruelty and insanity ([[HistoricalVillainDowngrade though it ignores some of his vilest actions]]).
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He was the oldest surviving son of King Seongjong and his second wife Queen Jeheon. When Yeonsan was three years old his mother, [[AwfulWeddedLife who was thoroughly unhappy in her marriage]], had a violent fight with her husband that resulted in her exile. She was poisoned three years later. This would have disastrous consequences for the entire royal court when Yeonsan took the throne.

In 1506 a group of officials decided enough was enough. They staged a coup, overthrew Yeonsan, and replaced him with his half-brother Yi Yeok. In spite of everything Yi Yeok decided not to kill Yeonsan and instead exiled him to Ganghwa-do.[[note]]Sadly this mercy didn't extend to one of Yeonsan's concubines, who was beheaded, or all four of his sons, who were poisoned.[[/note]] Several people tried to poison the former king. Their attempts failed, but Yeonsan died, possibly of a fever, only a few weeks after being deposed. No one mourned him. It's no coincidence that even though he reigned as king, he's remembered only as "Prince Yeonsan" (the literal translation of "Yeonsan-gun") and not as "King Yeonsan" (which would be "Yeonsan-wang").

* ''Series/QueenForSevenDays'': He's one of the main characters.

In 1506 a group of officials decided enough was enough. They staged a coup, overthrew Yeonsan, and replaced him with his half-brother Yi Yeok. In spite of everything Yi Yeok decided not to kill Yeonsan and instead exiled him to Ganghwa-do. Several people tried to poison the former king. Their attempts failed, but Yeonsan died, possibly of a fever, only a few weeks after being deposed. No one mourned him. It's no coincidence that even though he reigned as king, he's remembered only as "Prince Yeonsan" (the literal translation of "Yeonsan-gun") and not as "King Yeonsan" (which would be "Yeonsan-wang").

When Yeonsan succeeded his father in 1494 he seemed competent and mentally stable. That soon changed. Shortly after becoming king [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMothers he decided to restore his late mother's reputation]]. A group of scholars opposed him. Yeonsan promptly organised two purges of all scholars who had the most tenuous connection -- or ''no connection at all'' -- to his mother's execution.

He was the oldest surviving son of King Seongjong and his second wife Queen Jeheon. When Yeonsan was three years old his mother, [[AwfulWeddedLife who was thoroughly unhappy in her marriage]], had a violent fight with her husband that resulted in her exile. She was poisoned three years later. This would have disastrous consequences for the entire royal court when Yeonsan took the throne.