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PersonAD 654

Queen Jindeok

Twenty-eighth ruler and last "hallowed-bone" monarch of Silla, enthroned during Bidam’s revolt, under whom the Silla–Tang alliance was made and the Jipsabu set up

Daughter of Gukban, a younger brother of King Jinpyeong, she took the throne in 647 when Queen Seondeok died during Bidam’s revolt, and put the revolt down. Kim Chun-chu and Kim Yu-sin led the government in her reign. In 648 she sent Kim Chun-chu to Tang to form the Silla–Tang alliance; Silla then adopted Chinese court dress and the Tang reign title, and she composed the Ode to Great Peace for the Tang emperor. In 651 she reorganised the Pumju into the Jipsabu. With her death the hallowed-bone line ended and the true-bone Kim Chun-chu became king.

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4 related events

  1. 1
    AD 647Bidam’s Rebellionmonarch

    The chief minister Bidam rebelled, claiming a queen could not rule, and was crushed by Kim Yu-sin and Kim Chun-chu.

  2. 2
    AD 648Silla–Tang Alliancemonarch

    Kim Chun-chu travelled to Tang and concluded a military alliance with Emperor Taizong: once Baekje and Goguryeo fell, Silla would have the land south of Pyongyang.

  3. 3
    AD 651Jipsabu establishedmonarch

    Queen Jindeok reorganized the Pumju into the Jipsabu, the chief office that carried out royal orders and oversaw the other bureaus. Its head, the jungsi (later sijung), underpinned royal power in Middle Silla.

  4. 4
    AD 654Accession of King Muyeolrelated figure

    On Queen Jindeok’s death Kim Chun-chu took the throne — the first king from the jingol rank after the seonggol line died out.

People who appear alongside

  • King Muyeol (Kim Chun-chu)AD 603 – AD 661

    Twenty-ninth king of Silla, who forged the Tang alliance, became the first jingol king and conquered Baekje

  • Kim Yu-sinAD 595 – AD 673

    Silla general of Geumgwan Gaya royal descent who defeated Gyebaek and led the unification wars

  • BidamAD 647

    Silla chief minister whose revolt against the queen was crushed by Kim Yu-sin

  • Queen SeondeokAD 647

    Twenty-seventh ruler and Silla's first queen, under whom Cheomseongdae and the nine-storey pagoda of Hwangnyongsa were built

  • Emperor Taizong of TangAD 598 – AD 649

    Second Tang emperor whose 645 invasion of Goguryeo stalled at Ansi Fortress

Themes this person appears in

  • Wars of Korean UnificationAD 598 – AD 676

    From Goguryeo's wars with Sui and Tang to Silla's unification — eighty years of East Asian war on the peninsula

  • Sui, Tang and the East Asian WorldAD 317 – AD 979

    From the divided Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Gupta age through the Sui and Tang empires to the founding of the Song — the age when an East Asian world sharing law codes, Buddhism, Confucianism and Chinese characters took shape, and Korea and Japan built their states on its model

  • Central Government Through the AgesAD 250 – 1899

    From the noble councils of the Three Kingdoms to the State Council, the Border Defense Council and the Gabo cabinet — how central government shifted between aristocratic consensus and royal power