Wang

The Wang were the royal house of Goryeo, founded in 918 when Wang Geon, a lord of Songak, overthrew Gung Ye of Taebong and took the throne as King Taejo. He absorbed Silla and conquered Later Baekje, uniting the Later Three Kingdoms, and his descendants ruled from Kaesong for 474 years.

From 1170 to 1270 the kings were puppets of the Goryeo military regime; after its fall the house chose vassalage to the Mongols. Under the Yuan dynasty the kings married Borjigin princesses, and King Chungseon was enfeoffed as Prince of Shenyang.

King Gongmin restored Goryeo's independence in 1356, but after the Wihwado Retreat of 1388 General Yi Seong-gye seized power and founded the Joseon dynasty in 1392. From 1392 to 1413 more than a hundred royal Wangs were killed or exiled, and survivors hid under other surnames.