As promised, here is the second installment of Badass Women in honor of Women’s History Month: Queen Seondeok of Silla.
Seondeok was the Queen Reganant of Silla, one of the three kingdoms of Korea, ruling from 632 until her death in 647. She was the first reigning queen and Silla’s 27th ruler, and is also recognized as East Asia’s second female ruler.
Her father had no male heir and thus wanted to make the husband of her sister the next king, but Seondeok convinced him to let her prove her worth as a ruler first. Although it was not unheard of for women to rule, it was still unacceptable to many people. Still, her father agreed and she became the Queen of Silla upon his death. She immediately improved the care of widows, widowers, orphans, the poor and the elderly throughout the kingdom, and encouraged literature, the arts, and astrology (she built the first observatory in East Asia, Cheomseongdae, which still stands to this day). In the historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea (Samguk sagi), she is described as generous, benevolent, wise, and smart.
She had the support and love of the people, if not of the powerful men in her kingdom and others, as is seen in her numerous attempts to gain the Tang dynasty of China as an ally, only to be ridiculed and unacknowledged because she was a woman, and also in what is now known as Bidam’s rebellion. Bidam was one of the highest court officials who said that because she failed to rule the country (um, she was ruling?) women should stop ruling (famous last words). The rebellion lasted for ten days and was ultimately suppressed, but it shows how the idea that one woman represents all women in terms of failure (oh, Seondeok was a bad ruler so this must mean that women are not meant to rule or hold power) has been around since the beginning of time and continues to plague us all to this day.
Queen Seondeok died shortly before the rebellion itself was suppressed and buried on Nangsan, one of the sacred mountains in Gyeongju, and passed the power to her cousin, who became Queen Jindeok, continuing female rule in Korea. Seondeok is rumored to have never married, which encouraged her cousin Jindeok to remain unmarried as well.
Seondeok remains a popular figure in Korean culture, with a drama about her life and reign airing in 2009.
