Yi Gyu-bo (1168 to 1241) passed the sima examination in 1189 and the higher examination in 1190 (English Wikipedia) but found no post for years; he lived on Cheonmasan above Gaegyeong, where he wrote his epic of King Dongmyeong (1193 [not yet checked against the source]).
By our recollection of his epitaph he is posted to Jeonju as a record-keeper and secretary in the 5th month of 1199 and, on the likely course, is dismissed in the 12th month of 1200; he then serves in the army against the Gyeongju rising of 1202 (English Wikipedia places a 'Donggyeong rebellion' in 1199: that is the 1202 rising, we think). He enters Choe's service by poems in 1207 and rises to chief minister; he is no one of weight on 1 January 1200. Yi In-ro, the older poet, is the model.
Who he is
- Name
- Yi Gyu-bo
- Title
- Literary scholar, passed the examinations in 1189 to 1190, then in a clerk's post at Jeonju [not yet checked against the source]
- Since
- Posted to Jeonju in the 5th month of 1199 [not yet checked against the source]
- Born
- 1168 (English Wikipedia; the page doubts the year)
- Family
- Born at Yeoju per English Wikipedia; family not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia; the Jeonju posting and the date of his dismissal are recollection
What it holds
- A clerk's post at Jeonju (not confirmed)
How things stand that morning
Provincial clerk and author; he writes for patrons.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
In 1200
- 12th month of Sinjong 3 (about December 1200 to January 1201) [not yet checked against the source]Dismissed from Jeonju.Depends on: Slander Stopped by: None
Later, on the likely course
- 1202Marches against Gyeongju's rebels.Depends on: The rising Stopped by: None
- 1207Enters Choe's service.Depends on: A poem to Choe Stopped by: None
Where the sources disagree
- English Yi Gyu-bo page puts the Donggyeong (Gyeongju) rebellion in 1199 and says he volunteered for the army; we take the army service to be the 1202 rising [not yet checked against the source].
Evidence: Only the examination years and the Cheonmasan period are in the page we read.
On the map: No land drawn.
Primary sources for Goryeo
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Essentials of the History of Goryeo, Kim Jong-seo (金宗瑞) and the Joseon history office (1452). The chronological companion to the Goryeosa, finished a year after it and drawing on the same lost records, sometimes with entries the Goryeosa omits. Read online
- Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
- History of Goryeo, Jeong Inji (鄭麟趾), Kim Jong-seo (金宗瑞) and the Joseon history office (completed 1451, from the Goryeo veritable records and earlier drafts). The official history of Goryeo, compiled by the Joseon state from the lost Goryeo veritable records. Read online
- History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Draft Compilation of the Collected Statutes of the Song, Various; the Song huiyao were compiled by the Song state, the surviving draft reassembled by Xu Song from the Yongle dadian in the nineteenth century (the original Song compilations date from the eleventh to the thirteenth century; the surviving extracts were recovered in 1809 to 1820 and printed in 1936). Dated extracts from the Song government's own statute collections, arranged by office. Read online
- Description of the Foreign Peoples (Chau Ju-kua), Zhao Rukuo (趙汝适) (about 1225, while superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou). The Song customs officer's survey of the overseas world, compiled from merchants and from Zhou Qufei, a generation after 1200 but describing trade routes that were the same in 1200. Read online
- Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country (Yi Gyu-bo), Yi Gyu-bo (李奎報) (poems and prose from the 1190s to 1241; collected and printed by his son in 1241, with a supplement in 1242). The collected poems, letters, memorials and essays of a Goryeo scholar who was thirty-two and still seeking office in 1200. Read online
2 more in the sources library for Korea and Japan.
Sources and studies
- Yi Gyu-bo (English Wikipedia)
- Choe Chung-heon (English Wikipedia)
- Goryeosa, Goryeosa jeoryo, Samguk yusa, Lee Ki-baik, Shultz: not opened in this run (Wikisource could not be reached); facts marked recollection come from these as remembered
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.