“Jo” and “Jong”, Titles of Kings of the Feudal Joson Dynasty

In the feudal society, the king's name can be broadly divided into the name when he was alive, and the posthumous name. “Jo” and “Jong”, titles of Kings of the Feudal Joson Dynasty were the posthumous names of the Kings after their death, or, precisely, the posthumous titles. In the feudal society, the posthumous titles were designated to the kings, government officials of more than 2nd rank, meritorious retainers, and famous confucian scholars when they died, in order to praise their lifetime exploits and virtues.

Of the 27 kings of the feudal Joson dynasties, seven were designated with "Jo" like "Thejo" and "Sejo", eighteen were designated with "Jong" like “Jongjong” and "Kojong", and two were designated with “Kun”, because they had been expelled from the throne prior to the expiry of the term of office.

Then which kings had been named with "Jo" or “Jong”? In a word, it was a general principle to attach "Jo" to the kings who had performed a meritorious deed and "Jong" to the benevolent kings. In general, "Jo" was attached to the kings who first founded a country, or who rendered distinguished services for the feudal ruling class, or to the new kings who were enthroned when the royal family line broke or the previous king had been expelled from the throne prior to the expiry of the term of office.

And the titles of the “Kun” which had been received during the life were maintained to the dead kings who had been expelled from the throne prior to the expiry of the term of office because of their many atrocious deeds, so the posthumous titles were not attached to them.