Yeongnyu of Goguryeo

{{Infobox royalty

|name=Yeongnyu
영류

|title=Taewang

|succession=King of Goguryeo

|reign=September 618 – October 642 A.D.

|coronation=September 618 A.D.

|predecessor=Yeongyang

|successor=Bojang

|birth_name=Go Geonmu/Seong

|birth_date=?

|birth_place=Pyongyang Seong

|death_date=October 642 A.D.

|death_place=Pyongyang Seong

|issue=Prince Hwangwon
Price Bukdeok
Princess Muyeong
Princess Sukyeong

|regnal name=Muyang Taewang

|posthumous name=Yeongnyu Taewang

|father=Pyeongwon

|occupation=King

|religion=Buddhism

|royal house=Ko

|dynasty=Goguryeo

}}

{{Infobox Korean name

|hangul=영류왕

|hanja=榮留王

|rr=Yeongnyu-wang

|mr=Yŏngnyu-wang

|hangulborn=건무 or 성

|hanjaborn=建武 / 成

|rrborn=Geonmu / Seong

|mrborn=Kŏnmu / Sŏng

}}

Yeongnyu (?–642) was the 27th monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 618 to 642.{{cite web|url=https://www.doopedia.co.kr/doopedia/master/master.do?_method=view&MAS_IDX=101013000895698|script-title=ko:영류왕|publisher=Doopedia|access-date=6 October 2016|language=ko}}

Background

He was the younger half-brother of the 26th monarch Yeong-yang, and son of the 25th king Pyeongwon. He assumed the throne when Yeong-yang died in 618.{{cite web|url=http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/program/program_dynasty_detail.htm?lang=e¤t_page=&No=10043175|title=King Yeongnyu |publisher=KBS World|access-date=6 October 2016}}

Reign

In China, the Sui dynasty was followed by the Tang dynasty in 618, the year of Yeongnyu's ascension. Goguryeo was recovering from the Goguryeo–Sui War, and the new Tang emperor was still completing its internal unification. Neither being in a position for new hostilities, Goguryeo and Tang exchanged emissaries and upon Tang's request, conducted a prisoner exchange in 622.

In 624, Tang officially presented Taoism to the Goguryeo court, which sent scholars the following year to study Taoism and Buddhism.

However, as Tang gained strength, in 631, it sent a small force to destroy a monument to Goguryeo's victory over the Sui. In response, Goguryeo built the Cheolli Jangseong defensive wall along the western border, a 15-year project begun in 631 under the supervision of Yŏn Kaesomun.

During this time, Goguryeo continued its battles to recover lost territory from the southern Korean kingdom Silla. Silla's Kim Yu-sin took Goguryeo's Nangbi fortress in 629.{{cite web|script-title=ko:낭비성|url=http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0012360|publisher=Encyclopedia of Korean Culture}}

Fall, death and succession

Yeongnyu and some of the government officials planned to kill some of the more powerful military officers. They planned first to kill Yŏn Kaesomun, whose power and influence were rapidly overtaking the throne's.{{cite web|url=http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0037359|script-title=ko:영류왕|publisher=Encyclopedia of Korean Culture}} The young man eventually discovered the plot, and immediately went to Pyongyang to kill the plotters, including the king. Yeongnyu was killed in 642.

Yŏn Kaesomun placed Yeongnyu's nephew, Bojang, on the throne.