Yeon clan


The Yeon clan was a powerful noble clan of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

History

They were one of the "Great Eight Families" of Baekje:, Yeon, Hyeop, Hae, Jin, Guk, Mok, and Baek ). This helped them gain high court positions in the government and military.
After the Battle at Mt. Amak fortress against Silla during the beginning of the reign of King Mu of Baekje the Great Eight Families lost a great deal of power. Among the families the Hae clan, Hyeop, Jin and Mok disappeared from the central political stage leaving only the Yeon, Guk and Baek clans. The Sa clan promoted their influence by military force and produced a queen in the late reign of Mu of Baekje.
They did not lose their status as central nobles during the reign of the last King, Uija of Baekje by colluding with royal authority. The Buyeo clan acquired influence with the collapse of the Great Eight Families. After King Uija acceded the throne, royal might was also divided and the lineal descendant of the royal clan with the king as its center was in control of political situation. Among the Great Eight Families, Yeon and Baek clans fell behind and only clans of Sa and Guk maintained their status as central nobles. In the late Baekje all the Great Eight Families except for Sa and Guk clans lost their status as the central nobles and were degraded to local influence at last.

Known Members

The records of the Yeon clan are sparse and broken making it hard to create a family tree but can be viewed as a timeline.