Region: Korean Peninsula · Coordinates: 37.570, 126.980 · 10 events
| Year | Source | Account |
|---|---|---|
| AD 1654 | Hamel's Journal | They cross the great river (the Han, note 243) and arrive at the walled great city "Sior" (Seoul, note 244), the king's residence. It is about 70-75 miles from Haenam, travelling generally north (slightly west). After 2-3 days in one house, they are dispersed among Chinese living in Seoul. |
| AD 1654 | Hamel's Journal | Summoned before the king (Hyojong), they explain their situation through Weltevree as interpreter and ask to be sent to Japan, but are told it is not the law of this country to let foreigners leave and to live here for life. They are made to dance and sing and each given two bolts of cotton cloth. |
| AD 1654 | Hamel's Journal | The next day the Hullyeon Daejang (veltoverste) announces that the king has made them his bodyguards (lijffschutten). Each receives 70 catties of rice a month, a wooden tag engraved with name and age, and a gun, powder and bullets, and must pay respects before the king on the 1st and 15th. A Chinese man and Weltevree are assigned as supervisors. |
| AD 1654 | Hamel's Journal | In late November the river freezes and 200-300 horses cross in a line. In December, on the Hullyeon Daejang's proposal, they receive and sell the ship's hides, and several pool money to buy a small house for 8-9 taels and spend the winter. |
| AD 1655 | Hamel's Journal | In March, on the day the Qing envoy leaves, the chief mate Hendrick Janse (from Amsterdam) and the gunner Hendrick Janse Boer (from Haarlem) block the envoy's procession in the woods and seize his horse's head. Dressed in Dutch clothes, they meant to appeal to the envoy. |
| AD 1655 | Hamel's Journal | The king and ministers pay the envoy to smooth things over, but the two are imprisoned and die shortly afterward (the party never learns whether of illness or execution). |
| AD 1656 | Hamel's Journal | In early 1656 the ministers hold a three-day council to do away with the party. The Hullyeon Daejang is secretly reported to have said that rather than kill them in secret, one of ours should be made to fight two of theirs with the same weapons to the death. The king, the king's brother and the Hullyeon Daejang opposed execution, and the king and his brother quelled the clamor of the many and saved their lives. |
| AD 1656 | Hamel's Journal | Under pressure from the ministers, the party is exiled to Jeolla Province (Thiellado), and the king provides 50 pounds of rice a month from his own income. |
| AD 1656 | Hamel's Journal | In early March they leave Seoul on horseback. Weltevree sees them off at the riverside and turns back, and they never hear of him again. The towns they pass supply food and horses. |
| AD 1659 | Hamel's Journal | The king (Hyojong) dies and, with Qing approval, his son (Hyeonjong) takes the throne. The party continues begging around temples. Hamel wrote the month as April, but it differs from the Korean record (Hyojong 10th year, 5th month, 4th day = 23 June 1659). |