"King Cole" redirects here. For other uses, see King Cole (disambiguation).
"Coel" redirects here. For the prefix "coel-", see List of commonly used taxonomic affixes.
An illustration depicting Coel from a 15th-century Welsh-language version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae
Coel (Old Welsh: Coil), also called Coel Hen (Coel the Old) and King Cole, is a figure prominent in Welsh literature and legend since the Middle Ages. Early Welsh tradition knew of a Coel Hen, a c. 4th-century leader in Roman or Sub-Roman Britain and the progenitor of several kingly lines in Yr Hen Ogledd (the Old North), a region of the Brittonic-speaking area of what is now northern England and southern Scotland.
Later medieval legend told of a Coel, apparently derived from Coel Hen. He was said to be the father of Saint Helena and through her the grandfather of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
Other similarly named characters may be confused or conflated with the Welsh Coel. The legendary "King Coel" is sometimes supposed to be the historical basis for the popular nursery rhyme "Old King Cole", but this has been said to be unlikely.[1]
^Opie and Opie, p. 6: "Because there is said to have been a Prince Cole in the third century A.D.... it does not follow that the song 'Old (or Good) King Cole' dates back to that period, even in the unlikely event of it referring to this chieftain."
Coel (Old Welsh: Coil), also called CoelHen (Coel the Old) and King Cole, is a figure prominent in Welsh literature and legend since the Middle Ages....
Lord Coel.[citation needed] Further speculation connects Old King Cole and thus CoelHen to Colchester, but in fact Colchester was not named after Coel Hen...
senator, a nephew of CoelHen through Coel's brother Ioelinus, and king of the Britons following the death of Octavius (Eudaf Hen). Geoffrey writes this...
Cynfeirdd poets. Heroes of the north such as Urien, Owain mab Urien, and CoelHen and his descendants feature in Welsh poetry and the Welsh Triads. Almost...
of Great Britain and Brittany, such as the stories of Brutus of Troy, CoelHen, Leir of Britain (King Lear), and Gogmagog. The legendary history of Britain...
Tasciovanus, father of Cunobeline. Both Cunedda and his father-in-law, King CoelHen (Coel Godebog), claimed descent from Beli Mawr. Early versions of their genealogies...
Cynfarch Oer, son of Meirchion Gul, son of Gorwst, son of Cenau, son of CoelHen (King Cole), the first recorded post-Roman military leader in the area...
son of Custeint. The wife of CoelHen was daughter of Gadeon son of Eudaf Hen (Gwreic Coyl hen oed verch Gadeon m Eudaf hen vchot). Gereint son of Erbin...
may have been created from a larger kingdom ruled by the semi-legendary CoelHen. The historian Alex Woolf suggests that the region of Elmet had a distinct...
genealogies claim that the legendary figure of CoelHen is Gwenddoleu's great-great-great-grandfather. CoelHen was a semi-historical figure and legend often...
connection parallels Geoffrey's association of King Leir with Leicester and Coel with Colchester, as well as William of Malmesbury's assertion that Gawain...
Gogledd as the son of the equally obscure Gwrwst Lledlwm, a grandson of CoelHen, and grandfather of renowned Urien Rheged. He is assumed, like Urien, to...
who ruled in the brittonic Kingdom of Rheged. The line is traced back to CoelHen whose descendants are often referred to as the Coeling. The dynasty includes...
governmental and defence framework for the beleaguered provinces. Figures such as CoelHen were said to be placed into key positions to protect the island in Maximus's...
(The Descent of the Men of the North)" he is listed as a descendant of CoelHen (King Cole), and is first cousin to King Urien Rheged. It is thought that...
royal genealogy of Urien and his successors traces their ancestry back to CoelHen (considered by some to be the origins of the Old King Cole of folk tradition)...
for several kingly lines in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" of Britain. As an ancestor figure, he compares to CoelHen, another obscure figure credited...
People Aneirin Clydno Eiddin CoelHen Cunedda Saint Kentigern Elffin ap Gwyddno Gwallog ap Llaennog Gwenddolau Llywarch Hen Morcant Bulc Myrddin Wyllt Owain...
People Aneirin Clydno Eiddin CoelHen Cunedda Saint Kentigern Elffin ap Gwyddno Gwallog ap Llaennog Gwenddolau Llywarch Hen Morcant Bulc Myrddin Wyllt Owain...
Outham Senis (Outham the Old), the figure known in later sources as Eudaf Hen and Octavius. Outham is given another son, Kenan (an Old Welsh spelling of...
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