King Cole or Coel is the name of a figure, or multiple figures with similar names, prominent in British literature and legend since the Middle Ages. Early Welsh tradition knew of a Coel Hen (Coel the Old), a leader in Roman or Sub-Roman Britain and the progenitor of several kingly lines in the Hen Ogledd ("the Old North"), the Brythonic-speaking part of northern England and southern Scotland. Later medieval legend told of a Coel, apparently derived from Coel Hen, who was the father of Saint Helena and the grandfather of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. Other similarly named characters may be confused or conflated with the Welsh Coel. The traditional "King Coel" may be the historical basis for the popular nursery rhyme "Old King Cole".
Read more about King Cole: Context and Evidence, Later Sources
Famous quotes containing the words king and/or cole:
“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“Fifty million Frenchmen can’t be wrong.”
—Anonymous. Popular saying.
Dating from World War I—when it was used by U.S. soldiers—or before, the saying was associated with nightclub hostess Texas Quinan in the 1920s. It was the title of a song recorded by Sophie Tucker in 1927, and of a Cole Porter musical in 1929.