old king cole This is an article about the nursery rhyme. legendary king of Celtic Britain, about all that can be said about O
This is an article about the nursery rhyme. A legendary king of Celtic Britain, about all that can be said about Old King Cole with any certainty is that: Old King Cole was a merry old soul And a merry old soul was he; He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl And he called for his fiddlers three. Every fiddler he had a fiddle, And a very fine fiddle had he; Oh there's none so rare, as can compare With King Cole and his fiddlers three. So runs a traditional nursery rhyme the earliest mention of which appeared in 1708-9. Cole, or more properly Coel (pronounced like the English word coil), is a Brythonic (Cumbric) name possibly derived from the Roman Caelius, and there are several candidates for a historical basis to the rhyme amongst both the legendary and historical kings of the Romano-British and sub-Roman period. Popular British legend tells us that there is said to have been a King Cole living in the town of Colchester in Essex in the third century AD. In about 1129, Henry of Huntingdon claimed that Cole was the father of St Helena and therefore grandfather of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great. 'Colchester' has been interpreted as meaning 'Cole's castle', although the first part of the name is generally believed to be that of the River Colne on which the town stands. The town also contains an old Roman quarry called 'King Cole's Kitchen'. In his possibly fictional History of the Kings of Britan, Geoffrey of Monmouth lists a Coel as a king of the Britons following the reign of King Asclepiodotus. Geoffrey states that, upset with Asclepiodotus's handling of Diocletian's massacres, Coel began a rebellion in the duchy of Caercolun (Colchester), of which he was duke. He met Asclepiodotus in battle and killed him, thus taking the kingship of Britain upon himself. Rome, apparently, was thrilled that Britain had a new king and sent a senator, Constantius Chlorus, to negotiate with Coel. Afraid of the Romans,
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