General Notes

Dux Britannorum

Coel Hen, King of Northern Britain (c.350-c.420)
(Welsh-Coel,Latin-Coelius, English-Cole). Coel Hen or Coel the
Old is known to mostof us through the famous nursery rhyme: 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. He is also a familiar figure in
ancient Welsh genealogies, for most ofthe Celtic British
monarchies claimed descent from him in one form oranother. He
appears to have lived around the turn from the 4th to the
5thcentury, the time when the Roman officials returned to
Italy, leavingBritain and her people to fend for themselves.
Coel's particularassociation with the north of Britain has led
to the suggestion that hemay actually have been the last of the
Roman Duces Brittanniarum with hisheadquarters at York. He
certainly imposed his power over a great swatheof the country,
and can be considered the first King in Northern Britain.(This
Coel should not be confused with the legendary Coel Godhebog
'theMagnificent', Lord of Colchester, whose daughter, St.
Helen, supposedlymarried the Emperor Constantius Chlorus two
centuries earlier.) There is an old story told in the north
about Coel's last campaign. Whatis now Scotland was originally
inhabited by the Pictish race. It wasduring Coel's time that
immigrant Irishmen from the Scotti tribe began tosettle the
Western coast around Argyle. Coel, fearing that the twopeoples
would unite against the British, sent raiding parties across
hisnorthern border to stir up discord between them. The plan,
however,backfired for the Picts and the Scots were not taken
in. Coel merelysucceeded in pushing the two even closer
together, and they began toattack the British Kingdom of
Strathclyde. Coel declared all out war andmoved north to expel
the invaders. The Picts and Scots fled to the hillsahead of
Coel's army, who eventually set up camp at what became
Coyltonalongside the Water of Coyle (Ayrshire). For a long
time, the Britishwere triumphant, while the Scots and Picts
starved. Desperate for somerelief, however, the enemy advanced
an all-or-nothing attack on Coel'sstronghold. Coel and his men
were taken by surprise, overrun andscattered to the winds. It
is said that Coel wandered the unknowncountryside until he
eventually got caught in a bog at Coilsfield (inTarbolton,
Ayrshire) and drowned. Coel was first buried in a mound
therebefore being removed to the church at Coylton. The year
was about AD 420.After his death, Coel's Northern Kingdom was
divided between two of hissons, Ceneu and Gorbanian. [David
Nash Ford, Early British Kingdoms,Biographies of the Kings of
Ebrauc]