King Cole - Later Sources

Later Sources

In his Historia Anglorum, Henry of Huntingdon mentions that a King Coel of Colchester was the father of Saint Helena and therefore the grandfather of Constantine the Great. The same claim appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, in a passage using some of the same words. Henry appears to have written this part of the Historia Anglorum before he knew about Geoffrey's work, leading J. S. P. Tatlock to conclude that Geoffrey borrowed the passage from Henry, rather than the other way around. The source of the claim is unknown, but it may have come from a lost hagiography of Helena.

Geoffrey's largely legendary Historia Regum Britanniae expands upon Henry's brief mention, listing Coel as a King of the Britons following the reign of King Asclepiodotus. He states that, upset with Asclepiodotus's handling of the Diocletianic Persecution, Coel began a rebellion in the duchy of Caer Colun (though to be Colchester in southeastern England), of which he was duke. He met Asclepiodotus in battle and killed him, thus taking the kingship of Britain upon himself. Rome, apparently, was pleased that Britain had a new king and sent a senator, Constantius Chlorus, to negotiate with Coel. Afraid of the Romans, Coel met Constantius and agreed to pay tribute and submit to Roman laws as long as he was allowed to retain the kingship. Constantius agreed to these terms but, one month later, Coel died. Constantius married Coel's daughter, Helena, and crowned himself as Coel's successor. Helen subsequently gave birth to a son who became the Emperor Constantine the Great, giving a British pedigree to the Roman imperial line.