Old King Cole

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For other uses, see King Cole (disambiguation).

 

A legendary king of Celtic Britain, most of what can be said about Old King Cole comes from a traditional nursery rhyme: Image:Oldkingcole.jpg

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.

In fact, there are several candidates for a historical King Cole, or Coel.

Colchester

One may have lived in the third century, and was the eponymous founder of the city of Colchester in Essex, England. "Colchester" means "Cole's castle." These legendary tales are sometimes included with the more familiar tales of King Arthur and his knights in the Matter of Britain. There may have been two rulers of that name in Colchester, a Coel Godhebog, or Cole the Magnificent; and Coel Hen, Cole the Old. Little definite is known of either monarch, or whether there were indeed two Coles, only one, or whether he is purely legendary. Another vein of legend links him to Cunobelinus, Shakespeare's Cymbeline.

Geoffrey of Monmouth lists a King Cole in his Historia Regum Britanniae as a king of the Britons following the reign of King Asclepiodotus. The Welsh chronicles state further that his name was Coel Hen Godhebog, which would integrate the two possible names together. Geoffrey states that Coel, upset with Asclepiodotus's handling of Diocletian's massacres, began a rebellion in the duchy of Kaelcolim (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 act as a diplomat to 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 of Britain. Constantius agreed to these terms but one month later, Coel died. Constantius took Coel's daughter, Helena, and crowned himself as Coel's successor. Helen later gave birth to a son who became Emperor Constantine the Great. Note that the Historia Regum Britanniae is not generally considered historically accurate.

Yet another possibility is that Cole is the Celtic deity Camulus, god of war. The old name of Colchester was Camulodunum, and the derivation sequence /kamul/ (+ lenition) > /kawul/ > /kaul/ > /ko:l/ is possible, especially among the Celtic languages. If Camulus is Cole, then Colchester (from the Latin for "Cole's fortress") and Camulodunum (from Brythonic Celtic for "the fortress of Camulus") are synonyms; it is likely that the Latin form is a calque on the Celtic.

Colchester contains an old Roman quarry that is called "King Cole's Kitchen". The word ceol means music in Gaelic, and this may be the origin of the rhyme about Cole and his fiddlers.

High King of Northern Britain

David Nash Ford [1] and Peter L Kessler [2] contend that Cole was Coel Hen, High King of Northern Britain who apparently lived around AD 350–420, during the time when the Romans withdrew their forces from Britain. He may have been the last of the Roman Duces Brittanniarum (Dukes of the Britons), and took over the northern capital at Eburacum (York) to rule over what had been the northern province of Roman Britain. Most of the Brythonic kings of north Britain, and many Welsh kings, would trace their descent from him — for example Rheged. He is considered to be the father-in-law of Cunedda, founder of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. On Coel Hen's death his lands were split between his sons and later his grandsons, creating the old northern British kingdoms of Rheged, Strathclyde, Elmet and Gododdin.

Later versions

Some think that it is unlikely that the nursery rhyme was written before 1585, when Sir Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco into England. Others think that the "pipe" referred to may not have been a smoking pipe, but rather a musical instrument, or a measure of wine.

In the United States, King Coal is sometimes invoked as a metaphor for the centrality of coal mining in the economy of Appalachia, a role similar to that played by King Cotton in the Deep South.

In Canada, King Cole is a brand of tea which has been manufactured by G.E. Barbour Inc for about a century.

In the Fables comic book, King Cole was the long-time mayor of "Fabletown," a secret community of "Fables," who were forced into exile in our world by a conqueror at home. He was defeated in an election by Prince Charming and is no longer mayor.

In the 1970s, American comedian George Carlin offered this alternative:

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 -
     I guess we all know about Old King Cole...

The manner in which Carlin spoke the final line suggested that the pipe and bowl can be interpreted as marijuana references.

The prog rock band Genesis (band) included the rhyme on their song "The Musical Box", from their 1971 album Nursery Cryme.

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