Leir of Britain
Leir was a
Name
Geoffrey of Monmouth identified Leir as the
Leir, Lerion, and Ligora(ceastre) all derive from the old Brittonic name of the River Soar, *Ligera or *Ligora.[5][6][7]
Legend
Reign
Leir's story was first recorded in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. In it, Leir is part of the dynasty of Brutus of Britain and succeeded to the throne after his father Bladud died while attempting to fly with artificial wings. The dating is inexact, but Geoffrey made Bladud a contemporary of the biblical prophet Elijah. Leir was given the longest reign of Geoffrey's kings, ruling for 60 years.[4] Geoffrey claimed he was the eponymous founder of Leicester in England.[5][6][7]
Abdication
Leir was said to have been the end of
Restoration
At this point, Leir feared both his older daughters and fled to France.[8] He sent Cordelia a messenger when he was outside her court at Karitia. She had him bathed, royally clothed, and assigned a fittingly large band of retainers. He was then officially received by the king and made regent of France, with the Frankish nobles vowing to restore him to his former glory.[9] Leir, Cordelia, and her husband invaded Britain and successfully overthrew his other daughters and sons-in-law. Leir ruled three years and then died. Cordelia succeeded him and buried him in an underground shrine to the god Janus beneath the River Soar near Leicester—allegedly the current site of the city's Jewry Wall.[10] An annual feast was held nearby in his honour.[11]
In culture
Leir's life was dramatised on the
References
- ^ Galfridus Monemutensis [Geoffrey of Monmouth]. Historia Regum Britanniæ. c. 1136. (in Latin) J.A. Giles & al. (trans.) as History of the Kings of Britain in Six Old English Chronicles. 1842. Hosted at Wikisource.
- ^ Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Sources for King Lear" Archived 3 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine at Shakespeare Online Archived 21 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 2010.
- ^ Nennius (attrib.). Theodor Mommsen (ed.). Historia Brittonum, VI. Composed after AD 830. (in Latin) Hosted at Latin Wikisource.
- ^ a b c Geoffrey, Vol. II, Ch. 11.
- ^ a b Stevenson, W. H. "A note on the derivation of the name 'Leicester'" in The Archaeological Journal, Vol. 75, pp. 30 f. Royal Archaeological Institute (London), 1918.
- ^ a b Ekwall, Eilert. English River-Names, p. xlii. Clarendon Press (Oxford), 1928.
- ^ a b Jackson, Kenneth. Language and History in Early Britain, p. 459. (Edinburgh), 1953.
- ^ a b Geoffrey, Vol. II, Ch. 12.
- ^ Geoffrey, Vol. II, Ch. 13.
- .
- ^ Geoffrey, Vol. II, Ch. 14.
- ^ Higgins, John (1815). "How Queene Cordilia in despaire slew her selfe, The yeare before Christ, 800". In Haslewood, Joseph (ed.). Mirror for magistrates: in five parts. Vol. 1. Lackington, Allen, and Company. pp. 123–142.
- ^ Spenser, Edmund. The Faerie Queene, Vol. II, §10, ll. 27–33.
- ^ Halio, Jay L. King Lear: A Guide to the Play, pp. 20 f. Greenwood Press, 2001.