Coel Hen (c.350 - 420 AD)

Named in Celtic tradition as the High King of Northern Britain, Coel Hen was a prominent figure in many ancient genealogies. Many of the kingdoms of northern Britain and Wales were ruled by his descendants and he is preserved in legend as the founding ancestor of the Men of the North - the kings of northern Britain and southern Scotland.

Mention of Coel Hen in an ancient Welsh genealogy, Y Commrodor

With the fading of central Roman administration in the early fifth century, regional governors known as dux were appointed to manage the protection of the island in the face of increasing barbarian raids. Brittania Secunda, the province of northern Britain, was placed into the care of a man named as Coel Hen – Cole the Old. From his headquarters in Ebrauc (York), Coel ruled a huge area of the north which stretched from Ebrauc to Hadrian’s Wall and possibly even beyond into the territory of Goutodin. The old Celtic traditions returned quickly in the north and it's likely that Coel Hen gradually took on the role of a king rather than a dux. Very little is known of Coel Hen personally but he must have been a charismatic and determined leader as he managed to turn northern Britain from a province which looked to Rome for its defence to an independent kingdom capable of defending itself.

Coel’s efforts meant that he was regarded as the first King of the North and he is familiar to many of us as Old King Cole from the nursery rhyme. Coel died in around 420 and his death is preserved in Welsh legend. The story goes that during Coel’s time as High King, Scotti settlers from Ulster had settled on the western coast of Pictland. Concerned that the Picts and Scots would join forces against the British, Coel sent raiders across his northern borders to stir up trouble between them. Coel’s ruse didn't fool anyone and the Picts and the Scots retaliated by attacking Alt Clut. Enraged, Coel and his army stormed north and the Picts and the Scots fled into the hills. Flushed with victory, Coel chased after them and set up camp in what is now Ayrshire. Sometime later, starving and desperate, the Picts and Scots advanced in an all-or-nothing attack on Coel’s stronghold. Taken by surprise, Coel and the northern British scattered in panic. Lost and alone, Coel wandered through the unfamiliar countryside of Argyll until he fell into a bog and drowned – an inglorious end for the first High King of Northern Britain.

On his death, Coel’s kingdom was divided between his two sons with the eldest, Ceneu, taking Ebrauc and his youngest, Gorbanian, inheriting Bernaccia. His daughter, Gwawl, had been married off to Cunedda Wledig and the pair had founded a kingdom and spawned several royal dynasties of their own in North Wales. His descendants, the northern British and Welsh kings of the sixth century, would stubbornly resist Teutonic invasion until their calamitous defeat at the Battle of Catreath in 597.