Cordelia of Briton

Queen Cordelia is a legendary Queen of the Britons and is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain) which was written c.1136. She is the daughter of King Leir and is considered to be the second ruling Queen of pre-Roman Britain.
In this work, Monmouth details the lives of the British Kings from over 2,000 years prior to his writing. While most believed this to be historical fact well into the 16th century, we now know that certain historical figures from his book are mere myths and legends.
 
Cordelia is one of these mythical Queens mentioned in Geoffrey’s account of British history, but is probably more known by us today as a character in Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, which was originally written as a history play.
 
Cordelia was the youngest, and favourite, of King Leir’s three daughters, whom he planned to split his Kingdom between. A selfish old man, Leir initiates a “love test” and asked his daughters, in turn, how much they love him. In return, he planned to gift them each a third of his Kingdom.
Goneril and Regan, Leir’s elder daughters, spout professions of love and each were bestowed with significant portions of land in return. Their husbands, the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall, respectively, were more than happy with their share.
Cordelia, on the other hand, refused to partake in the farce and was honest with Leir that she loved him as much as a daughter ought to, no more and no less. In return, and enraged Leir disinherited her and refused her a dowry for a marriage.
 
Cordelia quickly became the Queen of Francia, after Aganippus, the King of the Franks, asked for her hand in marriage. Leir allowed the marriage but still refused to provide her with a dowry. Aganippus did not care as he loved Cordelia and saw her true worth was beyond jewels and riches, and happily wed her anyway. The young Queen Cordelia then moved to Gaul, with her husband.
 
This is where Shakespeare's tale differs from the traditional legend. In Shakespeare's tale, his Lear split his time between the castles of his two remaining daughters, but he and his retinue made awful houseguests and Goneril and Regan sought to limit the number of knights he brought with him. He quarrelled with his daughters until he was eventually kicked him out and he wandered the windswept moors of Briton until he went quite mad.
Cordelia next saw her father, in this tale, when he was on his deathbed, having gone completely mad with grief. She had heard of what her sisters had done to him and had sailed with an army to retake Briton for her father. She was, however, unsuccessful.
Lear didn't recognise his once-beloved daughter at first, but Cordelia forgave her father her banishment and the pair reconciled just as Lear regained his memory enough to recognise her once more. Unfortunately, the pair were soon thrown into prison by the wicked son of Gloucester, Edmund, who had a rather large sub-plot in the play, and Cordelia is hanged. Lear died soon after out of grief for his daughter.
In another retelling of the story, Cordelia married the more favoured son of Gloucester, Edgar, and the two became the overall rulers of the Kingdom.
 
However, in the traditional legend, things went quite differently for Cordelia and her father.
In the original tale, Leir was exiled from Briton by his Goneril and Regan and their husbands; he fled to Cordelia in Gaul and begged her to lend him an army to retake his throne. Ever the dutiful daughter, Cordelia invaded Briton and restored her father to his throne.
He ruled for three years before his eventual death, at which point Cordelia's husband, King Aganippus also died and she returned to her homeland, to be crowned Queen of Briton.
Queen Cordelia ruled over a peaceful land for five years, until the day came when her nephews, the new Dukes of Cornwall and Albany, came of age. Cunedagius and Marganus, (Cornwall and Albany respectively) were every bit as wicked as their respective parents had been and they despised Cordelia's rule, seeing the throne as their own birthright.
The Dukes raised their own armies to try and oust Cordelia from her throne and Cordelia became a warrior Queen, fighting in person at several of the battles. Ultimately, she was captured and imprisoned by her nephews. Having lost everything, her family, her husband, her home and her crown, she committed suicide in her cell.
Cunedagius and Marganus divided the Kingdom between themselves, with Cunedagius taking the lands southwest of the Humber and Marganus the lands northeast. Eventually, civil war broke out between the greedy cousins and Marganus was defeated and killed.
 
Whichever version of the story you hear, Queen Cordelia is always shown to be the idyllic, virtuous character and a true Queen of France and Briton. She had an unfortunate ending, but she always remained true to those she loved and the things she believed in.