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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1996-01 > 0821049068


From: Tom Camfield <>
Subject: Re: OLD KING COEL, real or make-believe?
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 00:11:08 +0300


In article <4cj87t$>, (Hvard
Moe) wrote:

> (Tom Camfield) wrote:
>
> >Coel, King of Colchester, is a purported ANCESTOR or Constantine in the
> >line originally presented to me. He m. Strada the Fair, begat Helen of the
> >Cross, who mothered Constantine the Great.
>
> Are there any litterature/information on this? Who were Strada the
> Fair and Helen of the Cross?

According to my source (a book titled "Ancestral Peregrinations," which
refers to no source in this regard and probably has recycled some rather
thoroughly-discredited source such as Geoffrey of Monmouth):
--Strada the Fair m. Coel (Coleus II), King of Colchester, living 232.
--Helen of the Cross (also found elswhere as St. Helen), supposedly was
their daughter.
--Constantine the Great is said to have been Helen's son; m. Fausta.
--Constantine II, emperor of the west 337-340, ruler of Britain, Gaul,
Spain and Part of Africa...

Scholars point out that Helen, mother of Constantine actually was the the
daughter of an innkeeper in Bithynia.

In fact, my author is even a bit vague about the descent of Helen from
Coel--rather listing her as b. 248 and "heiress to the crown of Britain."
The entire descent is very, very loosely woven--and I consider it mainly a
starting place for discussion.
--
Tom Camfield -

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