Leir

Family: Britons · Role: king of Britain · First appears: Book II 8–11

After Bladud’s death, Leir was advanced to the throne of Britain. He had three daughters, Gonorilla, Regau, and Cordeilla; he married Gonorilla and Regau to Maglaunus and Henuinus, granting them half the island during his life and the whole monarchy after his death, while excluding Cordeilla from any share in his kingdom.

A long time afterward, Maglaunus, Gonorilla, Henuinus, and Regau fostered an insurrection that deprived Leir of Britain and his regal authority. After two years with Maglaunus, he left when Gonorilla reduced his household to thirty men, then left Henuinus when Regau ordered all but five attendants discharged. Disdaining this treatment, he went into exile in Gaul, where Cordeilla secretly arranged his care, clothing, and a retinue of forty men.

Aganippus and Cordeilla received Leir honorably and entrusted Gaul’s power to him until he could be restored. He returned to Britain with the forces they had raised, defeated Maglaunus and Henuinus, and recovered the whole kingdom. In the third year afterward, Leir and Aganippus died, and Cordeilla assumed the government of Britain and buried her father.