King Lear

The first known written record of King Lear, another ancestor in the Duffin/Dalebout genealogy, comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s  “History of the Kings of Britain”.  Geoffrey’s account was written in the 12^th century.  (Geoffrey’s history was mentioned in last week’s pots.)  According to this work, King Lear would have reigned during the 8^th century BC.  That is about 2000 years prior to Geoffrey’s record.   How much of Geoffrey's story is fact verse legend?  This is unknown.  That is why Geoffrey’s amount is considered a pseudohistorical history. 

Goeffrey’s account of King Lear states that he was a good king, reigned 60 years, and was a contemporary with the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament.   As he neared the end of his life, he abdicated his throne and divided his lands between two of his three daughters, Goneril and Regan.  He denied his third daughter Cordelia any power or land because she failed to “flatter” him as did her sisters.  Despite not having a dowry, Cordelia married King Aganippus of the Franks and lived in France.   Goneril, Regan, and their spouses were left to rule England.  With time however, the two daughters showed contempt for their aging father to the point that he feared for his life and fled to France. 

Upon arriving in France, King Lear was destitute.  He was without food and proper clothing.  He sent a message to his daughter Cordelia whom he had spurned.  Cordelia had King Lear taken to another city, restored to his dignity and then announced to the court and nobles of France.  After hearing the sufferings of King Lear, the French nobles vowed to help him regain his throne.   France invaded England and was successful at restoring King Lear to his throne.  He reigned for another three years before passing away.  His daughter Cordelia reigned England after his death. 

In the early 1600, Shakespeare writes a play titled “King Lear”.   It is thought that Geoffrey’s history was Shakespeare’s main source of information.  Shakespeare used other sources and added additional plots to the play.  He also changed the story ending to a tragedy.  This made his play very different from the other contemporary plays of King Lear and a very good reason to see it regardless of whether or not you had seen other King Lear plays!   For historical record, changing the ending is unfortunate as people know the play and not the history.  On the other hand, without Shakespeare’s play, we would probably not even know about King Lear!