Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there’s none so rare, as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three
by David Hughs
Coilus Votepacus, the Welsh Cole or Coel “Godebog”/”Guotepauc”, Coilus/Caelius “Votepacus”, called “protector” may be identified with Coelestius “Senex”, the “Dux Britanniarum”, formerly in Roman service, who was descended from pre-Roman British royalty and was the representative of one of the secondary branches of the Old British Royal House. His epithet “Votepacus”/”Guotepauc” means “The Splendid” or “The Excellent.”
Cole “Godebog” (Coilus “Votepacus”) has sometimes been called Britain’s “first” Dark Age king, and was regarded by the annalists of Northern England as the founder of Britain’s Dark Age Royal House.
Cole “Godebog” held sway in Northern England and sat at York [called Eboracum, the locus of the Praefectus Legionis Sextae of the Dux Britanniarum. Source: Notitia Dignitatum. He later moved his headquarters to Dunbar in Gododdin (SE Scotland) during the civil war between he and Dunvallo “Molmutius”, who held sway over Southern England and is regarded by the annalists of Southern England as the founder of Britain’s Dark Age Royal House. There are others also reckoned as the founder of Britain’s Dark Age Royal House, e.g., Vortigern, for one. The move Cole “Godebog” made from York to Dunbar is why he is reckoned as the “first” King of Gododdin, which was a regional-kingdom overlapping NE England and SE Scotland.It is recorded that Cole “Godebog” launched a massive attack on Ayrshire against Quintillus of Strathclyde, and on Galloway and Cumbria against Antonius “Donatus” of Galloway/Cumbria. Cole “Godebog” appears to have again moved his headquarters at this time to Aeron (Ayrshire, Scotland), and appears later to have established his headquarters at Kyle, to which he gave his name.
http://www.kylesociety.org/Kyle_OldKingCole.htm