King Lear was based on the legendary Leir of Britain, who is said to have reigned over an island-wide kingdom in Britain around the year 800 BC. In his old-age and without a male heir, Leir made plans to divide his kingdom between his three daughters: Goneral, Regan and Cordelia. The oldest two, Goneral and Regan, flattered their father with false praises in order to gain larger inheritances. Cordelia refused to flatter her father, and her honesty was mistaken for arrogance and scorn, and Leir cut her out of his will and banished her. Leir retired, dividing the kingdom in two and granting it two his older daughters, planning to be supported at their courts. However, the greedy and ungrateful women and their husbands refused to support their fathers retinue and turned him out. Eventually the two queens turned on each other and the island was consumed by warfare. Only in the end, as an impoverished beggar, did Leir realize that Cordelia was the only one of his daughters who had actually loved him and the only one worthy of ruling in his stead. Show less «