Leir of Britain

Leir was a legendary king of the Britons whose story was recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical 12th-century History of the Kings of Britain. According to Geoffrey's genealogy of the British dynasty, Leir reigned around the 8th century BC, contemporaneous with the founding of Rome.

Geoffrey of Monmouth identified Leir as the eponymous founder of the city of Leicester (Ligoraceastre in Old English; Old Welsh: Cair Lerion, Welsh: Caerlŷr), which he called Kaerleir ("City of Leir") using the Old Welsh form of the city's name.

First recorded in Geoffrey's History of the Kings of Britain, Leir appears as part of the dynasty of Brutus of Britain and ascended to the throne after his father Bladud died while attempting to fly with artificial wings. While the dating is inexact, Geoffrey portrayed Bladud as a contemporary of the biblical prophet Elijah. Leir was granted the longest reign of all Geoffrey's kings, ruling for 60 years.

The story was later adapted and retold by William Shakespeare in his Jacobean tragedy King Lear.