Shakespeare's play is based on various accounts of the semi-legendary Brythonic figure Leir of Britain, whose name has been linked by some scholars to the Brythonic god Lir/Llŷr, though in actuality the names are not etymologically related. Shakespeare's most important source is probably the second edition of "The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande" by Raphael Holinshed, published in 1587. Holinshed himself found the story in the earlier "Historia Regum Britanniae" by Geoffrey of Monmouth, which was written in the 12th century. Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene", published 1590, also contains a character named Cordelia, who also dies from hanging, as in "King Lear".