Young Boudicca
by Richard Scholefield
Category: Fiction

There have been many books written, and much research carried out, about this Queen, who is so well revered by this country, and held up as a figure to be admired and remembered for all time, that she has a statue in her honour in Westminster, London. Boudicca had her kingdom cruelly taken from her by the occupying Roman forces, when her husband died. We have a few paragraphs, written by a Roman, named ‘Tacitus’ which tells us how Boudicca was invited to a meeting with the Romans, which she thought was to welcome her as the Queen of the Iceni. She did not receive the hospitality she expected, and the treatment that she, and her daughters received, are believed to be the trigger for what happened next. The Romans under-estimated the strength and grit of Boudicca and the fanatical support of her people, and came to regret their actions. The book tells the story of Boudicca’s campaign to reclaim her kingdom. Written to inform the reader about the way of life of the ancient Britons, it tells how the occupying Roman forces ruled them. How Boudicca inspired her tribesmen and led them in a campaign that saw the destruction of Colchester, London and St Albans.