Boudicca: Warrior Queen of the Iceni Boudicca: Warrior Queen of the Iceni By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | May 31, 2013 05:43pm ET MORE Credit: Claudio Divizia Shutterstock Boudicca (also spelled Boudica or Boudicea) was the queen of the Iceni, a tribe based in modern day Norfolk, in eastern England. In A.D. 60, she led a revolt against the Romans that resulted in the destruction of two (possibly three) Roman settlements and almost drove the empire off the island. Much of what we know about her comes from two Roman writers, Publius Cornelius Tacitus (A.D. 56-117) and Cassius Dio (A.D. 150-235). The revolt began after the death of her husband, Prasutagus, around A.D. 60. Tacitus writes that the Romans seized Iceni property, flogged Boudicca and raped her two daughters. She then raised an army and led a rebellion against the Romans which, after initial success, was crushed at the Battle of Watling Street.

For a society as patriarchal as imperial Rome, the fact that a woman had succeeded in killing so many Romans was disconcerting to say the least. “Two cities were sacked, eighty thousand of the Romans and of their allies perished, and the island was lost to Rome. Moreover, all this ruin was brought upon the Romans by a woman, a fact which in itself caused them the greatest shame,” wrote Dio (translation by Earnest Cary, through penelope.uchicago.edu ). The only physical description of Boudicca that survives comes from Dio. Although it may not be accurate, it leaves readers with the impression that Boudicca was a determined war leader. “In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of divers colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch. This was her invariable attire ...” wrote Dio, who added that she clutched a spear when she spoke to her people.

Dio (unlike Tacitus) doesn’t mention the flogging of Boudicca, or the rape of her daughters, and claims the uprising was over a Roman loan. The Romans and the Iceni The Roman Empire, under Emperor Claudius, launched a successful invasion of Britain in A.D. 43 with an army estimated to be around 40,000 men. Military campaigns had been launched by earlier Roman leaders against the Brits (one notably led by Julius Caesar) but this time the Romans were here to stay. [ Related: Hadrian's Wall: Northern Frontier of the Roman Empire ] Claudius’ force didn’t try and defeat every British tribe. Several leaders offered to make their kingdoms “client-states” of Rome. This basically meant that as long as their leaders lived, and did Rome’s bidding when asked, they could maintain some level of sovereignty within the Roman Empire. The Iceni were one of the tribes who agreed to this arrangement and they remained a client state of Rome up until the death of Prasutagus around A.D. 60.

The Iceni, at the time of the Roman invasion, were a wealthy people (as evidenced by hoards of precious metals that have been found) whose leaders had been minting coins for nearly a century. Some of the earliest Iceni coins show an image of what Miranda Aldhouse-Green, a Cardiff University professor, calls a “snapping wolf,” a choice that may offer an insight into the psyche of these people. The “wolf is both a wild creature, a potential enemy to humans, and also lives and hunts in packs; it therefore may have acted as a symbol of independent solidarity,” she writes in her book, "Boudica Britannia: Rebel, War-Leader and Queen" (Pearson Education, 2006). She also notes that the Iceni people also kept making ceramics by hand, even though they had access to the potter’s wheel. Even before Boudicca, the Iceni’s client-state relationship with Rome was problematic. In A.D. 47, a short-lived unsuccessful revolt was launched by the Iceni against Rome.

This rebellion may have led to the elevation of Prasutagus to the leadership of the tribe, perhaps being seen by the Romans as a leader who could keep the Iceni in line. Aldhouse-Green notes that the design of the coins minted by Prasutagus appear to strike a balance between showing the tribe’s allegiance to Rome and displaying a degree of independence, as if Prasutagus was trying to walk a fine line between the two sides. The coins “are imitations of early Neronian issues and their obverse depicts a high-relief portrait that closely resembles Nero himself,” she writes, “the reverse redresses the cultural balance and bear a very un-Roman design of a fantastic horse, a motif common to a range of tribal rulers’ coinage.” Even in his will, Prasutagus tried to strike a balance between the Iceni and the Romans. In it he left his kingdom to his two daughters and the Roman emperor Nero. The exclusion of Boudicca in his will has led historians to speculate that, even when her husband was still alive, the Iceni queen held strong anti-Roman views.

This client-state arrangement came crashing down upon the death of Prasutagus, however, with the Romans treating the Iceni, Boudicca and her daughters terribly. His “kingdom was plundered by centurions, his house by slaves, as if they were the spoils of war. First, his wife Boudicea was scourged (flogged), and his daughters outraged. All the chief men of the Iceni, as if Rome had received the whole country as a gift, were stripped of their ancestral possessions, and the king's relatives were made slaves...” wrote Tacitus (Translation by Alfred John Church, through Perseus Digital Library ) Initial success With her kingdom’s independence lost, her daughters raped, and herself having been personally flogged, Boudicca had had enough. She raised an army, gaining supporting from another aggrieved tribe known as the Trinovantes. 'Boadicea Haranguing the Britons (called Boudicca, or Boadicea),' by William Sharp, after John Opie line engraving, published 1793.

Credit: National Portrait Gallery, London She focused her wrath on the Roman settlements of Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester) and Londinium (London), burning both of them to the ground. Archaeologists have found evidence of the fires her forces lit. “At Camulodunum and Londinium the results of the Boudican revolt may be compared, on a smaller scale, with those of the volcanic eruptions that smothered Pompeii and Herculaneum,” write researchers Richard Hingley and Christina Unwin in their book, "Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen" (Cambridge University Press, 2005). The towns were destroyed. In addition, Tacitus claims that Boudicca also destroyed the town of Verulamium, although the archaeological evidence for this is less clear. Boudicca was helped by the fact that at the time her rebellion was launched much of the Roman army in Britain was on the Isle of Anglesey, in Wales, destroying a Druid site at Mona. This meant that, for awhile, the rebels would only encounter small numbers of Roman troops.

After her successes, Dio records, Boudicca’s army had swelled to 230,000 people, a figure that was probably exaggerated. Battle of Watling Street University of Leicester professor David Mattingly writes that the Roman commander on the island, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, amassed what forces he could, numbering perhaps only 10,000 men. He gave battle to Boudicca somewhere near Watling Street, an ancient road on the island. While Paulinus was heavily outnumbered, he did have several other advantages. His legionnaires were well trained, equipped and probably battle hardened. Boudicca’s forces on the other hand were anything but. In “a fast-moving rebellion there was neither time to fabricate large numbers of arms, nor, evidently, was there the opportunity for rebel forces to pillage major stockpiles of Roman weaponry,” Mattingly writes in his book "An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire" (Penguin Books, 2006).

He notes that while a “core” of Boudica’s army was properly armed “many of the rebels will have had no body armour and will have been provided with makeshift weapons, such as agricultural tools.” Additionally, while scholars don’t know precisely where Paulinus engaged Boudicca, we know from Tacitus that it was in a “narrow defile” with a forest at the rear. This meant that Boudicca could not bring her superior numbers to bear on the Roman forces. Also, Tacitus notes that Boudicca made a tactical mistake in placing her supply wagons close to the front lines, blocking her troops when they had to retreat. The Roman legions started the battle by launching spears at the British. These spears would have killed some Brits and hit the shields of others, possibly sticking to them and rendering them useless. Then the Roman troops “rushed out in a wedge-like column. Similar was the onset of the auxiliaries, while the cavalry with extended lances broke through all who offered a strong resistance.” The rebels tried to flee but “flight proved difficult, because the surrounding wagons had blocked retreat,” writes Tacitus.

The Romans massacred all who they could, even killing the animals which the rebels used to move their supplies. The battle over, Tacitus said that Boudicca took poison to avoid being captured, while Dio said that she died of illness (possibly from a wound). Mattingly writes that Paulinus then “set about re-subjugating the implicated areas by ‘fire and sword’ and this extended not only to the most hostile peoples, but also even to those who had simply wavered in their loyalty.” Britain would remain part of the Roman Empire until the fifth century A.D. when the western half of the empire collapsed. Boudicca today While Boudicca’s rebellion failed to drive the Romans out of Britain, the Iceni queen has become something of a modern-day heroine. [ Related: Camelot, King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table ] “Boudicca has become an icon of British national history and is now a symbol not only of British freedom but also of women’s power,” writes University of Newcastle researcher Marguerite Johnson in her book "Boudicca" (Bristol Classic Press, 2012).

“She has been painted and sculpted; she has ‘starred’ in films and has been the protagonist of numerous books, both of an academic and fictional nature.” In 1902, not long after the death of Queen Victoria, who was the longest reigning monarch in British history, a statue of Boudicca was unveiled next to Westminster Bridge in London. Standing in her war chariot, and clutching a spear, it shows the Iceni queen ready to take on the might of Rome. Boudicca - Ancient History Encyclopedia Boudicca by Joshua J. Mark published on 08 November 2013 Boudicca was the Celtic Queen of the Iceni tribe of modern-day East Anglia, Britain , who led a revolt against Rome in 60/61 CE. The Iceni King, Prasutagus, an independent ally of Rome, divided his estate between his daughters and King Nero of Rome. When Prasutagus died, however, his lands were taken by Rome and the Iceni lost their status as allies. When his wife, Boudicca, objected to this action she was flogged and her two daughters raped.

She mounted a revolt against Rome which left the ancient Roman cities of Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium in ruins and over 80,000 Roman citizens of Britain dead. She was defeated at the Battle of Watling Street by the Roman Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus chiefly by his judicious choice of battlefield and allowing her army to cut off its own escape route by encircling their rear with their wagons, animals and families. Boudicca is said to have committed suicide by poisoning herself after her defeat. The primary sources of the story of Boudicca's revolt are the Roman historians, Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56-117 CE) and Cassius Dio (150-235 CE). These two offer different versions of the story in that Tacitus claims the revolt sprang from the ill treatment of the Iceni following Prasutagus' death while Dio writes that the cause of the uprising was a dispute over a loan.

Remove Ads Advertisement The other significant difference in the versions is that Dio makes no mention of the flogging of Boudicca or the rape of her daughters and claims she died of wounds incurred in battle, not by poisoning. Tacitus' account is generally accepted as being more factual because his father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40-93 CE) was the governor in Britain chiefly responsible for the successful conquest of the region and served as Tacitus' primary source of information. There is no doubt of Agricola's participation in the suppression of Boudicca's revolt, serving under Suetonius as a young soldier in 61 CE. Causes of Boudicca's Rebellion Boudicca was flogged and her daughters raped. Tacitus writes, "Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, after a life of long and renownded prosperity, had made the emperor co-heir with his own two daughters. Prasutagus hoped by this submissiveness to preserve his kingdom and household from attack. But it turned out otherwise. [After his death] kingdom and household alike were plundered like prizes of war , the one by Roman officers, the other by Roman slaves.

As a beginning, his widow Boudicca was flogged and their daughters raped. The Icenian chiefs were deprived of their hereditary estates as if the Romans had been given the whole country. The king's own relatives were treated like slaves. And the humiliated Iceni feared still worse, now that they had been reduced to provincial status. So they rebelled." (Eyewitness to Ancient Rome, 197). The historian Miranda Aldhouse-Green cites an earlier Iceni rebellion, in 47 CE, as the cause of Prasutagus' elevation to chief of the tribe. This rebellion was unsuccessful and it is unclear what role Prasutagus played in it but it seems clear that the Romans saw Prasutagus as a leader who could keep the peace between the Iceni and Rome. Aldhouse-Green also notes the significance of Prasutagus' will, which divided his estate between his daughters and Rome and omitted Boudicca, as evidence of the queen's hostility toward Rome. It is argued that, by leaving her out of the will, Prasutagus hoped his daughters would continue his policy of cooperation.

After his death, however, all hope of the Iceni existing peacefully with Rome was lost. Advertisement Boudicca's War Boudicca first struck the city of Camulodunum (modern Colchester) where she massacred the inhabitants and destroyed the settlement. Governor Suetonius was engaged in putting down an uprising on the Island of Mona and so the Roman citizens appealed to imperial agent Catus Decianus. He sent a lightly armed force of 200 men who proved ineffective in defense of the city. The Ninth Roman Division, led by Rufus, marched to relieve the settlement but were routed and the infantry decimated by the Briton forces. Tacticus cites the greed and rapacity of men like Catus Decianus for the viciousness of the Britons in revolt. Suetonius, returning from Mona, marched to Londinium (modern London) but, upon receiving intelligence that Boudicca's forces far outnumbered his own, left the city to its fate and sought a field more advantageous for battle. Boudicca's army sacked Londinium and, as before, massacred the inhabitants.

Suetonius had offered the people of the city safe passage with his army and it seems many accepted this offer. However, Tacitus writes, "but those who stayed because they were women, or old, or attached to the place, were slaughtered by the enemy. Verulamium suffered the same fate." 6/12/2006 • Military History , Personalities She slaughtered a Roman army. She torched Londinium, leaving a charred layer almost half a meter thick that can still be traced under modern London. According to the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus, her army killed as many as 70,000 civilians in Londinium, Verulamium and Camulodunum, rushing ‘to cut throats, hang, burn, and crucify. Who was she? Why was she so angry? Most of Boudica’s life is shrouded in mystery. She was born around AD 25 to a royal family in Celtic Britain, and as a young woman she married Prasutagus, who later became king (a term adopted by the Celts, but as practiced by them, more of an elected chief) of the Iceni tribe.

They had two daughters, probably born during the few years immediately after the Roman conquest in ad 43. She may have been Iceni herself, a cousin of Prasutagus, and she may have had druidic training. Even the color of her hair is mysterious. Another Roman historian, Cassius Dio — who wrote long after she died — described it with a word translators have rendered as fair, tawny, and even flaming red, though Dio probably intended his audience to picture it as golden-blonde with perhaps a reddish tinge. Her name meant victory. Boudica’s people once welcomed the Romans. Nearly 100 years earlier, when Gaius Julius Caesar made the first Roman foray into Britannia in 55 and 54 BC, the Iceni were among six tribes that offered him their allegiance. But this greatest of all Roman generals was unable to cope with either the power of the coastal tides or the guerrilla tactics of the other Britons who fought him. After negotiating a pro forma surrender and payment of tribute, Caesar departed. For the next 97 years, no Roman military force set foot on British soil.

The Iceni watched as their southern neighbors, the Catuvellauni, grew rich from exporting grain, cattle and hides, iron and precious metals, slaves and hunting dogs to Rome. From Rome, they imported luxury goods such as wine and olive oil, fine Italian pottery, and silver and bronze drinking cups, and they minted huge numbers of gold coins at their capital, Camulodunum. A century of Roman emperors came and went. Then, in 41 Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus) rose to the imperial purple. There were many practical reasons why he might have thought it useful to add Britannia to the empire, one being that the island was an important source of grain and other supplies needed in quantity by the Roman army. Stories abounded about the mineral wealth there. Outbreaks of unrest in Gaul were stirred up — so the Romans believed — by druid agitators from Britannia. The most compelling reason for Claudius, however, was political. Born with a limp and a stutter, he had once been regarded as a fool and kept out of public view — although those handicaps were largely responsible for his survival amid the intrigue and murder that befell many members of his noble family.

Now the emperor desperately needed a prestige boost of the sort that, in Rome, could be provided only by an important military victory. So when the chief of a minor British tribe turned up in Rome, complaining that he had been deposed and asking the emperor to restore his rule, Claudius must have thought it the perfect excuse to launch an invasion. Boudica would have been about 18 years old in 43, the year Claudius invaded, old enough to be aware of the events that would transform her life. She may already have been married to Prasutagus, but the king of the Iceni was still Antedios, probably an older relative of Prasutagus. Antedios seems to have taken a neutral position toward Rome. Other tribes openly supported the conquest, but most, including the Icenis’ neighbor to the south, did not. Caradoc, king of the Catuvellauni (called Caractacus by the Romans), and his brother Togodumnus led an alliance of tribes to repel the invaders. When the Roman troops landed at the far southeastern tip of Britannia, Caractacus and his allies harried them as they marched inland.

Then the Britons retreated to gather into a single force on the other side of the River Medway. There, the Romans won a major battle in which Caractacus’ brother was either killed or mortally wounded. At that point, Emperor Claudius himself came to Britannia to seal the conquest with a victory at Camulodunum — now known as Colchester — where he accepted the formal submission of 11 British rulers, including Antedios of the Iceni. Boudica and the Iceni may well have expected the Romans to sail away as they had in the past. They soon learned otherwise. Claudius built a Legionary fortress at Camulodunum, stationed troops there and established other fortresses throughout eastern Britannia. He appointed the invasion forces’ commander, Aulus Plautius, as Britannia’s first Roman governor. Caractacus retreated westward, recruited fresh troops and continued to fight a guerrilla war against the Romans. The ham-fisted Ostorius Scapula replaced Plautius in 47. Caractacus timed a series of raids to coincide with the change of governors, so Ostorius arrived to news of fighting.

Was it this unpleasant reception that made Ostorius so mistrustful of all the Britons, even those who had surrendered? Or was he short-tempered because he already suffered from the illness from which he would die five years later? For whatever reason Ostorius decided to disarm those subject tribes that he felt he could not fully trust, including the Iceni. Established Roman law forbade subject populations to keep weapons other than those used for hunting game, but that was contrary to Celtic law and custom. The Iceni rebelled, and Ostorius defeated them. Antedios may have been killed in the rebellion. If not, it seems likely that Ostorius removed him immediately afterward and installed Prasutagus as client-king in his place. Boudica was now queen of the Iceni. Two years later, in 49, Ostorius confiscated land in and around Camulodunum to set up a colonia. This was a town for retired Legionaries, in which each veteran was granted a homestead. The town gave the veterans a secure retirement and concentrated an experienced reserve force in the new province, on which Rome could call in case of emergency.

In theory, it was supposed to provide a model of Roman civilization to which the natives might aspire. Unfortunately, the colonia at Camulodunum caused more problems than it solved. As it grew over the next decade, more and more Britons were driven off their land, some enslaved by the veterans, others executed and their heads exhibited on stakes. The Iceni had once avoided trade with Rome, while the Catuvellauni grew rich from it. Now, the Iceni submitted, while the former king of the Catuvellauni fought Rome, and his people suffered the consequences. Ostorius finally defeated Caractacus in 51 and captured him in 52. That same year, Ostorius died. Rome replaced him with Didius Gallus, who provoked no internal rebellions, though the unconquered western tribes continued to fight. Emperor Claudius was poisoned in 54, and Nero (Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus) succeeded him. Perhaps to deflect the suspicion that he had been involved in his uncle’s murder, Nero elevated Claudius to the status of a god and ordered a temple to him built at Camulodunum.

Now the British chieftains would be obliged not only to worship once a year at the altar of the man who had invaded and occupied their lands, but also to finance the building of the extravagant and costly temple. Rome further pressed British patience by calling for the repayment of money given or loaned to the tribes. It is possible that Antedios had received some of the money Claudius had handed out, and his successor, Prasutagus, was now expected to repay it. Prasutagus had probably also received an unwanted loan from Lucius Seneca, Roman philosopher and Nero’s tutor, who had pressed on the tribal leaders a total of 40 million sesterces, evidently an investment he hoped would bring a healthy return in interest. Now, the procurator — Rome’s financial officer, responsible for taxation and other monetary matters in Britannia — insisted the money from Claudius must be repaid. And Seneca, according to Dio, resorted to severe measures in exacting repayment of his loans. His agents, backed by force, may have showed up at the royal residence and demanded the money. Boudica would not have forgotten such an insult.

Caius Suetonius Paullinus, a man in the aggressive mold of Ostorius, became governor of Britain in 58. He began his term with a military campaign in Wales. By the spring of 61, he had reached its northwestern limit, the druid stronghold on the Isle of Mona. Tacitus described the forces Suetonius faced: The enemy lined the shore in a dense armed mass. Among them were black-robed women with disheveled hair like Furies, brandishing torches. Close by stood Druids, raising their hands to heaven and screaming dreadful curses. For a moment, the Romans stood paralyzed by fright. Then, urged by Suetonius and each other not to fear a horde of fanatical women, they attacked and enveloped the opposing forces in the flames of their own torches. When the battle ended in a Roman victory, Suetonius garrisoned the island and cut down its sacred groves — the fearsome site of human sacrifices, according to Tacitus, who claimed it was a Celtic religious practice to drench their altars in the blood of prisoners and consult their gods by means of human entrails.

In view of the routine, organized murder of the Roman gladiatorial games, one might wonder whether a Roman was in a position to criticize. Though the Celts did practice human sacrifice, most of their sacrifices consisted of symbolic deposits of such valuable objects as jewelry and weapons into sacred wells and lakes. For Boudica and her people, news of the destruction of the druidic center on Mona, the razing of the sacred groves and the slaughter of druids must have been deeply painful. But Boudica suffered a more personal loss during this time. Prasutagus of the Iceni died sometime during the attack on Mona or its aftermath. He left behind a will whose provisions had no legal precedent under either Celtic or Roman law. It named the Roman emperor as co-heir with the two daughters of Prasutagus and Boudica, now in their teens. According to Celtic tradition, chiefs served by the consent of their people, and so could not designate their successors through their wills. And under Roman law, a client-king’s death ended the client relationship, effectively making his property and estates the property of the emperor until and unless the emperor put a new client-king into office.

Prasutagus’ will may have been a desperate attempt to retain a degree of independence for his people and respect for his family. If it was, it did not succeed. After Prasutagus died, the Roman procurator, Decianus Catus, arrived at the Iceni court with his staff and a military guard. He proceeded to take inventory of the estate. He regarded this as Roman property and probably planned to allocate a generous share for himself, following the habit of most Roman procurators. When Boudica objected, he had her flogged. Her daughters were raped. At that point, Boudica decided the Romans had ruled in Britannia long enough. The building fury of other tribes, such as the Trinovantes to the south, made them eager recruits to her cause. Despite the Roman ban, they had secretly stockpiled weapons, and they now armed themselves and planned their assault. Dio wrote that before she attacked, Boudica engaged in a type of divination by releasing a hare from the fold of her tunic. When it ran on the side the Britons believed auspicious, they cheered.

Boudica raised her hand to heaven and said, `I thank you Andraste.’ This religious demonstration is the reason some historians think she may have had druidic training. Boudica mounted a tribunal made in the Roman fashion out of earth, according to Dio, who described her as very tall and grim in appearance, with a piercing gaze and a harsh voice. She had a mass of very fair hair which she grew down to her hips, and wore a great gold torque and a multi-colored tunic folded round her, over which was a thick cloak fastened with a brooch. Boudica’s tunic, cloak and brooch were typical Celtic dress for the time. The torque, the characteristic ornament of the Celtic warrior chieftain, was a metal band, usually of twisted strands of gold that fit closely about the neck, finished in decorative knobs worn at the front of the throat. Such torques may have symbolized a warrior’s readiness to sacrifice his life for the good of his tribe. If so, it is significant that Boudica wore one — they were not normally worn by women. Tacitus, whose father-in-law served as a military tribune in Britain during that time, recounted the rebellion in detail.

Boudica moved first against Camulodunum. Before she attacked, rebels inside the colonia conspired to unnerve the superstitious Romans. [F]or no visible reason, Tacitus wrote, the statue of Victory at Camulodunum fell down — with its back turned as though it were fleeing the enemy. Delirious women chanted of destruction at hand. They cried that in the local senate-house outlandish yells had been heard; the theater had echoed with shrieks; at the mouth of the Thames a phantom settlement had been seen in ruins. A blood-red color in the sea, too, and shapes like human corpses left by the ebb tide, were interpreted hopefully by the Britons — and with terror by the settlers. Camulodunum pleaded for military assistance from Catus Decianus in Londinium, but he sent only 200 inadequately armed men to reinforce the town’s small garrison. In their overconfidence, the Romans had built no wall around Camulodunum. In fact, they had leveled the turf banks around the Legionary fortress and built on the leveled areas.

Misled by the rebel saboteurs, they did not bother to erect ramparts, dig trenches or even evacuate the women and elderly. Boudica’s army overran the town, and the Roman garrison retreated to the unfinished temple, which had been one of the prime causes of the rebellion. After two days of fighting, it fell. Recent archaeological work shows how thorough the Britons were in their destruction. The buildings in Camulodunum had been made from a framework of timber posts encased in clay and would not have caught fire easily. But they were burned and smashed from one end of town to the other. So hot were the flames, some of the clay walls were fired as though in a pottery kiln and are preserved in that form to the present day. The only Legionary force immediately available to put down the rebellion was a detachment of Legio IX Hispania, under the command of Quintus Petilius Cerialis Caesius Rufus, consisting of some 2,000 Legionaries and 500 auxiliary cavalry. Cerialis did not wait to gather a larger force, but set out immediately for Camulodunum. He never got there. Boudica ambushed and slaughtered his infantry.

Cerialis escaped with his cavalry and took shelter in his camp at Lindum. Suetonius, mopping up the operation on Mona, now learned of the revolt and set sail down the River Dee ahead of his army. He reached Londinium before Boudica, but what he found gave no cause for optimism. Like Camulodunum, Londinium was unwalled. About 15 years old, it had been built on undeveloped ground near the Thames River, by means of which supplies and personnel could be shipped to and from Rome. It was a sprawling town, with few large buildings that might be pressed into service as defensive positions — a smattering of government offices, warehouses and the homes of wealthy merchants. Catus Decianus had already fled to Gaul. Suetonius decided to sacrifice Londinium to save the province and ordered the town evacuated. Many of the women and elderly stayed, along with others who were attached to the place. Boudica killed everone she found when she reached Londinium.

Dio described the savagery of her army: They hung up naked the noblest and most distinguished women and then cut off their breasts and sewed them to their mouths, in order to make the victims appear to be eating them; afterwards they impaled the women on sharp skewers run lengthwise through the entire body. Verulamium, the old capital of the Catuvellauni tribe lying northwest of Londinium (outside of present-day St. Albans), met a similar fate. Rome had granted it the status of municipium, giving the townsfolk a degree of self-government and making its magistrates eligible for Roman citizenship. Boudica evidently punished the town for its close and willing association with Rome. By then Suetonius had an army with him amounting to nearly 10,000 men, comprising Legio XIV and parts of Legio XX, which he had used for the attack on Mona, as well as some auxiliaries gathered from the nearest stations. He also sent an urgent summons to Legio II Augusta at Isca Dumnoniorum, present-day Exeter, but its commander, Poenius Posthumus, never responded.

Evidently he was unwilling to march through the hostile territory of the Dumnonii, who had thrown their lot in with Boudica, and thereby risk sharing the fate of Cerialis’ men. At the head of his hastily summoned force, Suetonius marched to confront Boudica. Precisely where they met is not known, but the most plausible guesses — based on Tacitus’ description of the favorable terrain where Suetonius positioned his force — include Mancetter in Warwickshire or along Old Roman Watling Street (now A5) near Towcaster. According to Tacitus: [Suetonius] chose a position in a defile with a wood behind him. There could be no enemy, he knew, except at his front, where there was open country without cover for ambushes. Suetonius drew up his regular troops in close order, with the light-armed auxiliaries at their flanks, and the cavalry massed on the wings. Dio wrote that Boudica’s troops numbered about 230,000 men. If we can believe this, Boudica’s army would have been more than 20 times the size of Suetonius’.

Whatever the actual numbers were, it is clear that her forces greatly outnumbered his. But the Britons’ arms and training could not compare to the highly evolved arms and fighting techniques of the Roman Legions. The forces of the Britons, wrote Tacitus, pranced about far and wide in bands of infantry and cavalry, their numbers without precedent and so confident that they brought their wives with them and set them in carts drawn up around the far edge of the battlefield to witness their victory. Boudica rode in a chariot with her daughters before her, and as she approached each tribe, she declared that the Britons were accustomed to engage in warfare under the leadership of women. The picture of Boudica riding about the battlefield to encourage her warriors rings true, but it is unlikely that any Roman understood what she said. She would have spoken in the Celtic tongue and had no need to inform her troops of their own customs. Tacitus puts those words in her mouth as a device to educate his Roman readers about a practice that must have struck them as exotic and strange. The speech Tacitus reports Suetonius gave may be a closer reflection of what he said, appealing to his Legions to disregard the clamor and empty threats of the natives.

He told them: There were more women visible in their ranks than fighting men, and they, unwarlike and poorly armed, routed on so many occasions, would immediately give way when they recognized the steel and courage of those who had always conquered them. Even when many Legions were involved, it was a few men who actually decided battles. It would redound to their honor that their small numbers won the glory of a whole army. Legions and auxiliaries waited in the shelter of the narrow valley until Boudica’s troops came within range. Then they hurled their javelins at the Britons and ran forward in wedge formation, supported by the cavalry with their lances. The Roman infantrymen protected themselves with their capacious shields and used their short swords to strike at close range, driving the points into the Britons’ bellies, then stepping across the dead to reach the next rank. The Britons, who fought with long swords designed for slashing rather than stabbing, needed room to swing their blades and could not fight effectively at such close range.

Furthermore, the light chariots that gave them an advantage when fighting on a wide plain were similarly ineffective, with the Romans emerging from a narrow, protected valley that prevented the chariots from reaching their flanks. The result was an overwhelming Roman victory. Those Britons who survived ran, but the circle of the women’s wagons blocked their way, causing confusion and delay. The Romans did not refrain from slaughtering even the womenfolk, while the baggage animals too, transfixed with weapons, added to the piles of bodies, Tacitus reported, citing figures of 80,000 British casualties and 400 Roman dead and a slightly larger number wounded. According to Tacitus, there were at least two notable casualties in the immediate wake of the battle. Upon learning of the victory, Poenius Posthumus felt so dishonored by the failure of his Legio II to have fought its way out to join Suetonius in full force that he committed suicide by falling upon his own sword. Boudica, Tacitus noted, ended her life with poison. The rebellion was effectively over, but its initial success had shocked Rome.

The overall Roman casualties are suggested by the number of troops Nero sent from Germany as reinforcements, according to Tacitus a total of 7,000, consisting of two thousand regular troops, which brought the ninth division to full strength, also eight auxiliary infantry battalions and a thousand cavalry. The civilian dead in Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium — some 70,000 if Tacitus’ figure is accurate — would have multiplied the toll. British unrest seems to have continued even after the decisive battle. Dio wrote that the Britons were regrouping and preparing to fight again at the time Boudica died. When the Roman reinforcements arrived, Suetonius stationed them in new winter quarters. Tacitus wrote that, rather than turning to diplomacy, Suetonius ravaged with fire and sword those he believed to be still hostile or wavering. His punitive policy, calculated to crush the Britons rather than to reconcile them with Roman rule, was consistent with the policies that had caused the rebellion. On top of that, a famine broke out.

According to Tacitus, the Britons had expected to raid the Roman grain stores, and so had mustered all available men into the army and neglected to plant a crop. It is hard to believe an agricultural society, which both depended on grain for its own sustenance and produced it as a major export, would neglect to sow an entire year’s crop. But if they had planted, much of the crop was likely destroyed in Suetonius’ campaign of revenge. To replace Catus Decianus, Rome sent a new procurator, Julius Classicianus. Tacitus heartily disapproved of Classicianus, sniping that he had a grudge against Suetonius and allowed his personal animosity to stand in the way of the national interest. Classicianus was a Celt from the Roman province of Gaul, and he seems to have done much to calm the angry Britons. He told them it would be well to await a new governor who would deal gently with those who surrendered. Then he reported to Rome that they should expect no end to hostilities unless a replacement were found for Suetonius. Nero dispatched one of his administrators, a freed slave named Polyclitus, to investigate the situation.

Evidently, Polyclitus supported Classicianus’ report. Soon afterward, when Suetonius lost some ships and their crews to a British raid, he was recalled. The new governor, Petronius Turpilianus, ended the punitive expeditions, following instead a policy of not provoking the enemy nor being provoked by them. Tacitus sneered at his slothful inactivity, but he brought peace to Britain. Of Boudica, Dio wrote, The Britons mourned her deeply and gave her a costly burial. The Roman conquest had brought to the Iceni misfortune that ripened into disaster after their rebellion failed. But as time passed, Britannia became an orderly and respected part of the Roman empire. It remained so for another three centuries. Boudica’s people finally won what it seems they had wanted all along: respect, peace and a government that treated them with justice and honor. This article was written by Margaret Donsbach and originally published in the April 2004 issue of Military History. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Military History magazine today! ICENI - I Iceni (East Anglia) Click on image to enlarge.

TP2 ï¿½ British Celtic, Iceni (East Anglia), Face Horse type / Queen Boudicca(?), (died A.D. 61), Silver Unit, 1.13g., 13mm, stylized head right with corn-ear main, two trefoils in front, rev., a Celticised horse right, rectangular device with incurved sides and pellets points below (VA 794-1; S.434), extremely fine. $695 SOLD Attributed by R. D. van Arsdell to the famous Queen Boudicca of the Iceni who led her tribe in revolt against the Romans. The Iceni were a client kingdom of the Romans and on the death of Boudicca's husband king Pratsutagus, Nero's agents claimed the emperor's share of the dead client kings estate as Roman law decreed. This amounted in real terms to the annexation of the Icenian kingdom and a revolt broke out.

The Roman Governor, Seutonius Paulinus was at the time engaged in a military campaign against the Ordovices in Anglesey North Wales and in his absence Boudicca was able to wreak havoc on the province. The new Roman cities of Colchester, London and St. Albans were sacked and a contingent of the Ninth legion was routed. The revolt was finally halted by Seutonius at a now unknown battle site in the Midlands and Boudicca committed suicide afterwards. This attribution has been challenged by specialists in the field and as is the case with a great many aspects of Celtic coinage we will never know the exact truth. Click on image to enlarge. GP2 - Iceni (East Anglia), Crescent Corn Ears (c. A.D. 25 - 43), Silver Unit, 1.10g., 12mm, two opposed crescents over corn ear cruciform wreath, rev., a Celticised horse left, wheel above, ringed pellet below, (VA 675; S.435), NGC holder, XF, Strike 4/5, Surface 4/5. $295 SOLD Purchased from Chris Rudd (ticket included).

Boudicca's Bard EN | Why Boudicca? - Boudicca's Bard EN . Although the ancient Britons never really were my field of study, they were and still are a field of personal interest for a long time already. The revolt of queen Boudicca against the Roman conquerors touched me on a deep emotional level and as I in the late 80s started with my phone-based bulletin board (BBS) and in the early 90s my web presentation I both felt the wish to honor that woman and expressed those emotions by dedicating that to her, and feeling at the same time myself her ‘bard’ by musing and glorifying her this way.. While reading the information below, listen to the beautiful song “ Boadicea ‘ at Youtube, offered there by the singer, Petra Berger, herself. . Died: circa CE 60 or 61, Britannia Names: Boudicca, Boudica, Boadicea, Buddug Occupation: Queen of the Iceni Spouse(s): Prasutagus .

Boudicca (alternative spelling: Boudica), also known as Boadicea, and known in Welsh as Buddug (d. CE 60 or 61) was queen of the British Iceni tribe, a Celtic tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. Boudica’s husband Prasutagus was ruler of the Iceni tribe. He ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome and left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman emperor in his will. However, when he died, his will was ignored and the kingdom was annexed as if conquered. Boudica was flogged, her daughters were raped, and Roman financiers called in their loans. In 60 or 61 CE, while the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was leading a campaign on the island of Anglesey off the northwest coast of Wales, Boudica led the Iceni as well as the Trinovantes and others in revolt. They destroyed Camulodunum (modern Colchester).

Camulodunum was earlier the capital of the Trinovantes, but at that time was a colonia—a settlement for discharged Roman soldiers, as well as the site of a temple to the former Emperor Claudius. Upon hearing the news of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (modern London), the twenty-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels’ next target. The Romans, having concluded that they did not have the numbers to defend the settlement, evacuated and abandoned Londinium. Boudica led 100,000 Iceni, Trinovantes and others to fight Legio IX Hispana and burned and destroyed Londinium, and Verulamium (modern-day St Albans). An estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and British were killed in the three cities by those led by Boudica. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces in the West Midlands, and despite being heavily outnumbered, defeated the Britons in the Battle of Watling Street. The crisis caused the Emperor Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, but Suetonius’s eventual victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province.

Boudica then either killed herself so she would not be captured, or fell ill and died. The extant sources, Tacitus and Cassius Dio, differ. Interest in the history of these events was revived during the English Renaissance and led to a resurgence of Boudica’s fame during the Victorian era, and Queen Victoria was portrayed as her namesake. Boudica has since remained an important cultural symbol in the United Kingdom. However, the absence of native British literature during the early part of the first millennium means that knowledge of Boudica’s rebellion comes solely from the writings of the Romans. . Boudica’s name . Boudica has been known by several versions of her name. Raphael Holinshed calls her Voadicia, while Edmund Spenser calls her Bunduca, a version of the name that was used in the popular Jacobean play Bonduca, in 1612. William Cowper’s poem, Boadicea, an ode (1782) popularised an alternate version of the name.

From the 19th century and much of the late 20th century, Boadicea was the most common version of the name, which is probably derived from a mistranscription when a manuscript of Tacitus was copied in the Middle Ages. Her name was clearly spelled Boudicca in the best manuscripts of Tacitus, but also Βουδουικα, Βουνδουικα, and Βοδουικα in the (later and probably secondary) epitome of Cassius Dio. The name is attested in inscriptions as “Boudica” in Lusitania, Boudiga in Bordeaux, and Bodicca in Algeria. Kenneth Jackson concludes, based on later development of Welsh and Irish, that the name derives from the Proto-Celtic feminine adjective *boudīka, “victorious”, that in turn is derived from the Celtic word *bouda, “victory” (cf. Irish bua (Classical Irish buadh), Buaidheach, Welsh buddugoliaeth), and that the correct spelling of the name in the British language is Boudica, pronounced [bɒʊˈdiːkaː].

1 Famous Romans Famous Romans Roman history contains many famous people including Augustus the first emperor, Julius Caesar, Caligula, and Nero. Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC) Julius Caesar was born on July 13 100 B.C. He was a great soldier and general. He helped to take over new land for the Roman Empire. In 55 B.C. Caesar, with 80 ships and 80.000 men, tried to invade England but he didn't succeed. The next year he came back with 800 and again he didn't succeed to conquer South-England. He was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate in 44 BC and the era of the Republic ended. Augustus Augustus was the nephew of Caesar and the first Emperor of Rome. He was not always called Augustus, in fact he was born Octavian. He changed his name to Augustus in 27 BC when he won the civil war that followed the death of Julius Caesar, and became emperor. Claudius (AD 10 - 54) Claudius was the emperor who conquered Britain.

He was murdered by his wife Hadrian (AD 76 - 13) Hadrain became emperor after Trajan in AD 117, when the empire was at its largest. Further information Here you can read about some of the most famous Romans of all times. A Famous Celt Read about the celts here Queen Boudicca (born around 30 AD) Queen Boudicca was the wife of the ruler of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe who lived in eastern England. She was disliked the Romans. Why did Boudicca not like the Romans? After her husbands death, the Romans claimed the Iceni lands. When Boudicca protested she was beaten and her daughters attacked. The Romans were also demanding to be paid taxes. What did she do? In revenge, Boudicca led an army to attack the Romans Where did she march to? She marched her army to Colchester (the capital of Roman Britain.) On the way Boudicca and her Iceni army were joined by other tribes. They attacked Colchester. She then led them to London. Boudicca's army caused vast amounts of damage before being defeated.

There is a famous statue of Boudicca in London which was made hundreds of years after she lived. Queen Bodecia , the Iceni Queen - Part of the BBC 'Time Strip' site. Has a brief introduction of who she was. You can also listen to a BBC drama about Queen Boudicca's rebellion. Queen Boudicca - Travel back in time to Ancient Britain. Find out about the Romans and their battle with Queen Boudicca. The stories are told by four different people - the facts are the same but the stories are not. Can you help unravel the truth about history? Boudicca (Boadicea) - British Celtic Warrior Queen Boudicca (Boadicea) Boudicca (Boadicea) Celtic Warrior Queen Boudicca - also written as Boadicea, Boadaceia or Boudica - was a British Celtic warrior queen who led a revolt against Roman occupation. Getty Images / Archive Photos / Kean Collection Known for: British Celtic warrior queen who led a revolt against Roman occupation Dates: ?

- 61 CE Also known as: Boudica, Boadicea, Boadacaea Sources: We know the history of Boudicca through two writers: Tacitus , in "Agricola" (98 CE) and "The Annals" (109 CE), and Dio, in "The Rebellion of Boudicca" (about 163 CE). Boudicca Biography Boudicca was the wife of Prasutagus, who was head of the Iceni tribe in East England, in what is now Norfolk and Suffolk. In 43 CE, the Romans invaded Britain, and most of the Celtic tribes were forced to submit. However, the Romans allowed two Celtic kings to retain some of their traditional power; one was Prasutagus. The Roman occupation brought increased Roman settlement, military presence, and attempts to suppress Celtic religious culture. There were major economic changes, including heavy taxes and money lending. In 47 CE the Romans forced the Ireni to disarm, creating resentment. Prasutagus had been given a grant by the Romans, but the Romans then redefined this as a loan.

continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States When Prasutagus died in 60 CE, he left half his kingdom to the Emperor Nero to settle this debt. The Romans arrived to collect, but instead of settling for half the kingdom, seized control of it. To humiliate the former rulers, the Romans beat Boudicca publicly, raped their two daughters, seized the wealth of many Iceni and sold much of the royal family into slavery. The Roman governor Suetonius turned his attention to attacking Wales, taking two-thirds of the Roman military in Britain. Boudicca meanwhile met with the leaders of the Iceni, Trinovanti, Cornovii, Durotiges, and other tribes, who also had grievances against the Romans including grants that had been redefined as loans. They planned to revolt and drive out the Romans. Boudicca's Army Attacks Led by Boudicca, about 100,000 British attacked Camulodunum (now Colchester), where the Roans had their main center of rule.

With Suetonius and most of the Roman forces away, Camulodunum was not well-defended, and the Romans were drive out. he Procurator Decianus was forced to flee. Boudicca's army burned Camulodunum to the ground; only the Roman temple was left. Immediately Boudicca's army turned to the largest city in the British Isles, Londinium (London). Suetonius strategically abandoned the city, and Boudicca's army burned Londinium and massacred the 25,000 inhabitants who had not fled. Archaeological evidence of a layer of burned ash shows the extent of the destruction. Next, Boudicca and her army marched on Verulamium (St. Albans), a city largely populated by Britons who had cooperated with the Romans and who were killed as the city was destroyed. Changing Fortunes Boudicca's army had counted on seizing Roman food stores when the tribes abandoned their own fields to wage rebellion, but Suetonius had strategically seen to the burning of the Roman stores. Famine thus struck the victorious army, weakening them.

Boudicca fought one more battle, though its precise location is not sure. Boudicca's army attacked uphill, and, exhausted, hungry, was easy for the Romans to rout. Roman troops of 1,200 defeated Boudicca's army of 100,000, killing 80,000 to their own loss of 400. What happened to Boudicca is uncertain. It is said she returned to her home territory and took poison to avoid Roman capture. A result of the rebellion was that the Romans strengthened their military presence in Britain and also lessened the oppressiveness of their rule. Boudicca's story was nearly forgotten until Tacitus' work, Annals, was rediscovered in 1360. Her story became popular during the reign of another English queen who headed an army against foreign invasion, Queen Elizabeth I. Other Ancient British Queens Elen Luyddog Boudicca Quotes • If you weigh well the strengths of our armies you will see that in this battle we must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve. As for the men, they may live or be slaves.

• I am not fighting for my kingdom and wealth now. I am fighting as an ordinary person for my lost freedom, my bruised body, and my outraged daughters. Quote About Boudicca “What is deemed as “his-story” is often determined by those who survived to write it. In other words, history is written by the victors...Now, with the help of the Roman historian Tacitus, I shall tell you Queen Boudicca’s story, her-story……” Thomas Jerome Baker

Question: Who was Emperor of Rome when Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, led her famous revolt?
Answer: NERO