Swords and Sceptres
Where history becomes herstory
Boudica of the Iceni
Pronunciation: boo-dik-a
c.30 - 61
m. King Prasutagus of the Iceni tribe in ?
Consort from ? - Ruler from c.60
Children = unknown daughter, unknown daughter
Her Story
Boudica is a name very familiar with most people who grew up on mainland Britain and I have no doubt that her infamous legend is known to a large portion of the world. She is known as a Celtic warrior Queen who battled the Romans in Briton, but there are several inaccuracies in the common knowledge of this remarkable woman and Boudica deserves to be remembered correctly.
In Celtic Briton, it was not at all uncommon for women to fight alongside the men of their tribes as warriors. In fact, according to Roman accounts, the female fighters were the most vicious and terrifying of the Celts. Boudica was one such warrior and she was a true force to be reckoned with.
A Note on Her Name..
Before we begin with her story, I must address the issue of her name and title, as there have been many erroneous spellings and assumptions about her.
Firstly, Boudica was not a Queen; she was the wife of a Chieftain. In Celtic society there were no Kings or Queens; they had Chieftains who would act as leader of the tribe, though not in the way we imagine today. A Chieftain's role was largely to ensure peace among the community and that any agreements that had been made by the tribe were seen through. In addition, in the only sources we have for Boudica, she is never referred to a Regina, as another famous Celtic tribe leader, Cartimandua, was. While she was married to a Celtic "King," in Celtic society, this did not bestow a title upon her as well.
The next issue regards her name. Boudica is the correct spelling of her name, as far as we can gather from the earliest sources. In those sources, she is always referred to as Boudicca, however, through later studies of the Celtic languages, it has since been discovered that this is itself a misspelling, as there was no second "c" in her name; this was added, it is believed, to enable to Romans to understand the correct pronunciation.
By the 16th century, she was referred to as Voadicia by the Chronicler Raphael Holinshed, and Bunduca by the poet Edmund Spenser. A variation on the latter of these was popularised after the use of the name Bonduca in the Jacobean play of 1612. A popular misspelling still prevalent today is Boadicea, which is also erroneous. The first use of this version of the name was seen in 1782, in a poem by William Cowper.
Strangely enough, the modern English equivalent of Boudica's name is actually Victoria. In Celtic, Boudica meant "victory" or "victorious" and in Latin her name was translated as Victorina. So, there was a Queen Boudica, but she was known as Queen Victoria and she lived 1,840 years later (give or take).
Boudica's Background in Celtic Society
Boudica was of the Iceni tribe, based in East Anglia, who inhabited the lands that are now known as Norfolk.
The Celtic tribes, while relatively peaceful internally, were often at war with each other. However, when the Romans invaded in 43 CE, the various Celtic tribes of Briton were given a common enemy.
Emperor Claudius invaded the British Isles and succeeded in taking the majority of the Southern and Eastern portions of Briton under the arm of the Roman Empire. When his soldiers invaded, the Celts fought for their freedom, but some tribes submitted to the rule of the Romans. By 43 CE, the Celts had faced Roman attempts on their lands for almost a century. It is entirely possible that the Chieftains who submitted believed it may have been easier to deal with Rome if they simply made their peace with them.
The tribes who did make their peace with Rome were able to live relatively independent lives, much as they had done before the conquest, but with Roman taxes. In addition, the tribes were able to retain their lands and the leaders became client Kings and Queens, under the supervision of Rome. The tribes who refused to do so were eventually defeated by the Romans and placed directly under their control.
One such leader who saw advantages to submitting to Roman rule was Prasutagus of the Iceni tribe, the husband of Boudica. In doing so, Prasutagus became the Rix of the Iceni, a client King. It is unclear whether Prasutagus was already the established leader of the Iceni, or whether this occurred after the conquest. In 47 CE, after a number of smaller uprisings, there was a revolt amongst the Celts, when the Roman Governor at the time, Publius Ostorius Scapula, attempted to disarm everyone under Roman control in Briton. It is possible that Prasutagus became King after this revolt was quelled, as he was known to be an advocate for allying the tribe with Rome. It is also interesting to note that, unlike some other tribes involved, the Iceni were able to remain semi-independent in the aftermath, which would also point to Prasutagus rising to be King afterwards. However, we do not know for certain.
What we do know is that Prasutagus was mentioned in the records in ta similar way to how most women in the Dark Ages were remembered, by a single line in the records; the first mention of King Prasutagus in the surviving records is that he was the husband of Boudica and he was a long-reigning King who had died. That is it. It is interesting that one of the earliest consorts we know of had substantially more written of her in the records than her husband. Unfortunately, Boudica was one in a million and it is not until centuries later that we start to really see women appearing more in the chronicles.
A Note on the Sources...
The only two sources we have for Boudica and her infamous war with Rome are from two men, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman politician born around about the time that Boudica's story took place, and Lucius Cassius Dio, a Roman Senator of Greek lineage who was born around a century later.
Tacitus' depiction of Boudica is surprisingly sympathetic; he paints her as a victim of Rome. He portrays Boudica as a woman fighting for liberty against the slavery and licentiousness of the Romans, a brave and free woman and a champion of her people.
What is important to note is that neither Tacitus, nor Dio, was actually a contemporary for her.
Tacitus, while not contemporary, lived fairly close to the age of Boudica and had the advantage of an eyewitness account of the events that took place. His father-in-law had served in the Roman militray three times in Briton and was witness to the events depicted. Dio's account is largely a simplified version of Tacitus', though there are some added details in Dio's that do not appear in that of Tacitus. While neither man was a true contemporary, they would have had access to a variety of contemporary sources and accounts that unfortunately do not survive.
Boudica's Appearance
We have an account of Boudica's appearance, from Dio; he said she "was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh." Dio also noted that she had "a great mass" of tawny hair so long that it fell past her hips. This may have come from an eyewitness account because he goes into more specific detail regarding her clothing; she is said to have worn a large gold necklace, most likely a torc, which was an Iron Age neck-band made of twisted metal, which may or may not have been a permanent fixture. He also describes are as wearing a multi-coloured tunic, with a thick mantle fastened with a brooch.
As Her Husband's Story Ends, Boudica's Begins...
In 60 CE, King Prasutagus died, leaving, in his will, half of his land and possessions to Rome, and Emperor Nero, and the other half to his two daughters. However, the Romans ignored this and marched into Iceni territory, annexing the Kingdom and taking everything for themselves. The highest ranking tribespeople were stripped of their lands and possessions and Prasutagus' relatives were taken and enslaved by the Romans.
Boudica was taken and flogged, while her daughters were raped by the Roman soldiers.
Outraged at the treatment they had faced, Boudica swore vengeance. She took up the mantle of leader of the Iceni, with a fierce new determination to drive the Romans out of Briton once and for all.
The Iceni were not the only tribe who wished an end to the rule of the Romans and Boudica united several tribes in her army. One of these tribes as the Trinovante; based in Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, they occupied land mainly around what became the Roman city of Camulodunum (or Colchester as it is now known). That was until Roman settlers drove them from her homes so they could build their city.
A lot of Celts harboured an impassioned hatred for their Roman overlords and this hate fuelled Boudica's army as they marched forth, to take back their homes from the invaders.
Battle the First
The first stop on Boudica's tour of Roman destruction was Camulodunum, the city which had been built on the blood of the Trinovante. Unlike later cities that would appear in Anglo-Saxon England, Camulodunum had no walls, nor defences, with which to keep the Celts at bay. It made a perfect target for the Celts' rage.
The Roman Governor by this point was Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, but he was, at the time of Boudica's arrival, campaigning against the Druids of Anglesey. Unfortunately, this left the Roman settlements in Briton undefended. The settlers begged a nearby-stationed procurator, Catus Decianus, for aid but he could only spare 200 of his troops, which was no match for the mass of the Celtic army.
Upon reaching the city, Boudica sent her forces in and they stormed the settlement. Boudica showed no mercy to the Romans, her army burning and plundering everything in their path. They utterly destroyed the Temple of Claudius the Romans had constructed at the heart of the city, which was seen by the Celts as a symbol of the rule of their Roman oppressors. There were some survivors of the initial attack at first, who managed to hold the Temple for a mere two days before they, too, were killed and the Temple destroyed. In front of the Temple had stood a bronze statue of Emperor Nero; Boudica had the figure decapitated and kept the head as a trophy of their victory at Camulodunum.
The Romans who fought the Celtic army were easily defeated. A small legion commanded by Quintus Petillius Cerialis arrived to try and restore order but their efforts were futile. Quintus Petillius Cerialis, the future Governor, led another legion which tried to relieve the city, but they, too, faced defeat at the hands of Boudica. The infantry were all slain and only some of his cavalry managed to escape with their lives. After this, the procurator Catus Decianus fled to Gaul, perhaps too terrified of the wrath of the Celts to continue serving his Roman masters.
Battle the Second
Boudica's next stop was Londinium, another large Roman settlement that would, in the future, be known as London and become England's capital city.
On hearing of the massacre at Camulodunum, Roman Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus had made for Londinium with all haste, anticipating Boudica's next target. He marched along Watling Street, through hostile Celtic territory, in his rush to get to the Roman settlement. He had considered giving battle there, but it quickly became evident to him that the Romans lacked the vast numbers of the Celtic army and so he began evacuating the city instead. He took with him anyone deemed able to fight and abandoned everyone else to face Boudica's wrath alone. As Romans did not allow women in the military, it is likely that the remaining settlers who had been left behind were largely women, children and the elderly. Some of the wealthier citizens and merchants fled to Gaul after news reached Londinium's citizens of the Roman defeat at Camulodunum.
As with Camulodunum, Boudica's forces swept through Londinium, destroying everything they saw. By the time the Celts were finished, the entire settlement was in ruins; nothing remained at all.
We do have an account of specific details of the carnage at Londinium, though it is likely full of embellishments. The account comes from Dio who, as we know, wrote his works a little over a century after the events he described, was written for an audience and he may well have included these details in order to spice up his story. However, there is no evidence that this did not occur.
Dio states that Boudica's forces "hung up naked the noblest and most distinguished women and then cut off their breasts and sewed them to their mouths… afterwards they impaled the women on sharp skewers run lengthwise through their entire body."
Battle the Third
After the destruction of Londinium, Boudica moved her forces North, to the smaller town of Verulamium, now known as St. Albans. There are no surviving records of the events at Verulamium, but we know from later events that Boudica was not defeated there and thus it is highly likely that events played at Verulamium much the same as they did in Camulodunum and Londinium.
The Impact of Boudica's War
In the three cities sacked by Boudica, it was estimated that 70,000-80,000 Romans and Britons were slaughtered, though these numbers differ with various accounts and could very well be exaggerations. The numbers that made up the Celtic forces, according to Dio, is likely to be an exaggeration, as he claimed 120,000 Celts followed Boudica in her army.
Tacitus claimed that during the attacks, Boudica took no prisoners, but slaughtered every Roman in sight, whether by sword, gallows, flames or crucifixion. Dio wrote that the Celts slaughtered settlers and soldiers alike, "to the accompaniment of sacrifices, banquets, and wanton behaviour" in places held sacred to the Iceni, such as the groves of Andraste. Andraste was an ancient British war goddess and was seen as the patron of the Iceni tribe.
Boudica's war against the Romans was so serious and caused such a crisis to the Romans that Emperor Nero even considered withdrawing all of his forces from Britannia, as Briton was then known to the Romans.
The Final Battle
Boudica and her ferocious army appeared to be unstoppable, a fact Boudica was all-too aware of. Unfortunately for the Celts, giving in to that feeling of invincibility was their fatal mistake. The Celtic forces were about to have their final battle against the Roman invaders and Boudica, the rush of her recent victories flooding through her veins, allowed the enemy, Roman General Paulinus, to choose the battleground.
So confident were the Celts that they brought their families to watch the impending slaughter, with women and children positioned behind the Celtic lines, in wagons.
Both Dio and Tacitus give fictitious accounts of Boudica riding up and down the line of her warriors, prior to the battle, reciting a speech. The reason these speeches can be deemed fictitious is that they were largely apocryphal in nature and as Boudica was not a Christian, it would not have made any sense for her to prepare her army for the battle ahead with words of a religion that none of them followed. In fact, Dio claimed that Boudica called upon Andraste, the British goddess of victory before the battle began, something she would not have done after giving an apocryphal speech. In addition, Boudica did not speak Greek or Latin so neither of the Chroniclers would have been able to accurately translate whatever speech she did give.
The speeches offered by the Chroniclers were likely created as a means of enticing their readers into the drama they were revealing.
In Tacitus' speech, Boudica ends by saying something that sums up Boudica fairly well; "in this battle you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve."
The final battle between Boudica's army and the Romans took place in a location that has still not been truly identified, though there have been many suggestions.
One of these is within the area of King's Cross, in London, which was previously a village known as Battle Bridge and an ancient crossing of the River Fleet. However, the original name of the village was actually Broad Ford Bridge and it is believed the later name caused some to infer that this was the location of the battle. This is not supported by modern historians and there appears to be no evidence for this being the case.
The most common location of these suggestions is along Watling Street, an ancient road that led from modern-day Canterbury to modern-day St. Albans.
As mentioned, the Celts were aware of their superior numbers over the Romans; by this point, the General commanded a force of almost ten thousand men, which was pitiful against the numbers led by Boudica. Dio claimed that Boudica's forces numbered between 230-300 thousand, though, again, this is likely to have been an exaggeration. Regardless, unlike the Roman soldiers, the Celtic warriors, whilst strong in numbers and fierce in battle, were undisciplined.
The Celts suffered their greatest defeat during the battle, with the Romans slaughtering men, women, children and animals. As the Celts tried to flee the battle, they found themselves trapped by their own wagons and were quickly cut down by the opposing force. Tacitus wrote that 80,000 Britons and 400 Romans died the day of the final battle, though it is likely that the difference in the actual numbers of the deceased were not quite as dramatic as he claimed.
The completeness of the bloodbath was unusual, as the Romans would generally take women and animals to sell on for their own profit, but it seems that they desired to offer the Celts only annihilation as payback for their revolts. It is probable that this battle was also meant to serve as a warning to other Celtic tribes not to rise up against them.
The Defeat of Boudica
This final battle was certainly a truly heavy defeat for Boudica, as well as for the tribes who had allied with her.
The accounts differ as to what happened to Boudica after this point. Dio claimed that Boudica managed to evade capture by the Romans after the battle and regrouped. He said she was in the middle of rebuilding her army when she fell ill and died suddenly, being given a lavish burial by her tribespeople.
Tacitus, however, offered a different account and, while there is no evidence for either, I am inclined to believe in this version as Tacitus was the closest contemporary to write of Boudica and he did have an eyewitness within the Roman forces. Tacitus claimed that Boudica was captured by the Romans soon after the battle, but she poisoned herself so as not to be enslaved by them.
However Boudica truly ended her days on this Earth, she did so as a hero to her people. Her rebellion against the invaders was considered a complete disaster for Rome and, according to Dio, the fact which caused the Romans "the greatest shame" was that they had been so defeated by a mere woman. Whereas many Celtic Chieftains were women, the Romans saw women as unnatural and unfit for rule, even after Boudica proved them all wrong. The Celts did not have the misogyny we see in later time periods, and thus the Iron Age saw many women in undisputed seats of power.
The Legacy of Boudica
Boudica's legacy lives on long after her death.
The earliest reference we have of Boudica from after the fall of Rome, comes from the Low Middle Ages, in the 6th century, in On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain by the British monk, Gildas. Gildas described a female leader who was a "treacherous lioness" who "butchered the governors who had been left to give fuller voice and strength to the endeavours of Roman rule," and while he did not specifically name her, it is he is referring to Boudica.
Boudica made a come-back in the Elizabethan times where, under the reign of another flame-haired Queen, the works of Tacitus were rediscovered and Boudica began to resemble a remarkable figure in British history. This occurred around 1588, when Elizabeth I was busy defending her country from the Spanish Armada and her people likened her to Boudica who fought back against the invading Romans. Throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, many plays, poems and songs were written around the legacy of Boudica.
It was during the reign of another long-reigning Queen that Boudica became a true legend in the eyes of the British public. Queen Victoria, her name identical in meaning to that of the warrior heroine, began to be viewed by the public as Boudica's namesake. Her own Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, wrote a poem Boadicea and several ships were named after the legendary figure of British history. In the mid-19th century, Prince Albert lent his own horses as models for a statues commissioned of Boudica, which can still be seen today on the end of Westminster Bridge, facing the Palace of Westminster and the Clock Tower housing Big Ben. The statue is called Boadicea and Her Daughters and features Boudica in her chariot, ready to wage war on those who would invade her shores; it has an anachronism in the use of a Persian scythe. The state was originally placed on the Victoria Embankment next to Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. It was not until 1902 that the statue found it's home on Westminster Bridge, where Boudica and her daughters stand a fierce vigil over the city she had once turned to ash. Inscribed on the plinth are lines from William Cowper's 1782 poem: "Regions Caesar never knew, Thy posterity shall sway."
Boudica was later adopted by the Suffragists as a feminist symbol for their campaigns for women's suffrage. In 1908, during several marches of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, the Boadicea Banner was held aloft. In a 1909 pamphlet, they described Boudica as "the eternal feminine... the guardian of the hearth, the avenger of its wrongs upon the defacer and the despoiler."
On 27th October 1916 another statues of Boudica wad unveiled, this time in the Marble Hall at Cardiff City Hall, in Wales. Known as Buddug in Wales, Boudica was chosen by the public to be one of the 11 statues of historical figures displayed. This statue differs from the Victorian one in London, as it depicts Boudica in a motherly role, as opposed to that of a warrior. It is surprising that Boudica, an English heroine, was a popular choice to place alongside the Welsh heroes, such as Saint David and Owain Glyndŵr, not least because Boudica is the only female among them, as well as being the most ancient and the only one who was not Welsh.
During World War II a belief sprung up that Boudica had been buried between platforms 9 and 10 of King's Cross station, in London, though this was likely just an false rumour, as Boudica would not have been in that area at the time of her death and had no connections to the location other than her revolt, which took place in several other cities as well.
In the 21st century, the Museum of London, Colchester Castle Museum and the Verulamium Museum all feature permanent exhibits on Boudica's war against the Romans and Norwich Castle Museum has a gallery dedicated to her, which houses a reproduction of an Iceni chariot.
Boudica is still well-remembered today as the badass warrior and feminist icon that she was. She may not have been a Queen, but she is more than deserving of the title. She and her people suffered terribly at the hands of the Romans and Boudica, who was flogged and forced to watch her own daughters be defiled, refused to allow the abuse of her people continue. She stood up for what she believed in and she stood up for her people. Boudica was a woman scorned and a true force to be reckoned with.
Gallery
Painting of Boudica
Queen Boudica, by John Opie (1761-1807)
Reading Suggestions
If you would like to learn more than what I have here, please see a selection of sources here that will help:
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England's Queens From Boudica to Elizabeth of York by Elizabeth Norton
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Boudica Britannia: Rebel, War-Leader and Queen, by M Aldhouse-Green
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Boudica, by Vanessa Collingridge
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The Rebellion of Boudicca, by Donald R Dudley & Graham Webster
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The Warrior Queens, by Antonia Fraser
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"Boadicea: A Woman's Resolve," from Legends of British History, by Andrew Godsell
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Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen, by Richard Hingley & Christina Unwin
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Boudica, Queen of The Iceni, by Joseph E Roesch
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Boudica, by Graham Webster
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Boudica and Her Stories: Narrative Transformations of a Warrior Queen, by Carolyn D Williams
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Women Who Ruled, by Claudia Gold