The Invisible Mentor

Wisdom Wednesdays: Boudica, Queen of the Iceni Tribe, Fought to Drive the Romans from British Soil

September 7th, 2011 |

Statue of Boudicca near Westminster Pier as co...

Image via Wikipedia

Boudica was a forgotten warrior between 476 – 1350 a.d. until Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio discovered Cornelius Tacitus’ manuscript at a monastery in 1360, then people became aware of her role in history. Tacitus’ manuscript recorded Queen Boudica’s uprising against Roman colonization after her daughters were raped and Roman officials confiscated her husband’s kingdom after his death. Boudica, Queen of the Iceni tribe, collaborated with other tribes to fight Roman occupation of British soil. Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman historian, who recorded Queen Boudica’s rebellion in Annals of Imperial Rome and Agricola 50 years after the event.

Name: Boudica (Boudicca, Boudicea and Boadicea)

Birth Date: 26 CE (Common Era the same as AD After Death) to 30 – 62

Job Functions: Warrior Queen

Fields: Miltary

Known For: The Rebellion of Boudicca (alternate spelling)

In AD 43, the Romans invaded Britain under the leadership of Aulus Plautius extending the Roman Empire, and Emperor Claudius traveled to Britain to receive the surrender. Roman officials levied taxes on a variety of goods and service and created undue financial hardships for the British. Some British tribes acquiesced to Roman colonization and became allies, while other tribes fought to the death. The Iceni tribe voluntarily submitted to Roman rule. Roman officials confiscated the arms from the tribes, even the ones who had become their allies. Some of the tribes collaborated and staged an unsuccessful uprising.

After the uprising, Prasutagus emerged as King of the Iceni (in what is now Norfolk, England) tribe. The Iceni people, a small Celtic tribe originally from Belgium and Holland, farmed, wove cloth and made pottery, and had knowledge of iron-making. Around CE, 48 Boudicca married Prasutagus.

When Prasutagus died in 60 CE with no male heir, Boudica inherited his crown. He left half of his private wealth to his two daughters and the other half to the Emperor Nero, who was successor to Claudius. King Prasutagus had a financial agreement with Emperor Claudius, but Procurator Catus Decianus rescinded on the terms of the agreement. It was King Prasutagus’ expectation that by giving a half of his wealth to Nero he had won imperial protection for his family. Instead, the Romans took his entire kingdom. Prasutagus left behind many debts, and when Boudica couldn’t honor them she was stripped and flogged in public, and Tacitus recorded that Roman soldiers raped her two daughters as well.

Many tribes, including the Trinovantes were subject to similar treatment, and as a result became disgruntled with, and resented Roman colonization. In a secret meeting with Boudica, some of the tribes – Iceni, Trinovantes, Cornovii, Durotiges – joined forces and staged a massive revolt against the Romans.

With Boudica leading the joined tribes – while the provincial governor Suetonius Paulinus was absent in 60 CE – they raised a rebellion throughout East Anglia (Norfolk and southern Suffolk) destroying three Roman cities. The insurgents attacked Camulodunum (Colchester) in chariots and burned it. They launched two other successful attacked on Verulamium (St. Albans), Londinium (London), and several military posts; and according to Tacitus’ manuscript, 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Britons were massacred; and they cut to pieces the Roman 9th Legion.

Suetonius Paulinus burned the fighting Britons’ spring harvest since they had not tended to them before the revolt. Boudica had a hard time leading and controlling over 100,000 people – a non-homogenous army, which lacked military skill and discipline. Because of inexperience, a major error was not to capture Roman military posts that housed supplies and food. Paulinus used this error to his advantage. He met the Britons at a point thought to be near present-day Fenny Stratford on Watling Street and in a desperate battle regained their lost strongholds. The Roman soldiers were also more disciplined and skilled at combat – they understood the art of warfare and chose a location to fight that was narrow, which prevented Boudica and her allies from using their great numbers as an advantage.

Tacitus believed that Boudicca fled the Norfolk areas and ingested a deadly poison instead of suffering at Roman hands. Boudica made errors which caused her defeat, but she was definitely a warrior Queen – she was a success because she had the courage to stand up to oppression. The Romans were arrogant and were taken by surprise because they assumed the tribes were too disorganized to mount an insurrection. Because of her courage to fight back against the Romans, the rebellion of Boudica almost forced the Romans to leave England. However, the Emperor Nero replaced Suetonius with a more neutral ruler Publius Petronius Turpilianus.

Boudica gained prominence during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign and was recognized as a national hero. At the time, writers and historians were looking for strong female leaders in the British Isle. In 1905, a statue of Boudica was placed on Westminster Bridge next to the Houses of Parliament. In the twentieth century, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill who led the country through World War II wrote about Queen Boudica in History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Referring to Boudica’s revolt, Churchill wrote, “Probably the most horrible episode which our Island has known. We see the crude and corrupt beginning of a higher civilization blotted out by the ferocious uprising of the native tribes. Still, it is the primary right of men to die and kill for the land they live in, and to punish with exceptional severity all members of their own race who have warmed their hands at the invader’s earth.”

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Sources Works Cited/Referenced

Encyclopedia of World Biography

Women in World History

Encyclopedia Britannica

Historic World Leaders

Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender