Boudicca's Revolt (Boadicea)

Boudicca (Brythonic: Boudiga) was one of Imperial Rome’s greatest headaches. Her great uprising in 60-61 AD was remembered for years to come afterwards as an example of the fierce Celtic spirit and determination.

Boudicca was born into an unknown family in an unknown chiefdom. In the approximate neighborhood of 30 AD Boudicca was probably born somewhere in south central Britain, and was probably the daughter of the local chief. Due to sketchy details we do not know anything solid about Boudicca before 48-49 AD. It has not been thought out of the realm of the possible by modern historians that Boudicca would have excelled in fighting and showed great strength of will early on.

In 48-49 AD we begin to have solid facts about Boudicca. In either 48 or 49 AD Boudicca married the chieftain of the Iceni tribe, Prasutagus, she would ultimately bare her husband two daughters, whose names and birthdates are unknown. The Iceni (the Iceni lands most likely centered around modern Norfolk), like all tribes in that area, was a Roman client power and Prasutagus like all client chiefs was forced to make the Roman emperor co-heir of his chiefdom along side his children. In early 60 AD Prasutagus came down ill and died, and in the will that he had written he left half his chiefdom, personal possessions, and most of his gold to the Roman emperor Nero. However Prasutagus left the other half of his chiefdom, several ancient artifacts, and the rest of his fortune to Boudicca to hold until their roughly teenage daughters matured. Prasutagus had hoped that by leaving the greater half of his belongings to Rome he could insure a degree of stability for his family, as history shows he was sadly wrong.

Following the death of her husband Boudicca took over leadership of the Iceni. In the months following Prasutagus�?/I> death the Roman Procurator Catus Decianus ordered an invasion of Iceni lands, stating that Prasutagus�?/I> will was null and void because he did not leave all of his possessions to Nero. Because the Governor of Britain was away fighting druids on the island of Mona (modern Anglesey) the legions moved in and devastated Iceni territory, seizing the lands of the Iceni nobles and enslaving the women and children. On top of all this Decianus called in on several loans and debts owed to Rome and demanded that Boudicca repay them immediately. But Boudicca did not have the kind of money that the Romans asked for, so Decianus ordered his soldiers to flog Boudicca in public, then to rape her daughters. All of this heaped up on itself angered Boudicca beyond her ability to withstand it any longer and she called for rebellion against the Romans. One by one the Brythonic tribes of Britain joined together under her banner; first her own tribe of Iceni then the neighboring Trinovantes and then gradually all of the client tribes joined Boudicca, even the Iceni’s traditional enemies. Eventually even the unconquered tribes joined in and soon Boudicca was reputed to have had an army of more then 100,000 men and women. The Boudiccan rebellion had begun.

Burning with rage and followed by an army that was like mined to her Boudicca struck back. The first target of Boudicca’s rebel army was the city of Camulodunum Colonia (modern Colchester), which was populated by retired Roman veterans and their families. Without warning the Brythonic forces attacked the settlement, and despite it all the townsman were able to hold on long enough to get word out to Procurator Decianus and Legio IX Hispania commander Quintus Petillius Cerialis. However while the Procurator and Legio IX commander acted quickly the town defenders could not hold the rebels and the town was burnt. While the townspeople did hold out a bit longer in the temple of Emperor Claudius they were massacred by Boudicca’s soldiers. Meanwhile to the north Legio IX Hispania was ambushed and wiped out by Boudiccan soldiers hiding in the woods, only Commander Cerialis and some horsemen escaped. General panic then engulfed the Romans living in Britain, and everyone knew that Boudicca would not be satisfied with small settlements forever. Meanwhile the Governor of Britain, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, reached the merchant city of Londinium (modern London), and knew that the city would most likely be Boudicca’s next target because of its importance as the Roman administration center. Suetonius also knew that Londinium was militarily indefensible and so ordered an emergency evacuation. Boudicca arrived soon after and overrun the city defenses and in a speech viewed today as unneeded she encouraged her men to show no mercy to the Romans. The fire that Boudicca’s soldiers started at Londinium was so hot that it left a 10 inch layer of red clay after cooling off. However while she had burned the Roman administration center in Britain her thirst for revenge was still not quenched, so she marched north to Verulamium (modern St. Albans), believing, according to Roman sources from the period, that she had to punish the pro-Roman ‘traitors�?that were living in that city. Meanwhile Suetonius called on all legions in Britain to come to his location in the Midlands, all legions (Legio XX Valeria Victrix and Legio XIV Gemina) except for Legio II Augusta responded and began moving. At Verulamium the Brythonic forces discovered that the inhabitants had received advance word and evacuated, some inhabitants still remained however. As usual Boudicca ordered the remaining inhabitants killed and the town burned, at this point the rebellion took a turn when Boudicca received word that Suetonius was amassing the remaining legions in the Midlands, but for some strange reason (perhaps pride?) Boudicca did not order an attack on the Romans right there and then; but instead decided to wait, this mistake would come back and haunt her in time to come.

Her rebellion thus far very successful up to this point Boudicca continued to rampage across Roman Britain, while enemies continued to gather. By the dawn of 61 AD Boudicca’s rebellion had proven to be a resounding success, but Roman Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was still alive and gathering troops in the Midlands, as long as Suetonius lived Boudicca knew her revolt could not succeed. So she gathered together her army reputed to have swelled upwards 230,000 men and women and marched towards the Romans, curiously enough the soldiers brought their entire families and their wagons with them. Meanwhile the situation could not have turned out better from the viewpoint of Suetonius, because circumstance allowed Suetonius, not Boudicca, to choose the battlefield and he chose a heavily forested area (to nullify the Brythonic advantages of numbers and thier chariots) near what is today Athelstone, Warwickshire (actually there is numerous locations suggested for this battle, I choose to use near Athelstone for this article). At the battle field the Brythonic army drew up in a great mass with the families and wagons drawn up in circle behind them. Boudicca felt confident of victory that day and probably believed that her overwhelming numbers would crush the much smaller Roman force of 10,000 men. Much to Boudicca’s surprise her army lost the battle of Watling Street (as it is now called) due to excellent use on the part of the Romans of the local woody terrain. According to tradition as Boudicca watched her soldiers and their families get slaughtered at the wagons she slipped away with her daughters and took poison to escape capture by the Romans. And so died Boudicca, brave warrior queen of the Iceni and terror of Rome in Britain, at the approximate age of 30.

In the aftermath of Boudicca’s rebellion the Romans cracked down hard on the Celts. In the months and years to come Rome would come down hard on Britain and there was never another rebellion against Roman rule on the isle after Boudicca. It is interesting to note that out of either respect or fear the Romans later allowed the Celts of Britain to bury Boudicca, where that grave is, we may never know.