Boudicca: Will she prevail against the Romans?
In 60 A.D., Boudicca said this: “I am fighting as someone like you who has lost their freedom. I am fighting for my bruised body. The gods will grant us the revenge we deserve.” During her revolt, Boudicca got together an army of 70,000–80,000 Icini warriors and warriors from other tribes. Then she met her match with the Romans, who were outnumbered 3 to 1. The Romans were heavily armed while the Iceni troops were lightly covered with leather armor. This was the fight of the millennium. Who will come out on top? Could this alter the entire world? Finally, sovereignty – how does Boudicca show her power over the British Isles in her frightening pose? This woman’s struggle against the Roman Empire can be seen as an early symbol of the idea “Don’t Tread on Me.” Therefore, she is so famous nationally and internationally.
Boudicca stretched her arms and let out a huge yawn, slung her hair around as if she were a goddess. She licked her finger and pointed it to the sky. The wind was blowing gently from east to west. She yelled as if a lion had just conquered its territory over a leopard. She stared up into the sky, dreaming of her next attack against her foes. If only I could just shred those Romans into thin slices for what they have done. I am to take matters into my own hands and show them how great I am. I will first pile up an army of great warriors. Then I shall take all of my rage out onto the many cities around Britannia and that shall signify my greatness.
She grabbed her bow from behind and released an arrow, and within seconds there was a dead deer sitting below her. She took a couple whiffs of the smell of the corpse of this deer. She chuckled hysterically and walked deeper into the woods, heading towards a longhouse on the other side.
Boudie sighed as she saw the thirty rows of winter wheat, stacked neatly against the longhouse barn. She spat into the air and saw that her spittle split into three parts. She growled, “Ah, just as my own spittle gains the thrice-cut, so these sheaves of hard-won winter wheat, a goodly third portion, will be cut and split, and carried off by those bronze-toed maggots from Italy.” She lifted her hair over her shoulders and threw it back behind her, and as she did, she noticed her shadow. Argh, even her body would be taxed by these iron-belted cretins, she thought. She recalled when she’d been invited into the tents of the Romans and what her first taste of olive oil had felt like. Her tongue ran along her lips in fond remembrance, and she headed inside the barn for a cup of wine. Oh, she reflected, beware the sly tricks of the luring serpent! These troops with thongs for brains are powerful and tanned, with bulging muscles and strength unseen in the isle of fairies. Don’t allow them in!
How much better it would be to have been sold to masters once and for all than to possess empty titles of freedom and have to ransom ourselves every year! How much better to have been slain and to have perished than to go about with a tax on our heads?
She took a long sip from the cup, made of horn. I would much rather have someone kill themselves than pay taxes. Taxes should be banned in Rome because you are paying extra for no reason. It’s like giving someone an extra amount of cash because they sold it to you. She slammed her fist onto the table, and a bottle of wine fell to the ground and shattered. Just like that bottle of wine, she thought, now destroyed – when we die we have to pay taxes on our corpses! Why do we have to pay for someone else’s death? Shouldn’t they pay for their own deaths because they died? It’s not my fault that they died. She then slammed the table again in frustration. She left the barn and went on a walk to calm herself down.
Now, roughly one hundred years earlier, about 75 miles to the east, Julius Caesar’s British invasion began in Pegwell Bay, modern day Kent, on July 4, 54 BC. The Roman fleet had just left from Gaul, modern day France, with 800 ships, but a huge storm appeared. Some ships even washed up on shore. They had aboard materials for repairs and repairmen who fixed them. There were over 8,000 men and 2,000 horses on these ships. Recently, archaeologists came across some ancient relics from the invasion. They stumbled upon an ancient base that covered more than 20 hectares; Romans had used it to protect their ships from the wild winds of the English Channel. The spot, chosen for the invasion, “was most probably chosen due to its visibility from the sea” (UK’s The Guardian).
The Romans decided to land at Margate. Margate is a knob-shaped peninsula in the north of Britannia. They landed here so they would have protection from the open sea up North. And to the south there is an open sea leading into the English Channel, which was also the Romans’ escape route if they did decide to retreat. It is said that there is a fort that was built primarily to defend the territory’s northern border. The archeologists also found the remains of a defensive base from the first century BC near Ebbsfleet which is also near Ramsgate.
The reason for Rome invading Britain this second time was because the Brittonic tribe was helping Gaul-controlled Rome (modern-day France). But unlike all of the times Caesar provoked war, this was just another reason to get people’s attention. Part of the goal of the Roman Empire was simply to dominate – and going across the English Channel proved to be a wonderful way for them to flex their muscles. “This was the beginning of the permanent Roman-occupation of Britain, which included Wales and some of Scotland, and lasted for almost 400 years,” stated Colin Haselgrove at the University of Leicester.
Emperor Claudius started his journey to becoming an emperor in 41 AD. He was sort of autistic. His predecessor was Gaius Julius Caesar (known as Caligula). Claudius’s various disabilities and inadequacies, which included a bad stutter, lameness, and a tendency to drool seemed to be a stumbling block for him, and he also lacked military experience and prestige. But for the fourteen years he was in power, Claudius commanded his legions to sail from Gaul to modern day Kent. The total force was composed of four legions, named Legio 2 Augusta, Legio 9 Hispana, 14 Gemina, and 10 Valeria. By using the geographical features of the boot of Italy which is around the Mediterranean Sea, the Roman Empire peaked in power. The Romans saw that Britannia as a place past the sea where there were magical spirits reigning. This was located on the opposite side of France and the only way to get there would be the through the Strait of Dover.
The Romans always struggled to control the unruly Celts, for like many indigenous tribes then and now, they were supernaturally ferocious, and their garb – warpaint, minimal clothing, and carrying severed heads of their enemies – was intimidating.
They often got in fights when anger ruled strategy since they had no physical boundaries in combat and rode chariots covered with the heads of the dead.
There is a book that inspired me very much to write this famous battle essay. Rosemary Sutcliff wrote The Eagle of the Ninth, which was published in 1954. The book has got me pretty interested in how Marcus, a legionnaire and officer, despite his injured leg, still perseveres and goes on to find his dad who was part of the 9th Legion. We learn about
King Prasutagus who was the husband of Boudicca, referenced by a few characters. Cradoc, a chariot wrangler, gazing at his steeds, says “They are descended out of the royal stables of the Iceni, and there are few who could handle them better than the Commander [Marcus]” (17).
Another reference appears on page 119, when Guern, a former legionnaire turned disguised member of the Iceni, relates the history to Marcus: he states that there was a woman by the name of Boudicca who had been very irritated and sought revenge. “But a woman who thinks herself wronged is seldom over-particular where her thrust lands, so it draws blood.” The essence of the conflict was not changed by Boudicca, for the Romans continued their occupation. Does this mean that Boudicca’s revolt is unimportant? No, as we will see, it knitted together the identity of British natives, which is why her fame endures to this day.
What about her children? Her people?
King Prasutagus had a treaty with the Romans under which Boudicca would receive half of Prasutagus’ money and the Romans would receive the other half. Instead, the Romans carried out his wish and decided to disband the Iceni troops while keeping all of the money for themselves. This startled Boudicca a bit. She protested and then was captured and flogged, Roman style, just like Jesus Christ endured. Boudicca, like all those punished by Romans with flogging, was tied to a log and then scourged with whips that scarred and which had bones at the end of the whips.
The Romans had no reservations and were known to deliver over 100 lashes for certain crimes.
Then Boudicca’s revolt emerged because it’s said that Boudicca’s daughters got harassed or even raped by the Romans. Not only was the queen stripped from the land by the Romans, going back on the oath from King Prasutagus, but also her elegant daughters were brutally raped: our heroine Boudica couldn’t take this shame. Their names, may they rest in peace, were Camorra and Tascal. Boudicca amassed a massive army of Iceni troops, numbering in the thousands. Boudicca’s revolt consisted of her and her tribe attacking three major cities and ransacking them. Boudicca’s revolts lasted around a year which means Boudicca took three towns in the span of less than a year!
Boudicca had been able to persuade some of the tribes, the most well-known of which was the Trinovantes, to unite under her leadership as a fierce soldier and a spiritually honest figure since she shared a deep link with the Druids and was herself regarded as a priestess of the old ways. The Roman threat to annihilate the Druids, and this confluence of enthusiasm and faith were what fueled the native cause and persuaded many skeptical tribes to devote their warriors to Boudicca’s command. The defeated warrior Queen as a result developed a deadly army and greatly increased her military prowess.
The first one was Colchester. The denizens of Londinium heard this was happening, so they tried to be a helping hand, but that didn’t really work out for them. They sent out 200 slaves, and within minutes they were all gone while only a couple of Iceni troops were left dead. Boudicca then destroyed the entire city, leaving no-one alive.
As Boudicca looked back at the outskirts of Colchester she demanded her troops to torture and crucify the innocent, and one by one her troops crucified and tortured each one slowly. As she looked up, the stars above started getting covered up by smoke from the fires. The smell of the smoke and burning human flesh covered Colchester. The ash from all of the houses skittered like demon flies throughout the air and landed gently on the fiery land. As the last of the people died, she ordered her troops over to their chariots. And off they went, riding towards their next victims, in Camulodunum.
This attack by the Iceni people was so incredibly harsh that when archaeologists went to dig up the site, there was a layer of debris from the city, and the archeologists call this the Boudicca destruction horizon, which shows the pervasiveness of her revolt.
On the other side of Britain, a message was delivered to Paulinus in Wales, informing him about the destruction the Iceni troops had just done in Camulodunum. This leader was Roman General Suetonius Pauliunus, who was so locked in with fighting the Druids that he had no idea that Boudicca’s army was growing and increasing. And by the time that Paulinus noticed, Boudicca had already gained 100,000 people. That meant that the Romans must act fast before they caused more destruction.
They decided to approach at a swift pace.
The next city Boudicca attacked and sacked was Roman London: Londinium. Londinium was a huge trading center so they made sure to walk away with expensive valuables. Suetonius Paulinus was going to try to arrive at Londinium before the Iceni people, so as to save his Roman countrymen from Boudicca. Suetonius Paulinus started to think ahead. He couldn’t defend against the Iceni because he didn’t have any of his legions. So he fell back and started to plan. Then the Iceni troops almost replicated what they did at the Camulodunum in Londinium.
Also known as the Massacre of the Ninth Legion, this was huge win for the Iceni and their fellow friends.
Their next target was Verulamium. The citizens of that city knew Boudicca’s wrath was on the way, so they fled before they were slaughtered. And in a blink of an eye, Verulamium got ransacked.
But the Iceni troops finally met their match against the Roman armies. The Battle of Watling Street was the final battle between Boudicca and her Iceni troops and the Romans. In this battle the Icini vastly outnumbered the Romans, but the grounds where the Romans were stationed was the top of the hill, and the Iceni troops would be approaching from below. The Romans used an obvious strategy to give themselves an edge against the Iceni: they positioned themselves so that when they attacked, they were going downhill which gave them momentum and would be easier to attack. The final battle had now begun. The Romans approached the Iceni tribe, and the Iceni tribe stormed towards the Romans. Each Roman soldier was getting stormed by two, three, or even more Iceni people. The Romans threw pila, which is a type of javelin. And this pierced and stopped many of the front line of the Iceni troops. They kept on fighting and fighting until you saw soldiers falling back right into their own chariots. The Romans had marched down the hill in a wedge formation, wielding short stabbing swords. And also it’s worth mentioning that this battle was close-quarter fighting. They killed the majority of the Icini soldiers, and were going to finish the rest. It ended up with thousands of casualties, reported Tacitus. At the end the Romans came out on top.
Well, Boudicca actually did escape the battle when they were on the losing side. We don’t know for sure how she died, but there are three speculations. She could have died from poison. She could have died of shock at the outcome of the war. Or she could have died of an illness.
In London, there is a statue of Boudicca at Westminster Bridge. Boudicca is depicted in her chariot, with her daughter crouching beside her. In one of her hands is a spear, and with the other hand she makes a weird gesture, sticking her hand out as if she were warding off evil.
A fun fact about Boudicca is that her name actually means “victorious woman” in Latin. Boudi means triumphant, and win + ka means triumphant woman. Also, around the world, a lot of countries have Boudicca as an international symbol of struggle. Before the battle of Watling Street, Nero actually wanted all of the Romans to retreat because he thought they couldn’t take on Boudicca. But Paulinus thought otherwise and decided to take them on in formation. He was outnumbered, yet he still won, and this battle was put into the history books.