Boudica orBoudicca (/ˈbuːdɪkə,boʊˈdɪkə/, fromBrythonic *boudi 'victory, win' + *-kā 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles asBoadicea orBoudicea, and in Welsh asBuddug,pronounced[ˈbɨðɨɡ]) was a queen of theancient British Iceni tribe, who led afailed uprising against theconquering forces of theRoman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She is considered a British national heroine and a symbol of the struggle for justice and independence.
Boudica's husbandPrasutagus, with whom she had two daughters, ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome. He left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to theRoman emperor in his will. When he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed and his property taken. According to the Roman historianTacitus, Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped.[1] The historianCassius Dio wrote that previous imperial donations to influential Britons were confiscated and the Roman financier and philosopherSeneca called in the loans he had forced on the reluctant Britons.
In 60/61, Boudica led the Iceni and other British tribes in revolt. They destroyedCamulodunum (modernColchester), earlier the capital of theTrinovantes, but at that time acolonia for discharged Roman soldiers. Upon hearing of the revolt, the Roman governorGaius Suetonius Paulinus hurried from the island ofMona (modern Anglesey) toLondinium, the 20-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels' next target. Unable to defend the settlement, he abandoned it. Boudica's army defeated a detachment of theLegio IX Hispana, and burnt both Londinium andVerulamium. In all, an estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and Britons were killed by Boudica's followers. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces, possibly in theWest Midlands, and despite being heavily outnumbered, he decisively defeated the Britons. Boudica died, by suicide or illness, shortly afterwards. The crisis of 60/61 causedNero to consider withdrawing all his imperial forces from Britain, but Suetonius's victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province.
Interest in these events was revived in theEnglish Renaissance and led to Boudica's fame in theVictorian era and as a cultural symbol in Britain.
Tacitus wrote some years after the rebellion, but his father-in-lawGnaeus Julius Agricola was an eyewitness to the events, having served in Britain as atribune underSuetonius Paulinus during this period.[2]
Cassius Dio began his history of Rome and its empire about 140 years after Boudica's death. Much is lost and his account of Boudica survives only in theepitome of an 11th-centuryByzantine monk,John Xiphilinus. He provides greater and more lurid detail than Tacitus, but in general his details are often fictitious.[5][6]
Both Tacitus and Dio give an account of battle-speeches given by Boudica, though it is thought that her words were never recorded during her life.[2][4][7] Although imaginary, these speeches, designed to provide a comparison for readers of the antagonists' demands and approaches to war, and to portray the Romans as morally superior to their enemy, helped create an image ofpatriotism that turned Boudica into a legendary figure.[8][9]
Boudica was the consort ofPrasutagus, king of theIceni,[note 1] a tribe who inhabited what is now the English county ofNorfolk and parts of the neighbouring counties ofCambridgeshire,Suffolk andLincolnshire.[11] The Iceni produced some of the earliest known British coins.[12] They had revolted against the Romans in 47 when the Roman governorPublius Ostorius Scapula planned to disarm all the peoples of Britain under Roman control. The Romans allowed the kingdom to retain its independence once the uprising was suppressed.[13]
On his death in AD 60/61, Prasutagus made his two daughters as well as the Roman EmperorNero his heirs.[11] The Romans ignored the will, and the kingdom was absorbed into the province ofBritannia.[14]Catus Decianus, procurator of Britain, was sent to secure the Iceni kingdom for Rome.[13]
"Have we not been robbed entirely of most of our possessions, and those the greatest, while for those that remain we pay taxes? Besides pasturing and tilling for them all our other possessions, do we not pay a yearly tribute for our very bodies? How much better it would be to have been sold to masters once for all than, possessing empty titles of freedom, to 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!... Among the rest of mankind death frees even those who are in slavery to others; only in the case of the Romans do the very dead remain alive for their profit. Why is it that, though none of us has any money (how, indeed, could we, or where would we get it?), we are stripped and despoiled like a murderer's victims? And why should the Romans be expected to display moderation as time goes on, when they have behaved toward us in this fashion at the very outset, when all men show consideration even for the beasts they have newly captured?"
The Romans' next actions were described by Tacitus, who detailed pillaging of the countryside, the ransacking of the king's household, and the brutal treatment of Boudica and her daughters. According to Tacitus, Boudica wasflogged and her daughters wereraped.[14] These abuses are not mentioned in Dio's account, who instead cites three different causes for the rebellion: the recalling of loans that were given to the Britons bySeneca; Decianus Catus's confiscation of money formerly loaned to the Britons by the EmperorClaudius; and Boudica's own entreaties.[4][7] The loans were thought by the Iceni to have been repaid by gift exchange.[13]
Dio gives Boudica a speech to her people and their allies reminding them that life was much better before the Roman occupation, stressing that wealth cannot be enjoyed under slavery and placing the blame upon herself for not expelling the Romans as they had done whenJulius Caesar invaded.[14] The willingness of those seen as barbarians to sacrifice a higher quality of living under the Romans in exchange for their freedom and personal liberty was an important part of what Dio considered to be motivation for the rebellions.[9]
The first target of the rebels wasCamulodunum (modernColchester), a Romancolonia for retired soldiers.[16] ARoman temple had been erected there to Claudius, at great expense to the local population. Combined with brutal treatment of the Britons by the veterans, this had caused resentment towards the Romans.[17]
The Iceni and the Trinovantes comprised an army of 120,000 men.[18] Dio claimed that Boudica called upon the British goddess of victoryAndraste to aid her army.[19] Once the revolt had begun, the only Roman troops available to provide assistance, aside from the few within the colony, were 200auxiliaries located in London, who were not equipped to fight Boudica's army. Camulodunum was captured by the rebels;[20] those inhabitants who survived the initial attack took refuge in theTemple of Claudius for two days before they were killed.[21]Quintus Petillius Cerialis, then commanding theLegio IXHispana, attempted to relieve Camulodunum, but suffered an overwhelming defeat. Theinfantry with him were all killed and only the commander and some of hiscavalry escaped. After this disaster, Catus Decianus, whose behaviour had provoked the rebellion, fled abroad toGaul.[22]
Suetonius was leading acampaign against the island of Mona, off the coast of North Wales. On hearing the news of the Iceni uprising, he left a garrison on Mona and returned to deal with Boudica.[18] He moved quickly with a force of men through hostile territory to Londinium, which he reached before the arrival of Boudica's army[21] but, outnumbered, he decided to abandon the town to the rebels, who burned it down after torturing and killing everyone who had remained. The rebels also sacked themunicipium ofVerulamium (modernSt Albans),[23][24] north-west of London, though the extent of its destruction is unclear.[25]
Dio and Tacitus both reported that around 80,000 people were said to have been killed by the rebels.[4] According to Tacitus, the Britons had no interest in taking the Roman population as prisoners, only in slaughter by "gibbet, fire, or cross".[26] Dio adds that the noblest women were impaled on spikes and had their breasts cut off and sewn to their mouths, "to the accompaniment of sacrifices, banquets, and wanton behaviour" in sacred places, particularly the groves of Andraste.[27]
Suetonius regrouped his forces. He amassed an army of almost 10,000 men at an unidentified location, and took a stand in adefile (a narrow pass) with a wood behind. The Romans used the terrain to their advantage, launching javelins at the Britons before advancing in a wedge-shaped formation and deploying cavalry.[13]
Ancient sources say, that the Roman army was outnumbered[11] but Boudica's army was crushed, and according to Tacitus, neither the women nor the animals were spared. Tacitus states that Boudica poisoned herself; Dio says she fell sick and died, after which she was given a lavish burial. It has been argued that these accounts are not mutually exclusive.[28]
Boudica may have been an honorific title,[29] in which case the name by which she was known during most of her life is unknown.[30] The Englishlinguist and translatorKenneth Jackson concluded that the nameBoudica—based on later developments in Welsh (Buddug) andIrish (Buaidheach)—derives from theProto-Celtic feminine adjective *boudīkā 'victorious', which in turn is derived from theCeltic word *boudā 'victory', and that the correct spelling of the name inCommon Brittonic (the British Celtic language) isBoudica, pronounced[boʊˈdiːkaː].[31] Variations on the historically correctBoudica includeBoudicca,Bonduca,Boadicea, andBuduica.[32] TheGaulish version of her name is attested in inscriptions asBoudiga inBordeaux,Boudica inLusitania, andBodicca in Algeria.[33]
Boudica's name was spelt incorrectly by Dio, who usedBuduica.[32] Her name was also misspelled by Tacitus, who added a second 'c.' After the misspelling was copied by a medievalscribe, further variations began to appear. Along with the second 'c' becoming an 'e,' an 'a' appeared in place of the 'u', which produced the medieval (and most common) version of the name,Boadicea.[30][34] The true spelling was totally obscured whenBoadicea first appeared in around the 17th century.[32]William Cowper used this spelling in his poemBoadicea, an Ode (1782), which readapted Boudica's story to fit the context of Britain's rising territorial and political ambitions.[35]
One of the earliest possible mentions of Boudica (excluding Tacitus' and Dio's accounts) was the 6th-century workDe Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae by the British monkGildas. In it, he demonstrates his knowledge of a female leader whom he describes as a "treacherous lioness" who "butchered the governors who had been left to give fuller voice and strength to the endeavours of Roman rule."[36]
No contemporary description of Boudica exists. Dio, writing more than a century after her death, provided a detailed description of the Iceni queen (translated in 1925): "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."[14][15][note 2]
During theRenaissance the works of Tacitus and Cassius Dio became available in England, after which her status changed as it was interpreted by historians, poets anddramatists.[38] Boudica appeared as 'Voadicia' in a history,Anglica Historia, by the Italian scholarPolydore Vergil, and in the Scottish historianHector Boece'sThe History and Chronicles of Scotland (1526) she is 'Voada'—the first appearance of Boudica in a British publication.[38][39]
Boudica was called 'Voadicia' in the English historianRaphael Holinshed'sChronicles, published between 1577 and 1587.[38][40] A narrative by theFlorentine scholarPetruccio Ubaldini inThe Lives of the Noble Ladies of the Kingdom of England and Scotland (1591) includes two female characters, 'Voadicia' and 'Bunduica', both based on Boudica.[38] From the 1570s to the 1590s, whenElizabeth I's England was at war with Spain, Boudica proved to be a valuable asset for the English.[41]
The English poetEdmund Spenser used the story of Boudica in his poemThe Ruines of Time, involving a story about a British heroine he called 'Bunduca'.[42] A variation of this name was used in theJacobean playBonduca (1612), atragicomedy that most scholars agree was written byJohn Fletcher, in which one of the characters was Boudica.[43] A version of that play calledBonduca, or the British Heroine was set to music by the English composerHenry Purcell in 1695.[44] One of the choruses, "Britons, Strike Home!", became a popular patriotic song in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries.[45]
During the late 18th century, Boudica was used to develop ideas ofEnglish national identity.[46] Illustrations of Boudica during this period—such as in Edward Barnard'sNew, Complete and Authentic History of England (1790) and the drawing byThomas Stothard of the queen as a classical heroine—lacked historical accuracy. The illustration of Boudica byRobert Havell inCharles Hamilton Smith'sThe Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands from the Earliest Periods to the Sixth Century (1815) was an early attempt to depict her in an historically accurate way.[47]
Cowper's 1782 poemBoadicea: An Ode was the most notable literary work to champion the resistance of the Britons, fostering an "asexual image of British triumph and heroism." It led Boudica to become acultural icon and national heroine in Britain.[46]Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poemBoädicéa, which was written in 1859 and published in 1864, drew on Cowper's poem. Depicting the Iceni queen as a violent and bloodthirsty warrior, the poem also forecasted the rise of theBritish Empire. Tennyson's image of Boudica was taken from theengraving produced in 1812 by Stothard.[48] Another work, the poem "Boadicea" (1859) by Francis Barker, contained strongly patriotic and Christian themes.[49]
A range ofVictorian children's books mentioned Boudica;Beric the Briton (1893), a novel byG. A. Henty, with illustrations by William Parkinson, had a text based on the accounts of Tacitus and Dio.[50]
Boudica was once thought to have been buried at a place which lies now between platforms 9 and 10 inKing's Cross station in London. There is no evidence for this and it is probably a post-World War II invention.[53] AtColchester Town Hall, a life-sized statue of Boudica stands on the south facade, sculpted by L J Watts in 1902; another depiction of her is in astained glass window byClayton and Bell in the council chamber.[54]
Boudica was adopted by thesuffragettes as one of the symbols of the campaign forwomen's suffrage. In 1908, a "Boadicea Banner" was carried in severalNational Union of Women's Suffrage Societies marches. She appears as a character inA Pageant of Great Women written byCicely Hamilton, which opened at theScala Theatre, London, in November 1909 before a national tour, and she was described in a 1909 pamphlet as "the eternal feminine... the guardian of the hearth, the avenger of its wrongs upon the defacer and the despoiler".[55]
A "vocal minority" has claimed Boudica as a Celtic Welsh heroine.[56] A statue of Boudica in the Marble Hall atCardiff City Hall was among those unveiled byDavid Lloyd George in 1916, though the choice had gained little support in a public vote.[57][56] It shows her with her daughters and without warrior trappings.[58]
^Suetonius (1914). "Lives of the Caesars, Book VI: Nero".Suetonius (in Latin and English). Vol. 2. Translated byRolfe, John Carew. Cambridge, Massaschsetts: Harvard University Press. p. 157.OCLC647029284 – via HathiTrust."... a disaster in Britain where two important towns were sacked and great numbers of citizens and allies were butchered; ...
^Hoffman, Birgitta (2019).The Roman Invasion of Britain: archaeology versus history. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books Limited. p. 12.ISBN978-15267-5-663-3.
^Vandrei 2018, p. 2 "After sacking the settlements of Camulodunum (present-day Colchester) and Verulamium (now St Albans) Boudica's army brought its destructive force to Londinium. Footnote 4: The destruction of Verulamium follows that of Londinium in some accounts."
^Tacitus.Annals. p. 14.33.eadem clades municipio Verulamio fuit – Like ruin fell on the town of Verulamium
^Wall, Martin (2022). "2. The treacherous lioness: Boudicca and the great British revolt (60–61)".The Lost Battlefields of Britain. Stroud, England:Amberley.ISBN978-1445697086.
Williams, Carolyn D. (2009).Boudica and Her Stories: Narrative Transformations of a Warrior Queen. Newark: University of Delaware Press.ISBN978-0-87413-079-9.OCLC316736523.
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