BOUDICA

BOUDICA

Britain has produced many fierce, noble warriors down the ages who have fought to keep Britain free, but there was one formidable lady in history, whose name will never be forgotten –

Queen Boudica, Boudicca or Boadicea, as she is more commonly called.

Boudica was a striking looking woman.
She was very tall, the glance of her eye most fierce, her voice harsh.
A great mass of the reddest hair fell down to her hips.

Her appearance was said to be terrifying.
Definitely a lady to be noticed!

At the time of the Roman conquest of southern Britain, Queen Boudica ruled the Iceni tribe of East Anglia, alongside her husband King Prasutagus.

The trouble started when Prasutagus, hoping to curry favour with the Romans, made the Roman Emperor Nero co-heir, with his daughters.

He hoped by this ploy, to keep his kingdom and household, free from attack.

Unfortunately the Roman Governor of Britain at that time, was Suetonius Paulinus, who had other ideas on the subject of lands and property.

After Prasutagus’s death, his lands and household were plundered by the Roman officers.

Not content with taking all the property and lands, Suetonius had the newly widowed Boudica publicly flogged, and her daughters were rAped by Roman slaves.

Other Iceni chiefs suffered the same, and their families were treated like slaves.
Not surprisingly these outrages provoked the Iceni, and other tribes, to rebel against the Romans.

The Britons at first had great successes.
They captured the Roman settlement at Camulodunum, which is now Colchester.

Boudica and her allies gave no quarter in their victories, and when Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St. Albans) were stormed, the defenders fled, and the towns were sacked and burned!

The revolting Britons even desecrated the Roman cemeteries, mutilating statues, and breaking tombstones.

Some of these mutilated statues can still be seen today, in Colchester Museum.

Finally Suetonius, decided to challenge Boudica.
He assembled an army of 10,000 regulars and auxiliaries.

Boudica and her daughters, drove round in her chariot, to all her tribes before the battle, exhorting them to be brave.

She cried that she was descended from mighty men, but she was fighting as an ordinary person for her lost freedom, her bruised body and outraged daughters.

It is said, that she asked them ‘Win the battle or perish: that is what I, a woman will do; you men can live on in slavery if that’s what you want.’

The Britons attacked the Roman defensive line.
The order was given, and a volley of several thousand heavy Roman javelins was thrown into the advancing Britons, followed quickly by a second volley.

The lightly armed Britons must have suffered massive casualties, within the first minutes of the battle.
The Romans moved in for the kill, attacking in tight formation, stabbing with their short swords…….

The Britons now had little chance.
To ensure success the Roman cavalry was released, which promptly encircled the enemy and began their slaughter from the rear.

Seemingly mad with blood lust, records show that 80,000 Britons; men, women and children, were killed.
The Roman losses amounted to 400 dead, with a slightly larger number wounded.

Boudica was not killed in the battle, but chose to end her life with poison, rather than be taken alive by the Romans.
Boudica has secured a special place of her own in British folk history.

Remembered for her courage, The Warrior Queen who fought the might of Rome.

<3 In 1902, a bronze statue of her riding high in her chariot, was placed on the Thames embankment, next to the Houses of Parliament, in the old Roman capital of Britain, Londinium. Now thats true Girl Power!!!