The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [105]
Queens of the Ancient World IV
Boudica’s Rebellion against Rome
BOUDICA WAS A WARRIOR QUEEN, with a fierce way about her and brilliant red hair that flowed to her waist. As Queen of the Celtic tribe of the Iceni in the first century AD, Boudica organized a revolt against the Romans, hoping to regain and protect her people’s independence.
In the year 43 AD, Roman soldiers marched to the French edge of the European continent, crossed the British Channel, and began their invasion of Britain. The Emperor Claudius, whose reign had begun in 41 and would last until 54, dreamed of conquering the mysterious British island. Rome was at the height of its power. Its huge army helped expand the boundaries of Rome in all directions. Britain was a special challenge. It sat beyond a choppy channel of water and was
the farthest spot to the northwest that the Romans could imagine, with a cold, unfathomable, and terrifyingly large sea beyond.
Britain was the home of Celtic tribes and Druids, with their mystical traditions and religious groves of trees. In Rome, the lives of women and girls were as controlled as the tightly wound hair braids and coils that were the fashion of the day. There, men dominated public life, and women, especially those in wealthy and powerful families, lived more private lives. By contrast, Celtic women had many more rights. They could govern and make laws, marry more freely, own property, and, alongside men, they could work and take part in their community’s marketplace. Their hair, too, showed their freedom: the fashion was to grow it long and leave it down, ready to fly with the wind.
Boudica was of the Iceni tribe, which inhabited the eastern part of Britain, and she had married Prasutagus, the tribe’s King. As Roman legions invaded and took over the land of the Celts, Boudica watched, unbelievingly. The Romans declared much of Britain to be the Roman province of Britannia. They founded the cities of Londinium—now called London—and Camulodunum, which they made into their capital. There they built a massive Roman-style Temple to the Emperor Claudius and a towering statue of a woman representing Victory.
Facing troops with greater weapons, the Iceni and nearby Celtic tribes followed the path of many local tribes. They feared that active resistance would mean death for many and slavery for the rest, and so they submitted. When the Romans came to the Iceni kingdom, they decided that Prasutagus should continue to rule his people. The Iceni could remain semi-independent so long as they stayed loyal to Rome. The Romans often made arrangements like this, charging local rulers to keep the peace and to collect taxes for the Empire. Prasutagus’ small kingdom lasted this way for nearly twenty years, until he died in the year 60, leaving behind Boudica and their two daughters.
Most of what we know about Boudica’s life comes to us from the Roman historian Tacitus, who in 109 AD wrote the Annals, detailing Rome’s first century exploits. Tacitus reports that under Roman rule, Prasutagus and Boudica remained prosperous. After Prasutagus’ death, however, it was learned that he had been wheeling and dealing with the Romans, and this included borrowing a great deal of money from the Roman governor. Prasutagus’ will directed that half the kingdom be turned over to the Romans to pay his debt. The other half he gave to his two daughters, for them to rule as queens.
Prasutagus had hoped his deathbed directions would protect his family, but this didn’t happen. The Roman governor Suetonius had already decided that when Prasutagus died, he would disarm the Iceni people, confiscate their arrows and spears and darts, and annex their land fully into the Roman province of Britannia.
Roman soldiers soon arrived at Boudica’s palace to plunder Prasutagus’s wealth and claim his entire kingdom as their own. They captured Boudica and made a show of torturing her and her two daughters in front of the Iceni tribesmen and