Boudicca Queen of the Iceni

                                                                                        

Boudicca as described by Dio Cassius, “She was huge of frame, terrifying of aspect, and with a harsh voice. A great mass of bright red hair fell to her knees: she wore a twisted torc, and a tunic of many colours, (The clan tartan of the Iceni), over, which was a thick mantle, fastened by a brooch. Now she grasped a spear, to strike fear into all who watched her”.

43 AD, Boudicca (Boadicea) was married to Prasutagas, king of the Iceni peoples and when the Romans invaded in that year, he thought it wise to reach an accommodation with the invaders. As a client kingdom the people were allowed to retain their lands and live in peace with their customs and headed by their own king, albeit under overall Roman rule. The tribe flourished, trading with both Ireland and Rome. The Merchants and the rulers of the Iceni prospered grew rich and paid ever-increasing taxes to their Roman overlords.

The ageing king, sickened by Roman greed and fearing that his family would be left destitute when he died, made a will leaving half of his wealth to emperor Nero. When Prasutagas died however in 60 AD, the Roman vultures pounced and the Procurator of the province, Catus Deimus was sent in. He appropriated the Iceni lands on behalf of Rome, seized the king’s property, enslaved many of his kin, and when the queen protested had her flogged and her daughters raped. This highhanded treatment of the royal family caused outrage and Boudicca found herself at the head of an uprising of the clans of the east and the midlands.

Ill equipped and only half-armed the Celtic army 100,000 strong marched on the former capital of Caratacus, Camulodunum (Colchester) where the great temple of Claudius dominated the town, a visible testament to Roman rule. Boudicca fell upon the city stormed the temple, put to the sword all those inside and burnt the temple and the city to the ground. Turning from Camulodunum the Britons swept down upon the relief force, the Ninth Legion, decimating the Roman infantry and sending the cavalry fleeing to Londinium (London)

Meanwhile Suetonius Paulinus, the Governor of Britain who had been seeing to the destruction of the Druids of Mona, had by a series of forced marches reach Lundinium and was busy gathering an opposing force. On finding however that the Ninth Legion had been virtually destroyed he realised he was too weak and evacuated his troops. Those that were unable to withdraw with his column were left to be massacred by the Celts. Although Lundinium wasn’t a colony, it was the largest Roman settlement in Britain and it too was burned to the ground. Next came the Roman town of Verulamium (St Albans) where fire and sword once more carried the day.

Tacitus declares that, to his own knowledge, no fewer than seventy thousand Romans and pro-Romans thus perished in this fearful day of vengeance.

Suetonius Paulinus, now felt strong enough to risk a battle, despite only having ten thousand men to go against a force that had by now grown to two hundred and thirty thousand. The ground where the two armies met was close to London. Tradition has it that the place was, Battle Bridge (Present day King’s Cross).  Suetonius formed his men in line across a glade, with the forest on either side protecting his flanks and was waiting for the Britons when they returned from Verulamium. The Romans stood firm under a rain of missiles from the Britons and withheld their fire until the horde was in close range. Then they discharged the Pila (A mass of thrown Javelins) into the enemy centre. The front gave, and forming into a wedge, the Romans charged into the gap cutting the British line in two.

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