Boudica

53

Boudica : biography

– AD 60 or 61

In 2009 is was suggested that the Iceni were returning to East Anglia along the Icknield Way when they encountered the Roman army in the vicinity of Arbury Bank, HertfordshireAppleby, G. 2009. The Boudican Revolt: Countdown to Defeat. In Hertfordshire Archaeology and History, Volume 16, 2009, pp. 57-65.. In March 2010, evidence was published suggesting the site may be located at Church Stowe, Northamptonshire.

Historical sources

Tacitus, the most important Roman historian of this period, took a particular interest in Britain as his father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agricola served there three times (and was the subject of his first book). Agricola was a military tribune under Suetonius Paulinus, which almost certainly gave Tacitus an eyewitness source for Boudica’s revolt. Cassius Dio’s account is only known from an epitome, and his sources are uncertain. He is generally agreed to have based his account on that of Tacitus, but he simplifies the sequence of events and adds details, such as the calling in of loans, that Tacitus does not mention.

Gildas, in his 6th century De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, may have been alluding to Boudica when he wrote "A treacherous lioness butchered the governors who had been left to give fuller voice and strength to the endeavours of Roman rule."

Cultural depictions

History and literature

By the Middle Ages Boudica was forgotten. She makes no appearance in Bede’s work, the Historia Brittonum, the Mabinogion or Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. But the rediscovery of the works of Tacitus during the Renaissance allowed Polydore Vergil to reintroduce her into British history as "Voadicea" in 1534.Polydore Vergil’s English History Book 2 (). Raphael Holinshed also included her story in his Chronicles (1577), based on Tacitus and Dio,Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles: History of England and inspired Shakespeare’s younger contemporaries Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher to write a play, Bonduca, in 1610. William Cowper wrote a popular poem, "Boadicea, an ode," in 1782.

It was in the Victorian era that Boudica’s fame took on legendary proportions as Queen Victoria came to be seen as Boudica’s "namesake", their names being identical in meaning. Victoria’s Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, wrote a poem, "Boadicea,"Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and several ships were named after her. A great bronze statue of Boudica with her daughters in her war chariot (furnished with scythes after the Persian fashion) was commissioned by Prince Albert and executed by Thomas Thornycroft. It was completed in 1905 and stands next to Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, with the following lines from Cowper’s poem, referring to the British Empire:

Regions Caesar never knew Thy posterity shall sway.

Ironically, the great anti-imperialist rebel was now identified with the head of the British Empire, and her statue stood guard over the city she razed to the ground.Graham Webster, Boudica: The British Revolt against Rome AD 60, 1978

In more recent times, Boudica has been the subject of numerous documentaries, including some by Discovery Channel, History International Channel (now known as H2), and the BBC.

Boudica and King’s Cross

The area of King’s Cross, London was previously a village known as Battle Bridge which was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet. The original name of the bridge was Broad Ford Bridge.

The name "Battle Bridge" led to a tradition that this was the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Iceni tribe led by Boudica. The tradition is not supported by any historical evidence and is rejected by modern historians. However Lewis Spence’s 1937 book Boadicea – warrior queen of the Britons went so far as to include a map showing the positions of the opposing armies. There is a belief that she was buried between platforms 9 and 10 in King’s Cross station in London, England. There is no evidence for this and it is probably a post World War II invention.