Boudica's Revenge: How A Warrior Queen Revolted Against The Roman Empire

It was one of the biggest revolts in British history. A massive insurrection aimed at driving the Romans out of Britain through blood and battle. At its head was an elusive, unique warrior queen. Her name has become immortalized down through the centuries. Boudicca. The year was 60 AD. The Roman Empire dominated the Mediterranean and beyond, stretching from modern-day Wales in the northwest to Syria and Armenia in the east. And one of the most infamous figures in ancient history then sat on Rome's imperial throne. Nero. It would be during Nero's reign that several areas of the Roman Empire experienced severe unrest, not least in Britain. I'm in Colchester, the original capital of the Roman province of Britannia, and a place with close infamous links to Boudicca's revolt. It had been almost 20 years since the initial Claudian invasion of Britain under Aulus Plautius, and since then the Romans had undergone a series of successful breakout campaigns, extending their influence further onto the island of Britain. And this had been successful through a variety of methods. First of all, through military means, through victories against famous British resistance leaders such as Caratacus, but also through some cunning diplomacy, through the handing out of substantial bribes to powerful native British rulers in the southeast and north of Britain to ensure that they remained peaceful as Rome looked to expand its control further west. One key British ruler at this time was a king called Prasuticus. Prasuticus was the king of the Iceni, situated roughly in modern-day Norfolk in East Anglia. And we hear from our sources that Prasuticus, by AD 60, he had been reigning for quite a long time, he was considerably wealthy, and these two factors are probably very much linked to his close connections with Rome. Remember those substantial bribes, as I mentioned earlier, that the Romans gave out to powerful native British rulers? Well, Prasuticus was almost certainly one of those. Now, Prasuticus, he had two daughters and a wife, a queen, who we know today as Boudicca. The name Boudicca, it derived from the Celtic word Bouda, which meant victory. And according to our sources, she was quite a character. To find out more, I met up with Dr Shushma Malik. The main thing we have about Boudicca's appearance comes from Cassius Dio, who was writing quite a lot later, sort of early third century AD, so we're talking 250 years after these events. He tells us that she was clever for a woman, so that's something perhaps, but also that she was very wild in her appearance. She wore a multi-coloured tunic and she carried a big spear. He makes a point to say that not only is it her physical appearance, but her voice as well is fierce. In AD 60, Prasuticus died. In his will, he left his kingdom to his two young daughters, but also to the Roman Emperor Nero. It was Prasuticus's intention that, on the one hand, he preserve the Iceni's identity, he preserved the royal family, but also to keep the Romans happy. It was not to be, because enter our next protagonist, Cetus Decianus or Cetus Decianus. Now Cetus was one of the most prominent Roman officials in Britain at that time. He was the Roman procurator. He was in charge of the administration of the finances and with Prasuticus's passing, Cetus sensed opportunity. With the Iceni seemingly in paralysis following the death of their king, Cetus decided that this was the perfect time to strike. Cetus maintains that the money the Romans had previously given to Prasuticus was to be repaid with interest. Prasuticus and other local leaders had received money from the Emperor, but also from another prominent figure in the imperial regime, Seneca. So what's the story of Seneca's loans? So that's an interesting story. Cassius Dio talks about this again and he says that Seneca lent the British people a large amount of money and actually Cassius Dio sees financial reasons as the main motivation for the Boudiccan revolt in the first place. Seneca lent the Britons about 40 million sesterces, which is a lot of money in Roman terms. So if you think that you need 1 million sesterces to be a Roman senator, but the daily wage for an unskilled labourer is about 4 sesterces, so we're talking huge amounts of money here. But what Seneca did was recall these loans very quickly and he wanted all of the money back at once and that was one of the reasons why the Boudiccan revolt took place. What followed was an infamous act by the Romans. Centurions alongside subordinates of caters, slaves and lower officials stormed into the Iceni territory. They sacked, they robbed, they looted. The Iceni aristocracy lost their ancestral lands. They were treated as if they were a slave race, as if they were a subject people. And even worse was to follow for the Boudicca was flogged, her two daughters were raped. The Romans had opted to ignore Prasuticus's will, a decision they made emphatically clear through their pillaging of Iceni territory. But these infamous actions would have consequences. The Iceni were enraged, particularly their aristocracy and the ruling class. At their head was the mistreated Boudicca, riling her people up for revolt to drive the Romans out of Britain. So tell me about this remarkable speech of Boudicca's in Cassius Dio. So Cassius Dio gives her a very long speech compared to Tacitus anyway which is brilliant because it's a masterpiece of rhetoric really that he constructs for her and puts into the mouth of a woman which is of course unusual really. She starts off by talking about the freedom and the slavery that's been imposed on the British by the Romans. So do the British want their freedom back? This is the moment where they can take back their freedom. Even when you die, she says, you are still indebted to Rome. You're still having to pay the money in your wills. You've been paying taxes all your life and then you're leaving your money to the Romans as well. Then she goes on from the freedom subject to talking about how actually if the British had just got rid of Julius Caesar back in the 50s BC, they wouldn't be in this scenario to begin with. But now is their time to redress that wrong. She then finishes the speech in an extraordinary way where she doesn't add hominem attack on Nero. She says Nero is more of a woman than he is a man. She decides to rename him to Domitia Nero, Mistress Domitia Nero which is the feminine version of Domitius which was his birth name. So she really does then go for the jugular of Nero if you like which we don't see in comparable sources in Tacitus for example. And that is a very interesting way of characterising the motivations and the impetus for the revolt as well. It's about Roman suppression in the province but it's also about what's going on in Rome and it also serves to make Boudicca the more masculine of the two between her and Nero. So he may be a man and she may be a woman but he is feminine and she is masculine. Boudicca became this rallying point for all of those who felt rightly aggrieved by the recent inhumane greedy actions of the Romans and Boudicca too of course had suffered in those recent actions but now her message was clear. It was time to strike back. People flocked to Boudicca. The Iceni aristocracy, strongholds and thousands of tribesmen. This was an astonishing amount of British unity all united by a shared hatred of the Romans and a desire to expel them from the island. If the Romans believed that the death of Prasuticus would be the end of the Iceni and that the Iceni would simply accept their new subordinate status they were gravely mistaken. Game on. Boudicca started gathering her forces at a very opportune time. At that time the most powerful Roman military force in Britain was hundreds of miles away to the west in modern Wales led by our next key protagonist the most powerful most important Roman in the province of Britannia then Suetonius Paulinus. Newly instated as the governor of Britain Paulinus carried with him a wealth of military experience. He had previously led an expedition across the atlas mountains in North Africa so he was the perfect choice to complete the conquest of Wales. So far Paulinus had gained some spectacular success on campaign in the northern part of Wales. He had reached as far as the island of Anglesey where the Britons had retreated to. It was a very important place for the Britons but Paulinus his campaign continued to gain success. He even burnt down the all-important sacred groves. Now could the burning of these sacred groves and the beginning of Boudicca's revolt be linked? It is possible that Boudicca did have religious links. One thing for certain though is that Boudicca struck at a very opportune time. Boudicca's first target was the nearby Roman town of Cameludanum today's Colchester. Cameludanum was the provincial heart of Roman Britain indeed it was the provincial capital. This had been where the emperor Claudius had visited almost 20 years earlier to receive the surrenders of British chiefs at the end of the initial invasion and since then Cameludanum it had transformed. It had become the first Roman town in Britain and was the only official Roman colony on this island at the time of Prasuticus's death in 60 AD. Now it was also here at Cameludanum that the Romans had settled a large quantity of soldiers, veterans who may well have served in the initial Claudian invasion of Britain and who also infamously partook in the pillaging, in the raiding of Iceni territory in the immediate aftermath of Prasuticus's death. But Cameludanum was also home to a specific structure, a particular building that enraged the nearby Britons, a monumental structure that epitomized, that evoked, that symbolized Rome's newfound supremacy over this part of the island. This was the temple of Claudius. It was dedicated to Claudius because following his death he was deified and as a result we see this monumental construction appearing at the heart of Cameludanum. This temple was a source of social tension with nearby Britons. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, it lay before the Britons eyes as a bastion of everlasting domination, a reminder of Rome's supremacy over that part of the island. But this wasn't the only Roman architectural hallmark that we see at Cameludanum. We also hear of a curia here at that time, a Roman courthouse, as well as a theatre. And all these buildings combined, it made Cameludanum look like it was transforming into very much a Roman looking town. And that's incredibly significant when you think that barely 20 years earlier the Claudian invasion had occurred. Cameludanum back then had been this prominent British stronghold, but now it had become this urban symbol of Rome's rapidly growing influence over this part of the island. It's also important to remember that it wasn't just Romans who lived in Cameludanum. Britons too lived in the town, those who were more inclined either to adopting or adapting to certain aspects of Roman culture. By 60 AD Cameludanum had an estimated population of roughly 4,000. It was a prosperous settlement, but it was ill defended. It lacked substantial fortifications, it had ditches, but it did not have a wall. Cameludanum was an obvious target for Boudicca. As Boudicca and Harami gathered, bad omens plagued Cameludanum. We hear of shrieks and wails from the theatre. The Statue of Victory supposedly fell over, it toppled over, and then once on its side it then rolled over again as if it was retreating for an oncoming enemy. They told stories that people saw apparitions, they saw visions of Cameludanum burning in the waters of the Thames estuary. Now how much can we believe of these ancient bad omens? Well they probably likely didn't happen. The Romans were renowned for inventing these bad omens to precede an infamous moment in their history. But what's interesting is how we're told the people of Cameludanum prepared for the impending threat from Boudicca. They sent out calls for aid. One was sent to the procurator Cetus Decianus, who is then situated in London, Londinium. But Cetus, he seems to have misunderstood, not realised the severity of the threat that Boudicca posed. So much so that he only sent 200 improperly armed soldiers to aid the defence. But the people of Cameludanum, they also sent a request for aid to the nearest legion in Britain. And this was the famous 9th legion, Legio 9 Hispana, then stationed at modern-day Lincoln, ancient Linden. Now the distance between Colchester and Lincoln is pretty significant, but there was a silver lining because in AD 60-61 we believe that there were detachments of the 9th stationed closer by near modern-day Peterborough. And it's probably to these detachments that the people of Colchester sent their call for aid. In the meantime they started constructing a ditch and a rampart around the outside of Cameludanum, but it all proved too little, too late. By the time Boudicca and their army arrived outside Colchester, the Romans had abandoned any fortifications which they had created really outside the centre of the settlement. And this was because, we are told, a British 5th column working from within Colchester had been hindering the defences to such an extent that the Romans had retreated to the Temple of Claudius, which was then the strongest structure in Cameludanum itself. Now you need to imagine the scenes because we are told that among the soldiers there were also women, there were children, there were the old, there were the people who you wouldn't associate as being on the front line of combat action. But by retreating to the Temple of Claudius, the Romans abandoned the rest of the settlement. Boudicca and her army wrecked havoc. The city was razed, the town was sacked, fire would have been everywhere. Archaeologists today looking at the soil, looking at the stratigraphy, can see a clear burnt layer which they dub Boudicca's layer because it may relate to when Boudicca and her army razed this settlement to the ground. As for those defenders within the temple itself, they resisted for two days but ultimately they too were overwhelmed. What followed was a merciless slaughter. None were spared. If they were unlucky enough to be taken captive, they were quickly executed soon after. Boudicca's first target was accomplished. Cameludanum, this hated symbol of Rome's dominance, Rome's influence over this part of the island was no more. The Romans recoiled from the destruction of the provincial capital but another disaster was quick to follow. As already mentioned, part of the 9th Legion, Legio IX Hispana, were stationed quite close to Cameludanum and in the meantime the 9th's legate, Petilius Serialis, had been gathering troops, preparing an expedition to march southeast and to relieve the pressure on the provincial capital. It proved all too little too late. By the time Serialis and his relief force neared Cameludanum, the settlement was already in ruins, victim of Boudicca's onslaught. It would be this understrength portion of Legio IX Hispana, the 9th Legion, that would face the full fury of Boudicca's army. What followed next was a catastrophe for the 9th. The relief force was attacked on the march by Boudicca's army as they neared Cameludanum and were annihilated. Serialis and only a portion of his cavalry managed to escape the slaughter but the damage had been done. Boudicca had gained her next military success. For the Romans, news of the destruction of part of the 9th Legion alongside the sacking of Cameludanum was devastating. Cetus, the procurator who had helped fan the fires of this insurrection, fled Britain, fleeing across the channel to Gaul. But as Cetus departed, a new hope for the Romans reached the southeast, Suetonius Paulinus. Upon hearing of the revolt, Paulinus had hurried back from Anglesey with his army, gathering more soldiers en route. Now in Londinium, the Romans and their allies looked to his leadership. London at that time, it was a prosperous economic hub, home to roughly 10,000 people. But one key thing it lacked was fortifications. It didn't have a wall. It wasn't meant to be a defensive bastion, something Suetonius desperately needed if he was going to defend this town from Boudicca and her much larger army. So Suetonius, he decided to abandon the town. He would retreat north, taking with him as many of his soldiers as possible and gathering more troops on the way. He would also take from London as many people as he could who could fight. But those who couldn't fight, women, the children, the old, they were all left behind. They begged Suetonius to stay. They begged the governor to fight for the town. But Suetonius's mind was made up. London was sacrificed. Boudicca and her army showed London no mercy. They sacked the settlement and they executed anyone who they captured. According to Tacitus, thousands were executed by either being hanged, by being crucified or being burnt alive. Cassius Dio goes into even more graphic detail. He mentions how some who were captured were melted alive in boiling water. But the worst fates befell the Romano-British and the Roman noble women. Those who were captured, they were taken to the sacred groves where they had their breasts cut off, according to Cassius Dio, sewn into their mouths before they were impaled through the whole length of their bodies. So far the Romans had suffered several severe setbacks but Suetonius now set about consolidating what strength he had. He had the 14th legion, he had detachments of the 20th and he also had a substantial number of auxiliaries. It was quite a significant force but it was then that Suetonius encountered his latest setback. Perennius Postumus, the commander of the second legion stationed down in Exeter, he refused to march his legion to Suetonius' aid. He opted instead for them to stay within the safety of their legionary fortress down in the southwest. And the same story was similar for Serialis and what remains the 9th legion. He opted to stay with the remnants of the 9th in their legionary fortress at Lincoln. So Suetonius, seemingly abandoned by these two legionary commanders, he had roughly 10,000 men with which to oppose the mighty army of Boudicca. As Suetonius gathered his forces, Boudicca was already in pursuit, having left London a smouldering ruin. On her way, she set her sights upon at least one other settlement that she thought had been too friendly towards the Romans. This was Verulamium, modern-day Saint Albans. Many Britons lived in this settlement. For Boudicca, it seems that her revolt had turned into a war of ethnic cleansing aimed at eradicating not just the Romans but also all Britons who in her eyes had sided with Rome. Boudicca's army arrived at Verulamium and destroyed it. By this point, Boudicca's army was huge compared to that of Suetonius. The Romans were the clear underdogs, the Britons were confident. But Suetonius, despite being greatly outnumbered, he knew he could delay no longer. It was time to fight. Suetonius knew that if he wanted to battle Boudicca, then he wanted a battle on his terms. And so he selected a battleground which best suited his soldiers. He positioned them on a slightly elevated piece of land, its rear protected by thick woodland. But it was what lay in front that was most important. In the distance was a large open plain. But in front of that, and just before Suetonius' position, was a narrow defile, steeply wooded on either side. Suetonius recognised that this was a potential killing zone. It was through this defile that any attacking army would have to charge if they were to reach the Roman position. In the centre of his line, he deployed his crack elite troops, his Roman legionaries, flanked on either side by auxiliaries, and finally the cavalry. And we have this deployment on good authority because our main source for the battle is the Roman historian Tacitus. And one of the sources that Tacitus was using was his father-in-law Agricola, who may well have served as an aid of Suetonius at this climactic clash. In the meantime, as this deployment was going on, the Britons had gathered on the plain in unprecedented numbers. They were highly confident. They believed victory was near at hand. So confident were they that many had brought along their wives, their pack animals, their wagons, in order to spectate what they believed would be the final decisive success in their mission to expel the Romans from Britain. As the Britons assembled, Boudicca emerged in front of her warriors, ready to roll them up for battle with an emphatic speech. So what do we know about this speech by Boudicca before the Battle of Watling Street? So this speech comes to us from Tacitus, who's writing in about the early second century AD, so a bit earlier than Cassius Dio. This is quite a different speech that Tacitus gives Boudicca compared to Cassius Dio's. She's in her chariot this time. She's not standing with her spear in front of the troops, but with her in her chariot are her daughters. And it seems like she goes to each of the tribes individually and talks to them about being led by a woman. So she reassures them, first of all, that it's okay that they can be led by a woman, there's precedence for this, which suggests perhaps there's some differences in the reactions between the tribes. But then she goes on to talk about how she has been beaten personally by the Romans, how they've raped her daughters. It's the physical assault to her that is motivating this action. But also she talks about the broader pollution that's being done to Britain by the Romans, so the beating of other people and the savagery of the Romans is polluting Britain. So this makes it a religious argument as well as a moral argument and therefore expands that out to the tribes, as well as her own personal reasons for going against the Romans. Fact or fiction, I like to think that when Boudicca finished her speech, a huge roar erupted among the Britons. We're told in Tacitus in response, Suetonius had his own speech for his Roman soldiers. He highlights how yes, Boudicca's army, they had the numbers, they had the quantity, but the Romans, they had the battle experience, they had the skill, they had the quality. And Suetonius' speech was generally as followed. Stay alert, keep your discipline, listen to orders, and we will overcome. Before the Romans, there was another factor at play. By this time, Boudicca and her army's infamous reputation must have preceded them. The sacking of at least three settlements, the annihilation of part of a Roman legion. The Romans must have known that if they were to see the sun rise, to see the sun set another day, then they had to overcome. They had to win. The Britons attacked. They charged up the narrow defile, marching up through the valley, no doubt clamouring and shouting as they approached their enemy. But the Romans stayed where they were. Closer and closer, the Britons came to their position. Still, the Romans refused to move. Then, at the given signal, all hell was unleashed. Each Roman legionary had two specially designed javelins called pila. And as the British approached, the legionaries took out their first pilum, a lighter, longer range javelin, took them back, aimed the javelin and threw them down on the approaching British. Then, soon after, they took out their second javelin, a heavier pilum, shorter range but more deadly, equipped with a lead weight. The legionaries aimed their heavier javelins and threw that down in a second volley on the approaching British. Now, as many of the Britons would have been lightly armoured, these missile volleys would have been devastating. And as the Britons were regaining their composure in the wake of this rain, this hailstorm of missiles, then the Roman legionaries went into action. They locked up their large rectangular scutum shields, they took out their short gladius swords, they formed a wedge formation and they charged downhill into the British ranks. On either side they had their auxiliaries with their oval shields, their spears, similarly joining in the charge with all might and vigour. The Britons, their numbers, the huge quantity of soldiers now worked to their disadvantage. The Roman tactics, combined with the terrain, had turned them from predators into prey. At this crucial juncture, when British morale was wavering, Suetonius dealt the hammer blow. He sent his cavalry in on the sides into this great mass of British soldiers. That was it for the Britons. They turned and fled down into the narrow defile, pursued by the Romans, having received orders to show no mercy. The Britons emerged onto the plain, they struggled to get past the wagons, their pack animals, their wives watching on as they tried to escape the slaughter, but for many it was to no avail. What followed was a horrific bloodbath. Suetonius had pulled off a remarkable but bloody victory. Indeed, when Poenius Postumus, the commander of the second legion, when he heard of this great victory gained by Suetonius, he committed suicide out of shame. Remember, it was Postumus who had refused to march his legion to Suetonius's aid earlier in the revolt. As for casualties from the battle itself, Dacitus tells us that some 400 Romans lost their lives in the battle. The Britons, meanwhile, Boudicca's army lost up to 80,000. As for Boudicca, her fate is less clear. There are two different versions of this story of what happens to Boudicca. The battle of on the British side, but also the women and baggage animals as well are slaughtered too. Dacitus says that at the end of this, Boudicca committed suicide. She takes poison, in fact, which speaks to her character as a female, actually. It's women who use poison in this method. Think of Cleopatra, for example. We also get then the alternative version of history from Cassius Dio, who actually says, yes, this was a horrific battle, but there were still some Britons ready to carry on if they could be led by Boudicca. Some managed to escape, they were looking to Boudicca for leadership. Unfortunately, Boudicca got sick and she died from her illness. So this is a very different version of the story from Cassius Dio, who again has a very different motivation for wanting to give Boudicca perhaps a more masculine death. Rome learnt its lessons from the revolt. Iceni territory was absorbed into the Roman province. To assure security, military structures were constructed north of the Thames, Colchester was rebuilt and finally received its own wall. The Boudiccan revolt was a wake-up call for the Romans, deadly proof that southern Britain had not yet been fully pacified. Paulinus was brutal in the aftermath of Watling Street, but his reprisals only served to stir up the chance of another rebellion. Seeing this, the new procurator, Classicianus, sent word to the Emperor Nero, who in turn sent his own official to Britain to end the reprisals, a freedman called Polyclitus. So this is interesting, this happens after the Battle of Watling Street and we only get this from Tacitus. Cassius Dio isn't necessarily interested in the after-effects of Watling Street, for him Boudicca's death is decisive. Polyclitus goes in, he has a very impressive sort of entry into the colony, he has a column of soldiers and it's scary, it is scary, but when the Britons realise that he's a freedman, so had formerly been a slave and had been freed, they find him a laughingstock because they don't, Tacitus says, they don't understand how powerful a freedman could be, that there was this status in Rome, for them it was all about either you were free or you're a slave, so for them Polyclitus still had that that mantle of slavery and they found it difficult to take him seriously. The revolts did ultimately peter out thanks to a more lenient policy of a new Roman governor of Britain. Those Romano-British client rulers who had stayed loyal to Rome, who had decided not to aid Boudicca in her revolt, well they were rewarded, perhaps the rulers at Fishbourne and at Calaver. Now civilian rebuilding did occur in the aftermath, albeit slowly, in the immediate aftermath of the revolt, particularly for the areas around Colchester, around London, around St Albans, those settlements which Boudicca had destroyed, where the Romans put a strong focus on military building. The Romans were determined that revolts like Boudicca's in southern Britain would never happen again. Boudicca's revolt had ended in failure, the Iceni warrior woman herself had lost her life, but Boudicca's legacy lived on. The story of Boudicca is highly popular, it's become ingrained in British legend, I mean it has it all, it has the Rome's warrior woman riling up a revolt against the superpower of the time and almost succeeding, but for me what I find so fascinating about the revolt is the parallels we see between it with other events, roughly contemporary events we see elsewhere in the world. In the first century AD, in Vietnam, we see a similar revolt, two sisters, the Trung sisters, leading an uprising encouraging the Vietnamese to take up arms against their own dominant superpower, the Han dynasty of ancient China which then dominated large parts of Vietnam. The Trung sister rebellion, like Boudicca's revolt, ultimately ended in failure, but still it's an incredible parallel. The story that surrounds Boudicca is one that we can see parallels with throughout world history, a figure thrown into an extraordinary position and making something of it, taking on an imperial superpower and carving out significant success against all odds, only to ultimately be defeated. The story has inspired, the name holds steadfast among the annals of British folklore. The archaeology will discover more, the legacy will endure.