Boudicca’s Rebellion
By Andrew Baker
Section: 001
“If you weigh well the strength of the armies, and the causes of the war, you will
see that in this battle you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they
may live and be slaves." (Tacitus The Annals Book XIV). Boudicca’s rebellion against
the Romans in AD 60 – 61 was a profound event in Roman history. Seldom did they
encounter an organized uprising to their rule, much less on the scale of Boudicca’s, and it
was entirely unheard of for this opposition to be led by a woman. Although the uprising
ended in disaster for the Britains, it was not only extremely humiliating to the Romans
but it threatened their control of the entire province to the point that the Romans
considered withdrawing from Britannia altogether. In this essay I will discuss the events
leading up to the rebellion, the rebellion itself, and its lasting effects.
While the exact causes of the rebellion are debated as we only have limited (and
sometimes conflicting) Roman historical records of it by Tacitus and Cassius Dio, what is
generally accepted by both is that Boudicca whose name literally means “victory” in
Celtic (Collingridge 2) was the queen of the Iceni, a Celtic people who, under the
leadership of her husband Prasutagus, were an ally of Rome. Hostilities between the
Iceni and the Romans began shortly after his death. In his will he left shared control of
the Iceni both to his daughters and to the Roman Emperor Nero as an attempt to protect
his tribe from both its enemies and further Roman imperialism (Adler 176). The Romans
however both not understanding the decision to leave control of the kingdom to women
“for they [Britons] admit no distinction of sex in their royal successions” (Tacitus
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Agricola Chapter 17), as they themselves were a male dominated society with Tacitus
himself referring to women in his Annals as the weaker sex, and seeing this as an
opportunity to turn an ally of Rome into a part of their empire and violently annexed the
Iceni on the orders of Decianus Catus the chief Roman procurator in Britannia. The
Romans took their valuables, severely beat Boudicca, and raped her daughters ("Warrior
Queen Boudicca") in order to show their dominance over the Iceni. This show of
strength backfired however as instead of breaking the will of Boudicca and her people, it
left them wanting revenge.
Starting a rebellion was not difficult. It was fairly easy for Boudicca to gain
support from other neighboring tribes such as the Trinovantes who wanted revenge on the
Romans and to be free of their rule. The Trinovantes were enraged because the Romans
had founded the city of Camulodunum on their lands “as a defense against the rebels, and
as a means of imbuing the allies with respect for our laws.” (Tacitus The Annals Book
XIV). While the city was supposed to bring “order” to the “savages”, the colonists were
corrupt and arrogant and treated the locals as little more than slaves. As Tacitus
describes it “new settlers in the colony of Camulodunum drove people out of their
houses, ejected them from their farms, called them captives and slaves, and the
lawlessness of the veterans was encouraged by the soldiers, who lived a similar life and
hoped for similar license.” (Tacitus The Annals Book XIV). Because of this it should
come as no surprise that the colonists and their city represented everything it meant to be
Roman, and to the Trinovantes, everything they hated and despised. As a result, this was
the first city to be destroyed by the rebellion.
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The start of the rebellion was quickly followed by several tremendous victories by
the Britons over the unprepared Romans. The first city that Boudicca destroyed was
Camulodunum (modern Colchester). The attack was so sudden that the inhabitants did
not even have enough time to erect basic defenses ("Warrior Queen Boudicca"). As the
city was within what the Romans believed to be a controlled area, it did not have walls,
defensive structures, or a garrison of any significant size. As a result the inhabitants were
quickly slaughtered and the city was burned to the ground. Tacitus describes it as
follows; “They fell upon our troops, which were scattered on garrison duty, stormed the
forts, and burst into the colony itself, the head-quarters, as they thought, of tyranny. In
their rage and their triumph, they spared no variety of a barbarian’s cruelty.” (Tacitus
Agricola Chapter 17). As Camulodunum did not have the garrison necessary for its
defense, messengers requesting reinforcements were sent to the 9th Legion under the
command of Petilius Cerialis, Londinium which was under the control of procurator
Decianus Catus, and to Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the general in charge of all the Roman
military in Britannia who had been fighting the Druids on the island of Mona on the
opposite side of the country ("Warrior Queen Boudicca"). The first to receive this
message was Decianus Catus in Londinium who responded by sending 200 men (Tacitus
The Annals Book XIV). This was far to few as various sources put the estimate of the
size of Boudicca’s army at anywhere from 50,000 ("Warrior Queen Boudicca") to
230,000 (Dio 97) Britons. Regardless of the exact number, it was still many times larger
than the Roman army in Britannia. Unsurprisingly, they were quickly slaughtered.
The next to receive this cry for help was the 9th Legion, which immediately began
marching toward Camulodunum. Unfortunately for them, Boudicca, having already
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destroyed Camulodunum, had them ambushed en route, which led to the complete
annihilation of the better part of the 9th Legion ("Warrior Queen Boudicca"). This was an
amazing accomplishment in and of itself. The Roman army was a highly trained,
disciplined, and heavily armed and armored fighting force, while the Britons on the other
hand were a loose coalition of tribes which were armed with whatever weapons they
could get their hands on ("Warrior Queen Boudicca"). This proved to the Romans
beyond all doubt that Boudicca’s army was not just a bunch of Britons causing trouble,
but an actual threat to their control of the province.
By this time Suetonius Paulinus had arrived in Londinium ahead of his army in
order to get a better grasp of the situation. He had a lot of experience fighting the
Britons; in fact he had just finished with the Druids when he received word of Boudicca’s
uprising (Tacitus The Annals Book XIV). That being said, the scale of this uprising was
unlike anything he had dealt with before. The fact that he had been farther away may
have saved Roman Britain as it stopped him from immediately responding the way the 9th
Legion did and gave him time to truly understand what was happening. It’s difficult to
imagine what he was thinking. Decianus Catus, the Roman who ignited the rebellion had
fled to Gaul, the 9th Legion had effectively been wiped out, there were no defenses
around Londinium, and for some unknown reason, the commander of the 2nd Augusta
Legion disobeyed orders and did not come to the aid of Suetonius Paulinus (Their
commander later committed suicide in shame as a result) ("Warrior Queen Boudicca").
This left Suetonius Paulinus to fight an army more than five times his size. Because of
this, he did the only strategically sensible move available to him, and abandoned
Londinium. This decision was described by Tacitus, “Uncertain whether he should
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choose it as a seat of war, as he looked round on his scanty force of soldiers, and
remembered with what a serious warning the rashness of Petilius had been punished, he
resolved to save the province at the cost of a single town. Nor did the tears and weeping
of the people, as they implored his aid, deter him from giving the signal of departure and
receiving into his army all who would go with him. Those who were chained to the spot
by the weakness of their sex, or the infirmity of age, or the attractions of the place, were
cut off by the enemy.” (Tacitus The Annals Book XIV).
Shortly after the evacuation of Londinium, Boudicca’s army reached it and
burned it to the ground, killing all who stayed behind. Suetonius Paulinus knew that if he
were going to have any chance of defeating Boudicca, he would have to force the
impending battle to happen in a location in which Boudicca would be unable to take full
advantage of her substantial numerical advantage, as she did when she destroyed the 9th
Legion. The one piece of good news for him was that Boudicca’s rebellion was not an
army but rather a people and as a result could not move like a military unit, while he was
in command of a military unit ("Warrior Queen Boudicca"). This difference bought him
precious time as he marched along what is now called Watling Street searching for the
best location for the inevitable battle.
After a few days of searching for the right location, he found one ideally suited to
his needs. “He chose a position approached by a narrow defile, closed in at the rear by a
forest, having first ascertained that there was not a soldier of the enemy except in his
front, where an open plain extended without any danger from ambuscades” (Tacitus The
Annals Book XIV). By making sure the enemy could not outflank him, he severely
reduced the effect that Boudicca’s numerical advantage would have. The things he most
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feared were ambushes or guerrilla warfare, which is what decimated the 9th Hispania
Legion. However by forcing Boudicca’s rebellion to fight him at a location of his choice,
he was able to stop these from happening ("Warrior Queen Boudicca").
While Tacitus and Cassius Dio both have descriptions of the battle, they differ at
multiple points and as a result, the description of the battle will rely mostly on Tacitus as
his father in law Agricola was a Roman General in Britain after Boudicca’s rebellion.
Tacitus’s records of the speeches of both Suetonius and Boudicca give an insight how
they each respectively saw the rebellion, with Boudicca citing a righteous cause and
revenge, not only for herself and her daughters, but for all who had been wronged by the
Romans., "But now," she said, "it is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but
as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged
chastity of my daughters. Roman lust has gone so far that not our very persons, nor even
age or virginity, are left unpolluted. But heaven is on the side of a righteous vengeance; a
legion which dared to fight has perished; the rest are hiding themselves in their camp, or
are thinking anxiously of flight. They will not sustain even the din and the shout of so
many thousands, much less our charge and our blows. If you weigh well the strength of
the armies, and the causes of the war, you will see that in this battle you must conquer or
die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves." (Tacitus The
Annals Book XIV).
On the other hand, Suetonius told his soldiers not to fear, as the enemy was not a
threat to them because there were many women amongst them and they were not nearly
as well armed as the Romans. He also told them to ignore plunder because after their
victory, they could have it all. "There," he said, "you see more women than warriors.
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Unwarlike, unarmed, they will give way the moment they have recognized that sword
and that courage of their conquerors, which have so often routed them. Even among
many legions, it is a few who really decide the battle, and it will enhance their glory that
a small force should earn the renown of an entire army. Only close up the ranks, and
having discharged your javelins, then with shields and swords continue the work of
bloodshed and destruction, without a thought of plunder. When once the victory has been
won, everything will be in your power." (Tacitus The Annals Book XIV). With these
words, the armies were prepared for battle.
Tacitus describes the actual battle as follows: “At first, the legion kept its
position, clinging to the narrow defile as a defense; when they had exhausted their
missiles, which they discharged with unerring aim on the closely approaching foe, they
rushed out in a wedge-like column. Similar was the onset of the auxiliaries, while the
cavalry with extended lances broke through all who offered a strong resistance. The rest
turned their back in flight, and flight proved difficult, because the surrounding wagons
had blocked retreat. Our soldiers spared not to slay even the women, while the very
beasts of burden, transfixed by the missiles, swelled the piles of bodies.” (Tacitus The
Annals Book XIV). The numerical advantage was the only real advantage Boudicca’s
rebellion had over the Romans. By comparison, the Romans were well trained,
experienced, very disciplined, heavily armed and armored, and very adept at fighting in
formations while the Brittan’s did not have much armor (instead preferring to rely on the
magical properties of Woad), used whatever weapons they could get, and could only
effectively charge at their opponents ("Warrior Queen Boudicca"). These differences in
fighting styles were more significant than they appear. Despite being outnumbered by
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over five to one, the Romans won a decisive victory, with the casualty counts being
particularly interesting, “there fell little less than eighty thousand of the Britons, with a
loss to our soldiers of about four hundred, and only as many wounded” (Tacitus The
Annals Book XIV). This equates to the destruction of roughly the entire rebellion while
having less than 10% of the Romans suffering any type of injury. After the battle,
Tacitus claims that Boudicca committed suicide by poison in shame (Tacitus The Annals
Book XIV). This decisive battle marked the end of Boudicca’s rebellion.
Suetonius was not content to let this be the end. He hunted down or enslaved as
many of the surviving members of the rebellion as he could ("Warrior Queen Boudicca").
“Excellent as he was in other respects, his policy to the conquered was arrogant, and
exhibited the cruelty of one who was avenging private wrongs” (Tacitus Agricola
Chapter 17). His punishment was so severe that within a year of his victory, Suetonius
was recalled to Rome. The worst however was yet to come. So many Britons had taken
part in the rebellion that they had neglected to plant crops, assuming they would be able
to take whatever they needed from the defeated Romans. As a result of the Roman
victory, many Britons starved to death. Tacitus describes this as follows, “Nothing
however distressed the enemy so much as famine, for they had been careless about
sowing corn, people of every age having gone to the war, while they reckoned on our
supplies as their own” (Tacitus The Annals Book XIV).
Boudicca’s rebellion was the last significant uprising in Britain against the
Romans. Sparked by Roman arrogance, the rebellion destroyed three Roman cities and
decimated the better part of a Roman Legion before being crushed in a final decisive
battle. While it eventually failed, it proved to the Romans that they could not keep
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treating the Britons as badly as they had been. Brittania would remain firmly under
Roman control until 410 AD when the Legions were recalled to defend a declining
Roman Empire ("Warrior Queen Boudicca").
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Citations:
Tacitus, Publius. Agricola. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson
Brodribb: Chapter 17. Web.
<http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/tacitus/agricola_e.html>.
Tacitus, Publius. The Annals. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson
Brodribb, 109. Book XIV. Web. <http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.10.xiv.html>.
Collingridge, Vanessa. Boudica. Illustrated. Random House, 2012. 2. eBook.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=vfrl5IWtJY4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=boudica&h
l=en&sa=X&ei=VaucUvWsII_esASv4ILABQ&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ
Adler, Eric. "Boudica's Speeches in Tacitus and Dio." Project MUSE (2008): 176.
Academia.edu. Web. 6 Dec 2013.
<http://www.academia.edu/302174/_Boudicas_Speeches_in_Tacitus_and_Dio_>.
"Warrior Queen Boudicca." Writ. Publius Tacitus. The History Channel: 10 Mar 2006.
Television. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ega3dbE6b08>.
Dio, Cassius. Cassius Dio's Roman History. Books 60 & 62. 97. Web.
<http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/62*.html>.
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