Boudica: Difference between revisions

'''Boudica''' or '''Boudicca''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|uː|d|ɪ|k|ə|,_|b|oʊ|ˈ|d|ɪ|k|ə}}, from [[Brittonic languages|Brythonic]] *{{lang|cel-x-combrit|boudi}} 'victory, win' + *{{lang|cel-x-combrit|-kā}} 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin [[chronicle]]s as '''Boadicea''' or '''Boudicea''', and in [[Welsh language|Welsh]] as '''{{lang|cy|Buddug|italics=no}}''', {{IPA|cy|ˈbɨðɨɡ|pron}}) was a queen of the [[Iceni|ancient British Iceni]] tribe, who led a [[Boudican revolt|failed uprising]] against the [[Roman Britain|conquering forces]] of the [[Roman Empire]] in AD 60 or 61. She is considered a British national heroine and a symbol of the struggle for justice and independence.

Boudica's husband [[Prasutagus]], with whom she had two daughters, ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome. He left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to the [[Roman emperor]] in his [[Will and testament|will]]. When he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed and his property taken. According to the Roman historian [[Tacitus]], Boudica was [[Flagellation|flogged]] and her daughters [[wartime sexual violence|raped]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tacitus |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)/Book_14#31 |title=The Annals}}</ref> The historian [[Cassius Dio]] wrote that previous imperial donations to influential Britons were confiscated and the Roman financier and philosopher [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] called in the loans he had forced on the reluctant Britons.

In 60/61, Boudica led the Iceni and other British tribes in revolt. They destroyed [[Camulodunum]] (modern [[Colchester]]), earlier the capital of the [[Trinovantes]], but at that time a {{lang|la|[[colonia (Roman)|colonia]]}} for discharged Roman soldiers. Upon hearing of the revolt, the [[Governors of Roman Britain|Roman governor]] [[Gaius Suetonius Paulinus]] hurried from the island of [[Anglesey|Mona]] (modern Anglesey) to [[Londinium]], the 20-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels' next target. Unable to defend the settlement, he abandoned it. Boudica's army defeated a detachment of the [[Legio IX Hispana]], and burnt both Londinium and [[Verulamium]]. In all, an estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and Britons were killed by Boudica's followers. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces, possibly in the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]], and despite being heavily outnumbered, he decisively defeated the Britons. Boudica died, by suicide or illness, shortly afterwards. The crisis of 60/61 caused [[Nero]] to consider withdrawing all his imperial forces from Britain, but Suetonius's victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province.

The [[Boudican revolt]] against the [[Roman Empire]] is referred to in four works from [[classical antiquity]] written by three [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] historians: the ''[[Agricola (book)|Agricola]]'' ({{circa|98}}) and ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' ({{circa|110s}}) by [[Tacitus]];<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 pp. 42–43">{{harvnb |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/42/mode/2up 42–43]}}</ref> a mention of the uprising by [[Suetonius]] in his ''[[The Twelve Caesars|Lives of the Caesars]]'' (121);<ref name="Suetonius 1914">{{cite book |last=Suetonius |author-link=Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus |translator-last=Rolfe |translator-first=John Carew |translator-link=John Carew Rolfe |title=Suetonius |volume=2 |chapter=Lives of the Caesars, Book VI: Nero |publication-place=Cambridge, Massaschsetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=1914 |oclc=647029284 |page=[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.32106005389009?urlappend=%3Bseq=169%3Bownerid=9007199263401368-175 157] |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/12031250.html |via=HathiTrust |quote="... a disaster in Britain where two important towns were sacked and great numbers of citizens and allies were butchered; ... |language=la, en}}</ref> and the longest account, a detailed description of the revolt contained within [[Cassius Dio]]'s history of the Empire ({{Circa|202|235}}).<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 52–53">{{harvnb |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/52/mode/2up 52–53]}}</ref>

The Roman army was heavily outnumbered — according to Dio the rebels numbered 230,000<ref name="Pot">{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2732 |title=Boudicca (d. AD 60/61) |last=Potter |first=T. W. |access-date=4 October 2010 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/2732 |year=2004 }}</ref> — but Boudica's army was crushed, and according to Tacitus, neither the women nor the animals were spared. Tacitus states that Boudica poisoned herself; Dio says she fell sick and died, after which she was given a lavish burial. It has been argued that these accounts are not mutually exclusive.{{sfn |Vandrei |2018 |p=46}}

Boudica was adopted by the [[suffragette]]s as one of the symbols of the campaign for [[women's suffrage]]. In 1908, a "Boadicea Banner" was carried in several [[National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies]] marches. She appears as a character in ''A Pageant of Great Women'' written by [[Cicely Hamilton]], which opened at the [[Scala Theatre]], London, in November 1909 before a national tour, and she was described in a 1909 pamphlet as "the eternal feminine... the guardian of the hearth, the avenger of its wrongs upon the defacer and the despoiler".<ref name=":10">{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Marguerite |title=Boadicea and British Suffrage Feminists |url=https://www.academia.edu/9239198 |journal=Outskirts Online Journal |volume=31 |issue=1994 |access-date=31 October 2020 }}</ref>

=== In film and TV ===

* ''[[Boadicea (film)|Boadicea]]'' (1927), a British silent [[historical film]] directed by [[Sinclair Hill]] and starring [[Phyllis Neilson-Terry]].

* ''[[Warrior Queen]]'' (1978), a British television series created by Martin Mellett and starring [[Sian Phillips]].

* ''[[Boudica (2003 film)|Boudica]]'' (2003), a British [[biographical film|biographical]]-[[historical]] [[television film]] directed by Bill Anderson and starring [[Alex Kingston]].

* ''[[Boudica (2023 film)|Boudica]]'' (2023), a British  [[action film|action]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama]] film directed by [[Jesse V. Johnson]] and starring [[Olga Kurylenko]].

 

* "[[Boadicea (song)|Boadicea]]" (1987), a song by [[Enya]] from her self-titled album ''[[Enya (album)|Enya]]'', released by [[BBC Records]] (UK) and [[Atlantic Records]] (USA).

[[Category:Boudica]]