Boadicea: Queen of the Iceni
About the sixtieth year of our era, Seutonius Paulinus, one of the greatest generals of the age, was appointed governor of Britain, and allowed an army of about one hundred…
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“Boadicea: Queen of the Iceni” from Lives of Celebrated Female Sovereigns and Illustrious Women by Anna Jameson and Mary E. Hewitt, 1870.
The history of ancient Rome is written in characters of blood, and over her whole wide-spread empire, from the Caledonian hills to the confines of India, from Torneo's rock to the cataracts of the Nile, the blood of slaughtered hecatombs of men, women, and children, has saddened the earth. Physical strength was her standard of right, and by that standard she measured her claims to every country of the globe, wherever her cohorts could gain and maintain a footing.
Intellectual Greece bowed to her yoke the islands of the Mediterranean paid her homage Carthage fell before her power Iran acknowledged her authority Egypt became her tributary, and even the remote Island of Britain did not escape the power of ambitious Ceasar, when Gaul lay prostrate at his feet. The estuaries of Britain were filled with his war-galleys, and the quiet of the happy island was broken by the clangor of Roman arms. A peaceful people, unaccustomed to the business of war, and illy armed, the Britons made but feeble resistance to their invaders, and soon another rich territory of earth was added to the collossal dominions of Rome. The whole island became subject to Roman authority; the country was divided into states, and a Roman governor was appointed over the whole.
About the sixtieth year of our era, Seutonius Paulinus, one of the greatest generals of the age, was appointed governor of Britain, and allowed an army of about one hundred thousand men to keep the natives in subjection. The infamous Nero was at that time emperor of Rome, and Paulinus was a fit instrument to execute the orders of his master, who cared not how many people suffered, if his unbounded avarice and lust were satisfied. To fill the coffers of the emperor, the Britons were subjected to the most cruel taxation ; and those who but recently were in the full enjoyment of peace and liberty, were reduced to the most abject slavery.
But the inherent principles of freedom, actively alive in the breast of the Briton, could not be destroyed, and when the oppressions of their conquerors became too severe to be borne, they raised the banner of revolt, around which every true Briton rallied. The spirit of revolution, prompted by a love of liberty, and keen resentment for wrongs inflicted, which had been increasing in intensity for a long time, broke out into open rebellion, at a time when Paulinus was absent upon the Island of Mona, or Anglesey. A peculiar act of cruelty on the part of the Romans, was the immediate cause of this general revolt; and to that act and its consequences we devote these pages.
Prasatugus, king of Iceni, and a prince much beloved for his mildness and equity, when on his death-bed, made an equal division of his kingdom, one-half of which he bequeathed to the Roman emperor, and the other to his family. The reason for making this bequest to the emperor, was the vain hope, that it would so far satisfy his rapacity, as to secure his protection for his wife and children. But the moment that the death of Prasatugus came to the ears of Paulinus, he sent an army sufficient to take forcible possession of the whole of the wealth and the kingdom of the deceased prince. Against this unjust act, his, queen Boadicea, a woman of extraordinary spirit, warmly remonstrated; but her remonstrance was met with the most brutal treatment from the minions of the governor. They even went so far as to scourge her publicly; and not content with this inhuman injury of her person, those brutal men ravished her daughters in the presence of the queen.
This outrage aroused the Iceni to revenge, and every man took a solemn oath to avenge this brutal wrong inflicted upon their queen and family. The Trinobantes next raised the war- cry, and in every part of the island where the injuries of the queen of the Iceni became known, the indignant Britons crowded around the standard of revolt, eager for the blood of the Roman barbarians.
Carnelodunum (London) was the only town that remained loyal; but even there the Romans were not safe. Throughout the whole island an indiscriminate massacre of men, women, and children, took place; and in one instance a legion of the Roman army, attempting to stay the dreadful retribution of the Iceni, were all slaughtered to a man. In London the revolters made terrible havoc. The Romans in great numbers fled to their principal temple for protection, but it was set on fire, and with its living contents entirely consumed. That outrage upon the queen of the Iceni, cost Rome eighty thousand of her citizens.
As soon as Paulinus heard of this revolt, he left Mona, and hastened to the assistance of his people. This the Britons expected; and the armies of the several states were combined, and,by unanimous consent, Boadicea was chosen commander-in-chief. The combined army of the Britons amounted to one hundred thousand men, while Paulinus could muster only about ten thousand. Alarmed at his comparatively weak condition, and the numerical strength of the revolters, the Roman general was perplexed to know what course to take. First he resolved to shut himself up in London, and bide the issue of a siege; but when he found the triumphant enemy marching toward the capital, he resolved to conquer them or die. The inhabitants of London begged him to remain in their defence, but he yielded to the solicitations of his soldiers, and the dictates of his own judgment, and resolved to do battle with the enemy.
The Roman army marched, out into the open country and awaited the approach of the Britons. They chose for their camp a narrow strip of land, with a dense forest in the rear, while before them was spread out a spacious plain.
On this plain the host of Boadicea encamped, now numbering, (including the women and children who had been invited by the soldier-queen to witness the contest and share in the spoils of the undoubted victory,) two hundred and thirty thousand. Boadicea, still stung with the wrongs she had suffered, was eager to engage with Paulinus. With her daughters beside her, in a war-chariot, she traversed the ranks of the Britons, inflaming their zeal for her cause, and animating them with courage, by passionate addresses.
The description of her dress and appearance, on the morning of the battle that ended so disastrously for the royal amazon and her country, quoted from a Roman historian, is remarkably picturesque:
"After she had dismounted from her chariot, in which she had been driving from rank to rank to encourage her troops, attended by her daughters and her numerous army, she proceeded to a throne of marshy turfs, appareled after the fashion of the Romans, in a loose gown of changeable colors, under which she wore a kirtle very thickly plaited, the tresses of her yellow hair hanging to the skirts of her dress. About her nook she wore a chain ot gold, and bore a light spear in her hand, being tall, and of a comely, cheerful, and modest countenance; and so awhile she stood, pausing to survey her army, and being regarded with reverential silence, she addressed to them an impassioned and eloquent speech on the wrongs of her country."
"This is not the first time," cried she, "that Britons have been victorious under their queen. I come not here as one descended from royal progenitors, to fight for empire or riches, but as one of you as a true Briton to avenge the loss of liberty, the wrongs done to my own person, and the base violation of the chastity of my daughters. Roman lust has grown so strong, that nothing escapes its pollution; old and young are alike liable to its outrages. The gods have already begun to punish them according to their deserts. One legion that durst hazard a battle, was cut in pieces, and others have fled like cowards before us. Baise loud your war-shout, and their fears will make them flee. Consider your numbers and your motives for the war, and resolve to conquer or die. It is better to fall honorably in defence of liberty, than to submit to Roman outrage. Such, is my resolution; but, ye men, if ye choose, live and be slaves!"
When the brave queen had concluded her harangue, a loud shout ran along the lines of the British army, and exclamations of loyalty were heard on every side
But while these demonstrations denoted confidence of victory on the part of the Britons, Paulinus was unawed, and by forcible appeals to his soldiers, he raised their hopes and courage to the highest pitch. He pointed to the multitude of Britons, as a handful of men and immense numbers of women and children; he exorted them to believe the Britons to be cowards charged them to keep close together so as to advance in an unbroken phalanx, and to fight sword in hand, after they had thrown their darts.
Then, ordering a charge to be sounded, the Romans advanced in a solid column, hurled their javelins with terrible effect, with desperate power broke into the ranks of the Britons, and with sword in hand spread death and desolation in their path. Such an unexpected and fierce onslaught, struck terror to the islanders, for they supposed the Romans would be awed by their numbers; and it was in vain that Boadicea encouraged them to repel the attack. They fled in dismay in every direction. The women and children were exposed to the fury of the Romans; neither age nor sex, nor even horses were spared; and when the sun set upon Britain that night, more than seventy thousand of her children lay dead upon that battle-field. Boadicea and her daughters narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the conquerors; but, stung with remorse and despair at her accumulated misfortunes, she took poison, and died.
Such, in brief, is a romantic chapter of the early history of Britain, and in it are shadowed forth many of the bolder features of the human character, the tyranny of uncontrolled power, ambition, avarice, cruelty, lust; the generous heroism of woman, the strength of innate principles of freedom, the meanness of cowardice, and the suicidal tendency of misfortune and despair. And such are the leading features in almost every chapter of the world's history, where states and empires have changed masters. The record of the political progress of nations, is a wonderful romance, where truth and fable are combined in presenting to generation after generation, an entertaining volume for amusement and instruction; and, doubtless, Byron was not wide of the mark, when he denominated all history, "a splendid fiction."
Jameson, Anna, and Mary E. Hewitt. Lives of Celebrated Female Sovereigns and Illustrious Women. Porter & Coates, 1870.
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