"'We British are used to women commanders in war', she cried. 'I am descended from mighty men! But I am not fighting for my kingdom and wealth now. I am fighting as an ordinary person for my lost freedom, my bruised body, and my outraged daughters....Consider how many of you are fighting--and why! Then you will win this battle, or perish. That is what I, a woman, plan to do!--let the men live in slavery if they will.'"
Tacitus, Annals
It is not coincidental that Boudica took on legendary proportions for the British people during the time of that other great queen, Victoria. The great bronze statue of Boudica and her daughters at Westminster Bridge across from the Houses of Parliament was commissioned then, sponsored by Prince Albert, himself.
Boudica stands in her war chariot, its wheels fitted with scythes and the rearing horses uncontrolled by reins. The British Empire was at its height and, to the Victorians, Boudica was a heroine who died defending the liberty of her country against a foreign invader, whose power now was eclipsed by its former province. Or so states the inscription on the base of the group:
Regions Caesar never knew
Thy posterity shall sway.Tacitus writes that the Britons made no distinction in the sex of their leaders but were used to women commanders in war. The two most famous were Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, and Boudica, queen of the Iceni.
Cartimandua capitulated to Rome soon after the Claudian conquest and grew rich and prosperous as a result. When the British patriot Caratacus sought refuge in her kingdom, she handed him over to Rome, which defended her in the civil war that later resulted. And, when the Iceni rebelled, it was Cartimandua who held back the tribe, the largest in Britain, from coming to their aid.
At first, the Iceni, too, had been a client kingdom of Rome. But, with the death of Prasutagus, their king, his consort Boudica led the people in revolt. It was a desperate struggle: "Neither before nor since," says Tacitus, "has Britain ever been in a more uneasy or dangerous state." Boudica poisoned herself and the survivors starved.
Two British queens who responded so differently to Roman domination.
