The Warrior Queen of the Iceni

 Earlier, I said that the Celtic tribes in Britain did not resist the Roman occupation after 43AD.  BUT THERE IS ONE GREAT EXCEPTION! HER NAME IS BOUDICA (BOADICEA)!  Her name means victory! Did she win?

 The ICENI tribe live in the East of England and collaborate with the Romans. When their King Prasatugus dies, he leaves half of his Kingdom to Emporer Nero and half to his two daughters. The Romans do not respect his will (poslední vůle) and take all the Iceni lands.

 In the East of England

 The Romans beat Prasatugus widow – Queen Boudica and rape her 2 daughters. Boudica is a tall redhead and a fighter.  She is very angry and unites the Celtic tribes to fight against the Roman occupiers and their brutality. She leads her army of 100,000 men from her chariot.

 In 61AD the Roman governer Suetonius Paulinus and his army are fighting the Druids in North Wales.  Boudica and her warriors march on the Roman town of Camulodunum (Colchester) and burn it down.

 Colchester is the first capital, before London.

 When Paulinus gets the news, his army march 350km back to London, but they cannot defend the capital city.  Boudica´s rebels burn Londinium to the ground, then they burn the city of Verulamium. The Iceni kill 70-80,000 people in these 3 cities.

Paulinus and his army of men (2 legions) march north along Watling Street and wait for Boudica´s much bigger army. She has about men, as well as women and children and wagons with supplies. The small but well-trained and well-armed Roman army choose to fight in a narrow field with a forest on 3 sides, where they defeat and massacre the Britons Britons are killed, but only around 400 Roman soldiers die in the battle.

 Romans  Iceni  Trinovantes

 The Romans almost lose Britain, but in the end they occupy it for another 350 years.  The Romans and the Britons live together in ‘harmony.

 Queen Boudica is not killed in the Battle of Watling Street, but she probably takes poison and kills herself, so the Romans cannot take her as a prisoner. Many of her fighters are taken as slaves.  Queen Boudica is a hero for the British people. You can see her statue by the River Thames in London near Big Ben.

 A British heroine