Bouddica, Celtic Warrior Queen

Queen Boudicca had every reason to hate the Romans – by 60 AD, the lands of the Iceni clan of Britain had been captured, her people had been killed or taken as slaves, she was publicly beaten and her daughters raped – but Boudicca, the Celtic warrior queen, would eventually leave the Romans quaking in their boots, at least for a time.  

After the after the brutal attack on her daughters, Boudicca immediately began summoning her people for revolt. While the Romans were busy fighting the Druids, who had raised the native population and their leaders against the Romans in the west of Britain and North Wales, Boudicca spotted her chance for revenge.

Boudicca met with the leaders of the Iceni, Trinovanti, Cornovii, Durotiges, and other tribes, who also had grievances against the Romans, including the imposition of heavy taxes, grants that had been redefined as loans, the taking over of land, and Roman attempts to suppress Celtic religious practices. They planned to revolt and drive out the Romans, and Boudicca was chosen as their leader.

Roman senator and historian, Tacitus (56 – 117 AD), describes Boudicca exhorting troops from her chariot, her daughters beside her. She presented herself, not as a queen and an aristocratic avenging her lost wealth, but as an ordinary person and a mother, who was seeking revenge for her lost freedom, her battered body and soul, and the defilement of her daughters. She told her people, and those belonging to allied tribes, that their cause was just and the deities were on their side.