Boudica Iceni (abt. 26 - 62)

Born about 0026 in Iceni, Britania

Died 0062 at about age 36 in Watling Street, Britania

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Boudica Iceni was a member of aristocracy in ancient Europe. Join: Medieval Project Discuss: medieval

Biography

Name

Boudica, Boudicca ^[1]

Boudicea, (alternative Latinized spelling)

Boadicea, (alternative Latinized spelling)

Buddug (alternative Welsh spelling)

Boudica is the most likely spelling of her name in her own language, Common Brittonic. ^[2]

Clearly in the writings of Tacitus the spelling he used was Boudicca^[3] (See 14.31)

The form of the name Boadicea sanctioned by long popular usage is without authority. The more correct form is probably Boudicca or Bodicca, which, along with the masculine Bodiccius, are found in Roman inscriptions. These names are presumed to be connected with the Welsh budd , advantage ( Irish búaid, victory), Welsh buddugol, victorious; so that as a proper name Boudicca may be considered equivalent to 'Victoria. [Tacitus, Ann. xiv. 31–7, Agricola, c. 15, 16; Dion Cassius, lxii. 1–12; Elton's Origins of English History; Rhys's Celtic Britain.]^[4]

"Raphael Holinshed calls her Voadicia, while Edmund Spenser calls her Bunduca, a version of the name that was used in the popular Jacobean play Bonduca, in 1612." ^[5]

"William Cowper's poem, Boadicea, an ode (1782) popularised an alternative version of the name. ^[6] From the 19th century until the late 20th century, Boadicea was the most common version of the name, which is probably derived from a mistranscription when a manuscript of Tacitus was copied in the Middle Ages." ^[1]

It has also been suggested she was named for the Celtic Goddess Tutela Boudiga a Celtic goddess of victory. But that goddess is traced to an inscription dated 237 so it may refer to Boudica who had by that time had taken on the mantle of a goddess in France. ^[7]

It is not known if Boudica is a name, a title given after being victorious over Roman towns, or an honorific. The earliest mention we have of her and the name Boudicca, as he spelled it, are the writings of Tacitus. So we will defer to him and use it as the name she was known by to the Romans.

Birth

She was born in Britannia. ^[1]

Tacitus and Cassius Dio agree that Boudica was of royal descent. ^[1]

Dio describes her as "possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women." He also describes her as tall, with tawny hair hanging down to below her waist, a harsh voice and a piercing glare. He says that she habitually wore a large golden necklace (perhaps a torc), a colourful tunic, and a thick cloak fastened by a brooch. ^[8][9]

The golden necklace is important. It was likely a torc. This was worn by a high-ranking individual among the Celtic leaders between the 8th century BC and the 3rd Center AD. The British Museum has on display The Snettisham Great Torc which was dated to about 100 years prior to Boudica’s time. But it is likely hers was something similar to what was contained in the Snettisham Hoard. ^{[10] [11][12]}

Title

Queen of the Iceni. She was a queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61, and died shortly after its failure. ^[1]

43 Marriage to Prasatagus

Circa 0050 or more likely, some time between 43 and 45 CE, Boudica (of the Iceni or the Trinovantes) was married to Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, a people who inhabited roughly what is now Norfolk. ^{[13] [14] [15]}According to Tacitus, they had two daughters^[16]

It has been said that Boudica was not of Iceni origin since outside marriages were quite common among the ruling class. In the upper eschelons of Celtic society, women held positions of prestige and power. Many took prominent roles in political, religious, and artistic life. Women also owned land and could choose their spouses and initiate divorce.

Although they were relatively protected by geographic advantages, the Roman threat to the Iceni's peaceful existence was very real. ^[17]

47 Elevation of Prasutagus

Even before Boudica, the Iceni’s client-state relationship with Rome was problematic. The Iceni initially voluntarily allied with Rome following Claudius's conquest of southern Britain in AD 43. They were proud of their independence, and had revolted in AD 47 when the then Roman governor Publius Ostorius Scapula planned to disarm all the peoples in the area of Britain under Roman control following a number of local uprisings. Ostorius defeated them and went on to put down other uprisings around Britain. ^[18] This rebellion may have led to the elevation of Prasutagus to the leadership of the tribe, perhaps being seen by the Romans as a leader who could keep the Iceni in line.

Tacitus first mentioned Prasutagus when he wrote about Boudica's rebellion. It is unknown whether he became the king after the mentioned defeat of the Iceni. The client relationship with Rome ended after the end of the rebellion. ^[19] Retrieved 2016-10-14. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd

Aldhouse-Green notes that the design of the coins minted by Prasutagus appear to strike a balance between showing the tribe’s allegiance to Rome and displaying a degree of independence, as if Prasutagus was trying to walk a fine line between the two sides.

The coins are imitations of early Neronian issues and their obverse depicts a high-relief portrait that closely resembles Nero himself, she writes, the reverse redresses the cultural balance and bear a very un-Roman design of a fantastic horse, a motif common to a range of tribal rulers’ coinage. ^[20]

Prasutagus' Will

Cornelius Tacitus wrote:

Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, famed for his long prosperity, had made the emperor his heir along with his two daughters, under the impression that this token of submission would put his kingdom and his house out of the reach of wrong. But the reverse was the result, so much so that his kingdom was plundered by centurions, his house by slaves, as if they were the spoils of war. First, his wife Boudica was scourged, and his daughters outraged. All the chief men of the Iceni, as if Rome had received the whole country as a gift, were stript of their ancestral possessions, and the king's relatives were made slaves. Roused by these insults and the dread of worse, reduced as they now were into the condition of a province, they flew to arms and stirred to revolt the Trinobantes and others who, not yet cowed by slavery, had agreed in secret conspiracy to reclaim their freedom. It was against the veterans that their hatred was most intense. For these new settlers in the colony of Camulodunum drove people out of their houses, ejected them from their farms, called them captives and slaves, and the lawlessness of the veterans was encouraged by the soldiers, who lived a similar life and hoped for similar licence.^[21]

The historian Miranda Aldhouse-Green notes the significance of Prasutagus' will, which divided his estate between his daughters and Rome and omitted Boudica, as evidence of the queen's hostility toward Rome. It is argued that, by leaving her out of the will, Prasutagus hoped his daughters would continue his policy of cooperation. After his death, however, all hope of the Iceni existing peacefully with Rome was lost.^[22]

Why would he set up the inheritance the way he did? He left behind a will whose provisions had no legal precedent under either Celtic or Roman law. It named the Roman emperor as co-heir with the two daughters of Prasutagus and Boudica, now in their teens. According to Celtic tradition, chiefs served by the consent of their people, and so could not designate their successors through their wills. And under Roman law, a client-king’s death ended the client relationship, effectively making his property and estates the property of the emperor until and unless the emperor put a new client-king into office. Prasutagus’ will may have been a desperate attempt to retain a degree of independence for his people and respect for his family. If it was, it did not succeed.^[23]

Death of Prasatagus

However, when he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed and his property taken. Men argued firmly to block women from engaging in the public sphere. The political system in ancient Rome involved men exclusively—from senators to magistrates. Women were even prevented from voting. They were not seen as fit to be part of the political sphere as men believed them to be only suited for "elegance, adornment, and finery."^[24]

When Boudica protested, according to Tacitus, she was flogged and her daughters raped.^[25]

Tacitus wrote, "The Icenian king Prasutagus, celebrated for his long prosperity, had named the emperor his heir, together with his two daughters; an act of deference which he thought would place his kingdom and household beyond the risk of injury. The result was contrary — so much so that his kingdom was pillaged by centurions, his household by slaves; as though they had been prizes of war." He added that Boudica was lashed, her two daughters were raped, and that the estates of the leading Iceni men were confiscated. ^[26]

Cassius Dio wrote: "An excuse for the war was found in the confiscation of the sums of money that Claudius had given to the foremost Britons; for these sums, as Decianus Catus, the procurator of the island maintained, were to be paid back." He also said that another reason was "the fact that Seneca, in the hope of receiving a good rate of interest, had lent to the islanders 40,000,000 sesterces that they did not want, and had afterwards called in this loan all at once and had resorted to severe measures in exacting it." ^[27]

"Tacitus did not say why Prasutagus's naming the emperor as his heir as well as his daughters was meant to avert the risk of injury. He did not explain why the Romans pillaged the kingdom, why they took the lands of the chiefs or why Boudica was flogged and her daughters were raped. Cassius Dio did not mention any of this. He said that the cause of the rebellion was the decision of the procurator of Britain (the chief financial officer) and Seneca (an advisor of the emperor Nero) to call in Prasutagus's debts and the harsh measures which were taken to collect them. Tacitus does not mention these events. However, he wrote: "Alarmed by this disaster and by the fury of the province which he had goaded into war by his rapacity, the procurator Catus crossed over into Gaul." ^[28]

Tacitus said, "It was against the veterans that their hatred was most intense. For these new settlers in the colony of Camulodunum drove people out of their houses, ejected them from their farms, called them captives and slaves ...." ^[26]

The two detailed accounts of the Revolt are found in Tacitus Annals, XIV, 29-39, and Dio, LXII, 1-12. That they should derive from a single source seems likely due to parallels with other areas. Nicholas Reed in The Sources of Tacitus and Dio for the Boudiccan Revolt believes it is Paulinus. ^[29] He also notes that the father-in-law of Tacitus, Agricola, served under Paulinus during the Revolt (Agricola 5)

Response of Boudica

Cassius Dio provides an alternative explanation for Boudica's response, saying that previous imperial donations to influential Britons were confiscated and the Roman financier and philosopher Seneca called in the loans he had forced on the reluctant Britons. ^[30]

In AD 60 or 61, when the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning on the island of Anglesey off the northwest coast of Wales, Boudica led the Iceni, the Trinovantes, and others in revolt. ^[31]

While by Roman law Boudica had no real claim to succession after her husband's death, her people regarded her as their natural leader, and their neighboring tribes were willing to support any anti-Roman uprising. The indigenous people had suffered under Roman taxation for years. They were also driven off their own land and subjected to lives as prisoners and slaves. Sometime between 56 and 60 CE the Temple of Claudius was erected in Colchester to commemorate the life of the Roman emperor who had destroyed the majority of the Celtic culture; this immediately became an object of strong derision for the British. They were also angered by the attack on the headquarters of the Druidic religion. These realities urged neighboring tribes, among them were the Trinovantes, to join Boudica in her rebellion, which has been said to have been 100,000 people strong, against Roman forces. They began by storming the Roman cities of Camulodunum and Colchester, then proceeding to the growing trade center of Londinium (London), and ending in a final catastrophic battle. ^[17]

This was the occasion that Tacitus records Boudica making her famous address to her army: "It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters," and concluded, "This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves." ^[32]

Boudica's army destroyed Camulodunum (modern Colchester), earlier the capital of the Trinovantes but at that time a colonia, a settlement for discharged Roman soldiers and site of a temple to the former Emperor Claudius. Upon hearing of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (modern London), the 20-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels' next target. The Romans, having concluded that they lacked sufficient numbers to defend the settlement, evacuated and abandoned Londinium. Boudica led 100,000 Iceni, Trinovantes, and others to fight Legio IX Hispana, and burned and destroyed Londinium and Verulamium (modern-day St Albans). ^[33][34]

When news of the rebellion reached him, Suetonius hurried along Watling Street through hostile territory to Londinium. Londinium was a relatively new settlement, founded after the conquest of AD 43, but it had grown to be a thriving commercial centre with a population of travelers, traders, and, probably, Roman officials. Suetonius considered giving battle there, but considering his lack of numbers and chastened by Petillius's defeat, decided to sacrifice the city to save the province. ^[1]

Londinium was abandoned to the rebels, who burnt it down, slaughtering anyone who had not evacuated with Suetonius. Archaeology shows a thick red layer of burnt debris covering coins and pottery dating before AD 60 within the bounds of Roman Londinium; ^[35] while Roman-era skulls found in the Walbrook in 2013 were potentially linked to victims of the rebels. ^[36]

Verulamium (St Albans) was next to be destroyed. ^[1]

In the three settlements destroyed, between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed. Tacitus says that the Britons had no interest in taking or selling prisoners, only in slaughter by gibbet, fire, or cross.^[37]Dio's account gives more detail; that the noblest women were impaled on spikes and had their breasts cut off and sewn to their mouths, "to the accompaniment of sacrifices, banquets, and wanton behaviour" in sacred places, particularly the groves of Andraste. ^[1]

60 London

London was an outpost built by and for Roman troops ... away from the Celts. But in 60 A.D., they got greedy after Boudica's husband died. Not content with half the Celtic king's estate -- promised to the Romans as protection money (more or less) -- the evil Suetonius had his daughters raped, to seize their inheritance. He didn't just want to take the royal gold ... he wanted to control the entire sacred Celtic gold route. But Boudica wasn't having it. And she came back with a vengeance to destroy more than their prefabricated Roman backwater. In fact, she came within a hair of annihilating them altogether. Had the final battle not have been so close to or on holy ground, things might have gone another way. But funny thing... after it was rebuilt, London managed to stay unscathed.^[38][39]

Boudicca's Speech: Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals

Boudicca, with her daughters before her in a chariot, went up to tribe after tribe, protesting that it was indeed usual for Britons to fight under the leadership of women. But now, she said, it is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters. Roman lust has gone so far that not our very persons, nor even age or virginity, are left unpolluted. But heaven is on the side of a righteous vengeance; a legion which dared to fight has perished; the rest are hiding themselves in their camp, or are thinking anxiously of flight. They will not sustain even the din and the shout of so many thousands, much less our charge and our blows. If you weigh well the strength of the armies, and the causes of the war, you will see that in this battle you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves.^[40]

SUETONIUS DEFEATS QUEEN BOUDICA

At first, the legion kept its position, clinging to the narrow defile as a defense; when they had exhausted their missiles, which they discharged with unerring aim on the closely approaching foe, they rushed out in a wedge-like column. Similar was the onset of the auxiliaries, while the cavalry with extended lances broke through all who offered a strong resistance. The rest turned their back in flight, and flight proved difficult, because the surrounding wagons had blocked retreat. Our soldiers spared not to slay even the women, while the very beasts of burden, transfixed by the missiles, swelled the piles of bodies. Great glory, equal to that of our old victories, was won on that day. Some indeed say that there fell little less than eighty thousand of the Britons, with a loss to our soldiers of about four hundred, and only as many wounded. Boudicea put an end to her life by poison. Pœnius Postumus too, camp-prefect of the second legion, when he knew of the success of the men of the fourteenth and twentieth, feeling that he had cheated his legion out of like glory, and had contrary to all military usage disregarded the general's orders, threw himself on his sword.^[41]

Cassius Dio: Roman History

2 An excuse for the war was found in the confiscation of the sums of money that Claudius had given to the foremost Britons; for these sums, as Decianus Catus, the procurator of the island, maintained, were to be paid back. This was one reason for the uprising; another was found in the fact that Seneca, in the hope of receiving a good rate of interest, had lent to the islanders 40,000,000 sesterces that they did not want, and had afterwards called in this loan all at once and had resorted to severe measures in exacting it. But the person who was chiefly instrumental in rousing the natives and persuading them to fight the Romans, the person who was thought worthy to be their leader and who directed the conduct of the entire war, was Boudica, a Briton woman of the royal family and possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women. This woman assembled her army, to the number of some 120,000, and then ascended a tribunal which had been constructed of earth in the Roman fashion. In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of divers colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch. This was her invariable attire. She now grasped a spear to aid her in terrifying all beholders and spoke as follows:
3 You have learned by actual experience how different freedom is from slavery. Hence, although some among you may previously, through ignorance of which was better, have been deceived by the alluring promises of the Romans, yet now that you have tried both, you have learned how great a mistake you made in preferring an imported despotism to your ancestral mode of life, and you have come to realize how much better is poverty with no master than wealth with slavery. For what treatment is there of the most shameful or grievous sort that we have not suffered ever since these men made their appearance in Britain? Have we not been robbed entirely of most of our possessions, and those the greatest, while for those that remain we pay taxes? Besides pasturing and tilling for them all our other possessions, do we not pay a yearly tribute for our very bodies? How much better it would be to have been sold to masters once for all than, possessing empty titles of freedom, to have to ransom ourselves every year! How much better to have been slain and to have perished than to go about with a tax on our heads! Yet why do I mention death? For even dying is not free of cost with them; nay, you know what fees we deposit even for our dead. Among the rest of mankind death frees even those who are in slavery to others; only in the case of the Romans do the very dead remain alive for their profit. Why is it that, though none of us has any money (how, indeed, could we, or where would we get it?), we are stripped and despoiled like a murderer's victims? And why should the Romans be expected to display moderation as time goes on, when they have behaved toward us in this fashion at the very outset, when all men show consideration even for the beasts they have newly captured?^[42]

Excerpt from The National CV of Britain

Boadicea: called Voadicia in Holinshed's English Chronicles, Voada in Holinshed's Scottish Chronicles, and otherwise known as Boudicca; this warrior Queen of the Iceni people of East Anglia led a revolt in AD 60 that nearly smashed the Romans off the island [see More 15]; her husband was Prasutagus, a client king of the Romans; she died with many of her warriors trying to avenge the defilement of her daughters that occurred after her husband's death, despicable Roman ignobility triumphing; her war-cry was “Y gwir erbyn y Byd”, The Truth against the World, which was the motto of the Druids; Boadicea’s rebels managed something that no other power has ever achieved, the Sack of London.

There followed an up-rush of hatred from the abyss, which is a measure of the cruelty of the conquest. It was a scream of rage against invincible oppression and the superior culture which seemed to lend it power. (Winston S Churchill, A History of the English-speaking Peoples, Vol I, 1956

Battle of Watling Street

While Boudica's army continued their assault in Verulamium (St. Albans), Suetonius regrouped his forces and took a stand at an unidentified location, probably in the West Midlands somewhere along the Roman road now known as Watling Street.^[1]

Suetonius'stand was in a defile with a wood behind him. His men were heavily outnumbered, but because the British forces could not maneuver, they were at a disadvantage. The narrowness of the field meant that Boudica could put forth only as many troops as the Romans could at a given time. Tacitus reports that "according to one report almost eighty thousand Britons fell" compared with only four hundred Romans.^[1]

The end came for Boadicea and her people at the Battle of Watling Street; a statue of Boudica stands outside the Palace of Westminster; many of the Britons who died in the rebellion did so from starvation; the Romans had noted that the Britons in their preparations for war had sown no crops; the Romans put this down to arrogance yet the Britons may have intended to buy food later from the Continent, in the event of a long-drawn-out conflict; the Tysilio Chronicle and other early British sources are curiously silent about Boudica and her uprising; there is an apparent reference in Gildas, however, where she is called the deceitful lioness.^[43]

60 Death of Boudica

There is a disagreement between the 2 earliest sources of information on Boudicca. Tacitus indicates she took poison rather than being taken as prisoners by the Romans. Given how they had been treated before that would have made sense. Unfortunately, Tacitus does not say specifically what happened to her daughters. What he does say is “Boudicca, mounted in a chariot with her daughters before her,” ^[44]

Cassius Dio on the other hand alludes to her escaping and dying of illness. He says nothing about her daughters. While it is possible that she escaped the battle field if she was injured as a result of the battle, a fairly good bet, then it is also possible she either died of a gangerous wound (a form of poison) or was given poison to stop her suffering. This is of course conjecture but it would make sense to the time period where mistletoe which is poisonous was used also as a medicine. ^[45]

The fate of her daughters is lost to the mists of time. But Tacitus states” The troops gave no quarter even to the women: the baggage animals themselves had been speared and added to the pile of bodies.” ^[46]

Boudica then either killed herself to avoid capture, or died of illness. The extant sources, Tacitus^[47]and Cassius Dio, differ.^[48] According to Tacitus in his Annals, Boudica poisoned herself, though in the Agricola which was written almost twenty years prior he mentions nothing of suicide and attributes the end of the revolt to socordia ("indolence"); Dio says she fell sick and died and then was given a lavish burial. She died in the year 60 or 61. ^[1]

No historical records tell what had happened to Boudica's two daughters.

Date: 62

Place: The Battle of Watling Street

Age: 35-36.

In The Sources of Tacitus and Dio for the Boudiccan Revolt by Nicholas Reed Latomus T. 33, Fasc. 4 (OCTOBRE-DÉCEMBRE, 1974), pp. 926-933 (8 pages) Published by: Société d'Études Latines de Bruxelles the author makes the point that he believes Seneca may have been a source. He continues in looking at the differences between Tacitus and Dio concerning how Boudica died. Basically, Tacitus says it was a resounding defeat while Dio writing much later says some of the Britons including Boudica escaped but that she died of a disease and everyone gave up hope. Reed comes to the conclusion that both had Paulinus as a source so the only reason for the difference was that Dios gave an ending that was more politically appropriate. He goes on to say that Tacitus was not known for making up facts. So he infers that Boudica died by poison. ^[49]

Children

c. 0050 Prasutagus marries Boudica (of the Iceni or the Trinovantes). They have two daughters^[50] The daughters are not named in any of the Roman records. Names do not seem to appear for them until centuries later.

Tacitus says there were 2 daughters. So I think we can assume both girls existed. Nothing is known of them except they were raped and road in a chariot in front of their mother. Everything else does not seem to have any sources from the actual time period. There is no indication they lived after the revolt or that they died. However, it is listed by Tacitus that their mother took poison. Given what they suffered at the hands of the Romans before it is not a big stretch to think they died with their mother rather than be left to the Romans to do with them as they pleased. They may have been killed in the battle or taken poison along with their mother. As a matter of fact ,several writers over the yeas allude to that. ^[51] I had to go back and read Tacitus in the Latin to make sure he did not indicate their fate. He did not. He did however make the statement that the Romans spared no one, woman and even horses were killed. Tacitus and Dio disagree on how Boudica died. However, Tacitus is writing closer to the actual event than Dio and his source is thought to be his father who served under Paulinus or possibly Paulinus himself. ^[52]

Legacy

Boudica (Buddug) was chosen as one of eleven statues of historical figures chosen by the Welsh public to be included in The Marble Hall at Cardiff City Hall. The statue was unveiled by David Lloyd George on 27 October 1916. The popularity of Buddug alongside other Welsh heroes such as St David and Owain Glyndwr was surprising to many, of the statues Buddug is the most ancient, the only female, and the only antecedent from outside the modern Welsh nation. ^[53]

The monk Gildas - written between 516 – 547 from De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae
...that deceitful lioness, who put to death the rulers (which Claudius) had left in Britain, to unfold more fully and completely the enterprise of the Romans.

1850 – Work begins on a statue of Boudica £4,300 is raised from the public for it and Prince Albert (Queen Victoria’s husband) wants it put up at the entrance to Hyde Park.
1902 – The statue of Boudica is finally unveiled. ^[54]

Uncertain Father

Boudica's father is unknown, there are two somewhat sourced possibilities:

1. there is a source for Rhun Hudibras (UNKNOWN-84859)^[55] ... and
2. Mandubratius, (still looking for sources).^[56] He would be the right age and he was a king of the Trinovantes of south-eastern Britain in the 1st century BC which could explain why Tacitus specifically mentions this tribe in assisting Boudica.^[57] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandubracius

Mandubracius was the son of a Trinovantian king, named Imanuentius in some manuscripts of Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico, who was overthrown and killed by the warlord Cassivellaunus some time before Caesar's second expedition to Britain in 54 BC Some time before Caesar's second expedition this king was overthrown by Cassivellaunus, who is usually assumed to have belonged to the Catuvellauni. His son, Mandubracius, fled to the protection of Caesar in Gaul. During his second expedition Caesar defeated Cassivellaunus and restored Mandubracius to the kingship, and Cassivellaunus undertook not to molest him again. Tribute was also agreed.^[58]

In fact, Tacitus does not indicate who Boudica’s parents were. There are all sorts of odd ball genealogies out there on the internet including some that take her line back to Joseph of Arimathea.

It's not known who her parents were, so their names are lost to history, but she was married to Prasutagus, ruler of the powerful Iceni tribe, and was thus their Queen. She must have thus come from high-born Celtic nobility in order for Prasutagus to have chosen her to be his consort.^[59]

The Iceni /aɪˈsiːniː/ or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the west, and the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes to the south. In the Roman period, their capital was Venta Icenorum at modern-day Caistor St Edmund.[1][2]^[60]

Let's see if there are any possibilities in the neighboring tribes.

List of leaders of the Catuvellauni^[61] 1. Cassivellaunus, a military leader and possibly chieftain, often associated with the Catuvellauni c. 54 BC 2. Tasciovanus, c. 20 BC – AD 9 3. Cunobelinus, AD 9 – AD 40 possible father

Leaders of Corieltauvi ^[62] The names on the earliest coins are so abbreviated as to be unidentifiable. Later coins feature the name of Volisios, apparently the paramount king of the region, together with names of three presumed sub-kings, Dumnocoveros, Dumnovellaunus and Cartivelios, in three series minted ca. 45 AD. The Corieltauvi had an important mint, and possibly a tribal centre, at Sleaford. Volisios was a local ruler or king based in the English East Midlands, around the time of the Roman conquest of Britain. He is traditionally thought to have been a ruler of the Corieltauvi, who inhabited this region in the Roman period and perhaps before. Volisios could be her father. He is known only through inscriptions on coins. His name appears on three series of coins, minted c. AD 30-60, paired with three other names, which are thought to be allies or subordinate rulers, Dumnovellaunus, Dumnocoveros and Cartivellaunos. A large number of his coins were found in two hoards found at Lightcliffe and Honley in Yorkshire. • A king called Dubnovellaunus succeeded his father Addedomarus as king of the Trinovantes ca. 10-5 BC and ruled for several years before being supplanted by Cunobelinus of the Catuvellauni. • In the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, a British king called Dumnovellaunus appears, alongside Tincomarus of the Atrebates, as a supplicant to Augustus around AD 7. • Another Dumnovellaunus appears on coins of the Corieltauvi, dating ca. 45 AD. He appears to have been a subordinate king to Volisios, probably the overall king of the territory. Given the chronology it is possible, but not certain, that Dubnovellaunus of the Cantiaci is the same individual as Dubnovellaunus of the Trinovantes; and the Trinovantian Dubnovellaunus is most likely to be the Dumnovellaunus who presented himself to Augustus. ^[63] So Dubnovellaunus of the Trinovantes; and the Trinovantian Dubnovellaunus is another possibility.

Cartivellaunos is known only through inscriptions on coins. His name appears on coins minted c. AD 30-60, paired with the name Volisios, who is thought to have been an ally or co-rulers. ^[64] So yet another possibility.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
2. ↑ According to the research of linguist Kenneth Jackson, who specialized in the Celtic languages, Boudica is the form her name likely took in her own language, Common Brittonic, and is derived from a proto-Celtic feminine adjective meaning “victorious”. Tacitus, the earliest source of her story, writing in Latin, spelled it Boudicca. A variety of other spellings also appear in writings about her. More at Wikipedia: Kenneth_H._Jackson.
3. ↑ Ihttps://www.thelatinlibrary.com/tacitus/tac.ann14.shtml#14nsert reference here
4. ↑ Boadicea, Dictionary of National Biography
5. ↑ Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Bonduca. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
6. ↑ William Cowper, Boadicea, an ode. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
7. ↑ http://www.janeraeburn.com/brigantia/deities.htm
8. ↑ Peter Keegan. "Boudica, Cartimandua, Messalina and Agrippina the Younger. Independent Women of Power and the Gendered Rhetoric of Roman History". academia.edu. Retrieved 24 February 2016. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
9. ↑ The term xanthotrichos translated in this passage as red–brown or tawny can also mean auburn, or a shade short of brown, but most translators now agree a colour in between light and browny red — tawny — Carolyn D. Williams (2009). Boudica and her stories: narrative transformations of a warrior queen. University of Delaware Press. p. 62. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snettisham_Hoard#/media/File:Snettisham_Hoard.jpg
11. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torc
12. ↑ http://museum.wa.gov.au/extraordinary-stories/highlights/snettisham-great-torc/
13. ↑ Boudica on History's Heroes, retrieved 2014-04-30, amb
14. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
15. ↑ 10.0 10.1 UNC. Boudica Accessed May 15, 2018 jhd
16. ↑ Boudica on History's Heroes, retrieved 2014-04-30, amb
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1} UNC. Boudica Accessed May 15, 2018 jhd
18. ↑ Tacitus, The Annals, 12.31-32. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
19. ↑ "Boudica". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2016-10-14. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
20. ↑ Boudicca: Warrior Queen of the Iceni, Owen Jarus
21. ↑ Tacitus, The Annals XIV, 31, Cornelius Tacitus. Translated by Alfred John Church. William Jackson Brodribb. Sara Bryant. edited for Perseus. New York. : Random House, Inc. Random House, Inc. reprinted 1942. accessed 2014-04-25, amb
22. ↑ https://www.ancient.eu/Boudicca/ Aldhouse-Green, M. Boudica Britannia: Rebel, War Leader and Queen. (Pearson / Longman, 2006).
23. ↑ https://www.historynet.com/boudica-celtic-war-queen-who-challenged-rome.htm
24. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_ancient_Rome Bauman, Richard (1992). Women and Politics in Ancient Rome. New York, New York: Routlege. pp. 8, 10, 15, 105.
25. ↑ "iam primum uxor eius Boudicca verberibus adfecta et filiae stupro violatae sunt" Tacitus, Annales 14.31. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
26. ↑ ^{26.0 26.1} Tacitus, The Annals, 14.31 Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
27. ↑ Cassius Dio, Roman History, 62.2. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
28. ↑ Tacitus, The Annals, 14.32. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
29. ↑ Nicholas Reed Latomus T. 33, Fasc. 4 (OCTOBRE-DÉCEMBRE, 1974), pp. 926-933 (8 pages) Published by: Société d'Études Latines de Bruxelles
30. ↑ Cassius Dio, Epitome of Book LXII , 2. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
31. ↑ Richard Hingley and Christina Unwin (15 June 2006). Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen (New ed.). Hambledon Continuum. pp. 44, 61. ISBN 978-1-85285-516-1. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
32. ↑ [26] Tacitus, Publius, Cornelius, The Annals, Book 14, Chapter 35. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
33. ↑ N. Davies (2008). The Isles: A History. p. 93. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
34. ↑ S. Dando-Collins (2012). Legions of Rome: The definitive history of every Roman legion. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
35. ↑ George Patrick Welch (1963). Britannia: The Roman Conquest & Occupation of Britain. p. 107.Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
36. ↑ Maev Kennedy. "Roman skulls found during Crossrail dig in London may be Boudica victims". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2016. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
37. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.33. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
38. ↑ Ross, A. & Robins, D. (1989). The Life and Death of a Druid Prince: How the Discovery of Lindow Man Revealed the Secrets of a Lost Civilization. NY: Touchstone. Print. Note: Annotation by Bree Ogle
39. ↑ : The only time London has been rifled and destroyed has not been by a foreign enemy but by a British queen and a British army visiting it with condign punishment for its collusion with a foreign invader. (E O Gordon, Prehistoric London, 1914, page scans of this book can be found at the website of John Chaple, topic: Prince Brutus, Pre-Roman London)
40. ↑ Tacitus,The Annals XIV, 35.
41. ↑ Tacticus, The Annals XIV, 37
42. ↑ Cassius Dio: Roman History, 62.2-3, Loeb Classical Library, 9 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation: Harvard University Press, 1914 thru 1927. Translation by Earnest Cary.
43. ↑ The National CV of Britain, 3.2 Rulers AD. accessed 2014-04-25, amb
44. ↑ http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/14B*.html 35, 37
45. ↑ https://www.drugs.com/npc/mistletoe.html
46. ↑ http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/14B*.html 14.37
47. ↑ Tacitus, Agricola 14-16; Annals 14:29-39. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
48. ↑ Cassius Dio, Roman History 62:1-12. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
49. ↑ The Sources of Tacitus and Dio for the Boudiccan Revolt by Nicholas Reed Latomus T. 33, Fasc. 4 (OCTOBRE-DÉCEMBRE, 1974), pp. 926-933 (8 pages) Published by: Société d'Études Latines de Bruxelles
50. ↑ Boudica on History's Heroes, retrieved 2014-04-30, amb
51. ↑ https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/history/historical-figures/article/boudicca/
52. ↑ The Sources of Tacitus and Dio for the Boudiccan Revolt Nicholas Reed Latomus T. 33, Fasc. 4 (OCTOBRE-DÉCEMBRE, 1974), pp. 926-933 (8 pages) Published by: Société d'Études Latines de Bruxelles
53. ↑ Chappell, Edgar L. (1946). Cardiff's Civic Centre: A historical guide. Priory Press., pp. 21–6. Cited by Wikipedia: Boudica Accessed April 20, 2018 jhd
54. ↑ History.org UK
55. ↑ Hughes, David, The British Chronicles, Volume 2. Heritage Books, Jan 1, 2007 - Great Britain - 662 pages. retrieved 2014-04-30, amb
56. ↑ Removed as father - Mandubracius - until I find more info. (amb 01:18, 26 April 2014 (EDT))
57. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandubracius
58. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinovantes
59. ↑ https://www.answers.com/Q/What_were_Boudicca's_parents_names
60. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceni
61. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catuvellauni
62. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corieltauvi
63. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubnovellaunus
64. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartivellaunos

See also:

• History's Heroes
• Can Computerised Terrain Analysis Find Boudica's Last Battlefield?
• Pre-Roman
• Prince Brutus
• Boudicca: Warrior Queen of the Iceni
• Boudicca: Queen of the Iceni, Scourge of Rome
• Morgan, R W, (1861), Boadicea, the original ‘Queen Victoria’, pp. 13-19. Digitized 20 November 2011. More 15.
• Hughes, David, The British Chronicles, Volume 2. Heritage Books, Jan 1, 2007 - Great Britain - 662 pages.
• London: The Autobiography, By Jon.E Lewis. Constable & Robinson, Mar 1, 2012 - History - 480 pages.
• 16 November 2010 Morton Family Tree.ged.

Acknowledgements

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