Biographical material for
Boadicea of the Iceni
From "True Stories of Wonderful Deeds - Pictures and Stories for Little Folk."
"Centuries passed
away, and at length the great Julius Cæsar, who was extending
the Roman power in every direction, made his way across the Channel,
and landed in England. The particulars of this invasion are described
in our history of Julius Cæsar. The Romans retained possession
of the island, in a greater or less degree, for four hundred years.
They did not, however, hold
it in peace all this time. They became continually involved in
difficulties and contests with the native Britons, who could ill
brook the oppressions of such merciless masters as Roman generals
always proved in the provinces which they pretended to govern. One of
the most formidable rebellions that the Romans had to encounter
during their disturbed and troubled sway in Britain was led on by a
woman. Her name was Boadicea. Boadicea, like almost all other
heroines, was coarse and repulsive in appearance. She was tall and
masculine in form. The tones of her voice were harsh, and she had the
countenance of a savage. Her hair was yellow. It might have been
beautiful if it had been neatly arranged, and had shaded a face which
possessed the gentle expression that belongs properly to woman. It
would then have been called golden. As it was, hanging loosely below
her waist and streaming in the wind, it made the wearer only look the
more frightful. Still, Boadicea was not by any means indifferent to
the appearance she made in the eyes of beholders. She evinced her
desire to make a favorable impression upon others, in her own
peculiar way, it is true, but in one which must have been effective,
considering what sort of beholders they were in whose eyes she
figured. She was dressed in a gaudy coat, wrought of various colors,
with a sort of mantle buttoned over it. She wore a great gold chain
about her neck, and held an ornamented spear in her hand. Thus
equipped, she appeared at the head of an army of a hundred thousand
men, and gathering them around her, she ascended a mound of earth and
harangued them--that is, as many as could stand within reach of her voice--arousing
them to sentiments of revenge against their hated oppressors, and
urging them to the highest pitch of determination and courage for the
approaching struggle. Boadicea had reason to deem the Romans her
implacable foes. They had robbed her of her treasures, deprived her
of her kingdom, imprisoned her, scourged her, and inflicted the worst
possible injuries upon her daughters. These things had driven the
wretched mother to a perfect phrensy of hate, and aroused her to this
desperate struggle for redress and revenge. But all was in vain. In
encountering the spears of Roman soldiery, she was encountering the
very hardest and sharpest steel that a cruel world could furnish. Her
army was conquered, and she killed herself by taking poison in her despair.
From "King Alfred of England, Makers of History" by Jacob Abbott, 1849.
"Queen Boadicia Addressing her Troops"
"Long ago, when this
country was a wild land, there lived a beautiful and brave queen
named Boadicea.
Her husband, the king, was
dead, but she had two daughters whom she loved very much.
Boadicea was queen of a
part of Britain. There were no large towns in her land, but there
were forests of fine trees, and fields of corn, and wide stretches of
grass-land where many cattle and sheep roamed and fed.
Her people were called
Iceni. They were tall and strong, with blue eyes and yellow hair. The
men were brave fighters and good hunters. They hunted the bears and
wolves which lived in the forests, and they fought the foes of their
beautiful queen.
They made spears to fight
with, and strange carts called war-chariots to fight in. These
chariots were drawn by swift horses, and, upon the wheels, long sharp
knives were fixed. The Iceni drove the chariots very fast among their
foes, and the knives cut down and killed many of them.
The Romans from over the
sea were the most dangerous enemies of Boadicea and her people.
In those days the Romans
were the best fighters, and the strongest and wisest people in the
world. They came in ships to Britain. They had been told that it was
a good country, and they hoped to take it for themselves. Some of
them came to Boadicea's land, and took a part of it and of her
riches. And when she tried to stop them from doing this, they seized
her and the two princesses and beat them cruelly.
This wicked act made the
Iceni very angry. From all parts of the land, fierce fighting-men
came marching in haste to avenge themselves on their enemies,
bringing with them their spears and their war-chariots. When all were
gathered together, they fell upon the Romans.
There were so many of them,
and they were so fierce, that the Romans could not stand against
them. Thousands were killed, and the rest ran away to their ships.
But there were many more
Romans in other parts of Britain, and when these heard how their
friends had been beaten, they came marching in haste to punish the Iceni.
The Iceni did their best to
get ready to defend themselves, but many of their brave men had been
slain and others were wounded and weary, so they could not hope again
to win a victory over their strong foes. Before the battle, Queen
Boadicea, with her fair hair waving in the wind, stood before her
soldiers and spoke to them. She told them of the wrong which the
Romans had done, and begged them to fight bravely for their country.
Then she got into her chariot, and with her daughters lying at her
feet, drove to and fro, so that all might see them.
And the soldiers shouted,
and promised to fight to the end for their brave queen.
They did fight long and
bravely, until most of them were killed, but their foes were too
strong for them. When Queen Boadicea saw that her brave soldiers were
beaten, she drank some poison which killed her. She thought it better
to die than to be again taken prisoner by the cruel Romans."
From "True Stories of Wonderful Deeds - Pictures and Stories for Little Folk."
"Queen Boadicia Exhorting her Countrymen"
"From the manners of the republic a custom had been ingrafted into the monarchy of Rome altogether unsuitable to that mode of government. In the time of the Commonwealth, those who lived in a dependent and cliental relation on the great men used frequently to show marks of their acknowledgment by considerable bequests at their death. But when all the scattered powers of that state became united in the emperor, these legacies followed the general current, and flowed in upon the common patron. In the will of every considerable person he inherited with the children and relations, and such devises formed no inconsiderable part of his revenue: a monstrous practice, which let an absolute sovereign into all the private concerns of his subjects, and which, by giving the prince a prospect of one day sharing in all the great estates, whenever he was urged by avarice or necessity, naturally pointed out a resource by an anticipation always in his power. This practice extended into the provinces. A king of the Iceni had devised a considerable part of his substance to the emperor. But the Roman procurator, not satisfied with entering into his master's portion, seized upon the rest, -- and pursuing his injustice to the most horrible outrages, publicly scourged Boadicea, queen to the deceased prince, and violated his daughters. These cruelties, aggravated by the shame and scorn that attended them, -- the general severity of the government, -- the taxes, (new to a barbarous people,) laid on without discretion, extorted without mercy, and, even when respited, made utterly ruinous by exorbitant usury, -- the farther mischiefs they had to dread, when more completely reduced, -- all these, with, the absence of the legate and the army on a remote expedition, provoked all the tribes of the Britons, provincials, allies, enemies, to a general insurrection. The command of this confederacy was conferred on Boadicea, as the first in rank, and resentment of injuries. They began by cutting off a Roman legion; then they fell upon the colonies of Camelodunum and Verulam, and with a barbarous fury butchered the Romans and their adherents to the number of seventy thousand."
From "The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke" by Edmund Burke.
"Queen Boadicia's Troops Fighting the Romans"
"An end had been now
put to the Roman power in this island, if Paulinus, with unexampled
vigor and prudence, had not conducted his army through the midst of
the enemy's country from Anglesey to London. There uniting the
soldiers that remained dispersed in different garrisons, he formed an
army of ten thousand men, and marched to attack the enemy in the
height of their success and security. The army of the Britons is said
to have amounted to two hundred and thirty thousand; but it was ill
composed, and without choice or order, -- women, boys, old men,
priests, -- full of presumption, tumult, and confusion. Boadicea was
at their head, -- a woman of masculine spirit, but precipitant, and
without any military knowledge.
The event was such as might
have been expected. Paulinus, having chosen a situation favorable to
the smallness of his numbers, and encouraged his troops not to dread
a multitude whose weight was dangerous only to themselves, piercing
into the midst of that disorderly crowd, after a blind and furious
resistance, obtained a complete victory. Eighty thousand Britons fell
in this battle."
From "The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke" by Edmund Burke.
From "True Stories of Wonderful Deeds - Pictures and Stories for Little Folk."
