A Review of the Life and Times of Boudica

Miranda Aldhouse-Green. Boudica Britannia. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. xvii + 286 pp $34.95, cloth, ISBN 978-1-4058-1100-2. Reviewed by Richard Hingley Published on H-Albion (November, 2008) Commissioned by Margaret McGlynn (University of Western Ontario) This book is an enlightening and well-illus‐ though information about Boudica’s life is scarce, trated addition to the burgeoning literature on the it is probable that, when the Romans conquered ancient British queen Boudica. She is often known southern Britain in AD 43, her husband, Prasuta‐ by the popular version of her name, Boadicea, de‐ gus, became a client king of the empire. He was rived from an incorrect reading of classical texts. probably allowed to continue to rule his people in At least six archaeological books have been pub‐ exchange for his loyalty and subordination. lished in the past fve years that address the life Boudica and Prasutagus lived through the frst and death of Boudica and more are in prepara‐ sixteen years of the establishment of Roman con‐ tion. A number of novels on Boudica have also trol across southern Britain. They retained their been produced, including the excellent quartet of kingdom during this time as friends and support‐ books by Manda Scott, together with several docu‐ ers of Rome, but Prasutagus died, probably in AD mentaries and at least one flm. As a result, there 60 or 61. As a result of the unreasonable actions of is plenty of competition for the book that Miranda the Roman administration at this time, a rebellion Aldhouse-Green has written, but it succeeds in of the Iceni and other British tribes occurred providing an important new discussion of the life against Rome. This led to the destruction of three and death of Boudica. of the newly established Roman towns and many thousands of deaths. Boudica was fnally defeated Boudica was the “wife” (or consort) of a king and killed by the Romans in a substantial pitched (or leader) of one British tribe (or people) called battle after a fairly lengthy military campaign. the Iceni who lived in what is today East Anglia (eastern England). She is one of the earliest inhab‐ Aldhouse-Green’s book provides a lively, well- itants whose name has been preserved by the written, and thought-provoking study of the con‐ classical texts describing ancient Britain. Al‐ text and life of this British heroine. In the author’s H-Net Reviews terms, it “constitutes a journey, a quest-tale, for an and at the time of their incorporation into the Ro‐ illusory fgure at the beginning of recorded histo‐ man Empire. This evidence can be used to chal‐ ry in Britain” (p. xvi). Classical texts inform us lenge the one-sided views provided by the classi‐ that Boudica led the serious military action, cal authors, illustrating the vitality and originality which Aldhouse-Green describes as “the earliest of indigenous people in Britain. As such, Ald‐ freedom movement recorded from Britain,” a house-Green's Boudica is, in general, a fairly sym‐ campaign that almost drove the Romans out of pathetic fgure, fghting against wrongful imperial the province (p. xv). It is difficult, however, to pro‐ actions. vide a new perspective on Boudica, since the clas‐ Aldhouse-Green's extensive knowledge of sical texts that describe her actions have been Iron Age Europe enables her to draw on evidence known since the Renaissance and locating con‐ from a wide geographical area to set Boudica's life vincing archaeological evidence for her is prob‐ in context. Individual chapters explore, among lematic. The only clear archaeological informa‐ other topics, Boudica's ancestors and the informa‐ tion that supports the idea of Boudica’s rebellion tion for the Roman conquest of southern Britain is the thick burnt destruction layers found during under the Emperor Claudius in AD 43. A particu‐ excavation in London and Colchester, which have larly useful chapter addresses “Other Boudicas: been argued to date to around AD 60-61 and are ‘Big Women’ in Iron Age Europe.” Aldhouse-Green thought to be related to the burning of these new addresses the information for the “lady of Vix” (a towns by Boudica’s followers. rich sixth-century BC burial from Burgundy, Aldhouse-Green manages to provide a new France), the “Haraldskaer ‘queen’” (a bog body perspective on Boudica that draws her work apart sacrificed in Jutland, probably in the ffth century from other recent books. What is most useful BC), and Cartimandua (a frst-century AD British about this book is that it provides an excellent dis‐ queen). Aldhouse-Green argues that to the classi‐ cussion of the background to Boudica's life and ac‐ cal male mind Boudica was one of a number of tions. It does not focus too much attention on the “edgy monsters” in Iron Age Europe (p. 116). The well-rehearsed and overexposed elements of the evidence for the disparaging comments of classi‐ story, which derive almost entirely from the writ‐ cal authors on female gladiators is used to explore ings of the two classical authors who discuss her how powerful and empowered women outside actions (Tacitus and Cassius Dio). Instead, it ad‐ the Roman Empire were viewed with awe, suspi‐ dresses issues of broader relevance. Setting the in‐ cion, and disapproval by classical authors writing formation in a historical context by providing in Rome and the Mediterranean. thought-provoking parallels with the modern Various recent archaeological fnds and new world, it raises the issue of whether Boudica ideas are drawn into the discussion, including the should be seen today as a freedom fghter, terror‐ important late Iron Age hoard recently discovered ist, or martyr. Aldhouse-Green informs the reader close to Winchester and the significant late Iron that her account seeks to explore how archaeolog‐ Age “rituals enclosure” at Fison Way, Thetford (pp. ical research is redressing the bias in the classical 161-163). An interesting chapter explores the texts by articulating a “strongly focused alterna‐ thorny topic of the potential involvement of the tive identity amongst the people of Eastern Eng‐ Druids in Boudica's rebellion. Assessing the role of land to that of the Romans” (p. xvi). In these these religious leaders in Iron Age society in terms, archaeological research has provided im‐ Britain and on the continent, Aldhouse-Green ad‐ portant insights into the lives and cultures of in‐ dresses Druidism as a resistance movement digenous people across Britain in the Iron Age against the Romans. She also discusses the site of 2 H-Net Reviews Boudica's fnal defeat by the Romans, suggesting ty-five color plates. Many of these images are al‐ that it may have occurred at Paulerspury near ready well known from earlier publications about Towcester, rather than at Mancetter, which has Boudica, but some interesting new examples are usually been the favored site in past accounts. included, including a photograph of the chariot Neither of these two locations, however, is sup‐ and war trumpet used in the recent television ported by archaeological discoveries, and the ex‐ film about Boudica, starring Alex Kingston. Boudi‐ act location of the battle remains a mystery. Taci‐ ca Britannia is good value for money and is rec‐ tus tells us that one report suggested that over ommended as a well-written, accurate, scholarly, eighty thousand Britons were killed, and this and accessible account of an important period in means that there should be some substantial buri‐ the ancient history of Britain. It covers a series of al pits full of dead people and animals to mark the events, which, as Aldhouse-Green shows, raise rel‐ site of the battle. Perhaps one day it will be locat‐ evant issues in the contemporary age and adds a ed. A further chapter explores the evidence for new dimension to the published literature on the retribution of the Romans after the rebellion Boudica. was put down and also the gradual recovery of the province of Britain in the later frst century. By the late second to early third centuries, Britain had become a fairly wealthy Roman province, which remained in Roman control until the early fifth century AD. In the fnal (short) chapter, the author ex‐ plores “the Boudica myth as it has travelled through time” from the period of her life until the present day (p. 243). She does not address the treatment of Boudica by historians, literary fg‐ ures, and antiquarians. These aspects, as the au‐ thor remarks, have been explored in far greater detail elsewhere (for example, in Richard Hingley and Chris Unwin's Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen [2005]). Instead, Aldhouse-Green addresses some particular aspects of the way that the an‐ cient queen has been represented in popular cul‐ ture. She addresses how Boudica has been used as a historical parallel for various powerful women in British history, including Queen Elizabeth I, Margaret Thatcher, and Cherie Blair. Aldhouse- Green also draws on some contemporary infor‐ mation for the ways in which Boudica is utilized, including a fashion designer who uses Boudica's name, forming an early twenty-first century “Boudica brand” (p. 251). The book is well illustrated with line draw‐ ings, maps, and photographs, together with twen‐ 3 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-albion Citation: Richard Hingley. Review of Aldhouse-Green, Miranda. Boudica Britannia. H-Albion, H-Net Reviews. November, 2008. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=22938 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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