Boudicca: the warrior queen

Boudicca is a legendary figure today, the mother who determined to avenge her ravaged children, the warrior who rose up to protect the land she inherited from the assault of a rampaging enemy. Feminists identify with her as an icon of womanly strength; she has been described as a Margaret Thatcher without a handbag. Yet what of the true woman behind the legend? Did she, a mere woman, really draw together a disparate tribal nation against a ruthless Roman occupier? And if so, how? In this new book, the first general biography for several years, M.J. Trow strips away modern and ancient myths to reveal the flesh-and-blood woman who terrified Rome. Married to the puppet king of the Iceni, Boudicca was beaten by the Romans, and her daughters raped, after her husband's death. In the summer of AD 60 Boudicca united several British tribes and led her fierce people in revenge attacks on the Roman towns of Colchester, London and St Albans, burning and destroying with a ferocity that has left a permanent scar on the archaeological landscape. An estimated 70,000 people died in the flames of Roman settlements, and, had the Iceni and their allies not been destroyed at Manduessedum, the place of the chariots, the entire course of British history would have been altered. This book takes us on a journey through the Roman archives, the archaeological record and Celtic mythology to a new understanding of Boudicca - the warrior queen who took on the might of the greatest power of the ancient world and very nearly won.

"First published 2003 by Sutton Publishing Ltd"--Title page verso