Bodicea.............

Bodicea is the name of my poodle, one of my poodles. She is named (tongue in cheek) for the warrior queen. Bodi is just the complete opposite of the warrior queen. She is gentle and fluffy.
In 43 CE, the Romans invaded Britain, and most of the Celtic tribes were forced to submit. However, the Romans allowed two Celtic kings to retain some of their traditional power; one was Prasutagus and his wife was Bodicea.
In AD 61, Prasutagus, Boadicea's husband and King of the Iceni died.



This period of English history ia so interesting to me, I suppose because its so far in the past. Romans brought light to the world with their technology and culture. When they arrived in Britain they found people living in mud huts or even underground (there are now models of these at various sites). They built roads, straight roads that are still in use today. They built buildings of brick and stone with tiled roofs, wonderful mosaic floors and hot and cold water, central heating (Baths like at Aqua Sulis)and so on............when they left they sort of turned the lights off and went home.
(This mosaic was found at Littlecote Manor, we happened to see it being excavated when we went back home many years ago (around 1978) and now see it in all its glory)


In any case during their years of occupation they were constantly hassled by the locals, who were not so appreciative as they might have been of all the mod cons of the day. The land was theirs and they wanted it back. I mean, they were Kings and Queens in their own right, they had their own sets of rules and liked it that way...... In 47 CE the Romans forced the Iceni to disarm, creating resentment. Prasutagus had been given a grant by the Romans, but the Romans then redefined this as a loan. When Prasutagus died, he left half his kingdom to the Emperor Nero to settle this debt.
The Romans arrived to collect, but instead of settling for half the kingdom, seized control of it. To humiliate the former rulers, the Romans beat Boudicca publicly, raped their two daughters, seized the wealth of many Iceni and sold much of the royal family into slavery.


While the provincial governor Suetonius Paulinus (Above) was absent in 60, Boudicca raised a rebellion throughout East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk). The insurgents burned Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Albans), the mart of Londinium (London), and several military posts; massacred (according to Tacitus) 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Britons; and cut to pieces the Roman 9th Legion. Paulinus met the Britons at a point thought to be near present-day Fenny Stratford on Watling Street and in a desperate battle regained the province.
Unfortunately for the Iceni and their allies, the military skill of the Roman army finally led to the crushing of the rebellion. After the revolt, Roman rule was re-established. For almost two years, Boadicea pillaged the Roman settlements; she remains to this day, the greatest of the heroines of Britain.


Ultimatley Boudicca took poison or died of shock.She would not be taken prisoner and humiliated again.



We know the history of Boudicea through two writers: Tacitus, in "Agricola" (98 CE) and "The Annals" (109 CE), and Dio, in "The Rebellion of Boudicca" (about 163 CE).
So it was not as though a lot of time had passed before things were recorded. Not a lot more is known about her but she remains a symbol of what Britain is and will always be. She was our warrior queen.