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{{Short description| 
Queen of the British Iceni tribe (d. 60/61)}}
{{For|other uses of this word (spelled this way and as Boadicea, Boudicca, Boudicea, etc.)|Boudica (disambiguation)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image        = Queen Boudica by John Opie.jpg
| alt          = Opie's painting of Boudica
| caption      = ''[[Boadicea Haranguing the Britons]]'' (1793)
| succession   = [[Boudican revolt|Queen of the Iceni]]
| reign        = c. AD 60–61
| succession1  = Consort of the king of the [[Iceni]]
| reign1       = ? – c. AD 60
| reign-type1  = Tenure
| birth_place  = [[British Isles]]
| death_date   = AD 60/61
| consort      =
| spouse       = [[Prasutagus]]
| issue        = 2 daughters
}}
'''Boudica''' or '''Boudicca''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|uː|d|ɪ|k|ə|,_|b|oʊ|ˈ|d|ɪ|k|ə}}, from [[Brittonic languages|Brythonic]] *{{lang|cel-x-combrit|boudi}} 'victory, win' + *{{lang|cel-x-combrit|-kā}} 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles as '''Boadicea''' or '''Boudicea''', and in Welsh as '''{{lang|cy|Buddug|italics=no}}''', {{IPA|cy|ˈbɨðɨɡ|pron}}) was a queen of the [[Iceni|ancient British Iceni]] tribe, who led a [[Boudican revolt|failed uprising]] against the [[Roman Britain|conquering forces]] of the [[Roman Empire]] in AD 60 or 61. She is considered a British national heroine and a symbol of the struggle for justice and independence.

Boudica's husband [[Prasutagus]], with whom she had two daughters, ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome. He left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to the [[Roman emperor]] in his will. When he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed and his property taken. According to the Roman historian [[Tacitus]], Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tacitus |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)/Book_14#31 |title=The Annals}}</ref> The historian [[Cassius Dio]] wrote that previous imperial donations to influential Britons were confiscated and the Roman financier and philosopher [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] called in the loans he had forced on the reluctant Britons.

In 60/61, Boudica led the Iceni and other British tribes in revolt. They destroyed [[Camulodunum]] (modern [[Colchester]]), earlier the capital of the [[Trinovantes]], but at that time a {{lang|la|[[colonia (Roman)|colonia]]}} for discharged Roman soldiers. Upon hearing of the revolt, the Roman governor [[Gaius Suetonius Paulinus]] hurried from the island of [[Anglesey|Mona]] (modern Anglesey) to [[Londinium]], the 20-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels' next target. Unable to defend the settlement, he abandoned it. Boudica's army defeated a detachment of the [[Legio IX Hispana]], and burnt both Londinium and [[Verulamium]]. In all, an estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and Britons were killed by Boudica's followers. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces, possibly in the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]], and despite being heavily outnumbered, he decisively defeated the Britons. Boudica died, by suicide or illness, shortly afterwards. The crisis of 60/61 caused [[Nero]] to consider withdrawing all his imperial forces from Britain, but Suetonius's victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province.

Interest in these events was revived in the [[English Renaissance]] and led to Boudica's fame in the [[Victorian era]] and as a cultural symbol in Britain.

== Historical sources ==

The [[Boudican revolt]] against the [[Roman Empire]] is referred to in four works from [[classical antiquity]] written by three [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] historians: the ''[[Agricola (book)|Agricola]]'' ({{circa|98}}) and ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' ({{circa|110s}}) by [[Tacitus]];<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 pp. 42–43">{{harvnb |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/42/mode/2up 42–43]}}</ref> a mention of the uprising by [[Suetonius]] in his ''[[The Twelve Caesars|Lives of the Caesars]]'' (121);<ref name="Suetonius 1914">{{cite book |last=Suetonius |author-link=Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus |translator-last=Rolfe |translator-first=John Carew |translator-link=John Carew Rolfe |title=Suetonius |volume=2 |chapter=Lives of the Caesars, Book VI: Nero |publication-place=Cambridge, Massaschsetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=1914 |oclc=647029284 |page=[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.32106005389009?urlappend=%3Bseq=169%3Bownerid=9007199263401368-175 157] |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/12031250.html |via=HathiTrust |quote="... a disaster in Britain where two important towns were sacked and great numbers of citizens and allies were butchered; ... |language=la, en}}</ref> and the longest account, a detailed description of the revolt contained within [[Cassius Dio]]'s history of the Empire ({{Circa|202|235}}).<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 52–53">{{harvnb |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/52/mode/2up 52–53]}}</ref>

Tacitus wrote some years after the rebellion, but his father-in-law [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola]] was an eyewitness to the events, having served in Britain as a [[tribune]] under [[Gaius Suetonius Paulinus|Suetonius Paulinus]] during this period.<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 pp. 42–43"/>

Cassius Dio began his history of Rome and its empire about 140 years after Boudica's death. Much is lost and his account of Boudica survives only in the [[epitome]] of an 11th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] monk, [[John Xiphilinus (historian)|John Xiphilinus]]. He provides greater and more lurid detail than Tacitus, but in general his details are often fictitious.{{sfn |Vandrei |2018 |p=4}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Michael |title=Greek and Roman Historians: Information and Misinformation |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=0415117704 |location=London |pages=104–105}}</ref>

Both Tacitus and Dio give an account of battle-speeches given by Boudica, though it is thought that her words were never recorded during her life.<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 pp. 42–43"/><ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 52–53"/><ref name="Adl">{{cite journal |last1=Adler |first1=Eric |title=Boudica's Speeches in Tacitus and Dio |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25471937 |journal=The Classical World |date=2008 |volume=101 |issue=2 |pages=173{{ndash}}195 |doi=10.1353/clw.2008.0006 |jstor=25471937 |s2cid=162404957 |access-date= |issn=0009-8418|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Although imaginary, these speeches, designed to provide a comparison for readers of the antagonists' demands and approaches to war, and to portray the Romans as morally superior to their enemy, helped create an image of [[patriotism]] that turned Boudica into a legendary figure.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=Birgitta |title=The Roman Invasion of Britain: archaeology versus history |date=2019 |publisher=Pen & Sword Books Limited |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=978-15267-5-663-3 |page=12}}</ref><ref name="New86">{{cite book |last1=Newark |first1=Timothy |title=Women Warlords: an illustrated military history of female warriors |date=1989 |publisher=Blandford |location=London |isbn=978-07137-1-965-9 |page=86 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/womenwarlordsill0000newa/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref>

== Background ==
[[File:Iceni lands.svg|alt=map of Iceni lands |thumb|A map of [[Iceni]] lands in [[Norfolk]]]]
Boudica was the consort of [[Prasutagus]], king of the [[Iceni]],{{refn|1=The sources describe Boudica as a wife and not a queen.{{sfn |Davies |2008 |p=60}}|group=note}} a tribe who inhabited what is now the English county of [[Norfolk]] and parts of the neighbouring counties of [[Cambridgeshire]], [[Suffolk]] and [[Lincolnshire]].<ref name="Pot" /> The Iceni produced some of the earliest known British coins.{{sfn |Davies |2008 |pp=11, 54}} They had revolted against the Romans in 47 when the Roman governor [[Publius Ostorius Scapula]] planned to disarm all the peoples of Britain under Roman control. The Romans allowed the kingdom to retain its independence once the uprising was suppressed.<ref name="Davies 2008 pp. 134–136">{{harvnb |Davies |2008 |pp=134–136}}</ref>

==Events leading to the revolt==
On his death in AD 60/61, Prasutagus made his two daughters as well as the Roman Emperor [[Nero]] his heirs.<ref name="Pot" /> The Romans ignored the will, and the kingdom was absorbed into the province of [[Roman Britain|Britannia]].<ref name="Ell9294" /> [[Catus Decianus]], procurator of Britain, was sent to secure the Iceni kingdom for Rome.<ref name="Davies 2008 pp. 134–136" />

{{quote box
| width = 50%
| title =
| title_bg = BlanchedAlmond
| title_fnt = SaddleBrown
| bgcolor = Cornsilk
| align = right
| halign = left
|source = —Part of a speech Cassius Dio gives Boudica<ref name="Dio 2015 pp. 84–87">{{harvnb |Cassius Dio |2015 |pp=[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015004124510?urlappend=%3Bseq=95%3Bownerid=13510798888475493-99 84–87]}}</ref>
| quote = "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!... 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?"}}

The Romans' next actions were described by Tacitus, who detailed pillaging of the countryside, the ransacking of the king's household, and the brutal treatment of Boudica and her daughters. According to Tacitus, Boudica was [[Flagellation|flogged]] and her daughters were [[rape]]d.<ref name="Ell9294" /> These abuses are not mentioned in Dio's account, who instead cites three different causes for the rebellion: the recalling of loans that were given to the Britons by [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]; Decianus Catus's confiscation of money formerly loaned to the Britons by the Emperor [[Claudius]]; and Boudica's own entreaties.<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 52–53"/><ref name="Adl" /> The loans were thought by the Iceni to have been repaid by gift exchange.<ref name="Davies 2008 pp. 134–136" />

Dio gives Boudica a speech to her people and their allies reminding them that life was much better before the Roman occupation, stressing that wealth cannot be enjoyed under slavery and placing the blame upon herself for not expelling the Romans as they had done when [[Julius Caesar]] invaded.<ref name="Ell9294" /> The willingness of those seen as barbarians to sacrifice a higher quality of living under the Romans in exchange for their freedom and personal liberty was an important part of what Dio considered to be motivation for the rebellions.<ref name="New86" />

== Uprising ==
{{main|Boudican revolt}}

===Attacks on Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium===
[[File:Map of the Boudican Revolt.svg|alt=map of the places involved in Boudica's rebellion|thumb|upright=1.25|A map of the [[Boudican Revolt]]]]
The first target of the rebels was [[Camulodunum]] (modern [[Colchester]]), a Roman {{lang|la|[[Colonia (Roman)|colonia]]}} for retired soldiers.{{sfn |Webster |1978 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicabritishre0000webs/page/88/mode/2up 88]}} A [[Roman temple]] had been erected there to Claudius, at great expense to the local population. Combined with brutal treatment of the Britons by the veterans, this had caused resentment towards the Romans.{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/70/mode/2up 71]}}

The Iceni and the Trinovantes comprised an army of 120,000 men.<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 70">{{harvnb |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/70/mode/2up 70]}}</ref> Dio claimed that Boudica called upon the British goddess of victory [[Andraste]] to aid her army.{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/54/mode/2up 55]}} Once the revolt had begun, the only Roman troops available to provide assistance, aside from the few within the colony, were 200 [[Auxiliaries (Roman military)|auxiliaries]] located in London, who were not equipped to fight Boudica's army. Camulodunum was captured by the rebels;{{sfn |Webster |1978 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicabritishre0000webs/page/90/mode/2up 90]}} those inhabitants who survived the initial attack took refuge in the [[Temple of Claudius, Colchester|Temple of Claudius]] for two days before they were killed.<ref name="Webster 1978 p. 91, 93">{{harvnb |Webster |1978 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicabritishre0000webs/page/90/mode/2up 91, 93]}}</ref> [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis]], then commanding the [[Legio IX Hispana|Legio IX ''Hispana'']], attempted to relieve Camulodunum, but suffered an overwhelming defeat. The [[infantry]] with him were all killed and only the commander and some of his [[cavalry]] escaped. After this disaster, Catus Decianus, whose behaviour had provoked the rebellion, fled abroad to [[Gaul]].{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/48/mode/2up 49]}}

Suetonius was leading a [[Roman conquest of Anglesey|campaign against the island of Mona]], off the coast of North Wales. On hearing the news of the Iceni uprising, he left a garrison on Mona and returned to deal with Boudica.<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 70"/> He moved quickly with a force of men through hostile territory to Londinium, which he reached before the arrival of Boudica's army<ref name="Webster 1978 p. 91, 93"/> but, outnumbered, he decided to abandon the town to the rebels, who burned it down after torturing and killing everyone who had remained. The rebels also sacked the ''[[municipium]]'' of [[Verulamium]] (modern [[St Albans]]),<ref name="Vandrei 2018 p. 2">{{harvnb |Vandrei |2018 |p=2}} "After sacking the settlements of Camulodunum (present-day Colchester) and Verulamium (now St Albans) Boudica's army brought its destructive force to Londinium. Footnote 4: The destruction of Verulamium follows that of Londinium in some accounts."</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Tacitus|title=Annals|pages=14.33|quote="eadem clades municipio Verulamio fuit – Like ruin fell on the town of Verulamium"}}</ref> north-west of London, though the extent of its destruction is unclear.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wall |first1=Martin |title=The Lost Battlefields of Britain |date=2022 |publisher=[[Amberley Publishing|Amberley]] |location=Stroud, England |isbn=978-1445697086 |chapter=2. The treacherous lioness: Boudicca and the great British revolt (60–61)}}</ref>

Dio and Tacitus both reported that around 80,000 people were said to have been killed by the rebels.<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 52–53"/> According to Tacitus, the Britons had no interest in taking the Roman population as prisoners, only in slaughter by "[[gibbet]], fire, or cross".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cunliffe |first1=Barry W |author1-link=Barry Cunliffe |title=Iron Age Communities in Britain: an account of England, Scotland, and Wales from the seventh century BC until the Roman conquest |date=1978 |publisher=[[Routledge|Routledge & Kegan Paul]] |location=London; Boston |isbn=978-0-7100-8725-6 |page=143}}</ref> Dio adds 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Henshall |first1=K. |title=Folly and Fortune in Early British History: from Caesar to the Normans |date=2008 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-0-230-58379-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cC19DAAAQBAJ|page=55}}</ref>

=== Defeat and death ===
Suetonius regrouped his forces. He amassed an army of almost 10,000 men at an unidentified location, and took a stand in a [[Defile (geography)|defile]] (a narrow pass) with a wood behind. The Romans used the terrain to their advantage, launching javelins at the Britons before advancing in a wedge-shaped formation and deploying cavalry.<ref name="Davies 2008 pp. 134–136" />

Ancient sources say, that the Roman army was outnumbered<ref name="Pot">{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2732 |title=Boudicca (d. AD 60/61) |last=Potter |first=T. W. |access-date=4 October 2010 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/2732 |year=2004 }}</ref> but Boudica's army was crushed, and according to Tacitus, neither the women nor the animals were spared. Tacitus states that Boudica poisoned herself; Dio says she fell sick and died, after which she was given a lavish burial. It has been argued that these accounts are not mutually exclusive.{{sfn |Vandrei |2018 |p=46}}

== Name ==
''Boudica'' may have been an honorific title,{{sfn|Frénée-Hutchins|2016|p=12}} in which case the name by which she was known during most of her life is unknown.<ref name="Davies 2008 p. 141">{{harvnb |Davies |2008 |p=141}}</ref> The English [[linguist]] and translator [[Kenneth H. Jackson|Kenneth Jackson]] concluded that the name ''Boudica''—based on later developments in Welsh ({{lang|cy|Buddug}}) and [[Irish language|Irish]] ({{lang|ghc|Buaidheach}})—derives from the [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] feminine adjective *''boudīkā'' 'victorious', which in turn is derived from the [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] word *''boudā'' 'victory', and that the correct spelling of the name in [[Common Brittonic]] (the British Celtic language) is ''{{lang|cel|Boudica}}'', pronounced {{IPA|cel|boʊˈdiːkaː|}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth H. Jackson |year=1979 |title=Queen Boudica? |journal=Britannia |volume=10 |page=255 |doi=10.2307/526060 |jstor=526060|s2cid=251373737 }}</ref> Variations on the historically correct ''Boudica'' include ''Boudicca'', ''Bonduca'', ''Boadicea'', and ''Buduica''.<ref name="Wai22">{{cite book |last1=Waite |first1=John |title=Boudica's Last Stand: Britain's Revolt Against Rome, A.D. 60–61 |date=2007 |publisher=[[The History Press]] |location=Cheltenham, UK |isbn=978-07524-3-809-2 |page=22}}</ref> The [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]] version of her name is attested in inscriptions as ''Boudiga'' in [[Bordeaux]], ''Boudica'' in [[Lusitania]], and ''Bodicca'' in Algeria.{{sfn |Webster |1978 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicabritishre0000webs/page/14/mode/2up 15]}}

Boudica's name was spelt incorrectly by Dio, who used ''Buduica''.<ref name="Wai22" /> Her name was also misspelled by Tacitus, who added a second 'c.' After the misspelling was copied by a medieval [[scribe]], further variations began to appear. Along with the second 'c' becoming an 'e,' an 'a' appeared in place of the 'u', which produced the medieval (and most common) version of the name, ''Boadicea''.<ref name="Davies 2008 p. 141" /><ref name="DudWeb143">{{cite book |last1=Dudley |first1=Donald R. |last2=Webster |first2=Graham |author2-link=Graham Webster (archaeologist) |title=The Rebellion of Boudicca |date=1962 |publisher=[[Routledge & Kegan Paul]] |location=London |isbn=|oclc=3648719 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/rebellionofboudi0000dona/page/n7/mode/2up |page=143}}</ref> The true spelling was totally obscured when ''Boadicea'' first appeared in around the 17th century.<ref name="Wai22" /> [[William Cowper]] used this spelling in his poem ''Boadicea, an Ode'' (1782), which readapted Boudica's story to fit the context of Britain's rising territorial and political ambitions.{{sfn|Hingley|Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/150/mode/2up 152] |ref=none}}

==Early literature==
One of the earliest possible mentions of Boudica (excluding Tacitus' and Dio's accounts) was the 6th-century work {{Lang|la|[[De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae]]}} by the British monk [[Gildas]]. In it, he demonstrates his knowledge of a female leader whom he describes as a "treacherous lioness" who "butchered the governors who had been left to give fuller voice and strength to the endeavours of Roman rule."<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 61">{{harvnb |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/60/mode/2up 61]}}</ref>

Both [[Bede]]'s ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'' (731) and the 9th-century work ''[[Historia Brittonum]]'' by the Welsh monk [[Nennius]] include references to the uprising of 60/61, but do not mention Boudica.<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 61"/>

No contemporary description of Boudica exists. Dio, writing more than a century after her death, provided a detailed description of the Iceni queen (translated in 1925): "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."<ref name="Ell9294">{{cite book |last1=Elliott |first1=Simon |title=Britain |series=Roman Conquests |date=2021 |publisher=Pen & Sword Books Limited |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=978-15267-6-568-0 |page=92}}</ref><ref name="Dio 2015 pp. 84–87"/>{{refn|1=The term {{lang|grc-Latn|xanthotrichos}} ('tawny') can also mean 'red–brown' or 'auburn', or a shade ''short'' of brown.{{sfn |Williams |2009 |p=62}}|group=note}}

==Revival and the modern legend==
===16th and 17th century literature===
[[File:Boudica depicted in Holinshed’s Chronicles (1577).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Tudor illustration of Boudica|Boudica depicted as a [[Tudor period|Tudor]] queen in ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles]]'' (1577)]]
During the [[Renaissance]] the works of Tacitus and Cassius Dio became available in England, after which her status changed as it was interpreted by historians, poets and [[dramatist]]s.<ref name="Law" /> Boudica appeared as 'Voadicia' in a history, ''Anglica Historia'', by the Italian scholar [[Polydore Vergil]], and in the Scottish historian [[Hector Boece]]'s ''The History and Chronicles of Scotland'' (1526) she is 'Voada'—the first appearance of Boudica in a British publication.<ref name="Law" />{{sfn |Williams |2009 |pp=[{{GBurl |id=Kn7jypUqKbwC |p=41}} 41], 50}}

Boudica was called 'Voadicia' in the English historian [[Raphael Holinshed]]'s ''Chronicles'', published between 1577 and 1587.<ref name="Law">{{cite journal |last1=Lawson |first1=Stephanie |title=Nationalism and Biographical Transformation: the case of Boudicca |journal=Humanities Research |date=2013 |volume=19 |pages=101{{ndash}}119 [118] |publisher=[[Macquarie University]] |location=Sydney |doi=10.22459/HR.XIX.01.2013.06 |s2cid=160541599 |issn=1440-0669 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Frénée |first1=Samantha |title=Warrior Queens in Holinshed's Woodcuts |journal=Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes (Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies) |date=2012 |volume=23 |issue=23 |pages=417–433 |doi=10.4000/crm.12859 |doi-access=free }}</ref> A narrative by the [[Florence|Florentine]] scholar [[Petruccio Ubaldini]] in ''The Lives of the Noble Ladies of the Kingdom of England and Scotland'' (1591) includes two female characters, 'Voadicia' and 'Bunduica', both based on Boudica.<ref name="Law" /> From the 1570s to the 1590s, when [[Elizabeth I]]'s England was at war with Spain, Boudica proved to be a valuable asset for the English.{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/118/mode/2up 118]}}

The English poet [[Edmund Spenser]] used the story of Boudica in his poem ''[[Complaints (poetry collection)#The Ruines of Rome|The Ruines of Time]]'', involving a story about a British heroine he called 'Bunduca'.<ref name="Cur">{{cite journal |last1=Curran |first1=John E. |title=Spenser and the Historical Revolution: Briton Moniments and the Problem of Roman Britain |journal=Clio: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History |date=1996 |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=273{{ndash}}292 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/322825321.pdf |publisher=Indiana University & Purdue University}}</ref> A variation of this name was used in the [[Jacobean era|Jacobean]] play ''[[Bonduca]]'' (1612), a [[tragicomedy]] that most scholars agree was written by [[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]], in which one of the characters was Boudica.<ref name="Iop76">{{cite book |last1=Ioppolo |first1=Grace |title=Dramatists and Their Manuscripts in the Age of Shakespeare, Jonson, Middleton and Heywood: authorship, authority and the playhouse |date=2013 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-11343-0-005-1 |page=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2zOx_ThcGYC}}</ref> A version of that play called ''Bonduca, or the British Heroine'' was set to music by the English composer [[Henry Purcell]] in 1695.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adams |first=Martin |date=1995 |title=Henry Purcell: the origins and development of his musical style |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2KhOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA335 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |pages=334{{ndash}}335 |isbn=978-05214-3-159-0 }}</ref> One of the choruses, "[[Britons, Strike Home!]]", became a popular patriotic song in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries.<ref name="Pri123">{{cite book |last1=Price |first1=C. A. |title=Henry Purcell and the London Stage |date=1983 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-05212-3-831-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E7E8AAAAIAAJ}}</ref>

=== Depiction during the 18th and 19th centuries ===
[[File:Boudica statue, Westminster (8433726848).jpg|alt=Boudica's statue in London|thumb|upright=1.4|The statue ''[[Boadicea and Her Daughters]]'' by [[Thomas Thornycroft]], near [[Westminster Millennium Pier|Westminster Pier]], London]]
During the late 18th century, Boudica was used to develop ideas of [[English national identity]].<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 146–152">{{harvnb |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/146/mode/2up 146–152]}}</ref> Illustrations of Boudica during this period—such as in Edward Barnard's ''New, Complete and Authentic History of England'' (1790) and the drawing by [[Thomas Stothard]] of the queen as a classical heroine—lacked historical accuracy. The illustration of Boudica by [[Havell family#Robert Havell Sr.|Robert Havell]] in [[Charles Hamilton Smith]]'s ''The Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands from the Earliest Periods to the Sixth Century'' (1815) was an early attempt to depict her in an historically accurate way.{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/152/mode/2up 153]}}

Cowper's 1782 poem ''Boadicea: An Ode'' was the most notable literary work to champion the resistance of the Britons, fostering an "[[Asexuality|asexual]] image of British triumph and heroism." It led Boudica to become a [[cultural icon]] and national heroine in Britain.<ref name="Hingley Unwin 2006 p. 146–152"/> [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]]'s poem {{Not a typo|''Boädicéa''}}, which was written in 1859 and published in 1864, drew on Cowper's poem. Depicting the Iceni queen as a violent and bloodthirsty warrior, the poem also forecasted the rise of the [[British Empire]]. Tennyson's image of Boudica was taken from the [[engraving]] produced in 1812 by Stothard.{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/154/mode/2up 154]}} Another work, the poem "Boadicea" (1859) by Francis Barker, contained strongly patriotic and Christian themes.{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/158/mode/2up 158]}}

A range of [[Victorian era|Victorian]] children's books mentioned Boudica; ''Beric the Briton'' (1893), a novel by [[G. A. Henty]], with illustrations by William Parkinson, had a text based on the accounts of Tacitus and Dio.{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/158/mode/2up 159–160]}}

''[[Boadicea and Her Daughters]]'', a statue of the queen in her [[war chariot]], complete with [[Anachronism|anachronistic]] [[Scythed chariot|scythes]] on the wheel axles, was executed by the sculptor [[Thomas Thornycroft]]. He was encouraged by [[Prince Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]], who lent his horses for use as models.<ref name="Mac">{{cite book |last1=Macdonald |first1=Sharon |title=Images of Women in Peace & War: cross-cultural & historical perspectives |date=1987 |publisher=[[Macmillan Press]] |location=London |isbn=0-299-11764-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/imagesofwomeninp00macd/page/53}}</ref> The statue, Thornycroft's most ambitious work, was produced  between 1856 and 1871, cast in 1896, and positioned on the [[Victoria Embankment]] next to [[Westminster Bridge]] in 1902.{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/162/mode/2up 162–165]}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" style="text-align:left">
File:Portraits and Dresses of the Most Remarkable Personages in England Prior to the Norman Conquest Plate 1.jpg|alt=18th century depiction of Boudica|''The History of England'' (1791), illustration by Francis West
File:Boudicca-or-Boadicea.jpg|alt=Early 19th century engraving|An engraving by [[William Sharp (engraver)|William Sharp]] after Thomas Stothard (1812)
File:Caricature of Queen Caroline as Boudica.jpg|alt=Caricature of Queen Caroline as Boudica|A caricature of [[Caroline of Brunswick|Queen Caroline]] (1820)
File:Charles Hamilton Smith - Boudica.png|alt=19th century illustration of Boudica and other Britons|Robert Havell, ''The Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands'' (1821)
File:Frontispiece-Boudica.jpg|alt=Engraving of Bodica's rebellion|[[John Cassell]]'s ''Illustrated History of England'' (1857)
File:Albert Kretschmer - Queen Boadicea (Boudicca) of the ancient British Iceni tribe MeisterDrucke-37509) Full figure drawing cut out from bookplate in Trachten der Voelker 1864 Costumes of all Nations. No known copyright.jpg|alt=1864 illustration of Boudica|Illustration by [[Albert Kretschmer]] (1864)
File:Boadicea Shows the marks of the Roman Rods.jpg|alt=1893 illustration of Boudica|[[G.A. Henty]], ''Beric, the Briton'' (1893)
</gallery>

===20th century – present===
Boudica was once thought to have been buried at a place which lies now between platforms 9 and 10 in [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross station]] in London. There is no evidence for this and it is probably a post-World War II invention.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The "Warrior Queen" under Platform 9 |url=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/roman/roman_london_7.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301192533/http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/roman/roman_london_7.htm |archive-date=1 March 2009 |access-date=13 August 2011 |publisher=Museum of London}}</ref> At [[Colchester#Colchester Town Hall|Colchester Town Hall]], a life-sized statue of Boudica stands on the south facade, sculpted by L J Watts in 1902; another depiction of her is in a [[stained glass]] window by [[Clayton and Bell]] in the council chamber.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bettley |first1=James |last2=Pevsner |first2=Nicholas |date=2007 |title=Essex: Buildings of England Series |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages= 276–277 |isbn=978-0300116144 }}</ref>

Boudica was adopted by the [[suffragette]]s as one of the symbols of the campaign for [[women's suffrage]]. In 1908, a "Boadicea Banner" was carried in several [[National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies]] marches. She appears as a character in ''A Pageant of Great Women'' written by [[Cicely Hamilton]], which opened at the [[Scala Theatre]], London, in November 1909 before a national tour, and she was described in a 1909 pamphlet as "the eternal feminine... the guardian of the hearth, the avenger of its wrongs upon the defacer and the despoiler".<ref name=":10">{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Marguerite |title=Boadicea and British Suffrage Feminists |url=https://www.academia.edu/9239198 |journal=Outskirts Online Journal |date=10 November 2014 |volume=31 |issue=1994 |access-date=31 October 2020 }}</ref>

A "vocal minority" has claimed Boudica as a Celtic Welsh heroine.<ref name="Vandrei HT">{{Cite web |title=Queen Boudica, A Life in Legend |url=https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/queen-boudica-life-legend |access-date=4 August 2022 |website=www.HistoryToday.com}}</ref> A statue of Boudica in the Marble Hall at [[Cardiff City Hall]] was among those unveiled by [[David Lloyd George]] in 1916, though the choice had gained little support in a public vote.<ref name="Chappell">{{Cite book |last=Chappell |first=Edgar L. |title=Cardiff's Civic Centre: A historical guide |publisher=Priory Press |year=1946 |pages=21–26}}</ref><ref name="Vandrei HT" /> It shows her with her daughters and without warrior trappings.<ref name="vads">{{Cite web |title=Statue of Buddug – Boadicea |url=https://www.vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/PMSA/id/1229/}}</ref>

Permanent exhibitions describing the Boudican Revolt are at the [[Museum of London]], [[Colchester Castle|Colchester Castle Museum]] and the [[St Albans Museums#Verulamium Museum|Verulamium Museum]] in [[St Albans]].{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/page/198/mode/2up?q=Verulamium+Museum 198–199]}} A {{convert|36|miles|km|adj=on}} [[long distance footpath]] called [[Boudica's Way]] passes through countryside between [[Norwich]] and [[Diss, Norfolk|Diss]] in Norfolk.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/out-and-about-in-norfolk/norfolk-trails/long-distance-trails/boudicca-way |title=Boudicca Way (Norwich to Diss) |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=www.norfolk.gov.uk |publisher=Norfolk County Council |access-date=31 October 2020 }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome|History}}
{{Div col|colwidth=}}
* {{lang|cy|[[Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd]]}}
* [[List of women warriors in folklore]]
* [[Women in ancient warfare]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
<!--{{sfn |Dio |2015 |p=}}-->
* {{cite book |author=Cassius Dio |author-link=Cassius Dio |translator-last=Cary |translator-first=Earnest |translator2-last=Foster |translator2-first=Herbert Baldwin |title=Roman history |volume=VIII |chapter=Epitome of Book LXII |chapter-url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015004124510?urlappend=%3Bseq=70%3Bownerid=13510798888475493-74 |pages=61–171 |isbn=978-0-434-99176-1 |oclc=906698883 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001181660 |via=HathiTrust |location=London; New York |publisher=William Heinemann; G. P. Putnam's Sons |year=2015 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015004124510?urlappend=%3Bseq=70 |orig-year=1925 |language=grc, en}}
<!--{{sfn |Davies |2008 |p=}}-->
* {{cite book |last=Davies |first=John A. |title=The Land of Boudica: Prehistoric and Roman Norfolk |publisher=Oxford Books |publication-place=Oxford |date=2008 |isbn=978-1-905223-33-6 |oclc=458727322}}
* {{cite book |last1=Frénée-Hutchins |first1=Samantha |title=Boudica's Odyssey in Early Modern England |date=2016 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |location=London; New York |isbn=978-13171-7-296-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3pAGDAAAQBAJ}}
<!--{{sfn |Hingley |Unwin |2006 |p=}}-->
* {{cite book |last1=Hingley |first1=Richard |last2=Unwin |first2=Christina |title=Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen |publisher=Hambledon Continuum |publication-place=London |year=2006 |orig-date=2005 |isbn=978-0-8264-4060-0 |oclc=741691125 |url=https://archive.org/details/boudicaironagewa0000hing/mode/2up |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
<!--{{sfn |Vandrei |2018 |p=}}-->
* {{cite book |last=Vandrei |first=Martha |title=Queen Boudica and Historical Culture in Britain: An Image of Truth |publication-place=Oxford, UK |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-19-881672-0 |oclc=1009182312}}
<!--{{sfn |Webster |1978 |p=}}-->
* {{cite book |last=Webster |first=Graham |author-link=Graham Webster (archaeologist) |title=Boudica, the British revolt against Rome AD 60 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |publication-place=Totowa, NJ |date=1978 |isbn=978-0-8476-6043-8 |oclc=1348905150 |url=https://archive.org/details/boudicabritishre0000webs |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Carolyn D. |title=Boudica and Her Stories: Narrative Transformations of a Warrior Queen |publisher=University of Delaware Press |publication-place=Newark |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-87413-079-9 |oclc=316736523}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Cowper |first=William |title=Poems: by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. in Two Volumes |date=1787 |publisher=J. Johnson |edition=3rd |volume=1 |location=London |chapter=Boadicea |ref=none |author-link=William Cowper |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/poemsbywilliamc03cowpgoog/page/n363/mode/2up |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fraser |first=Antonia |url=https://archive.org/details/warriorqueensboa0000fras_y4m3/page/n1/mode/2up |title=The Warrior Queens: Boadicea's Chariot |date=1999 |publisher=Arrow |isbn=978-07493-1-675-4 |location=London |ref=none |author-link=Antonia Fraser |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofimperial1988taci/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Tacitus: The Annals of Imperial Rome |date=1988 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-01404-4-060-7 |edition=Revised |location=London |translator-last=Grant |translator-first=Michael |ref=none |orig-date=1956 |translator-link=Michael Grant (classicist)}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Marguerite |date=2014 |title=Boadicea and British Suffrage Feminists |url=https://www.outskirts.arts.uwa.edu.au/volumes/volume-31/marguerite-johnson |journal=Outskirts |location=Perth |publisher=[[University of Western Australia]] |volume=31 |issn=1445-0445 |access-date=22 October 2022 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Macdonald |first=Sharon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCUbpgTPeOgC |title=Images of Women in Peace and War: cross-cultural and historical perspectives |date=1988 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-02991-1-764-1 |editor-last=Holden |editor-first=Pat |location=Madison, Wisconsin |chapter=Boadicea: warrior, mother and myth |ref=none |editor-last2=Macdonald |editor-first2=Sharon |editor-last3=Ardener |editor-first3=Shirley}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tacitus |first=Cornelius |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0077%3Abook%3D14%3Achapter%3D31 |title=Annales ab excessu divi Augusti (Latin text) |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1906 |editor-last=Fisher |editor-first=Charles Dennis |location=Oxford |ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Boudica}}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Boadicea |volume= III | page=841 | short=1 }}
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Boadicea |volume= 4 |last= Haverfield |first= Francis J. |author-link= Francis J. Haverfield |page=94 |short=1}}

{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= England |portal3= United Kingdom|portal4= History}}
{{Authority control|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Boudica]]
[[Category:1st-century monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:1st-century rebels]]
[[Category:60s in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:61 deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient rebels]]
[[Category:British rebels]]
[[Category:Briton monarchs]]
[[Category:Celtic women warriors]]
[[Category:Female suicides]]
[[Category:Iceni]]
[[Category:People from Norfolk]]
[[Category:Queens regnant in the British Isles]]
[[Category:Rape in England]]
[[Category:Suicides by poison]]
[[Category:Whipping]]
[[Category:Women in 1st-century warfare]]
[[Category:Women in ancient European warfare]]
[[Category:Women in war in Britain]]
[[Category:Women warriors]]