Was Queen Boudicca a good queen?

Question

When she stopped the romans from taking her throne and refused to pay taxes, was she just being rebellious or doing it for a just cause? Help! I know nothing on this!

Answer 1

Boudica (also Boudicca, Boadicea, Buduica, Bonduca) (d. 60/61) was a queen of the Brythonic Celtic Iceni people of Norfolk in Eastern Britain who led a major uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. Upon the death of her husband Prasutagus (circa 60), the Romans annexed his kingdom and brutally humiliated Boudica and her daughters, spurring her leadership of the revolt.

In 60 or 61, while governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was leading a campaign on the island of Anglesey in north Wales, Boudica led the Iceni, along with the Trinovantes and others, in a rebellion which destroyed the former Trinovantian capital and Roman colonia of Camulodunum (Colchester), and routed the Roman Legio IX Hispana under Quintus Petillius Cerialis. Boudica's army then burned to the ground the twenty-year-old settlement of Londinium (London) and destroyed Verulamium (St Albans), killing an estimated 70,000-80,000 people. Roman emperor Nero briefly considered withdrawing Roman forces from the island, but ultimately Boudica was defeated at the Battle of Watling Street by the heavily outnumbered forces of governor Suetonius.

The chronicles of these events, as recorded by the historians Tacitus[1] and Dio Cassius[2], were rediscovered during the Renaissance and led to a resurgence of Boudica's legendary fame during the Victorian era, when Queen Victoria was portrayed as her "namesake". Boudica has since remained an important cultural symbol in the United Kingdom.

Hope this helps!!

Answer 2

bdbarbie & worldstiti have given excellent answers, but I do feel that I must add a little something on poor old Neros behalf.
In the Roman Empire, there were 3 principle classes of people;
1/ The Roman Citizen
2/ The majority, people from conquered lands who were freemen.
3/ The slave.
The Roman Citizens (needn't have been born in Italy) were the only people allowed to vote, and have representation, They were very much an elite, and were protected as such by the military. Queen Boucicca and her family should have been accorded all respect and privilege of the Roman Citizen, and the military in England clearly did not. Nero would never have condoned this action.

Answer 3

Well it was a just cause. King Prasutagus, Boudicca's husband, was an allied King with the Romans. As roman law says that only the male line could inheritance, when her husband Prasutagus died, all attempts, to preserve his line were ignored by the Romans. Because he had two daughters. Instead his kingdom, was annexed as if it had been conquered. Lands and property were confiscated and the nobles were treated like slaves. That was not the end, Boudicca was flogged and her daughters were raped by the Romans. So you see Boudicca was beyond angry with the Romans. And it was a major cause of her uprising.

Answer 4

Politically such made the right moves. She tried to appease the Roman Empire with half of her land after her Husband's death (This was his idea to help her). Appeasing the Romans is a good idea being as they were the superpower of Europe and virtually unstoppable. However as the Roman's took everything and brutalised her and her daughters as an act of contempt she made the right choice in showing them the folly of their diplomacy. Sacking the capital Colchester and the economic centre Londinium would have been major blows to the Roman interst in Britain. After Colchester a Roman Legion came after her but was ambushed in the woods. Fighting a gurellia war worked excellent against Roman soldiers who were used to open combat on the field. The distrcution of a entie Roman legion would have also had major impilcations to the empire. However the Romans still had a second legion who were at the time slaughtering Druids in North Wales and when they faced Bouidccas hordes later on, they faced her on the open field mcuh to her mistake. I think the estimates of her forces were 100,000 and the legion had 2000. But her lot was rabble and the Romans had displine, equipment and strategy. If they stuck to ambushes and Guerilla forces we may very well be leaving in a very different Britain today but it seems over confidence lead her to bring her forces in open combat and wholesale slaughter. Rather than heeding this civil unrest the Roman regime clamped down and became much stricter in Britain after that time. As an icon she is great but unfortunetly not much of a general. Perhaps a better politician than a Queen.

Answer 5

Boudicca (aka Boadicea) was the consort of the king of the Iceni. It was after his death that she sought the protection of the Roman emperor (at the time it was Nero).

Instead of protection, she was severely beaten and her two daughters were raped.

Was she a good queen? Depends on one's outlook, I guess--the Roman colonists who felt the wrath of the Iceni during the rebellion probably wouldn't think so (trust me, there were lots of atrocities committed by Boudicca's warriors, but also realize that they were also committed by the Romans: to go down to the level of the schoolyard blame game of my youth, "They started it!").

But from another perspective, she can be viewed as a woman who would not take mistreatment lying down. A great wrong had been done to her, her family, and her people, and instead of just quietly submitting, they fought against it.

Answer 6

'Good' is a relative term and trying to judge from a 21st century perspective whether Boudicca was good, bad or otherwise isn't straightforward. Today we all (I hope) believe that slavery is/was an evil practice, but from a 17th/18th/19th century standpoint it was the norm; the natural order. Boudicca rebelled against the Romans for very personal reasons - her daughters were raped by them, they killed her husband etc. She was defending her own. Up until that point she was apparently quite content to go along with them. So, where does that leave you?

Answer 7

Would it help if I told you her daughters were raped by Roman soldiers? Good and Bad are very subjective. She led a major revolt which caused the Romans to re-evaluate how the Britons were treated by the local centurions, but at the same time it was pretty much a wholesale slaughter of the people in her tribe and those who joined her. Still, if you are likely to be killed by Roman soldiers with nothing better to do and a hierarchy to far away to make a difference then maybe....?

Answer 8

After her husbad prasutagus died, Nero, the roman emporer wanted to take all she had. this overwhelmed her so much but when she decided to take on the roman empire all of south east britain was by her side. her warriors were more than a little intimedating, they were fierce. a desparate battle was fought but the romans won. many who lived where hunted down by roman soldiers. but it seemed that Boudicca action's had made the roman empire change there ways to something a little kinder. when she was defeated, the proud warrior took her own life by drinking a chalice full of poison. So to answer your question, YES Queen Boudicca was a good queen.

Answer 9

she's an historical figure. but we don't know so much about her. All the data we have comes from the Romans I think.

This story become really popular in the 19 th century after being a bit romanced to excite english nationalist pride against enemy and so on

So was she a good queen ? nobody knows ... at this time people were very different from now and according to our actual standards likely she was not.

Answer 10

Boudicca was fiercely defensive of her people so in that respect yes she was a good queen. however there would not have been bloodshed if she had simply acquiesced to the Romans because they ruled using a system of satiellite/puppet rulers local to annexed provinces.