How to Become a Woman-Warrior Statesperson

With all of the discussion and debate over women’s leadership roles in current day society, I thought it useful to look back at a bit of history. What did it take to become a Celtic warrior queen in CE 60? On a recent trip to Britain, my partner and I were intrigued by this bronze tribute to Boudecca and her daughters positioned in grand fashion at Westminster overlooking the River Thames. We would soon discover that female rulers were not only accepted but also successful in Iron Age Britain.

Boudecca was queen of the Iceni tribe, a warrior and seasoned statesperson, ruling an area along the east coast of current day England including Norfolk and northwest Suffolk. But the story of her rise to power is all about the coming of Roman rule, the Iceni as a client territory, and the machinations of her royal family.

The bronze rendition overlooking the Thames is a reasonably accurate depiction of Boudecca and her two daughters astride a twin-horse Celtic war chariot, apparently moving forward in spirited fashion and led by rearing horses. Long scythes protrude from the wheels in a menacing display of bloody warrior bravado, while Boudecca herself lofts a long spear in triumph.

While the horse-drawn chariot is most associated with the earlier Roman ceremonial versions, according to historians this particular chariot design was frequently utilized by the early Britons in their warrior campaigns, particularly by the royal aristocracy.

There were other Brigante (Celtic first people) queen rulers during the Roman rule of Britannia, CE 43-410. The first and most well known was Cartimandua, based in Stanwick in what is now North Yorkshire. Like Boudecca, Cartimandua was a warrior leader and statesperson who led her people, including most of the northern Brigante tribes, into a profitable alliance with the invading Romans. This at a time when eleven other tribes in the south either resisted or surrendered to Roman rule, the resistors crushed by the Roman Legions. Cartimandua reigned CE 43-69.

While female rulers were commonly accepted among the Celtic tribes of Britannia, they were not always in agreement. When her father died in CE 60, Boudecca became queen, and she decided that she had had enough of Roman rule.

The following reports on the activities of Boudecca come from two Roman historians, Tacitus (56 CE – 117 CE) and Dio (150 CE – 235 CE). These Romans confirm that Boudecca was from royal lineage and a woman of superior intelligence. She is also said to have been tall with long reddish-brown hair. They report that she had a harsh voice and a piercing glare, not altogether surprising for a noble woman.

Note that there is no contemporary documentation of the events of Boudecca’s life. This has resulted in variations in the details and descriptions of these events and numerous spelling variations of her name.

As happens in many families, Boudecca’s politics was not entirely aligned with her husband’s. Although the Iceni were a fiercely independent tribe, their king and Boudecca’s husband, Prasutagus, had capitulated to the new Roman overseers, and as a result was granted client king status. This meant that his affairs of state would remain internal but became subordinate to Rome and Emperor Nero.

But then, in a misguided attempt to maintain his dynasty, Prasutagus made the Emperor together with his wife and daughters joint heirs to the Iceni lands. This was ultimately meaningless because Rome did not recognize women in leadership roles, and in any case, client king status meant that upon the death of the king, the tribe and territory would be turned over in its entirety to Roman rule.

With Prasutagus’ passing in 60 CE, the Iceni kingdom became part of the Roman Empire and overnight things changed. One modern writer describes the results this way:

The people were treated as if they had been conquered. Lands and property were taken by Rome and the people were treated as slaves. According to Tacitus, when Queen Boudecca complained, she was publicly flogged [by the Roman troops] and her daughters raped.

To make matters worse, payment of the debts incurred by Prasutagus by borrowing Roman money was demanded. Boudecca was outraged and upon recovering from her wounds, she used her statesperson skills to quietly build alliances with several nearby tribes, gathered her armies, and while the Roman governor was away from Londinium (London) launched a rebellion against the Roman invaders.

As cited in Historic UK, they destroyed the hated Roman fort at Camulodunum (near Colchester) including a temple to the Emperor Claudius, and went on to successfully plunder the Roman settlements at Verulamium (St. Albans) and Londinium. Some seventy-five thousand of the Roman enemy and pro-Roman Britons were ruthlessly killed by the Iceni and their allied forces during these battles.

When word reached the Governor, Suetonius Paullinus, he quickly returned to Londonium, only to find the fort and surrounding trading posts destroyed. He abandoned the area to the Iceni and focused instead on amassing the remaining legend forces into an army estimated at ten thousand troops.

By this time Boudecca commanded some two hundred thousand Brigante followers, and yet the penultimate battle would not go well. According to Tacitus, Boudecca addressed her troops before battle:

She told them that she wished to avenge their lost freedom, her battered body, and the raping of her daughters. She declared that their cause was just and the gods were on their side. Finally, she stated that she was resolved to win or die in the battle, but gave her followers a choice: they could either follow her into battle or live in slavery. She was not one to avoid strong words.

In the end, the Roman battle strategies and superior equipment won the day. Choosing a narrow valley to engage the enemy, the Governor’s forces were able to systematically slaughter Boudecca and her armies, killing every last woman, man and animal.

Despite this unfortunate outcome, Boudecca would assume a place in history alongside Britain’s other warrior queens, inspiring them to battle when circumstances demanded. Among them was Queen Elizabeth I who successfully defended the homeland against a planned massive attack by the Spanish armada in the 1580s.

Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years, 1819 through 1901, and whose leadership constituted the Victorian Era, oversaw several major wars including the Crimean War, 1837-1854, and the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Indeed it was during her reign that the sculpture of Boudecca and her daughters was commissioned.

Later, nearly a decade before she became Queen Elizabeth II, the young Elizabeth became the first female member of the British royal family to become an active duty member of the British Armed Forces, and the last to have served during World War II.

According to Wikipedia, the sculpture of Boudecca and her daughters on the Thames was commissioned in 1850 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and is considered the master work of its sculptor, the English artist and engineer Thomas Thornycroft. Thornycroft worked on it from 1856 until shortly before his death in 1885, but it was not installed in its current location until 1902.

At the time parallels were drawn between Victoria and Boudicca, whose name also means “victory.” Albert lent two horses as models, and the statue bears some resemblance to a young Queen Victoria. The inscription plaque on the plinth reads:

As noted by the Brooklyn Museum, since the discovery of the above referenced historical sources during the Renaissance, the popularity of Boudecca’s legend has grown, and her life continues to be interpreted in popular culture. She is a cultural symbol in Great Britain, as she stands for leadership, strength, and courage against an occupying power.

When feminist artist Judy Chicago and her team researched Boudecca for her master work installation, The Dinner Party (1979), they decided to use powerful Celtic images to represent her as a warrior queen. The patterns on the runner are constructed from felt, which many scholars agree was the first fabric, predating any woven textiles. On the plate there is a structure similar to Stonehenge, representing the British Isles. A stylized golden helmet, also decorated with Celtic patterns, signifies Boudecca’s status as a warrior.

Queen Boudecca took her place among just thirty-nine famous historical and mythological women permanently enshrined in Chicago’s feminist masterpiece, now on display at the Brooklyn Museum.

Boudecca has also been widely celebrated in popular culture. She was adopted by the British suffragettes 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 was described in a 1909 pamphlet associated with the production of A Pageant of Great Women, as “the eternal feminine… the guardian of the hearth, the avenger of its wrongs upon the defacer and the despoiler.”

At the Roar Women’s Festival in Colchester in 2023, local actor Elizabeth Cleone Hopland portrayed the fabled queen so successfully that she and her character were invited to participate in the International Women’s Day event a few days later. There is also a 2023 book from historian Duncan Mackay published by Hodder & Stoughton, Echolands: A Journey in Search of Boudica, available on Amazon.

Recent television and film productions include the 1978 British television series Warrior Queen, the 2003 British biographical-historical television film Warrior Queen, and the 2023 British action feature film Boudica: Queen of War.

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Vic Caldarola is the founder and lead facilitator of the Shine a Light Men’s Project, a men’s mindfulness discussion group. He holds a PhD in Communications Studies.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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