Queen Boudica

At the risk of my constantly repeating myself MILTON KEYNES HAS MORE LEGENDS AND MORE HERITAGE PER SQUARE MILE THAN ANY OTHER TOWN, CITY OR VILLAGE IN THE COUNTRY.

Allow me now to share a chapter from my book MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS and consider the giant legend that was Queen Boudica.

IN SEARCH OF A DEAD QUEEN

We all know Queen Boudica from school history lessons. That fearsome lady with knives on the wheel of wheels of her chariot, that famous warrior championing the plight of the Ancient Britons against the mighty empire of Rome. The widow who suffered under the whip and saw her daughters abused, who now is immortalised in the bronze statue adjacent to

Hyde Park Corner.

But what you may ask has Boudica got to do with Milton Keynes ? Where does her legend touch our area ?  Draw a little closer and I will tell you.

Nero was the Roman emperor (presumably sometime before he took up violin lessons) and a certain Suetonuis Pauligus (Where did they get names like that from ?) was the governor of Britain. This was in about AD 60.  Prastigus (Like I said where did they get those sort of names from ?) was the King of the Iceni Tribe of East Anglia and his wife was the famous Boudica.

A Roman writer described the Iceni Queen as a tall woman with piercing eyes and a loud voice. A great massive mop of red hair hung down to below her waist. Round her neck was a large gold torc. (A torc is a stiff metal ring.) She wore a full flowing tartan dress and over it a thick cloak fastened with a brooch.

When King Prastigus died he expediently left half of his property to Nero and willed that the reminder should be divided between his two daughters.

This appeared to have been more than generous, perhaps intended to ensure the future wellbeing under the Roman occupation of his family. However, half was not enough for the governor who took the lot !

When Boudica and her over-taxed tribesmen made protest the Icini Queen was whipped and her two daughters raped by Roman officers.  Boudica’s resulting rebellion very nearly evicted the Roman Empire from the shores of Britain.

Boudica and her followers marched on the Roman capital of Colchester which they sacked and burned.  The 9th Legion sent to put down the uprising was all but wiped out by the Britons as they marched towards London.  Governor Paulinus, who was at that time in Mona (The capital of Anglesey), ordered a strong cavalry troop to accompany him to London.  They found the city in a state of dire panic.

Marching his southern troops along Watling Street Paulinus intended to meet up with the army now moving post-haste towards Boudica. It was his intention for the larger army to engage with her stronger force. In so doing London was left to its fate and was burned along with Saint Albans, the Roman fortress in Verulamium. If the Roman historian Tacticus is correct no less than 70,000 Roman Citizens had so far perished under the anger of Boudica.

Surging through Milton Keynes Boudica met up with Paulinus and his army near to Towcester. Never before in the history of Roman Empire had such humiliation been suffered and if Governor Paulinus could not turn events it will be better he perish in the fray than have to report back to Nero.

Boadicea outnumbered Paulinus ten to one but hers were undisciplined tribal farmers and herdsmen against the might of two highly trained Roman legions.  She addressed the troops: We British are used to women commanders in war.  I am not fighting as an ordinary person for my lost freedom, my bruised body and my outraged daughters.  The gods will grant us the revenge we deserve. Think how many of you there are and why we are fighting; then you will be able to win this battle, or die. That is what I, a woman, plan to do. Let men live in slavery if they want to.

But the pride of every Roman soldier was hurt and that of Governor Paulinus above them all.  There would be no prisoners, there would be no slaves, if Roman rule was to survive the rebellion had to be crushed entirely and without mercy. The account of Tacticus records that 80,000 Britons are slain with just 400 Romans but perhaps it would be only right to credit him with just a little creative accounting.

Boudica was not among those lost in battle. After outfighting any man she escaped and made her way across country south to Newton Longville where she poisoned herself.  At least that is what the official story put out by the Romans said, perhaps to discredit their enemy by branding her a coward. Another writer Dio Cassius, telling the tale a century and a half later, explained that Boudica died from a sickness several weeks after the battle, perhaps as a result of wounds turning septic. She was then secretly buried in Newton Longville and greatly mourned.

Governor Paulinus did not stop there. He slaughtered thousands upon thousands more Britons in revenge before reporting back to Nero that this particular part of the empire was again at peace.