Boudicca: The Warrior Queen

Between AD 61 and AD 63 Boudicca led the Iceni in a glorious but bloody war against the Romans. The Iceni had submitted their kingdom in East Anglia to the all conquering forces of the Roman legions under the rule of Claudius as long ago as AD43. IN AD 61 Boudicca's husband Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, died. In a dispute that followed Boudicca was publicly flogged and her two daughter's raped. The tribe were insulted and rose in a revolt led by their queen Boudicca. The uprising was so successful that the might of the Roman army was almost defeated, but the finely honed military skills of the Legion's finally brought the revolt to an end and roman rule was established. If the revolt by the Iceni had been successful, perhaps the Romans would have been driven out of Britain for ever. Boudicca's name lives on and she is still one of Britain's greatest heroines.

I found the book very informitave not dry yet sensitive to the plight of Celtic Britan. The working backwords is paramount as the only sources for the Boudiccdan revolt were Roman and extracting and interplating information from the prejudices of Roman society had towards women is extreamly valuable. Also the knowledge of the Roman emperiors of the period has caused interest in these personalities which will promt more research on my part. Extreamly inlightening reading.

Although the first third of Trow's scholarly work on Boudicca is somewhat dry, it does set the stage for the facinating other two thirds. Because what little written record there is comes to us from Boudicca's enemies, it is necessary for the author to examin the times in which she lived and the religion she practiced. Only the uneducated would not already realize that Christian holidays are based on more ancient Pagan holidays celebrated by the peoples missionaries converted. To say that the author has an axe to grind because he mentions this fact is a bit of an overstatement. The book is full of factual information where fact can be discerned and the information regarding Pagan religions is accurate. It is unfortunate that what information we have about this ancient woman does not appear in history books of general disscemination such as school text books. The fact that a woman put up such a valliant fight to drive the Romans out of Britain should be more common knowledge.

Despite this book's title, the author's focus is mainly on ancient Britain and its peoples in the face of Roman invasion. The author is very careful in pointing out what is known, what is legend, what is not known and what can never be known about Boudicca and the people of Britain during that period. The sources of the information presented are clearly stated as are the shortcomings of those sources. The author writes clearly and much of the text is very detailed. A reader expecting to read about details in the life of Boudicca will be disappointed. However, a reader seriously interested in history and archaeology will find much valuable information here. A few maps to illustrate the geographical locations of the various tribes and where important events took place would have been very useful.