The Role of Celtic Women as Queens & Princesses
A famous Celtic warrior queen, from the English perspective was Boudicca. Several of the books about Celtic Women have an account about her and her association with the Goddess Andrast. When Boudicca’s husband Prasutagus died, who was the king of the Iceni, a prominent tribe of East Anglia, Boudicca assumed queenship. Prasutagus was in a client-king relationship with the Rome. This relationship was a personal treaty of alliance with the Roman Empire, in which the king kept his sovereignty and territory, but guaranteed, in return, to keep his land peaceful (Green M. , 1996). In an effort to protect his family, Prasutagus left half of his estate to his two daughters and the other half to Nero and the Roman Empire. The fact that his will stated his daughters as co-heirs, gives further evidence to the matrilineal custom mentioned earlier. The Roman financial official, Decianus Catus, carried out an inventory of the estate; his actions were insensitive and arrogant. Furthermore he refused to honor Boudicca’s new position and reduced the status of the Iceni kingdom. Boudicca’s self-proclamation as ruler challenged the imperial authority; she was flogged, her daughters were repeatedly raped, and Icenian property was confiscated.
In reaction to this, Boudicca amassed a huge army, remarkable considering how prior to this; the Celtic tribes failed at uniting to fight the Roman Empire. Her army sacked the Roman cities of Camulodunum, London, and Verulamium before being defeated by the Roman governor Suetonius Paulinus, who at the time was annihilating the druidic groves on Anglesey. Archaeological evidence has confirmed the destruction of these three Roman towns (Green M. , 1996). The accounts of Boudica’s wrath after sacking the three cities include Boudica’s sacrificing of female Roman prisoners. The Roman female prisoners had their breast cut off, stuffed in their mouth, before being impaled vertically on great skewers (Doan, 1987).
The horrifying tale of Boudica’s vengeance on Roman women is symbolic revenge of the rape of her daughters. Tacitus, a Roman historian makes the significant comment that the rebels’ exacted vengeance in advance for what they knew would be their fate once the Romans overcame them (Green M. , 1996). He also compares the actions of Boudicca as sacrificial offerings the Warrior Goddess Andrast. This comment is potent in revealing the manner in which Romans perceived women. It is presumed that Boudica took her own life with poison; rather than suffer at the hands of the Romans. Her legend has lasted throughout history and has been worked into the mythical tails of warrior goddess in Irish mythology. The idea and stigma of the warrior goddess became the only acceptable goddess within the patriarchal framework.
In reaction to this, Boudicca amassed a huge army, remarkable considering how prior to this; the Celtic tribes failed at uniting to fight the Roman Empire. Her army sacked the Roman cities of Camulodunum, London, and Verulamium before being defeated by the Roman governor Suetonius Paulinus, who at the time was annihilating the druidic groves on Anglesey. Archaeological evidence has confirmed the destruction of these three Roman towns (Green M. , 1996). The accounts of Boudica’s wrath after sacking the three cities include Boudica’s sacrificing of female Roman prisoners. The Roman female prisoners had their breast cut off, stuffed in their mouth, before being impaled vertically on great skewers (Doan, 1987).
The horrifying tale of Boudica’s vengeance on Roman women is symbolic revenge of the rape of her daughters. Tacitus, a Roman historian makes the significant comment that the rebels’ exacted vengeance in advance for what they knew would be their fate once the Romans overcame them (Green M. , 1996). He also compares the actions of Boudicca as sacrificial offerings the Warrior Goddess Andrast. This comment is potent in revealing the manner in which Romans perceived women. It is presumed that Boudica took her own life with poison; rather than suffer at the hands of the Romans. Her legend has lasted throughout history and has been worked into the mythical tails of warrior goddess in Irish mythology. The idea and stigma of the warrior goddess became the only acceptable goddess within the patriarchal framework.
The ancient Roman historian Cassius Dio’s description of the Celtic queen:
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 many colors. ("Boudicca, queen of," 2013)
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 many colors. ("Boudicca, queen of," 2013)
More Archaeology information on Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni