The Boudicca Appeal
B is for Boudicca; B is for Badass. Let’s be honest, the main thing that makes Boudicca so appealing is that she was badass. Who doesn’t love a rebel fighting for a good cause; to avenge the wrong that was done to her daughters and people? She was tough, empowered, determined and heroic. She certainly wouldn’t go down without a fight. This is what the stories of her all tell us, however accurate or inaccurate they are. The idea of her may be better than the historical truth behind her but wouldn’t you rather believe something exciting and interesting than nothing at all. We can make Boudicca whoever we like, and our ability to do this has allowed the Western world to move forward in feminine empowerment and engaging people in history for centuries.
Anyone who hears the story will sympathize with the British, the underdogs and want them to gain freedom. It is often easier to sympathize with the victim than the bully and from what we know the Romans were the bullies in this case scenario. Boudicca was fighting for “my lost freedom, my bruised body, and my outraged daughters…” (Tacitus, Annals) after her “kingdom and household alike were plundered like prizes of war… The Chieftains of the Iceni were deprived of their family estates as if the whole country had been handed over to the Romans. The king’s own relatives were treated like slaves” (Tacitus). She had a much better cause than the Romans who only wanted the native’s land and money.
As Isha Bassi wrote in her blog, Heroines of History, “Boudicca truly was one of history’s most fiercest and passionate warrior queens.” Boudicca was likeable. She made it clear that the strength of a mother should not be doubted, after all, underneath everything Boudicca was an angry mother. Boudicca was caring, passionate, strong, resilient and charismatic, she had all the qualities of a great leader who she has proven to be. On a website called History’s Heroes, 219 people voted to say that Boudicca was heroic in 2013. These are everyday peoples views, it is obvious that anyone can look up to the bravery she showed in taking on the Romans.
A chief reporter described Boudicca in an article that appeared in The Observer as being “a flame-haired paragon of wronged womanhood, a first-century feminist leading a horde of righteous Britons against their nasty Mediterranean overlords” but also accredits her as “a calculating, vengeful and brutal military leader, who methodically razed cities.” (John Burke, 2000) It seems that it is very possible to be both: brutal towards her enemies and a good leader for her people. You wouldn’t want to stand in her way!
As A Fraser states in no uncertain terms in The Warrior Queens: Boudicea’s Chariot (1988), “Boudica’s story did not end there. The death of this obscure British queen, buried in an unknown grave, was in fact only the beginning of the story.”
B is for Boudicca; B is for Badass. Let’s be honest, the main thing that makes Boudicca so appealing is that she was badass. Who doesn’t love a rebel fighting for a good cause; to avenge the wrong that was done to her daughters and people? She was tough, empowered, determined and heroic. She certainly wouldn’t go down without a fight. This is what the stories of her all tell us, however accurate or inaccurate they are. The idea of her may be better than the historical truth behind her but wouldn’t you rather believe something exciting and interesting than nothing at all. We can make Boudicca whoever we like, and our ability to do this has allowed the Western world to move forward in feminine empowerment and engaging people in history for centuries.
Anyone who hears the story will sympathize with the British, the underdogs and want them to gain freedom. It is often easier to sympathize with the victim than the bully and from what we know the Romans were the bullies in this case scenario. Boudicca was fighting for “my lost freedom, my bruised body, and my outraged daughters…” (Tacitus, Annals) after her “kingdom and household alike were plundered like prizes of war… The Chieftains of the Iceni were deprived of their family estates as if the whole country had been handed over to the Romans. The king’s own relatives were treated like slaves” (Tacitus). She had a much better cause than the Romans who only wanted the native’s land and money.
As Isha Bassi wrote in her blog, Heroines of History, “Boudicca truly was one of history’s most fiercest and passionate warrior queens.” Boudicca was likeable. She made it clear that the strength of a mother should not be doubted, after all, underneath everything Boudicca was an angry mother. Boudicca was caring, passionate, strong, resilient and charismatic, she had all the qualities of a great leader who she has proven to be. On a website called History’s Heroes, 219 people voted to say that Boudicca was heroic in 2013. These are everyday peoples views, it is obvious that anyone can look up to the bravery she showed in taking on the Romans.
A chief reporter described Boudicca in an article that appeared in The Observer as being “a flame-haired paragon of wronged womanhood, a first-century feminist leading a horde of righteous Britons against their nasty Mediterranean overlords” but also accredits her as “a calculating, vengeful and brutal military leader, who methodically razed cities.” (John Burke, 2000) It seems that it is very possible to be both: brutal towards her enemies and a good leader for her people. You wouldn’t want to stand in her way!
As A Fraser states in no uncertain terms in The Warrior Queens: Boudicea’s Chariot (1988), “Boudica’s story did not end there. The death of this obscure British queen, buried in an unknown grave, was in fact only the beginning of the story.”