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Added by tibbyj11
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  • Story: Biography

    <p align="justify"> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Britain has produced many fierce, noble warriors down the ages who have fought to keep Britain free, but there was one formidable lady in history whose name will never be forgotten - <em>Queen Boudica </em>or <em>Boadicea </em>as she is more commonly called. </font></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">At the time of the Roman conquest of southern Britain Queen Boudica <em> </em>ruled the<em> </em> Iceni tribe of East Anglia alongside her husband King Prasutagus. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Boudica<em> </em> </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> <span style="font-size: 10pt"> was a striking looking woman. - &quot;She was very tall, the glance of her eye most fierce; her voice harsh. A great mass of the reddest hair fell down to her hips. Her appearance was terrifying.&quot; - Definitely a lady to be noticed! </span> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">The trouble started when Prasutagus, hoping to curry favour with the Romans, made the Roman Emperor Nero co-heir with his daughters to his considerable kingdom and wealth. He hoped by this ploy, to keep his kingdom and household free from attack. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">But no! Unfortunately the Roman Governor of Britain at that time was Suetonius Paulinus <em> </em>who had other ideas on the subject of lands and property. After Prasutagus&#39;s <em> </em>death his lands and household were plundered by the Roman officers and their slaves. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Not content with taking all the property and lands, Suetonius <em> </em>had Prasutagus&#39; widow Boudica <em> </em>publicly flogged and her daughters were raped by Roman slaves! </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Other Iceni <em> </em>chiefs suffered in a like manner and their families were treated like slaves. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Not surprisingly these outrages provoked the Iceni, Trinobantes and other tribes to rebel against the Romans. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">The Britons at first had great successes. They captured the hated Roman settlement of Camulodunum <em> </em>(Colchester) and the Roman division there was routed, the Imperial agent fleeing to <em>Gaul. </em> </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Boudica<em> </em> </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> <span style="font-size: 10pt"> and her allies gave no quarter in their victories and when Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St. Albans) were stormed, the defenders fled and the towns were sacked and burned! The revolting Britons even desecrated the Roman cemeteries, mutilating statues and breaking tombstones. Some of these mutilated statues can be seen today in Colchester Museum. </span> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Finally Suetonius<em>, </em>who had made a tactical withdrawal (fled) with his troops into relative safety of the Roman military zone, decided to challenge Boudica. He assembled an army of 10,000 regulars and auxiliaries, the backbone of which was made up from the 14th Legion. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">The Roman historian Tacitus <em> </em>in his &#39;Annals of Rome&#39; gives a very vivid account of the final battle, which was fought in the Midlands of England, possibly at place called Mancetter near Nuneaton, in AD61. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p><p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Boudica and her daughters drove round in her chariot to all her tribes before the battle, exhorting them to be brave. She cried that she was descended from mighty men but she was fighting as an ordinary person for her lost freedom, her bruised body and outraged daughters. Perhaps as taunt to the men in her ranks, it is said that she asked them to consider: &#39;Win the battle or perish: that is what I, a woman will do; you men can live on in slavery if that&#39;s what you want.&#39;</font></span></p><p>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">The Britons attacked crowding in on the Roman defensive line. The order was given and a volley of several thousand heavy Roman javelins was thrown into the advancing Britons, followed quickly by a second volley. The lightly armed Britons must have suffered massive casualties within the first minutes of the battle. The Romans moved in for the kill, attacking in tight formation, stabbing with their short swords. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">The Britons now had little chance, with so many of them involved in the battle it is likely that their massed ranks worked against them by restricting their movements so they were unable to use their long swords effectively. To ensure success the Roman cavalry was released which promptly encircled the enemy and began their slaughter from the rear. Seemingly mad with blood lust, Tacitus records that 80,000 Britons; men, women and children, were killed. The Roman losses amounted to 400 dead with a slightly larger number wounded. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Boudica was not killed in the battle but took poison rather than be taken alive by the Romans. </font></span> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font></p> <font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2"> </font><p align="justify"><span style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="arial,helvetica,arial,lucida sans" size="2">Boudica has secured a special place of her own in British folk history remembered for her courage; The Warrior Queen <em> </em>who fought the might of Rome. And in a way she did get her revenge, as in 1902 a bronze statue of her riding high in her chariot, designed by Thomas Thorneycroft<em>,</em> was placed on the Thames embankment next to the Houses of Parliament in the old Roman capital of Britain, Londinium - The ultimate in <em>Girl Power!</em></font></span></p>

  • Story: Tribal Origin

    <p>The <strong>Iceni</strong> or <strong>Eceni</strong> were a Brythonic tribe who inhabited an area of Britain corresponding roughly to the modern-day county of Norfolk between the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. The <strong>Cenimagni</strong>, who surrendered to Julius Caesar during his second expedition to Britain in 54 BC, may have been a branch of the Iceni.<sup>[1]</sup></p> <p>Archaeological evidence of the Iceni includes torcs - heavy rings of gold, silver or electrum worn around the neck and shoulders.</p> <p>The Iceni began producing coins ca. 10 BC. Their coins were a distinctive adaptation of the Gallo-Belgic &quot;face/horse&quot; design, and in some early issues, most numerous near Norwich, the horse was replaced with a boar. Some coins are inscribed ECENI, making them the only coin-producing group to use their tribal name on coins. The earliest personal name to appear on coins is Antedios (ca. 10 BC), and other abbreviated names like AESU and SAEMU follow.<sup>[2]</sup></p> <p>Sir Thomas Browne the first British archaeological writer, said of the Roman occupation, Boudica and Iceni coins:</p> <blockquote> <p>That <em>Britain</em> was notably populous is undeniable, from that expression of <em>Caesar</em>. That the Romans themselves were early in no small Numbers, Seventy Thousand with their associates slain by <em>Bouadicea</em>, affords a sure account... And no small number of silver peeces near <em>Norwich</em>; with a rude head upon the obverse, an ill-formed horse on the reverse, with the Inscriptions <em>Ic. Duro.T.</em> whether implying <em>Iceni, Dutotriges, Tascia,</em> or <em>Trinobantes</em>, we leave to higher conjecture. The <em>British</em> Coyns afford conjecture of early habitation in these parts, though the City of <em>Norwich</em> arose from the ruins of <em>Venta</em>, and though perhaps not without some habitation before, was enlarged, built, and nominated by the <em>Saxons</em>.<sup>[3]</sup></p> </blockquote> <p>The Icknield Way, an ancient trackway linking East Anglia to the Chilterns may be named after the Iceni.</p>

 
 
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