Boudica’s Revolt Essay, Research Paper
??????????? Boudicas Revolt in AD 60 was
perfectly justifiable. Britain was invaded by the Romans in AD 43 under control
of emperor Claudius. The Icenis at this time were under control form King
Antedious. The Icenian kingdom made a treaty with the Romans making the Iceni a
Client Kingdom. ??????????? A client kingdom is a kingdom under
control of the Romans. The king of this kingdom remained in throne but the king
had to answer to the Romans. This meant that the king had certain freedom but
in the end had to listen to what Rome said. The Iceni controlled all trade
routes into the wash. The Romans needed to have use of these sea routes for
trading and shipments. The Romans used the Iceni towns to house their soldiers
when preparing to secure the south coast routes into Britain. The Romans didn’t
like leaving troops near newly conquered colonies because it was a waste of
their resources. It was much more effective to waste the Icenian resources even
though it annoyed the Iceni. ??????????? The Iceni were situated in the
southeast of Britain and had borders with the Catuvellauni and the Trinovantes
(See map above.) Both the Cativenllani and the Trinovantes traded with the
Romans even before the Roman invasion. The Iceni tribe however refused to play
any part in this. Later when they were forced to trade with the Romans it was a
massive change for all of them. This is arguably one of the more major for the
Iceni revolting. ??????????? Evidence gathered from the Roman
pottery backs this idea up. All over Britain Roman wine jugs (amphora) have
been found. Very few of these jugs have been found where the Iceni used to be
situated compared with other places such as South Britain. This shows that the
rest of Britain traded with the Roman Empire whereas the Iceni had remained
very isolated from Roman Culture and therefore were in for a shock later??????????? The Iceni managed to live in peace
with the Roman Empire until 47AD when the first battle between The Roman Empire
and the Iceni took place. The Dispute was over weapons P.Ostoirus Scapula who
was the governor at the time had decided to disarm the Iceni tribe to tighten
his grip and increase the control of the Roman Empire over Britain. This must
have made the Iceni feel even more dependent on Rome than they already were.??????????? Paul Sealey stated that the Iceni
people did not like this as the weapons had played a major part in the role of
their religion. This made them angry and caused the small revolution in 47AD
against the roman army. There followed a fierce fight in which the Britons ran
away. This shows that even from an early stage the Iceni did not like the
Romans being in control.? According to
Paul Sealey "The best suggestion for the site of the battles is Stonea
Camp, an Iron Age fort on a former island in the Cambridge shire fens occupied
from the 100BC". ??????????? Boudica became Queen of the Iceni
when she married Prasutagus in 48 or 49 AD. Prasutagus was famed for his
wealth. When king Prasutagus died in 60AD he made the Emperor of Rome along
with his two daughters co-heir’s (Camorra and Tasca).? Prasutagus by doing this wanted to save his kingdom from attack
by the Romans. However this plan of his didn’t work and his kingdom and
household were plundered and the Iceni chiefs were deprived of their hereditary
estates. British law allowed royal inheritance to be passed to daughters in the
absence of male heir, but Roman law did not allow woman to take the throne. The
Roman administrator Decanius Catus decided that the Iceni had been defeated and
he would treat the whole territory as if it had been defeated, Decanius Catus
ignored the will of Prasutagus and proceeded to take over the entire kingdom.
Roman historian Tacitus wrote:??????????? "Kingdom and household alike
were plundered like prizes of war… for a start, his widow Boudica was flogged
and their daughters raped. 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 as slaves." The nobility of the Iceni
was given rough treatment and arrests were made. The Iceni were helpless at
this time. They appealed to the Roman Emperor about the way that Catus Decianus
had treated them but the Roman Emperor did nothing.??????????? Tacitus also refers to how Boudica
was give a public flogging or "put to the rods" in public. This too
must have been very humiliating for Boudica and also for her two daughters who
were flogged and raped. The Iceni must have been a annoyed at this, seeing
their queen whipped and hearing about her daughters.??????????? This must have been very
embarrassing to the Iceni who had already had their weapons confiscated to
tighten the Roman Empires control over them. This angered the Iceni because of
all the humiliation, death and conquering. ??????????? However to make matters worse for
the Iceni the Roman Empire tried to justify this act. Catus Decinaus (who had
been the man in charge of the operation) said that Rome was merely trying to
reclaim money lent to the rich members of the Iceni by the late Emperor Claudius
of Rome. Boudica was really angered by this and promptly revolted. Tacitus
tells us how the Iceni feared worse now that they had been reduced to
provincial status.?And the
humiliated Iceni feared worse now that they had been reduced to provincial
status" ??????????? ??????????? However there were more reasons than
just these three for revolting. The temple of the divine Claudius of Rome stood
in Camulodunum ( now Colchester.) The Iceni along with other tribes hated it.
It was a blatant stronghold of Roman rule and religion. It was running the
country dry and Tax’s had been increased to pay for it. The made the locals
work there as Priests using there own money to par for it. To make matters
worse Camulodunum had now become a colonia (housing for retired soldiers).
These solders were the very people who years before had fought for this land;
this too must have been very humiliating. The people were the Trinobantes whose
ancestors had been killed by the Romans who now occupied their land. Tacitus
talks about the Temple in his Annals and describes how people were thrown out
of their homes to make way for the Temple of the "Divine Claudius" ???????????????????????????????????????????????????
"The
settlers drove the Trinobantes from their homes and land, and called them
prisoners and slaves. The troops encouraged the settlers’ outrages, since their
own way of behaving was the same.""The temple
erected to the divine Claudius was a blatant stronghold of alien rule, and its
observances were a pretext to make the natives appointed as its priests drain
the whole country dry."When Boudica
revolted she acquired the help of the Trinovantes. The Trinovantes also had
suffered much abuse from the Romans so were easily persuaded to fight for the
cause.??????????? At the time of
the revolt there is strong evidence to suggest that the Iceni along with other
tribes has been undergoing a famine and crops were having to be imported from
the Mediterranean by the Romans to stop the country from starving. Heavy tax’s
paid in corn to the Romans by the Iceni would have worsened the situation and
would have meant that they may have had to gone without food for a long time.
Evidence of burnt prunes found at Colchester that contained weeds that could
only have originated from the Mediterranean backs up this theory.? (Shown above).Hate had built up
over the years and people had learnt to hate the Romans.? Evidence from the Trinovantes suggests that
the Trinovantes had hated the Roman Empire from when it first invaded under the
control of Emperor Claudius in 47AD. Found in the ditches of a town (Colchester)
in the area where the Trinovantes had lived a few skulls were found which had
sword marks in them, these skulls came from British people (probably / most
likely the Trinovantes). This suggests that there had been a small or mini
revolt, and therefore the Trinobantes or the people who inhabited this area
where getting really angry with the Romans before Boudica decided to revolt in
60.AD. (The Skulls are shown above, you can see the sword marks at the top of
them.) There was not one
singular reason why Boudica and the Trinovantes and the Iceni revolted against
the Roman Empire in 60AD. The revolt had been caused by a series of events,
each one giving the people of Britain more and more of a reason to hate the
Roman Empire. There was no main
reason as to why Boudica revolted, I think that it was down to the way that the
Tribes had been treated to lead Boudica to revolt in 60AD. In 43AD the Roman
Empire under the control of Emperor Claudius had invaded Britain. They had
invaded the Iceni’s and lots of other tribes such as the Trinobantes and Cataici’s
territory. This had sparked allot of anger among all the tribes in Britain. The
Roman Empire forced their laws and culture on the people of Britain. This had
caused anger and frustration among the tribes. Temples had been built with the
taxes that they had paid.? These were
blatant strongholds of alien rule. The Romans had oppressed the British people.
The Iceni had
been forced to trade with the Romans when they believed it was against their
religion. This shocked the Iceni because of the big change.The Romans had
invaded at a time of famine and there is strong evidence to suggest that the
Romans were forcing the tribes to pay Tax’s in the form of corn & grain
this only worsened the situation and all the tribes were angered at this. Corruption in the roman army had angered
the Iceni and other tribes, but especially the Iceni. Their land had been
raided and robbed after their king Prasutagus died in 60AD. Boudica had been
whipped or "put to the rods" in public. All these events
one after another had caused the revolt. However I think that the deciding
factor was the whipping and indecent assault of Boudica and her two daughters
(Camorra and Tasca). This event angered Boudica the most and she started the
Revolution.