Celtic Queen: The Life of Cartimandua, Ancient Britain's Other Boudicea

by Jill Armitage

The British queens Cartimandua and Boudicea were two Celtic noblewomen, recorded by classical writers as part of a tradition of women who showed particular courage, ambition, and political skill, and who were just as formidable in war as their husbands. They took on the status of Celtic Goddesses and were central players in the struggle against the Roman annexation of Britain. Boudicea led the rebellion against the Romans, but her reputation may be largely symbolic: to Britons and Romans alike, she came to represent matronly honor and heroic resistance, fighting on behalf of her defiled daughters. But using historical and archaeological evidence, this book uncovers the much weightier story of the Celtic Queen Cartimandua, the independent ruler of the powerful Brigante tribe whose territory was the single largest Celtic kingdom in Britain. Cartimandua’s leadership in battle and political influence were probably much greater than Boudiceas, yet her life has since been written out of history. Unlike Boudica, wife of King Prasutagus of the Iceni tribe, Cartimandua was the regent of the Brigante tribe in her own right. Her tribe prospered in the new Imperial world and she held her position as queen until AD69. But she was seen as a shameless adulteress after an open affair with her husband’s arms-bearer. Such sexual liberation was normal for powerful Celtic women but it scandalized Roman society. With many references to popular Celtic culture, their gods, beliefs, art and symbolism, as well as living conditions and the hillforts that would have been Cartimandua’s headquarters, this book offers an insight into the life of this fascinating woman and the Celtic/Romano world in which she lived.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2020

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's very little evidence of the life of Cartimandua, only what is written by contemporary Roman writers. This biography presents what is known and expands to include what the Celtic world was like around her lifetime. There's a fair amount of supposition but this was still an interesting read about Celtic Britain.

[Bert Slatyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just finished this, which I bought with Vanessa Collingridge's Boudica. There is very little known about Cartimandua (almost entirely based on Tacitus), so I was prepared for a journey into the world of Iron Age Britain to learn some stuff I didn't know. What I got was a badly edited foggy mixture of local folklore, the views of outdated archaeological theories, random side alleys into historical anecdotes on everything from Nero to Cleopatra and the cherry picking of random archaeological and historical facts on the peoples of the British Isles from the Mesolithic to 6th century Ireland that suit the author's personal narrative. It was so difficult to tease out what was fact from guess work, supposition and anachronism, that the bits I did find were knew I now have no idea whether they are facts or a jumble of the author's personal theories. What made it worse was reading this after Collingridge, which while a reasonable read, at least more or less demarcated between theory and fact.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some parts of the book I enjoyed but there were some aspects that made the book less than appealing. Firstly there were a lack of information about some of Jill Armitage's thoughts. Then her suggestion that the Celts became the Little People seems a strange claim and Armitage has no sources to back up her suggestion.

[Joe Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was filled with a lot of information during the time of Cartimandua but not a lot of info on her. I don’t blame the author, although the title is misleading.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting information. Most of it linked to Cartimandua either directly or loosely.

Could have done with a once over to check spelling and placeholder page numbers.