Boudicca’s Rebellion AD 60–61: The Britons rise up against Rome

Osprey Campaign #233

by Nic Fields, Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

When the Romans occupied the southern half of Britain in AD 43, the Iceni tribe quickly allied themselves with the invaders. Having paid tribute to Rome, they continued to be ruled by their own kings. But 17 years later, when Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, died, the Romans decided to incorporate his kingdom into the new province. When his widow Boudicca protested, she "was flogged and their daughters raped", sparking one of the most famous rebellions in history. This book tells how Boudicca raised her people and other tribes in revolt, overran the provincial towns of Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans), destroyed the IX Legion, and nearly took control of the fledgling Roman province, before being finally brought to heel in a pitched battle at Mancetter.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military History, Military Fiction, Ancient History, Ancient, Roman History

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Dr Nic Fields started his career as a biochemist before joining the Royal Marines. Having left the Navy, he went back to University and completed a BA and PhD in Ancient History at the University of Newcastle. He was Assistant Director at the British School of Archaeology, Athens, and is now a lecturer in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author tries very hard to contextualize and feel many gaps about what really has happened. Many intetesting information for a non-British.

"Throughout history, one person's hero has been another's villain, especially when it is a woman who makes a place for herself in the world of men. Boudicca is one of those strong women whose image the world of men has always preferred to fashion out of myth rather than fact. She lived, much like the enigmatic Cleopatra, for posterity not as a queen with a career to be chronicled, but as a symbol of the power of woman over man."

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Queen Boudicca led a rebellion against Roman forces in Britain in 60-61 AD. This book confronts an almost impossible problem--very little is known about Boudicca or the specifics of the battle. It is not even clear where the battle took place although author Nic Fields presents what appears to me to be a very credible hypothesis.

This book begins with context. Britain did not seem like much of a place to wage a war of conquest. But newly invested Emperor Claudius (yes, that Claudius, as in "I, Claudius") needed a military victory to gain credibility and he chose Britain as t5he site for his glory. A number of tribes/kingdoms in the conquered country were allowed to keep a degree of autonomy (keeping their own leaders). One of these was the Iceni. After the death of their king, the Romans essentially looted the lands, and treated Queen Boudicca and her daughters roughly (if a few lines in Latin works here or there can be believed). The Iceni rose in revolt along with other tribes/kingdoms.

There followed a war, with Boudicca leading the Britons and Caius Suetonius Paulinus the Romans. Both leaders are described (the treatment of Boudicca is extraordinarily brief, given the lack of much information about her). Then, the two armies are described (although the Britons were more an armed rabble than an organized army). The opposing plans are described as well as the war that took place, including some of the actions. The culminating battle--that gave the war to the Romans--is described as best the author can given limited information.

Pluses: A nice chronology, the usual bevy of illustrations, the maps, the rich quality of the pages themselves).

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2011, 'Boudicca's Rebellion AD 60-61' is a short and well illustrated history of probably the most famous act of rebellion by the Britons against the Roman occupying forces. The shortness of the book is excusable - the facts of the matter are hard to come by or non-existent, and it seems to easier to concentrate on busting a few of the myths surrounding the event. Even then, the writer ends up padding the book out a little with general details of Roman Army organisation and equipment, most of which would be equally at home in any book on military campaign during the time of the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, informative.

[Steve Perpitch-Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short overview of the rebellion of the Iceni. There is good information in here, and the illustrations/photos are clear and informative. The writing is unpolished and suffers from, too, many, commas...

[Nathan Trachta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been interested in the Roman Empire for a while now, things added up in a short period of time (thank you Mr. Scarrow and some nice miniatures by Warlord). Since Mr. Scarrow had done so much for me with Romans in Britain and I'd read about the 14th Legion (Nero's Killing Machine) I thought I'd pick this one up and see what Osprey had to say on Boudicca and her uprising.

This book follows Osprey's Campaign pattern very nicely, putting together the basics of the campaign and the participants. That said it didn't really seem to fill things in or left me wanting. This one seemed to need more background on post invasion (42 CE/AD) and the lead up to the actual rebellion. I also wish that more had been put into the general situation in 60 CE/AD by describing Roman operations in Wales and why the Roman position was so ripe for Boudicca's forces to succeed for as long as they did. What I can say is there's good information here (to some degree) but not the strength I'd like to see for this one so call it 3.5 stars that I rounded up to 4 because of the nice visuals.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of good information about the event - but not much about the before or after, and a narrative tone that too frequently dips into poetic opinion rather than fact or conjecture.

[Susan Abernethy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Link to my review of this book:

http://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2015/0...