This edition 2002

First published in 2000
This eBook edition published in 2017 by
Franklin Watts

© 2000 text Emma Fischel
© 2000 illustrations Peter Chesterton

The right of the author to be identified
as the author of this work has been asserted.

The right of the illustrator to be idenified
as the illustrator of this work has been asserted.

ISBN: 978 1 4451 5847 1

Dewey Decimal Classification Number: 942.01

A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.

Series editor: Sarah Ridley
Historical consultant: Barbara Searle

Franklin Watts
An imprint of
Hachette Children’s Group
Part of The Watts Publishing Group
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ

www.hachette.co.uk
www.franklinwatts.co.uk or www.waylandbooks.co.uk
www.hachettechildrens.co.uk

This edition 2002

First published in 2000
This eBook edition published in 2017 by
Franklin Watts

© 2000 text Emma Fischel
© 2000 illustrations Peter Chesterton

The right of the author to be identified
as the author of this work has been asserted.

The right of the illustrator to be idenified
as the illustrator of this work has been asserted.

ISBN: 978 1 4451 5847 1

Dewey Decimal Classification Number: 942.01

A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.

Series editor: Sarah Ridley
Historical consultant: Barbara Searle

Franklin Watts
An imprint of
Hachette Children’s Group
Part of The Watts Publishing Group
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ

www.hachette.co.uk
www.franklinwatts.co.uk or www.waylandbooks.co.uk
www.hachettechildrens.co.uk

Boudicca

Two thousand years ago Britain
was a wild, war-like place. Fierce
groups of people, belonging to
tribes, fought each other to the
death. Bears and wolves roamed
the forests ...

and baby Boudicca was born.

The people of that time were
known as the Celts.

The Celts had come from many
different places to live in Britain.
They were all brave, proud
warriors.

I am as strong
as ten men!

I am as strong as
twenty!

I am the bravest
here!

Little Boudicca would grow up
to be one of the bravest warriors
of them all.

The Celts were divided into lots of
separate tribes. They often fought
terrible and bloody battles with
each other for food or land.

From early on Boudicca learned
all about the tribe she belonged to,
the Iceni.

There was no reading or writing,
and no books then, so stories of
brave deeds were passed on
from older to younger men in
the tribe.

Anything the Iceni tribe wanted,
they had to grow or make.
Mostly they made useful things,

like pots or clothes, but they also
made beautiful jewellery and
weapons from metal.

Most people lived in simple
thatched huts. They cooked,
ate and slept all in one room.

Boudicca was probably from a
noble family. But even nobles
slept on raised banks of earth,
like benches, in the huts.

By the time Boudicca was grown
up, she had married the most
important person in the whole
Iceni tribe, King Prasutagus.

Soon they had a baby daughter,
and then another one.

I will kill anyone
who harms them!

But these were dangerous times
to live in. Boudicca knew there
was something to be feared even
more than attack by other tribes
... the Roman army.

The Roman army was the most
powerful in the world.

“Invade and conquer!” the
Roman leaders ordered their
army time and time again.
“Rome must rule the world!”

This land will be ours.
Show the savages no mercy!

While Boudicca was growing up
the Romans arrived in Britain.

The Celts fought hard but it
was no use. One by one the
tribes were beaten.

We have
conquered many
peoples.

By the time Boudicca was
married, the Romans ruled over
the Iceni and many other tribes.

King Prasutagus decided to
make a sort of agreement
with the Romans.

Now we are allies.

Allies?
Or slaves?

The Iceni will
provide food,
slaves and gifts.
The Romans will
support the King.

The Iceni won’t

revolt.
The Romans won’t
attack or take
more than agreed.

But many Iceni warriors thought
that was a terrible thing to do.

They seize
our land!

They seize
anything!

Our familes are
made slaves.

“Peace is the best plan,” said
Prasutagus. “No army of ours
can EVER defeat these Romans!”

Time passed and Boudicca
watched her daughters grow
taller and stronger every year.

But King Prasutagus was
growing weaker and weaker.

May the peace
with Rome continue
after my death.

In the end, he died.

“Our king is dead,” said
Boudicca. “Now I shall rule the
Iceni in the name of my
daughters, the heirs to the throne.
I shall keep our tribe strong.”

But back then, the Romans
didn’t think a woman COULD
be a strong leader.

Have you heard
that Queen Boudicca
means to lead
the Iceni?

“This Boudicca,” they said.
“How can SHE lead the
tribe? And her daughters
become rulers in their turn?
What nonsense!”

There was worse to come.
Prasutagus had made a secret
will before his death. He hoped
it would keep peace for the tribe.

“King Prasutagus leaves half his
kingdom to Emperor Nero of
Rome!” announced the Romans.

But half a kingdom wasn’t
enough for the Romans.

“We shall take it all!” they said.

The Romans attacked
Boudicca’s home. Anything they
wanted, they took.

Don't let them
hurt us, mother!

Then they turned their attention
to Boudicca and her daughters.

“Beat them, mistreat them, then
throw them all out!” said the
Roman leaders. “No need to kill
them, not even the queen. She
can do nothing against us!”

And THAT was their big
mistake.

Revenge and
freedom will
be mine!

Now Boudicca knew what she
must do.

“Death to those who harm my
daughters!” she said. “Suffering
to those who humiliate the Iceni
tribe and their queen!”

“I, Boudicca, warrior queen,
will gather all the tribes to join
me! We will fight as one against
Rome!”

“We are fierce! We are strong!
We are cunning! We know our
land, our hills and forests! We
CAN defeat them!”

The Romans weren’t worried by
fears of rebellion.

“What use are painted faces and
fierce war cries against the best
trained army in the world?”
they said.

We have
strong armour
and weapons.

We move
as one.

“Besides, those savages can’t
stop fighting each other. No one,
woman OR man, can bring
them together to fight us!”

We march
all day long.

We leap wide ditches
and scale high walls.

We swim rivers
in full armour.

But Boudicca could. Tribe after
tribe was streaming to join her.

“Forget old quarrels,” Boudicca
urged them all. “Our enemy is
not each other. Take up your
weapons and unite against
Rome! ”

“They have strong armour but
we have right on our side. They
have mighty weapons but we
have revenge in our hearts!”

Boudicca and her army surged
into the most important Roman
town of all, Camulodonum.

“Freedom from Rome!” cried
Boudicca. Then they struck.

The Romans had no chance.
“This woman and her wild
army are destroying our town.
Send in more troops,” they
begged their leaders.

But Boudicca was ready for
those troops too.

Within days the whole town
was destroyed. Thousands of
Romans died in the blazing
ruins, or were hacked to pieces
as they tried to escape.

“Onwards!” cried Boudicca to
her army. “Camulodonum is
gone! Now for Londinium!”

These temples are to
their Gods, not ours!

Burn!

Burn!

Boudicca and her army
marched onwards, first to
Londinium, and then to
Verulamium. They killed,

looted and destroyed. Men,
women and children were all
slaughtered without mercy.
Nothing could stop them now.

Even other Celts, from tribes
who supported Rome, were
doomed.

From the
catavelaunii tribe!
Gouge the traitor’s
eyes out!

“This woman will kill or drive
out every Roman in Britain,”
said the Romans. “She has
ruined our proudest
achievements, our greatest
towns. We MUST destroy her!”

We, not she, must
choose the battle
ground, General.

North of Verulamium, the
Romans gathered more and
more troops together.

But now the Romans were ready
for battle. Their army was in
place, and they had chosen the
battle site carefully.

Enough looting
and killing.
Onwards!

“Northwards!” said Boudicca
to her army. “And hurry!
Every hour we delay, the
Roman army grows bigger!”

Those who couldn’t fight were
gathered to watch the victory.

“Forwards!” cried Boudicca.
And so the last battle began.

This time the Romans made no
mistakes. In a few short hours
thousands of Celts were dead.
The rest had no way to escape.

They were surrounded by the
Roman cavalry and trapped
by their own carts behind them.
It was over.

Boudicca tried to surrender to
save the lives of her people.

“No surrender,” said the
Romans.

Spare no one!

“It is the end,” said Boudicca.
“My land and people will never
be free.”

But Boudicca was not going to
let the Romans take her alive.
She put a bottle of poison to her
lips... then she drank.

Further facts

More about the Celts
The Celts did not write anything
about themselves, so we have to find
out about them in other ways.

Many things from Celtic times have
been found buried in the ground.
Archaeologists can tell a lot about the
Celts from studying them.

They know that the Celts believed
that after someone died, life went on
in the Otherworld. Archaeologists
have found remains of Celts buried
with things they might need there —
food, weapons, necklaces, even games!

The Otherworld was the home of the
Celtic gods and a very happy place.
Everyone went there, whether they
had been good or bad. However, if
you were poor, your body would be
buried with nothing to help you on
your journey to the Otherworld.

The Romans wrote about the way
the Celts lived. One Roman tells us
about a ‘belt tax’. Any warrior who
got too fat to do up his belt was fined!

Some important dates in
Boudicca’s lifetime

We do not know the exact dates of events in
Boudicca’s life but we do know the order in
which they happened.

c35-40  Boudicca is born in the Iceni tribe.
55     The Romans invade Britain.
Boudicca marries the king of the
tribe, Prasutagus. They have two
daughters.

c60   Prasutagus dies and Boudicca
becomes leader of the Iceni.
c6l    The Romans seize Boudicca’s home
and throw her family out. Boudicca
gathers an army and marches on
Camulodonum (now Colchester) and
destroys it. The army does the same
in Londinium (now London) and
Verulamium (now St Albans).

c62   Boudicca and her army are defeated
and Boudicca dies. Huge numbers of
the Iceni tribe die in the fighting and
afterwards, when the Romans take
terrible revenge on them.