Boudica Victoria

comes out January. It's a novel called Anatomy, a love story, and it's a story about a young woman who wants to be a surgeon in the eighteen hundreds in Edinburgh and Scotland during the dawn of surgery, and she falls in love or does she with a resurrection man, a guy who digs up dead bodies to sell to doctors, as was common practice during the nineteenth century. So if you like this podcast, I think it's going to be really up your alley and it would mean the world

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and let the show come into two. There's a statue in London, on the western side of Westminster Bridge, a statue that stands ten ft tall. It's a bronze statue depicting a woman riding in a chariot pulled by two horses. The woman stands with both hands raised arms above her head, like an o singer or ava Perone standing on a balcony, except unlike ava Peron, and unlike most opera singers, the woman holds in one of her upraised hands a spear. Her hair is braided beneath a crown. On either side

of her are two smaller women, her daughters. It's very clearly a statue of a warrior, and the figure has been sculpted in such a way to convey to the viewer that this woman was brave and fearsome, though not so brave and fearsome that she's not also conventionally beautiful. Her gown, a simple classical shroud beneath a cloak, clings close enough to her body that you can make out the contours of her belly and her breasts. She's a warrior woman, the statue says, but she's still a woman.

The statue, originally sculpted by Thomas Thornycroft in the late eighteen hundreds, is a representation of Boudica, the warrior queen of Britain, who fended off the invading Roman forces for a little while in a surprising but ultimately unsuccessful rebellion. As described by the statues plinth, she is quote Boudica Budetica, Queen of the Assni, who died a d. Sixty one

after leading her people against the Roman invader. If you're British or were schooled in Great Britain or the Commonwealth, you're almost certainly familiar with Boudica as she's most commonly referred to. But if you're American, her story might be a little less familiar. It's a classic tale of David verse Goliath, even if this is a case in which Goliath uses his considerable armed forces and superior weaponry and organizational strategy to defeat David. But I'm not just interested

in the story of Utica. I'm interested in the idea of her, or rather how the idea of her has changed over time. You see Thomas Thorneycroft sculpture was finally cast in bronze and erected in nine two, at the end of the reign of Queen Victoria. The statue is in an undeniable place of prominence, overlooking the Thames, facing straight toward perhaps the two most enduring symbols of London and centralized British power, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

The Boudica was a relatively obscure figure for most of British history. In the Victorian era, she exploded in popularity, becoming a figure not only in the popular, artistic and literary movements of the day, but becoming a national heroine, a symbol of Britain, a face for the feminized representation

of the abstract now national term Britannia. Boudica was a heroic warrior, but it might strike you, as it struck me, that she's an unusual choice to be the heroine of Victorian times, a period often stereotyped as one of piety, domesticity, and female obedience, the era that's become synonymous with women in tight corsets being afraid to talk about sex. That era certainly doesn't seem to be a natural fit for stories about a woman who led armies into battle with

her hair hanging wild behind her. Plus she was a pagan, a wild heretic who used divination and looked to nature for advice and guidance, and she uh burned London to the ground. We'll get to that later. But even all that aside, one might imagine buttoned up Victorian Christianity having a were challenging time embracing a story that ends with

a hero committing the sin of suicide. History, as much as it's about telling stories, is about examining the reasons we choose to tell certain stories and when, to very loosely paraphrase one of the many Batman movies, a city gets the hero it needs. In sixty A d. Boudica fought for her life, her family, and her homeland, and then, almost two thousand years later, even though the nation she lived in had a different name, she was resurrected to

continue to fight. I'm Dana Schwartz and this is Noble Blood. A trigger warning for anyone listening who might be sensitive to particular content. This episode contains sexual violence. Almost all of our information on Buddhica comes from two classical sources, both written a few decades after Boudica's death. The first is by Tacitus, who actually spoke to witnesses about Boudica's uprising firsthand. Tacitus's father in law was actually a Roman

governor of Britain. The second source was written by a man named Cassius Dio, who was seemingly based most of his account on the words of Tacitus, the age old strategy of copying but changing it just enough so that the teacher won't get suspicious. For classical historians at the time, it was common practice to include in their histories long,

flowery speeches supposedly given by their subjects. It made the history more interesting to read, more relevant to readers, and it was a chance for the authors to add some color or moral teachings. But it's important for us to remember that these speeches are meant to be evocative, but not direct transcriptions. So though Cassius Dio and Tacitus both wrote down what Boudica allegedly said to her troops. It's not meant to be taken verbatim, after all, Boudica wasn't

speaking Latin or Greek. We're not certain when Boudica was born. It's not recorded anywhere or reported with any real certainty, but most likely it was around thirty a d. Most likely somewhere around the present day English city of Colchester.

Bouddhica spent most of her life in and around what is now considered East Anglia, to the northeast of London, and though there's no source that makes it absolutely certain, it's likely that she was born into a prominent family, if not noble, then considered well bred and well respected. In forty three a d. What's known as the Claudian Invasion of Britain began. Emperor Claudius in Rome began his conquest of southern Britain, or as it would have been

called by the Romans, Britannia. I imagine what this must have been like for a teenage Boudica, seeing legions of strangers carrying weapons marching over her green hills, then making camp, laughing and jeering in a language she didn't understand. It was around this time that Boudica got married to a man named press Tagus, the leader of the Aseni tribe the Britonic people living around present day Norfolk. Sources claim that press Tagus was long reigning, which means it's probable

that he was already king when he married Boudica. Boudica was tall and athletic. Women would have trained in weapons alongside men, which meant that she knew her way or und a sword as well as anyone. She had long, ginger hair that reached her waist and piercing eyes, and she often wore a golden necklace and a cloak fastened with a brooch. Rather than fight the Romans, Prasatagus made

the pragmatic decision to ally with them. It became a mutually beneficial partnership in which the Assane people offered assistance to the Romans in their invasion and assistant and putting down revolts against other nearby tribes, and in return, Romans allowed Prasatagus and the Assane people protection and they're much valued independence. It worked out, at least it did until Prasatagus died in around sixty a d In his will, Prasatagus left half of his fortune to his wife, Buddhica

and their two daughters. The other half of his property he left to the Roman emperor, who by this point was Nero. It was meant to be a generous offering, a symbolic deference, as if to say, hey, you can have half of my holdings, but for the other half, let's keep that mutually beneficial, salutary neglect situation going on. But the Roman Empire is known for many things, and mercy towards people that they want to conquer is not one of them. They flat out ignored Prasatagus's will and

claimed all of his property. When Buddhica attempted to defend their home from invading soldiers, the soldiers captured her. They tied her up and flogged her, blood dripping down her back, and torn pieces of skin that would leave painful wealths and then scars for the rest of her life. But that wasn't enough, it seems, to send the message. The Roman sold stormed into Buddhica's home and raped both of

her daughters. The Romans knew that Boudica was a queen and a leader that she had the capacity to rally the Asne people behind her. They meant the flogging and the cruel violation of her daughters to be such a humiliation, such a trauma, that it would break her and leave her defeated. It had the exact opposite effect. Buddhica began rallying troops to expel the Romans from Britain. There was precedent stories from history that inspired her and inspired the

people who followed her. A few decades earlier, in nine a d Prince Arminius of the Cheruski people drove the Romans out of his land in present day Germany and even in Britain. Julius Caesar himself had been defeated and forced to retreat, and so Buddica gathered men and women to fight alongside her. As she allegedly said in a speech, it is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I'm avenging lost freedom,

my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters. To subtly encourage men to fight alongside her, she challenged their manliness by adding, this is a woman's resolve. As for men, you may live and be slaves. Eventually, her army had over one hundred and twenty thousand troops, both from the Ane and from the neighboring tribe with whom she allied against their mutual enemy. To the shock of the Romans, Buddhica and her soldiers fought and one they defeated the

Roman ninth Legion and sacked the city of Camelodnan. They continued on pillaging and fighting, burning down homes and Roman settlements in the Roman cities of Verylamnium modern day Saint Albans and Londonium, which you might have correctly guessed is where London now stands. Boudica put her faith in a number of pagan rituals in order to lead her troops. One involved taking a hare and putting him under the

many layers of her skirts. She would then lift her skirts and release the animal and watch the direction that the hare chose to run in. She knew that whichever way it went had some symbolic meaning. As Boudica and her soldiers marched, they desecrated Roman cemeteries, breaking tombstones and knocking statues down. Some of those broken statues are still on display today at the Colchester Museum, a centuries old reminder of anger and fury towards an invading army, made

symbol in broken stone that last to this day. What helped Boudica in these early battles was the fact that the Roman governor of the province, a man named Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was away during her attacks. He was leading a campaign on the Welsh island Mona when he heard about the staggering defeats that his countrymen were suffering on the east side of Britain. Enough was enough, Suetonius decided he would bring his troops towards Boudica for a final confrontation.

There's plenty of disagreement among historians about where this final battle took place. Presumably it was somewhere between vera Limium and Londinium. Some claim it was along a Roman road called Watling Street. What we do know is that Boudica, her waist length ginger hair flowing behind her, rode in a chariot up and down her ranks to rally her troops before battle. Nothing is safe from Roman pride and arrogance, she shouted. One historian claims, they will deface the sacred

and will deflower our virgins. Win the battle or perish. That is what I, a woman will do. The Bouddhica had numbers on her side, Stonius had the advantage when it came to weaponry and strategy, with his ten thousand soldiers mainly from the fourteenth Legion. He first made a tactical withdrawal in order to draw Buddhica into battle on

his terms. When the battle began, the Romans began by throwing javelins at Buddhica in her army, which led to massive casualties in minutes before the two armies had even really engaged. The Romans then advanced to move in for the kill. With short swords that allowed them flexible ality of movement. They turned Boudica's numbers against her. She and

her army were trapped in their tight ranks. Their weapons, which were mostly long swords, were difficult to use against the Romans who came in so close and so fast, and then Suetonius released the cavalry, which encircled Boudica's army from behind. It was only another few moments after that until the battle was over. Eighty thousand of Boudica's Britons were killed. There were a comparatively few four hundred dead Romans. Boudica was captured alive, but she knew the fate waiting

for her would be worse than death. She would be raped by her Roman captors, or forced to become a slave, or both, and so before that could happen, Boudica drank poison and killed herself. We don't know what happened to her two daughters. Some claim that they killed themselves as well, but they also might have died in battle. Her revolt was ultimately unsuccessful, although for a moment it almost persuaded Emperor Nero that the conquest of Britain was more trouble

than it was worth. Still, the story of a woman brutalized who then rose up against her presser was one worth recording. Tacitus and Cassius Dio wrote in the late first century, and then it would be another few hundred years before Boudica would appear in another major source, this time a sixth century book by a British monk named Gildas called on the Ruin and Conquest of Britain, in which Guildess describes Buddhica not unflatteringly as a treacherous lioness.

Though Boudica was mentioned here and there for the next few centuries after that, she didn't become anything resembling a folk hero or even a may stream historical figure until the reign of Elizabeth the First, the last Tudor queen, happened to be reigning during a period in which the classical work of scholars from ancient Greece and Rome were rediscovered, including the writings of Tacitus and Cassius Dia, and Boudica was a heroine ready made analogous to their own ginger haired,

notably tall Queen Elizabeth. Boudica seemed to be especially relevant to their own queen when Elizabeth the First made a speech to her troops at Tilbury before facing off against the invasion of the Spanish Armada. Both queens were mere women leading massive groups of men against foreign invaders. Elizabeth

was more successful than her historical counterpart. After Elizabeth's reign, interest in Buddhica waned slightly during and after the reign of James the First and sixth, the King of scotl Land, who ruled England after Elizabeth's death. Buddhica was seen with a little bit of suspicion, to say nothing of the misogyny that you might expect. In the sixteen hundreds, John Milton, in his History of Britain, frames Boudica as shameless, a wild heridan who should have kept her mouth shut. But

Milton was notable for his misogyny across the board. He didn't think any woman should occupy a position of power, least of all a woman with heretical attitudes. But by the mid to late seventeen hundreds, Boudica began to re emerge as a historical figure, and an incredibly useful one, a historical figure who also acted as a symbol. Boudica became not just a woman who fought and lost against the Romans in a d but a symbol for Britain

as a nation. Female personification of countries is a global tradition. In America, there's a famous painting by John Gast called American Progress or manifest Destiny. If you took a p U S History, you probably had to study it for your a P test. It's a painting in which idealized American pioneers travel from the right side of the canvas, painted to look like a growing dawn towards the dark, shadowy West, where Native Americans brandish their weapons beneath dim clouds.

The covered wagons, cowboys, and trains make their way towards America's expansionist destiny, and they're guided along by a massive female figure towering high as the mountains in the background of the picture. The woman, meant to be Liberty or America or God's purpose for American expansion, is bedecked with blonde curls. She wears a one shoulder toga, evoking the classical democracies of antiquity. In France, the female personification of

the nation is sometimes called Marianne. Picture the famous Eugene Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People, in which a woman raises high the tricolor flag. It's the painting Cold Play used for their Viva Levita album cover. If you need

help remembering. Like the American figure of Liberty, this figure also wears a one shoulder toga, although maybe a predictable French fashion, her toga reveals both of her breasts, though Boudica, unlike America's blonde giantess and Frances, Marianne was a real person she served more or less the same symbolic purpose. William Cowper was a famous eighteenth century poet. In his work he actually coined the phrases God moves in a mysteri arious way and variety is the very spice of life.

But in his seventeen eighty poem Boudica and Ode, he wrote, she, with all a monarch's pride, felt them in her bosom glow, rushed to battle, fought and died, dying, hurled them at the foe Ruffians, pitiless as proud, Heaven awards the vengeance due Empire is on us, bestowed shame and ruin Wait for you. And then Buddhica became permanently entrenched in British culture.

In eighteen thirty seven, when a young woman that they began calling Victoria became queen of their empire, Boudica became the emblem of Victoria's power, a comparison made easy by the helpful coincidence that the root of the name Buddhica comes from either the Celtic or the Welsh word for victory, which meant that she and Victoria basically had the same name During a period when Brits might have begun to

fear that their empire would be in decline. Boudica became a helpful tool to bolster national pride, a rallying symbol. Victorian children were forced in their classrooms to learn William Cowper's poem by heart, and there was a renewed interest in trying to find out where exactly her battles took place. Attention towards Boudica reached a zenith during eight nine four, when archaeologists excitedly determined that an earthwork on the north side of Parliament Hill might be the site of the

any queen's final resting place. Though the land was excavated and no grave was found, the public hubbabaloo of everyone talking about the ancient queen gave John Isaac Thorneycraft boost he needed to help raise funds to finally cast the sculpture made by his by now late father Thomas Thornycroft, who died before ever seeing his plaster cast set in bronze. In two his sculpture Boudica and her Daughters was finally erected on Westminster Bridge, a permanent tribute to the woman

who tried to burn London to the ground. To this day, She's still considered a national heroine of Britain. That's the story of Boudica and the story of the story of Boudica. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about rumors that still persist around her. There's still no historical consensus as to the location of

Boudica's remains. One magical but almost certainly not true, holds that Boudica was buried in the ashes of Londinium and that a train station sprung up in the centuries after her death. The rumor is that Boudica's body happens to be located far beneath the bricks, directly between platforms nine and ten, where at platform nine and three quarters another symbol of Britannia has made his claim. Another theory, and one I quite like, even though I have absolutely no

expertise to evaluate its historical accuracy. Actually that's not true. In my limited expert opinion, I'll say this one is not true. But the idea is that the mysterious Circle of Stonehenge was erected in Boudica's honor as a funeral arrangement. This was a speculation first put forward by the writer Edmund Bolton, who lived in the court of James the first and six. I think his historical basis was mostly that it would be cool the theory of whoa can

you imagine what a fun coincidence? A more likely theory is one that gives us less to hold onto. We don't know how the Iceni tribe dealt with their dead, or what their rituals around funerals were, but some other tribes in Britain during the Bronze Age simply laid their dead out in special places to be desiccated by the elements out in the open. It's possible that that's what happened to Boudica. If so, there would be nothing left

of her. She's gone, disappeared into the British soil and air and water, nothing left except what we want her to be. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The show is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz. Executive producers include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about the show over at Noble blood

Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M