Boudica
Based on "Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni", a poem for kids by Jon Bratton This is a story about a queen. She was not a fragile little flower She was a tough and brave woman The first with Girl Power Her name was Boudicca, She was tall and strong and loud. She had lots of long red hair You could spot her in a crowd. She wore lots of colourful clothes And a necklace made of gold. She was a clever woman And she was brave and bold. Her husband the king had shared with the Romans All of his wealth and his land. But when the King died Things didn’t go quite as planned The Romans came and stole everything. The Britons felt angry and cheated. The Romans had also been mean and rude And the queen and her daughters mistreated. Queen Boudicca was furious She had never been angrier. She called together all of the tribes In a place now called East Anglia. "We can't let them get away with this!" She said, "It isn’t right. Let's get a big army together And give the Romans a fight!" So all the tribes joined forces, Led by the the red-haired Queen In, perhaps, the biggest army Britain had ever seen. Boudicca’s army marched around Attacking town after town. Wherever they found Romans living They burned the houses down. Eventually though the Britons lost And the Romans were the winners. The Romans were highly trained soldiers you see, And the Britons were just beginners. Boudicca's massive army Suffered a huge defeat Beaten by the Roman Army At the Battle of Watling Street. Yes Boudicca lost in the end, The Romans won, it's true, But Boudica had scared them And taught them a thing or two. Yes they had learned their lesson, They were sorry they had been mean To the Britons, and the princesses, And the mighty Warrior Queen.
Women had few rights under Roman law, so when the Iceni king died and was succeeded by his widow Boudicca (or Boadicea), the Romans did not accept it. Boadicea was publicly beaten and her two daughters raped by Roman soldiers. Boadicea's response was to raise the biggest army Britain had ever seen, and destroy Roman settlements across Britain, including London. Eventually though, her hordes were defeated by superior Roman skills and tactics (even though they outnumbered them 20 to 1), and she took poison rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. Back to Ancient History from Boudicca |
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