The True Story Of Boudica’s Revolt Against the Romans

[Music] it was one of the biggest revolts in British history a massive Insurrection aimed at driving the Romans out of Britain Through Blood and battle at its head was an elusive unique Warrior Queen her name has become immortalized down through the centuries buddika the year was 60 AD the Roman Empire dominated the Mediterranean and Beyond stretching from modern-day Wales in the Northwest to Syria and Armenia in the East and one of the most infamous figures in ancient history then sat on Rome's Imperial Throne [Music] Nero it would be during Nero's Reign that several areas of the Roman Empire experienced severe unrest not least in Britain I'm in Colchester the original capital of the Roman province of Britannia and a place with close Infamous links to budd's revolt it had been almost 20 years since the initial claudian invasion of Britain under orus plaus and since then the Romans had undergone a series of successful breakout campaigns extending their influence further onto the island of Britain and this have been successful through a variety of methods first of all through military means through victories against famous British resistance leaders such as caticus but also through some cunning diplomacy through the handing out of substantial bribes to powerful native British rulers in the south east and north of Britain to ensure that they remained peaceful as Rome look to expand its control further [Music] west one key British ruler at this time was a king called prestigous Bruticus was the king of the iini situated roughly in about modern day North in East Anglia and we hear from our sources that prus by ad60 he had been reigning for quite a long time he was considerably wealthy and these two factors are probably very much linked to his close connections with Rome remember those substantial bribes as I mentioned earlier that the Romans gave out to powerful native British rulers where prus was almost certainly one of those now pus he had two daughters and a wife a queen who we know today as buddika [Applause] the name buddika it derived from the Celtic word Buddha which meant Victory and according to our sources she was quite a character to find out more I met up with Dr shushma Malik the main thing we have about Buddha's appearance comes from cassus Dio who was writing quite a lot later um s of early 3dr Century ad so you're talking 250 years after these events um he tells us that she was clever for a woman so that's something perhaps but also that she was very wild in her appearance she wore a multicolored tunic and she carried a big spear he makes a point to say that not only is it her physical appearance but her voice as well is fierce in ad60 prus died in his will he left his kingdom to his two young daughters but also to the Roman Emperor Nero it was pus his intention that on the one hand he preserved pres the I identity he preserved the royal family but also to keep the Romans happy it was not to be because enter our next protagonist Kus desius or Kus deanis now Kus was one of the most prominent Roman officials in Britain at that time he was the Roman procurator he was in charge of the administration of the finances and with puu's passing ker sensed opport opportunity with the iini seemingly in paralysis following the death of their King Kus decided that this was the perfect time to strike Kus maintains that the money the Romans had previously given to Pru was to be repaid with interest Pruis and other local leaders had received money from the emperor but also from another prominent figure in the Imperial regime Sena so what's the story of sena's loans so that's an interesting story casassus Dio talks about this again and he says that senica um lent the British people a large amount of money and actually um Casas dioces financial reasons as the main motivation for the Buddakan Revolt in the first place um senica lent the Britains about 40 million SES which is a lot of money in uh Roman terms so if you think that it you need 1 million SES to be a Roman Senator but the daily wage for an unskilled labor is about four cersi so we're talking huge amounts of money here uh but what Senor did was recall these loans very quickly and he wanted all of the money back at once and that was one of the reasons why the uh buan Revolt took place What followed was an Infamous act by the Romans centurions alongside subordinates of cers slaves and lower officials stormed into the iini territory they sacked they robbed they looted the iini aristocracy lost their ancestral lands they were treated as if they were a slave race as if they were a subject people and even worse was to follow for the iini royalty themselves budika was flogged her two daughters were [Applause] [Music] raped the Romans had opted to ignore pru's will a decision they made emphatically clear through their pillaging of iini territory but these Infamous actions would have consequences the icini were enraged particularly their aristocracy and the ruling class at their head was the mistreated buddika ring her people up for revolt to drive the Romans out of Britain so tell me about this remarkable speech of budas in Casas Dio so casassus Dio gives her a very long speech uh compared to tacitus anyway which is brilliant because it's a masterpiece of rhetoric really that he uh constructs for her and puts into the mouth of a woman which is of course um unusual really she starts off by talking about the freedom and the slav y that's been imposed on the British by the Romans so do the British want their freedom back this is the moment where they can take back their freedom um even when you die she says you are still indebted to Rome you're still having to pay the money in your Wills you've been paying taxes all your life and then you're leaving your um money to the Romans as well um then she goes on from the freedom uh subject to talking about how actually if the British had just got rid of Julia SE back in the ' 50s BC they wouldn't be in this scenario to begin with uh but now is their time to address that wrong um she then finishes the speech in a an ex extraordinary way where she doesn't add homm attack on Nero she says Nero is more of a woman than he is a man she decides to rename him to detia Nero mistress detia Nero which is the feminine version of Demus which was his birth name so she really does then go for the jugular of Nero if you like which we don't see in comparable sources in tacitus for example um and that is a very interesting way of characterizing the the motivations and the the impetus for the Revolt as well it's about Roman suppression in the province but it's also about what's going on in Rome and it also serves to make buddika the more masculine of the two between her and Nero so he may be a man and she may be a woman but he is feminine and she is masculine buddika became this rallying point for all of those who felt rightly grieved by the recent inhumane greedy actions of the Romans and Buddha to of course had suffered in those recent actions but now her message was clear it was time to Strike Back people flocked to budika the icen aristocracy strongholds and thousands of tribesmen this was an astonishing amount of British unity all United by a shared hatred of the Romans and a desire to expel them from the island if the Romans believed that the death of Bruticus would be the end of the icen and that the iini would simply accept their new subordinate status they were gravely mistaken game on buddika started Gathering her forces at a very opportune time at that time the most powerful Roman military force in Britain was hundreds of miles away to the West in modern-day Wales led by our next key protagonist the most powerful most important Roman in the province of Britannia then cetonas paulinus newly instated as the governor of Britain paulinus carried with him a wealth of military experience he had previously LED an expedition across the atus mountains in North Africa so he was the perfect choice to complete the conquest of Wales so far paulinus had gained some spectacular success on campaign in the northern part of Wales he had reached as far as the island of Angeli where the Britains had retreated to as a very important place for the Britains but paulinus his campaign continued to gain success he even burnt down the all important sacred Groves now could the burning of these sacred Groves and the beginning of Buddha's Revolt be linked it is possible that buddika did have religious links one thing for certain though is that buddika struck at a very opportune [Music] time Buddha's first Target was the nearby Roman town of camalam today's [Music] coester cinam was the provincial heart of Roman Britain indeed it was the provincial capital this had been where the emperor Claudius had visited almost 20 years earlier to receive the surrenders of British Chiefs at the end of the initial Invasion and since then camalam it had transformed it had become the first Roman town in Britain and was the only official Roman Colony on this island at the time of Bruticus his death in 60 AD now it was also here at kudum that the Romans had settled a large quantity of soldiers veterans who may well have served in the initial claudian invasion of Britain and who also infamously partook in the pillaging in the raiding of iini territory in the immediate aftermath of pru's death but chudam was also home to a specific structure a particular building that enraged the nearby Britains a Monumental structure that epitomized that evoked that symbolized Rome's Newfound Supremacy over this part of the island this was the Temple of Claudius it was dedicated to Claudius because following his death he was deified and as a result we see this Monumental construction appearing at the heart of chunam this Temple was a source of social tension with nearby Britain according to the Roman historian tacitus it lay before the Britain's eyes as a Bastion of everlasting domination a reminder of Rome Supremacy over that part of the island but this wasn't the only Roman architectural Hallmark that we see at chunam we also hear of a curier here at that time a Roman Courthouse as well as a theater and all of these buildings combined it made chunam look like it was transforming into very much a Roman looking town and that's incredibly significant when you think that barely 20 years earlier The claudian Invasion had occurred camad dunam back then had been this prominent British stronghold but now it had become this Urban symbol of Rome's rapidly growing influence over this part of the [Music] island it's also important to remember that it wasn't just Romans who lived in chudam Britain too lived in the town those who were more inclined either to adopting or adapting to certain aspect ects of Roman culture by 60 AD chudam had an estimated population of roughly 4,000 it was a prosperous settlement but it was IL defended it lacked substantial fortifications it had ditches but it did not have a wall cudim was an obvious Target for [Applause] budika as budika and harami gathered bad Omens played chunam we hear of shrieks and whales from the theater the statue of Victory supposedly fell over it toppled over and then once on its side it then rolled over again as if it was retreating for an oncoming enemy they told stories that people saw apparitions they saw visions of camad dunam burning in the waters of the temps EST now how much can we believe of these ancient bad Omens well they probably likely didn't didn't happen the Romans were renowned for inventing these bad Omens to proed an Infamous moment in their history but what's interesting is how we're told the people of chunam prepared for the impending threat from buddika they sent out calls for Aid one was sent to the procurator Kus deanis who is then situated in London londinium but Kus he seems to have misunderstood not realized the severity of the threat that buddika posed so much so that he only sent 200 improperly armed soldiers to Aid the defense but the people of chunam they also sent a request for Aid to the nearest Legion in Britain and this was the famous ninth Legion Leo 9 Hispana then stationed at Mond Lincoln ancient Linden now the distance between coester and Lincoln is pretty significant but there was a silver lining because in ad 6061 we believe that there were detachments of the ninth stationed Closer by near modern day Peter and it was probably to these detachments that the people of Colchester sent their call for Aid in the meantime they started constructing a ditch and a rampart around the outside of camad dunam but it all proved too little too late by the time buddika an arami arrived outside coester the Romans had abandoned any fortifications which they created really outside the center of the settlement and this was because we are told a British fifth column working from within coester had been hindering the defenses to such an extent that the Romans had retreated to the Temple of Claudius which was then the strongest structure in camalam itself now you need to imagine the scenes because we are told that among the soldiers there were also women there were children there were the old there were the people who wouldn't associate as being on the front line of Combat Action but by retreating to the Temple of Claudius the Romans abandoned the rest of the settlement buddika and arami wrecked Havoc the city was raised the town was sacked fire would have been everywhere archaeologists today looking at the soil looking at the strateg graphy can see a clear burnt lirer which they dub budda's layer because it may relate to when budika and arami raised this settlement to the ground as for those Defenders within the temple itself they resisted for two days but ultimately they too were overwhelmed What followed was a merciless Slaughter none were spared if they were unlucky enough to be taken captive they were quickly executed soon after budda's first Target was accomplished camad dunam this hated symbol of Rome's dominance Rome's influence over this part of the island was no more the Romans recoiled from the destruction of the provincial capital but another disaster was quick to follow as already mentioned part of the ninth Legion le9 hispan were stationed quite close to cudham and in the meantime the 9th leot petilius serialis has been Gathering troops preparing an expedition to March Southeast and to relieve the pressure on the provincial capital it proved all too little too late by the time Seri Alis and his relief Force neared camalam the settlement was already in Ruins victim of budda's onslaught it would be this understrength portion of leio 9 Hispana the ninth Legion that would face the the full Fury of budda's army What followed next was a catastrophe for the ninth the relief force was attacked on the march by buddika Army as they neared cinam and were annihilated serialis and only a portion of his Cavalry managed to escape the slaughter but the damage had been done budika had gained her next military success for the Romans news of the destruction of part of the ninth Legion alongside the sacking of cinam was devastating Kus the procurator who had helped fan the fires of this Insurrection fled Britain fleeing across the channel to ghoul but as Kus departed A New Hope for the Romans reached the southeast suetonius poor Linus upon hearing of the Revolt po Linus had hurried back from Angeli with his army Gathering more soldiers on route now in londinium the Romans and their allies looks to his [Applause] [Music] leadership London at that time it was a prosperous economic Hub home to roughly 10,000 people but one key thing it lacked was fortifications it didn't have a wall it wasn't meant to be a defensive Bastion something thing suetonius desperately needed if he was going to defend this town from buddika and a much larger Army so suetonius he decided to abandon the town he would Retreat North taking with him as many of his soldiers as possible and Gathering more troops on the way he would also take from London as many people as he could who could fight but those who couldn't fight women the children the old they were all Left Behind They begged suetonius to stay They begged the governor to fight for the town but suetonius his mind was made up London was sacrificed budika and harami showed London no mercy they sacked the settlement and they executed anyone who they captured according to tacitus thousands were executed by either being hanged by being crucified or being burnt alive cashis Dio goes into even more graphic detail he mentions how some who were captured were melted alive in boiling water but the worst Fates befell the Romano British and the Roman Noble women those who were captured they were taken to the sacred Groves where they had their breasts cut off according to Cash's Dio sewn into their mouths before they were impaled through the whole length of their [Music] bodies so far the Romans had suffered several severe setbacks but suetonius now set about consolidating what strength he had he had the 14th Legion he had detachments of the 20th and he also had a substantial number of auxilaries it was quite a significant Force but it was then that seroni encountered his latest setback penus potimus the commander of the second Legion stationed down in exitor he refused to March his Legion to suetonius Aid he opted instead for them to stay within the safety of their legionary Fortress down in the southwest and the same story was similar for serialis and what remained the ninth Legion he opted to stay with the remnants of the ninth in their legionary Fortress at Lincoln so seroni seemingly abandoned by these two legionary commanders he had roughly 10,000 men with which to oppose the mighty Army of budika as suetonius gathered his forces budika was already in Pursuit having left London a smoldering ruin on her way she set her sights upon at least one other settlement that she thought had been too friendly towards the Romans this was verium Modern Day St orin's many Britain lived in this settlement for buddika it seems that her Revolt had turned into a war of ethnic cleansing aimed at eradicating not just the Romans but also all Britain who in her eyes had sided with Rome budda's Army arrived at verium and destroyed [Music] it by this point budda's Army was huge compared to that of suetonius the Romans were the clear underdogs the Britain were confident but suetonius despite being greatly outnumbered he knew he could delay no longer it was time to fight suetonius knew that if he wanted to battle buddika then he wanted a battle on his terms and so he selected a Battleground which best suited his soldiers he positioned them on a slightly elevated piece of land it's rear protected by thick woodsland but it was what lay in front that was most important in the distance was a large open plane but in front of that and just before suetonius his position was a narrow def file steeply wooded on either side suetonius recognized that this was a potential Killing Zone it was through this defile that any attacking Army would have to charge if they were to reach the Roman [Music] position in the center of his line he deployed his crack Elite troops his Roman legionaries flanked on either side by auxiliaries and finally the Cavalry and we have this deployment on good authority because our main source for the battle is the Roman historian tacitus and one of the sources that tacitus was using was his father-in-law agria who may well have served as an aid of suetonius at this climactic clash in the meantime as this deployment was going on the Britain had gathered on the plane in unprecedented numbers they were highly confident they believed victory was near at hand and so confident were they that many had brought along their wives their pack animals their wagons in order to spectate what they believed would be the final decisive success in their mission to expel the Romans from Britain as the Britain assembled buddika emerged in front of her Warriors ready to R them up for B attle with an emphatic [Music] speech so what do we know about this speech by buddika before the battel of Watling Street so this speech comes to us from tacitus who's writing in about the early 2nd Century ad so a bit earlier than cassus Dio this is quite a different speech that tacitus gives buddika compared to casassus Dio she's in her Chariot this time she's not standing with her spear in front of the troops but with her in her Chariot or her daughters and it seems like she goes to each of the tribes individually and talks to them about um being led by a woman so she reassures them first of all that it's okay that they can be led by a women there's precedence for this um which suggests perhaps there's some differences in the reactions between the tribes but then she goes on to um talk about how she has been beaten personally by the Romans how they've raped her daughters it's the physical assault to her that um is motivating this action but also talks about the broader pollution that's being done to Britain by the Romans so the beating of of of other people and the the savagery of the Romans is polluting Britain so this makes it a religious argument as well as a moral argument and therefore expands that out to the tribes um as well as her own personal um reasons for going against the [Music] Romans fact or fiction I like to think that when bu finished her speech a huge Roar erupted among the [Music] Britain we're told in tesus in response suetonius had his own speech for his Roman soldiers he highlights how yes Bud's army they had the numbers they had the quantity but the Romans they had the battle experience they had the skill they had the quality and ser aton's speech was generally as followed stay alert keep your discipline listen to orders and we will overcome before the Romans there was another Factor at play by this time buddika and her Army's Infamous reputation must have preceded them the sacking of at least three settlements the annihilation of part of a Roman legion the Romans must have known that if they were to see the sun rise to see the sun set another day then they had to to overcome they had to win the Britain attacked they charged up the narrow defile marching up through the valley no doubt clamoring and shouting as they approached their enemy but the Romans stayed where they were closer and closer the Britains came to their position still the Romans refused to move then at the given signal all hell was Unleashed each Roman legionary had two specially designed javelins called Pila and as the British approached the legion took out their first pum a lighter longer range Javelin took them back AED the javelin and threw them down on the approaching British then soon after they took out their second Javelin a heavier peum shorter range but more deadly equipped with a lead weight the legionaries aimed their head heavier javelins and threw that down in a second volley on the approaching British now as many of the Britain would have been lightly armored these missile volleys would have been devastating and as the Britains were regaining their composure in the wake of this rain this hail storm of missiles then the Roman legionaries went into action they locked up their large rectangular scotum Shields they took out their short gladious swords they formed a wedge formation and they charged downhill into the British ranks on either side they had their auxiliaries with their oval Shields with their Spears similarly joining in the charge with all might and vigor the Britain their numbers the huge quantity of soldiers now work to their disadvantage the Roman tactics combined with the terrain had turned them from predators into prey at this crucial juncture when British morale was wavering suetonius dealt the hammer blow he sent his Cavalry in on the sides into this great mass of British soldiers that was it for the Britain they turned and fled down into the narrow defile pursued by the Romans having received orders to show no mercy the Britain emerged onto the plane they struggled to get past the wagons their pack animals their wives watching on as they try to escape the slaughter but for many it was to no avail What followed was a horrific bloodbath suetonius had pulled off a remarkable but bloody Victory indeed when penus pamus the commander of the second Legion when he heard of this great Victory gained by suetonius he committed suicide out of Shame remember it was pamus who had refused to March his Legion to suetonius Aid earlier in the revolt as for casualties from the battle itself tus tells us that some 400 Romans lost their lives in the battle the Britains meanwhile buddika Army lost up to 80,000 as for budika her fate is less clear there are two different versions of this story of what happens to budaka the Battle of wling street has been Absolut absolutely brutal it is a massacre not only do the troops die on the British side um but also the women and baggage animals as well um are snorted too tacus says that at the end of this budaka committed suicide she takes poison in fact which speaks to her her character as a female actually it's women who use poison in this method think of Cleopatra for example we also get then the alternative version of history from casassus Dio who actually says yes this was a horrific battle but there were still some Britain ready to um Carry On um if they could be led by budika so some managed to escape they were looking to buddika for leadership and unfortunately buddika got sick and she died from her illness so this is a very different version of the story from cassus sto who again has uh a very different motivation for wanting to give budaka um perhaps a more masculine death Rome learned its lessons from the Revolt iini territory was absorbed into the Roman province to assure security military structures were constructed north of the temps Colchester was rebuilt and finally received its own wall the Buddakan Revolt was a wakeup call for the Romans deadly proof that southern Britain had not yet been fully pacified pinus was brutal in the aftermath of what Ling street but his reprisals only serve to stir up the chance of another Rebellion seeing this the new procurator classicus sent word to the emperor Nero who in turn sent his own official to Britain to end the reprisals a fredman called polyus so this is interesting this happens after the battle of wling Street and we only get this from tacitus cassus Dio isn't necessarily interested in the after effects of wling Street for him uh budd's death is decisive polyus goes in he has a very impressive sort of Entry um into the colony he has a column of of soldiers and it's it's scary it is scary but when the Britains realize that he's a Freedman so had formerly been a slave and had been freed they find him a laughing stock because they don't T says they don't understand how powerful a Freedman could be that there was this status in Rome for them it it was all about either you were free or you a slave so for them politus still had that that mantle of slavery and they found it difficult to take him seriously the Revolt did ultimately Peter out thanks to a more lenient policy of a new Roman governor of Britain those Romano British client rulers who had stayed loyal to Rome who had decided not to Aid buddika in her Revolt well they were rewarded perhaps the rulers at fishborn and at caler now civilian rebuilding did occur in the aftermath albeit slowly in the immediate aftermath of the Revolt particularly for the areas around Colchester around London around St Auburn's those settlements which budik had destroyed where the Romans put a strong focus on Military building the Romans were determined that a revolts like budas and Southern Britain would never happen again budd's Revolt had ended in Failure the iini warrior woman herself had lost her life but budda's Legacy lived on the story of buddika is highly popular it's becoming grained in British Legend I mean it has it all it has the wrongs Warrior woman piling up a revolt against the superpower of the time and almost succeeding but for me what I find so fascinating about the Revolt is the parallels we see between it with other events roughly contemporary events we see elsewhere in the world in the first century ad in Vietnam we see a similar Revolt two sisters the trun sisters leading an uprising encouraging the Vietnamese to take up our arms against their own dominant superpower the Han Dynasty of ancient China which then dominated large parts of Vietnam the Trung sister Rebellion like budd's Revolt ultimately ended in Failure but still it's an incredible parallel the story that surrounds buddika is one that we can see parallels with throughout world history a figure thrown into an extraordinary position and made making something of it taking on an imperial superpower and carving out significant success Against All Odds only to ultimately be defeated the story has inspired the name holds steadfast among the anals of British folklore the archaeology will discover more the Legacy will endure thanks for watching this video on the history Hit YouTube you Channel you can subscribe right here to make sure you don't miss any of our great films that are coming out or if you are a true history fan check out our special dedicated History Channel History hit. 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Channel: History Hit

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Keywords: history hit, history hit youtube, boudica, boudica rome, boudica death to rome, boudica documentary, boudica warrior queen documentary, boudica netflix, boudica history, boudica film, history of boudica, history of queen boudica, iceni tribe, boudica iceni, ancient britain, roman britain, roman britain boudica, boudican revolt, boudica revolt, battle of watling street, battle of watling street documentary, battle of watling street 61 ad, boudica statue

Id: rxWucSi2k1k

Length: 39min 11sec (2351 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 01 2024