61 CE - Destruction of Mona, Revolt of the Iceni

by Larry Chamberlin

A hundred years earlier, Julius Caesar had asserted that the center of Druidism was in Britain. The Romans believed that in order to truly conquer the Celts, the Druids' power must be broken and Roman cults placed in their stead. The island, Mona (Anglesley, Welsh: Môn), known to be home to many Druids, was strategically located in the Irish Sea, like a watchtower over the passage between Wales, Ireland and Scotland. It was, in fact, a Celtic holy place of immeasurable importance. Mona was said to be the "center of Druidism" where new initiates went to learn their craft. Suetonius Paulinus, commander-in-chief of the Roman troops in Britain, mustered a large force of men, both mounted and infantry on rafts, and attacked the island of Mona in 60 - 61 CE.

They were faced with a surreal battle scene of Celtic warriors, torch bearing black robed women moving like screaming furies through the ranks, and druids, arms raised and calling curses on the Romans. Nonetheless, the attacking forces were overwhelming in number and weaponry and the holy shrine was thoroughly demolished, the sacred groves destroyed and the altars smashed.

News of this desecration swept the Celtic peoples in Britain and the mainland and caused great resentment against the Romans. It is in part responsible for the uprising by tribes which supported Boudicca in her contest of Roman imperialism that same year.

Boudicca (Boadicea), was Queen of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe located in present day East Anglia, Britain. Her husband, Prasutagus, sought to protect his family by making the Roman Emperor, Nero, co-heir to his property. However, upon his death, 61 CE, his widow, Boudicca, was flogged, his daughters raped and his holding usurped in their entirety. Boudicca took her cause to her people and easily generated an uprising against the Roman occupiers greater in fury and magnitude than anything they had faced to that point. Together with other Celtic tribes, including the Trinovantes, Boudicca led the Celts to victory in a series of skirmishes leading to their capture of Camulodunum (Colchester), in which the Temple to Claudius was burned and the Roman prisoners sacrificed to Andrasta, the goddess of victory, in retribution for Mona's destruction. Victories followed, including the sacking of Londinium. Queen Boudicca is accused by the Roman chronicler, Dio Cassius, to have committed terrible atrocities to the captives, including public mutilation and torture of the Roman women.

The Roman troops finally put together a massive force of some 10,000 men under Suetonius, and, in late 61 CE, faced off against Boudicca and her Celts in present day Warwickshire, at the narrow end of a gorge, forcing the Britons to pass through dense woods, strategically disadvantageous because of the Britons' chariots. Prior to the battle, Boudicca is reported to have driven her chariot around the Celtic forces, with her daughters, reminding the Celts of the Roman atrocities to both old and young, and exhorting the assembled tribes to fight for the freedom they would never have under the Romans. Though her words were stirring, the Celts were badly outmatched by the highly disciplined and weaponed Roman legions. In the massacre that followed, most of her followers were slaughtered and Boudicca took poison rather than be taken prisoner and paraded through Rome.

Boudicca's loyal guards secreted away her body and she was buried in a spot unknown to the Romans. This final resting place is rumoured to lie under Platform 8 at King's Cross Station, London. A monument was placed near the British Houses of Parliament in 1902 by the London County Council in recognition of the bravery of their Celtic ancestor. The plaque praises her defense of her [Celtic] homeland against the Roman invaders. This irony should not be lost on their neighbors across the Irish Sea.

Boudicca's uprising led to an uneasy truce between the remaining Celts and the Romans. Suetonius was replaced by Pretonius Turpilianus, who avoided provoking the Britons and thus provided a peace lasting until Vespasian's rule and, later, Agricola's ascension. Boudicca's name remains somewhat of a mystery in that it is linked with the Celtic goddess Boudiga (Welsh root, 'budd'), whose name means "Victory." It is possible that the name is a religious title, perhaps given to her during the early part of the rebellion.

Sources:

The Celts, Jean Markale (orig. publ. as "Les Celts et la Civilisation Celtique" by Payot, Paris, 1976; U.S. ed. publ. by Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont, (c)1993, ISBN: 0-89281-413-6)

The Celts: Europe's People of Iron, ed. Dale M. Brown, Time-Life Books, 1994, ISBN: 0-8094-9029-3

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., (c)1991

The Hammond Universal World Atlas, Hammond, Inc., (c)1993. ISBN: 0-8437-1195-7

prepared by Larry Chamberlin

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