Boudica Trivia Quiz

Answer: England

Boudica lived in the east of England, in what is now Norfolk.

Answer: Iceni

The Iceni lived in modern Norfolk. The Catuvellani were in the south of England, and were among the first tribes to fall to the Roman invasion of Britain. The Brigantes were located in the north and the Silures in what is now Wales.

Answer: Tacitus and Dio Cassius

Tacitus' father-in-law, Agricola, was Roman governor of Britain, which may explain his interest in Boudica's Rebellion. His is the only contemporary Roman account of Boudica, written a few decades after her death. Dio Cassius wrote more than a hundred years later, and his account is presumed to be based on Tacitus' writing.

Answer: Prasutagus

Venutius was the husband of Cartimandua, another Celtic queen. Caractacus was the chief of the Catuvellauni, another Celtic tribe. Aulus Plautius was a Roman general at the time of the Claudian conquest of Britain.

Answer: Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped by soldiers.

Tacitus says that Boudica was flogged and her daughters "outraged" or raped, this treatment leading her to raise a rebellion.

Answer: Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium (Colchester, London and St. Albans)

Colchester, London and St. Albans are in the southeast of England, the centre of Roman occupation at the time of Boudica's Rebellion. Bath, Gloucester and Chester are in the west. Caerlon, Caerwent and Carmarthen are in modern Wales. Corbridge, York and Manchester are in the north of England.

Answer: Gaius Suetonius Paulinus

Suetonius abandoned London as indefensible. He had two legions and auxiliaries, about 10,000 men. Boudica's force was numbered by Tacitus at 100,000 and by Dio Cassius at 230,000. The II August legion was at Exeter, but did not march to assist Suetonius. Its commander, Poenius Postumus, fell on his sword on hearing of Suetonius' victory over Boudica. Quintus Veranius was Suetonius' predecessor as governor. Nero was Emperor during Boudica's Rebellion. Agricola was governor some twenty years later.

Answer: The exact location is unknown, but somewhere in the west Midlands.

Various locations have been proposed for the final battle, but no exact location has been found. Suetonius would not have returned to London, he would have taken the Watling Street, a Roman road running northwest from the southeast shore of Britain.

He might have chosen a location near where he could meet the II Augusta, the legion which did not come to his aid. In any case, he made his stand in a narrow place where he could not be overwhelmed by superior numbers of Britons, and eventually drove the British back on to their own lines, where retreat was hampered by masses of women and children who had come along to see the battle.

There is archaeological evidence for the sacking of London and Colchester in Boudica's time. The battle of Stamford Bridge was fought in 1066 when Harold Godwinson defeated Harald Hardrada before turning to fight William at Hastings.

Answer: She took poison.

According to Tacitus (Annals 14:29-39) Boudica exhorts her army before the battle, "in this battle you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves." She took poison after her defeat. Nothing is said about the fate of her daughters, who rode into battle with her.

Answer: Queen Victoria

Boudica was forgotten in Britain in the Middle Ages. There is no mention of her in Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain" nor in the Mabinogian, nor in Bede. When classical sources were rediscovered in the Renaissance, Boudica eventually made her way into literature and popular consciousness. It was in the Victorian Era that Boudica became a favourite heroine. Tennyson wrote a poem in her honour, and a statue of her in her chariot, commissioned by Prince Albert, stands outside the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge.