Could Boudicca the warrior queen have met Cartimandua of Brigantes before her suicide?

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How long before Boudicca poisoned herself

During the final days of Boudicca, after her defeat by Suetonius and his Roman Army, what could the Iceni warrior queen have possibly done? She was not too far from the southern boarders of the Brigante where another Queen ruled. This was the Queen known as Cartimandua and it is very probable that she would not entertain helping Boudicca in anyway. Cartimandua had given another rebel chieftain named Caractacus to the Romans when he sought sanctuary in the Brigante.

It is believed that Boudicca escaped the battlefield after the defeat of her rebellion and this theory must carry some weight because Rome would have written of such a thing if her body was found among the slain.

If she went into hiding and poisoned herself she remains a myth and for a writer of historical fiction one can milk such a grey area of ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes.’ How long did she remain before taking her poison?

Cartimandua’s dilemma

Surely Queen Cartimandua of Brigantes would have been very concerned by the dreaded warrior queen’s success. As a Roman ally she must have been praying to any Gods that they might hear her pleas. What of her divorced and spurned husband Venutius? He had been driven from the Brigante because of his intolerance towards her friendship with Rome. Surely he did not remain inactive while Boudicca and her Iceni went on the rampage.

The Brigante are a bit of a grey area during Boudicca’s rebellion. Queen Cartimandua was long established as Brigante sovereign by this time and ruled for a further eight years after Boudicca’s demise.

If I could go back in time I would dearly love to interview Cartimandua – more so than Boudicca. She must have had, or had access to; a strong degree of political expertise for she seems to have kept a huge temperamental power at bay to the south and a mischief making ex-husband away to the north.  For well over twenty five years, she was able to keep Rome at ease by collaborating and being a buffer between her divorced ex-husband, in exile in Caledonia among the Picts. Did she really play one off against the other - stroking and pleasing the wolf of Rome while scolding and beating the weasel in Caledonia? If she did, all this must have broken down briefly during Boudicca’s rebellion. For a short space of time in 61 AD, Cartimandua must have been faced with a terrible dilemma. Boudicca looked as though she might win.

With Boudicca to the south and Venutius to the north, Cartimandua must have become anxious because of her Roman friendship – a circumstance that would have no merit among any Britons of the rebellion once Rome was driven off of the Isle.

It is therefore feasible that she may have gone to her southern boarders to stop her people from rallying to Boudicca’s cause. When Boudicca did lose her final battle, Cartimandua may have enjoyed a brief time of adulation from the Brigante commoners. Rome was not going to take revenge on them.

Maybe Cartimandua was more substantial then history portrays her. I can’t help feeling that this Brigante queen may have been more cunning then Boudicca. She may have used Rome as much as Rome used her. Even under civil strife – eight years latter – during the Year of the Four Emperors in 69 AD, Rome thought enough of Cartimandua to send help and bring her south when the empire was consumed in civil war.

All we know is that Cartimandua was allowed to go into exile in mainland Europe while Rome sorted out its civil strife, leaving the Brigante under Venutius to simmer and await Rome’s more special attention in 71 AD. None know what became of Cartimandua as she went into exile. She fades from history and becomes virtually unknown.

I often wondered if Boudicca and Cartimandua may have met between the days of the warrior queen’s defeat and her taking the poison elixir that took her to the afterlife, from where she screams out at us with her story of monumental failure.

But what of Cartimandua – the durable sovereign that reigned for more than twenty five years and even escaped to tell the tale after her eventual demise. I would really love to have had a chat with Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes.

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Meeting Boudicca at OneTrueMedia.com

Meeting Boudicca
Cartimandua of Brigantes encounters the Iceni Warrior Queen

Queen Boudicca is defeated. Her Iceni and other British allies are dead or fleeing from the vengeance of unmerciful Rome. The beaten Iceni Warrior queen awaits her poison elixir which will aid her departure from life while the waiting druids wish to bury her in a secret place.
However, before Boudicca can complete her final and drastic act; a messenger arrives with news of a potential alliance. The Brigantes Queen Cartimandua may be able to offer a new pact against Rome. This is confusing because Cartimandua is loyal to Rome and has betrayed other Britons who fought Rome in the past.
Cartimandua is equally perplexed. She has no desire to aid Boudicca and fears the Iceni queen. Could both sovereigns be pawns in another participants’ ploy? To find the culprits of the conspiracy, Cartimandua chooses to indulge the inappropriate consultation of two very different British queens.

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Boudicca Warrior Queen of Iceni Encounters Cartimandua of Brigantes - A novel coming to you.

Queen Boudicca is defeated. Her Iceni and other British allies are dead or fleeing from the vengeance of unmerciful Rome. The British rebellion is over. The beaten Iceni Warrior queen has gone into hiding and awaits her poison elixir which will aid her departure from life while the waiting druids wish to bury her in a secret place.

However, before Boudicca can complete her final and drastic act; a messenger arrives with news of a potential alliance. The Brigantes Queen Cartimandua may be able to offer a new pact against Rome. This is confusing because Cartimandua is loyal to Rome and has betrayed other Britons who fought Rome in the past.

Cartimandua is equally perplexed. She has no desire to aid Boudicca and fears the Iceni queen. Could both sovereigns be pawns in another participants’ ploy? To find the culprits of the conspiracy, Cartimandua chooses to indulge the inappropriate consultation of two very different British queens.

The Story of H.M.S. Thunder Child at OneTrueMedia.com

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Thunder Child V The Martian Tripods at OneTrueMedia.com

New version of the pastiche novel about H.M.S. Thunder Child.

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I was Shocked and Sad to Learn that Margaret Thatcher Passed Away Today

I was stunned by the news that Margaret Thatcher had died this morning on 8th April 2013. She was 87 years of age, but I still find it hard to believe. I thought she would live forever - then again, perhaps she will. There are people in the UK that passionately disagreed with her and those who are devoted to the icon that she often seems to be.

All I would like to say is this: Margaret Thatcher was a tough leader who had to make some hard decisions. She didn't get things wrong all the time despite what many might think. I often found fault with her as a youngster in my twenties. Perhaps I was a trendy lefty at times, but as I've got older and now own my own house (courtesy of Thatcherism) I find myself reflecting on more realistic issues. Real issues that she had the strength to confront on more then one occasion.

Well Prime Minister Thatcher - I'll always respect you and admit - you were right on many things that I thought were wrong at the time. Especially with trade unions, but today I humbly admit you may have been right on certain issues concerning ballots and holding the nation to ransom. In the long run you got it right on that issue. You were a very determined and fine Prime Minister and a very great Briton. 

I will not say Rest in Peace, because I can't think of such a determined person resting. I will say 'Echo in Eternity' for good and positive things that Margerat Thatcher is and will always be. For champions of trying and believing; she will live forever.

The Splendid Sabre F86 Jet Fighter of the Korean War

The F86 Sabre Jet was a fabulous piece of American engineering that gained legendary status during the Korean War of the early 1950s. It gained notorious recognition during various dogfight duels against Soviet Migs in Mig Alley along the North Korean/China border. 

The Sabre F86 took on the might of the Soviet-built Mig jets during the Korean War. Many of the Soviet Migs were flown by Soviet instructors who locked horns with the American Sabre pilots. The Soviets found themselves up against better opposition then they bargained for. The exploits of the American fighter pilots have become legend against North Korea's Soviet piloted Migs. 

Sabre F86 during Korean War

Often dogfights went across the border of North Korea into China's Manchuria Province where many of the Mig airfields were. On one occasion, an American Sabre pilot got into a dogfight that took him over into China as he pursued his Mig opponent. He was led over an enemy airfield where he managed to shoot down the Mig fighter. As the Soviet crashed into the airfield it took out a line of Migs standing idol on the airfield. 

American Sabre F86 Jet and North Korean (Soviet-built and flown Mig)

The American Sabre F86 was a wonderfully crafted jet with streamline development that went through further advance and modification during the daring dogfights in the notorious Mig Alley of the Korean War. It is a truly wonderful aircraft that attracts great attention even to this day.

Oswald Mosley - The Rise and Fall - British Union of Fascists in 1930s

The Rise and Fall of Oswald Mosley.

Oswald Mosley 1896 to 1980

Oswald Mosley was born in 1896 and died in 1980 age 84. He rose to prominence in the early 1920s as a young politician of great promise. He was of a British senior Aristocratic stock of Anglo/Irish heritage and probably one of the last old school Brits that tried to change with the times, but got it badly wrong in the long run.

After the war of 1914-1918, Oswald Mosley returned from the carnage of war determined to make a difference in the United Kingdom. He had seen the suffering of war and the humane side of this man wanted to build a better Britain. In the long run; one might say he was a perverted patriot who meant well. Adolf Hitler and Mussolini were men who wanted to serve their nations and perhaps Mosley was lucky not to be as dreadfully successful at winning power. His terrible legacy might have been more enhanced because he did advocate an anti-Jewish policy and one of his close party members would be William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) All this happened and came about after being frustrated with radical political adventures in the 1920s. All the good he tried to do was blown away when he tried to launch his British Union of Fascists in the 1930s

In his early days, Oswald Mosley gained prominence for his articulate ability and often made stirring speeches as a young politician. He championed a lot of working men’s causes and made compelling speeches that allured voters to him. He was also very outspoken against The Black and Tans and Auxiliary Police units that were causing great suffering in Ireland. So much so that he left the Conservative party and walked across the floor. This all seems very strange in the early days form a man that would lead the British Union of Fascists and try to make peace with Nazi Germany and Italy. These initial things brought Oswald Mosley much admiration and respect, especially championing the Irish cause against the thuggish police tactics of the Black and Tans.

The Labour party was new at the time and Mosley found a welcome from this new party after walking across the floor and leaving the coalition Conservative led government – Insulting and Shaming the Liberal Prime Minister Lloyd George. This was impact politics – very daring – very radical – and extremely attention gathering. This sort of thing gets attention, but if you are going to take things seriously; such extreme behaviour warrants distrust in the long run. Perhaps the newly emerging Labour party welcomed the positive publicity, but never really trusted the man Mosley in the long run. Perhaps he was too much of a loaded gun. He worked with the party for a long time but was never given a post of great prominence. He got frustrated and tried to bulldoze his way into the higher spectrum of the Labour party by putting forward a memorandum among other things.

He tried to do a lot to help the working man and the Mosley Memorandum to get British industry up and running with jobs for the working man all over the UK; got rejected by the Labour party cabinet. He tried to forward this proposal a second time and was further frustrated by rejection. This memorandum was believed to have been good in theory. Even after the decades went by; many thought that this Mosley Memorandum for getting British industry going might have been good if put to practise.

In the end Mosley once again walked away from his political party as he did with the Conservatives earlier in the decade. This time it was not too unexpected and it did not carry the media approval he anticipated. It was almost as though he was throwing his baby rattle out of the pram. He began to look like a man obsessed with his own conviction of vanity at an excessive level.

It was almost like he was too over eager to gain power and began to lose faith with democracy. From here on he slid into the arms of Fascism that was igniting all of Europe. He formed the British Union of Fascists and had many celebrities join. There was an organisation of Black Shirts who turned up at his political rallies, but he quickly attracted anti-reactionary political movements who often turned up at his rallies to heckle his ideas. Also Jewish groups who were concerned with such radical policies got into stand up brawls with the BUF too. There was a period where he attracted concern because many agreed with his extreme right wing politics. This was the man who had been in the Labour party and the Conservatives and could not succeed democratically. All others were misguided except for him – if only the masses would listen to him.

Eventually the war with Nazi Germany came and with Italy too. Mosley saw his BUF’s dwindling support collapse. His inner party member, William Joyce, went to Germany and began broadcasting for the Nazis.

Oswald Mosley was interned under national security regulations and was put into custody until 1943. His world would never be the same. He would try to make breakthroughs into British politics, but he was a spent force – little more than a joke after World War II. He went to live in Ireland for a time and then Paris. He would become a sad figure and to a degree somewhat sympathetic because he started with great potential as a young man. He may have got swallowed up and drowned in his own faith of self-importance. This is not meant in a wicked way, because in Mosley we might see what all humans can become if they are overdosed in admiration at a young age. I think Mosley might have tragically become overwhelmed in his own verdict – a would be champion that no one really wanted because he became too self-obsessed. Again, in his defence, it can happen to the best of young men and once on such a course it is hard to stop. He charged head on into his own destruction and was little more than a sad circus relic by the time he passed away.

There were many good and learned people who admired the young Oswald Mosley when he began in politics in the early 1920s, but one by one he lost the good opinion of good friends as he went on his diverse political journey.

Sources:

Spartacus Educational

OSWALD MOSLEY.COM

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

The History of Learning

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION & ARCHIVE RESEARCH TEAM

Moyra Melons' 'My God' Ear Rings.

When Moyra Melons met her husband on a summer night. She wondered about her rather large earrings. She thought they went well with her rather exquisite white crop top, but had a nagging feeling that they might have been a little too big and showing against the delicately cut white crop top. When her husband showed up he was pleasantly surprised too.

"My word," he said smiling. "When you said they were big and dangly; you were not kidding about darling."

"No," she replied coyly. "I feel a little self-conscious with them bouncing about. People might think I'm showing off." Moya's retro British modesty always come to the fore when she spoke of her earrings.

"Oh, mere trifles," replied her delighted husband. "Let them know you have big earrings and are not ashamed of them."

"I feel as though everyone is looking at me," she added needing reassurance.

"That's because they are darling. I saw you coming around the corner twenty seconds beforehand."

She looked perplexed. "How?"

"Well let's go home and I'll explain why" he replied with a nervous twitch in his eye. He was coming over in a hot flush again.

"Oh dear," replied Moyra. "Let us get you home where you can calm down and explain."

She managed to get her excitable husband home, but he did not calm down and she did get a vague inkling of what he meant by seeing her twenty seconds before she came around the corner. Moyra could not work out what it had to do with large bouncy earrings.

  

Meeting Boudicca

The Last Days of Thunder Child