Giving You Ancient Britain's Queens and the Roman Empire

Ancient Britons fought the Romans for a number of decades from 44 AD to 120 AD. There continued to be tribal unrest in Caledonia (Scotland) but the rest of Britain gradually became Romanised.

For 300 more years Britain became a settled area of the world and when it finally fell apart due to Eastern European migration from today's Russia; the Roman administration packed up and went. They just closed shop on Roman Britain and left.

The Isle witnessed a kind of dystopia for some years. The Dark Ages came and there followed many centuries of uncertainty.

It is so strange because the Britons were not the most welcoming of people towards the Romans at first. There were a number of wars in the beginning, but the might of Rome prevailed and Ancient Britain fell and then prospered under the Roman Empire as Roman Britain.

In the early decades of Roman rule, Britain was known to have 2 queens. Boudicca of the Iceni (The Warrior Queen) is known for her bloody rebellion. Her rampage burnt her name into the history books and she echoes through eternity. She lasted but a year, yet her legacy lingers to this day.

The other queen is Cartimandua of theBrigantes. She is less well known yet she was more successful in ruling her rebellious Brigante and got on well with Rome.

Historians say that Boudicca fell out with Rome because the Roman Empire would not recognise a woman’s rule. I think this is hogwash because Queen Cartimandua was recognised and supported against her divorced and exiled husband Venutius. As was Cleopatra of Egypt.

Cartimandua ruled from the year the Romans invaded Briton in 44 AD or close to this time. Her rule ended in 69 AD during the year of the Four Emperors. Her divorced husband usurped her throne, though Cartimandua escaped and went into exile and vanished from historical records. No one knows when she died. Although she ruled for around twenty five years, virtually nothing is known of her.

It is a great shame because to last so long under such dire conditions says something about this queen. Many regard her as a traitor because of her friendship with Rome. But some people believe there was more to Cartimandua then this. She must have had some ability and somehow she contained her Brigante from joining Boudicca’s rebellion.

When Boudicca of Iceni lost her final battle against the Roman army, her forces were in the midland area of today’s England. Cartimandua’s boarders would have been close to where Manchester is.

Suppose when Boudicca fled the battle field, after defeat, as some historians believe, she went north to commit suicide. Even if Rome had her rotting corpse they would have displayed it and recorded such an event. It is safe to say they did not. Suppose Boudicca took a poison elixir and was buried in a sacred place? Suppose Cartimandua had some reason to meet the warrior queen in secret? Could the British queens have met before Boudicca took poison?

Read the fictional story of such a meeting and enjoy: Meeting Boudicca (A story of Cartimandua of Brigantes and her one off audience with the Iceni warrior queen.