OPPRESSOR OR HERO?
In your Collector’s Edition Kings & Queens of Britain, you post a question at the end of the article about Boudicca, the warrior queen of the Iceni tribe – ‘How should Boudicca be treated by history?’.
I am an admirer of strongwilled women and that’s coming from a man. I believe – given the small account of her life in our history – that Boudicca should be viewed as both the oppressor and valiant hero to her people. History is viewed not just by the victors but both sides. Also, it depends on the context of the times. Back then, to the native tribes she was a hero locked in a battle with a conquering force. If the Romans didn’t act so unforgivably, she would have never taken things so personally. To the Romans, she was a troublemaker who was challenging not just their rule in Britain but the whole of the Roman Empire as a symbol, and she needed to be destroyed.
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February 2018
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