Locating Boudica in the 16th Century Chronicles of England, Wales and Scotland

Résumé En

Diversely claimed as English, Welsh and Scottish, with Irish affiliations, represented as both victim and avenging mother Boudica would finally emerge from the pages of history as a national heroine who would unite the British under an English leadership. The English hegemony within Britain also included the ‘dissolution’ of Wales and imperial aspirations Westward into Ireland. Boudica is the most famous warrior queen of British Roman history. She defied Roman rule in 60AD and inspired female empowerment, ‘British’ identity and British imperial ambitions from the 16th century onwards, but who exactly was she? This paper tries to answer this question by reviewing the many historiographical references to her rebellion written under the Tudors in England and Wales, and the Stuarts in Scotland in the Early Modern period. This talk will briefly refer to the dichotomy in Boudica’s national origins in the works of Hector Boëce, Polydore Vergil, Humphrey Llwyd, Raphael Holinshed and William Camden in order to trace her place in the nation’s voice.