Queen Boudica’s Sack of Londinium

September 8, 2016 · by nathanglovinsky · in Uncategorized

After Queen Boudica sacked Londinium in 61 AD, it was rebuilt as a Roman-planned town to consolidate control over the region.

Queen Boudica’s vicious sack of Londinium revealed how poorly planned the port city originally was. Queen Boudica was married to the Iceni king Prasutagus, who ruled an independent kingdom as an ally of Rome in present-day Norfolk (2009, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceni ). The Iceni queen’s pillage was the immediate result of misinterpretation over her late husband’s will. Celtic custom prohibited naming successors in written documents but Roman law required such; because King Prasutagus omitted Boudica in the will, his property was liquidated and given to the Roman Empire. When Queen Boudica objected, she was flogged and her daughters were raped by the Roman financiers. This event catalyzed anti-Roman sentiment amongst the northern Celtic tribes, who rallied under Boudica’s leadership as she ravaged her way south through prominent Roman colonies.

Archaeological evidence of Londinium suggests that Boudica pursued a “scorch-earth” policy when her legion reached the city limits. For instance, human skulls that date to the Roman occupation were recently found clumped together in a London Underground tunnel (2013, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131003-roman-skulls-london-boudicca/). The nature of their burial suggests that the victims were mass-executed and then dumped into the ground haphazardly. Roman-era artifacts were also found under a thick layer of burnt debris, which validates contemporary accounts that say Boudica burnt the city to the ground after murdering and pillaging[1].

Ironically, Roman forces used their superb infrastructure to organize the opposition to Queen Boudica and end her rebellion. Gauis Suetonius Paulinus used the Roman system of paved roads to consolidate imperial forces before Queen Boudica’s army. He directed garrisons to travel on the Watling Street route (2015, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Watling_Street) and meet him in an open area between Londinium and Viroconium. The imperial army was able to defeat the Celtic confederation, and Queen Boudica’s died shortly after.

Emperor Nero used the revolt to update infrastructure in Brittania and consolidate control over the dominion. Londinium was not the most populous or wealthy town prior to Boudica’s sack, but the new urban development project enabled the city to soon surpass other metropolitan centers in ten years[2]. The success may be attributed to the fact that the city was rebuilt using Roman standards of city planning. The new city was organized using grid orientation, centralized marketplaces in the heart of the municipal boundaries, and public facilities to keep the populace happy with imperial control[3]. For example, the new three-story basilica was the largest west of the Alps (2016, http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Londons-Roman-Basilica-Forum/). The basilica was a public meeting space that housed many trade operations and civic administrative offices. New buildings, such as the basilica, proved that the Roman Empire no longer wished to ignore development in Brittania.

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