WILD WOMEN DID (AT LEAST, THEY DID IN EUROPE)

If you’ve read Pauline Gedge’s “The Eagle and the Raven” you will know the names Cartimandua and Boudicca. Both were historical figures, both were queens. And always, one has been reviled and one praised. (Which one’s which, though, has changed). In Roman Britain, Cartimandua ruled the Brigantes with her husband Venutius. They were one of the tribes that dealt with the Romans and became a client of Rome. When Cartimandua divorced Venutius and replaced him with his arms-bearer Vellocatus, who then became king (king, in Celtic terms, being a word for Queen’s consort. She had the right to rule and the power, not him). Venutius, probably influenced by Roman patriarchal culture, rebelled against this decision, and Cartimandua had to call on the Romans to aid her in crushing the revolt. (Unfotunately, they didn’t help her during Venutius’s second attempt).

Boudicca, meanwhile, was Queen of the Iceni, ruling with her older husband Prasutagus. They were also clients of Rome, until Prasutagus died. He left half his belongings to Rome and the rest to Boudicca and their daughters, but the Romans had no concept of women inheriting, so attempted to seize the sovereignty of the Iceni. Boudicca resisted this attempt, and so the Romans, thinking to subdue her, flogged her and raped her daughters. This may have been a mistake.

She killed her daughters (I'm thinking coup de grace), and led one of the most famous rebellions of history. Her forces destroyed Camulodonum, routed the 9^th legion and headed for Londinium. Nero was seriously considering Rome’s complete withdrawal from Britain when Boudicca was finally defeated.

Meanwhile, on the continent in Galatian territory, the fierce Scordisci tribe struggled against famines in their land. None of their chieftains stepped forward to lead them to a better life or propose a solution, so it fell to a woman – Onomaris – to combine all their wealth and lead the tribe across Europe to the lower Danube. She led them successfully through Brennus’s attack on Delphi in the 3^rd century BC and subsequently into war against the Illyrians. Having won, she founded a city (now Belgrade) and ruled the re-settled Scordisci as queen.

Across the Celtic world – most of Europe and some of the Middle East – queens ruled, priestesses led and women fought alongside their men. History generally remembers only those few the patriarchal cultures met (and usually fought) because the Celts had an oral, not a written tradition, so it was up the Greeks and Romans to write their exploits down.