Boudicca/HIstorical error
There is a mistake in concerning Boudicca in the opening book by referring to her as an Historical English person.
The English or early Anglo-Saxons did not arrive in England until the fourth centaury AD, after the Roman Armies had left Britain. She was a Celtic Queen and spoke Welsh nor Anglo-Saxon. The Author did not research his facts correctly.
Posted by Dewi Owen in Cardiff , 6 September 2010
8 comments on “Boudicca/HIstorical error”
Yes, Boudicca was a Celt not an Anglo-Saxon.
Posted by Michael in Toronto, Ontario, CANADA ,
She was a native of what is now called England. I don’t think it is stretching it too much to called her English.
Posted by Webbo in Leicester ,
I wonder if that was Stieg’s error, or an error in translation from Reg?
Posted by Brumtaffy in Birmingham ,
Boudicca lived during the Roman occupation of Britain, and is famous as a warrior queen, who inherited her post when her husband died. Described as a tall, rather terrifying woman with a loud voice, she led her people, the Iceni, into battle when hertwo daughters were attcked and brutally raped by Roman soldiers.
Her unrelenting, fierce war against Rome ended only upon her defeat. I believe she committed suicide rather than be held by the Romans. And, yes, she spoke a form of early Welsh(a Celtic tongue).
A memorial to her stands, I think, in London. Her fierce courage has led her to become a symbol for Britons(I include the Welsh, Scots, and English–who still have some Celtic blood in them, albeit mixed with Anglo and Saxon blood) everywhere.
Peace!
Posted by Tina Loflin in Salisbury, North Carolina ,
Dear Webbo of Leicester, please study British History as you are way off the Mark! The English didn’t,t exist until the 5th century.
Posted by newo in Bury St Edmunds ,
There is in fact genetic evidence which may point to an early influx of germanic speaking hunter gatherers, who may have been the fore fathers of tribes men in that area of Britain. Not all early British Isles tribes, in other words, spoke a form of Gaelic. We do not know which language was predominant. Therefore some coastal tribes in Britain who traveled via the North sea arrived with their germanic laguage before the Anglo saxons, who were in fact distant ancestors. Boudicca could therefore be discribed as English, in that the cultural language divide existed then. However nations did not exist as such in Britain at that time.
Posted by Amy Ross in Glasgow ,
The original celtic people, the Britons, who lived in Britain before Anglo Saxon colonisation is always living today.Look in Wales, look in the other side of the Manche, After invasion of germans, a part of britons left island to found refuge to the west of Gaul, in Armoric. They called this new land “Breizh”, “Bretagne” (in french), or “Brittany” in english. Welsh and Bretons were the same and only people. Since Diaspora, English or French historians have always try to minimize our people, culture, or langage… 2000years after Boudicca story, breton langage is dying, and will not survive a long time…
PS: sorry for my english speaking, i’m breton ^^
Posted by Effix in Brittany ,
In the Mabinogion, the Welsh legend written down by early Welsh Christians, there is a tribe called the Pryddani (sorry, possibly inaccurate spelling) which is the source of the word Briton. I believe the double “dd” is pronounced as a voiced “th” as in “there”. The Celts who dominated Britain both before and during the Roman occupation were driven into Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland by the Angles Saxons Jutes and later Vikings. all three locations have or had their own pronunciation of Gaelic which is split into two forms, Brythonic and Goidelic. I believe that Breton, Cornish and Welsh are Brythonic where Gaidhlig (Scots Gaelic) and Irish are Goidelic (though I may be in error in some detail here).
Posted by Rob in Toronto ,