Archaeology
Archaeological evidence of the Iceni includes
torc
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some had hook and ring closures and a few had ...
s — heavy rings of gold, silver or
electrum
Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. It has been produced artificially, and ...
worn around the neck and shoulders.
The Iceni began producing coins around 10 BC. Their coins were a distinctive adaptation of the Gallo-Belgic "face/horse" design, and in some early issues, most numerous near
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
, the horse was replaced with a
boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
. Some coins are inscribed ECENI, making them the only coin-producing group to use their tribal name on coins. The earliest personal name to appear on coins is Antedios (about 10 BC), and other abbreviated names like AESU and SAEMU follow.
It has been discovered that the name of Antedios’ succeeding ruler Prasutagus appears on the coins as well. H. R. Mossop in his article “An Elusive Icenian Legend” discusses coins that were discovered by D. F. Allen in Joist Fen, Suffolk, and states, “It is the coins Nos. 6 and 7 which give an advance in the obverse reading, confirming Allen’s attractive reading PRASTO, with its implied allusion to Prasutagus”.
Sir Thomas Browne, the first English archaeological writer, said of the Roman occupation, Boudica and Iceni coins:
That ''Britain'' was notably populous is undeniable, from that expression of ''Caesar''. That the Romans themselves were early in no small Numbers, Seventy Thousand with their associates slain by ''Bouadicea'', affords a sure account... And no small number of silver pieces near Norwich; with a rude head upon the obverse, an ill-formed horse on the reverse, with the Inscriptions ''Ic. Duro.T.'' whether implying ''Iceni, Durotriges, Tascia,'' or ''Trinobantes'', we leave to higher conjecture. The British Coyns afford conjecture of early habitation in these parts, though the city of Norwich arose from the ruins of ''Venta'', and though perhaps not without some habitation before, was enlarged, built, and nominated by the Saxons.
The
Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.
Background
It is generally said to be, wi ...
, an
ancient trackway
Historic roads (historic trails in USA and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient trackway ...
linking East Anglia to the
Chilterns, may be named after the Iceni.
John A. Davies and Tony Gregory conducted archaeological surveys of Roman coins that appeared during the period of Roman occupation of Norfolk. Their study showed that the bulk of the coins circulating before AD 60 was Icenian rather than Roman. They speculated that Roman coins were not adapted into the Iceni area until after AD 60. The coin study also showed that there was not a regular supply of Roman coinage from year to year:
The predominance of specific issues at sites across the province and relative scarcity of coins of some emperors illustrates the point that supply was sporadic and that there were periods when little or no fresh coinage was sent to Britain from the imperial mints.
In certain rural regions of Norfolk, Davies and Gregory speculate that the Iceni farmers were impacted very little by the
civitas, seeing as there is a scarce presence of coinage and treasures. On the other hand, their surveys found "coin-rich temple sites, which appear to have served as centres for periodic fairs and festivals and provided locations for markets and commercial transactions within their complexes and environs. In such rural areas, producers and consumers would have been attracted to these sites for commerce from afield"
File:Celtic gold stater Iceni tribe.jpg, Gold stater (15 BC - 20 AD). (right) horse (left) flower
File:Iceni coin 1.jpg, Iceni coin
File:Iceni coin 2.jpg, Iceni coin (reverse)
File:Two bronze coins of the Iceni.jpg, Bronze coins of the Iceni. Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
.
File:Iron Age coin , Icenian silver unit (FindID 646126).jpg, Icenian silver coin, found in Norfolk.
At the
Norwich Castle Museum
Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. William the Conqueror (1066–1087) ordered its construction in the aftermath of the Norman conquest of England. The castle was used as a ...
, a dedicated gallery includes a reproduction of an Iceni chariot.
Roman invasion
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
records that the Iceni were not conquered in the
Claudian invasion of AD 43, but had come to a voluntary alliance with the Romans. However, they rose against them in 47 after the governor,
Publius Ostorius Scapula
Publius Ostorius Scapula standing at the terrace of the Roman Baths (Bath)
Publius Ostorius Scapula (died 52) was a Roman statesman and general who governed Britain from 47 until his death, and was responsible for the defeat and capture of Ca ...
, threatened to disarm them. D. F. Allen explains in further detail, in his article "The Coins of the Iceni," that Scapula had been "preoccupied with defense against the unconquered Silures in South Wales and Brigantes in Yorkshire." Allen informs readers that this was how Prasutagus had come to gain full control over the Iceni (Allen 2). The Iceni were defeated by Ostorius in a fierce battle at a fortified place, but were allowed to retain their independence. The site of the battle may have been
Stonea Camp in
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...
.
A second and more serious uprising took place in AD 61. Prasutagus, the wealthy, pro-Roman Icenian king, who, according to a section in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' titled "Roman Britain, British Leaders", was leader of the Iceni between AD 43 and 50 (Todd 4), had died. It was common practice for a
Roman client king to leave his kingdom to Rome on his death, but Prasutagus had attempted to preserve his line by bequeathing his kingdom — which Allen believes was located in Breckland, near Norwich (Allen 15) — jointly to the Emperor and his own daughters. The Romans ignored this, and the
procurator
Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to:
* Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency
* ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...
Catus Decianus
Catus Decianus was the procurator of Roman Britain in AD 60 or 61. Tacitus blames his "rapacity" in part for provoking the rebellion of Boudica.Tacitus, ''Annals'14.32/ref> Cassius Dio says he confiscated sums of money which had been given b ...
seized his entire estate. Prasutagus's widow, Boudica, was flogged, and her daughters were raped. At the same time, Roman financiers called in their loans. While the governor,
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was campaigning in Wales, Boudica led the Iceni and the neighbouring
Trinovantes
The Trinovantēs (Common Brittonic: *''Trinowantī'') or Trinobantes were one of the Celtic tribes of Pre-Roman Britain. Their territory was on the north side of the Thames estuary in current Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, and included land ...
in a large-scale revolt:
...a terrible disaster occurred in Britain. Two cities were sacked, eighty thousand of the Romans and of their allies perished, and the island was lost to Rome. Moreover, all this ruin was brought upon the Romans by a woman, a fact which in itself caused them the greatest shame.... But the person who was chiefly instrumental in rousing the natives and persuading them to fight the Romans, the person who was thought worthy to be their leader and who directed the conduct of the entire war, was Buduica, a Briton woman of the royal family and possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women.... In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of divers colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch. This was her invariable attire.
The revolt caused the destruction and looting of
Camulodunum
Camulodunum (; la, ), the Ancient Roman name for what is now Colchester in Essex, was an important castrum and city in Roman Britain, and the first capital of the province. A temporary "strapline" in the 1960s identifying it as the "oldest re ...
(
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
),
Londinium
Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. It was originally a settlement established on the current site of the City of London around AD 47–50. It sat at a key cross ...
(London), and
Verulamium
Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain. It was sited southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon ...
(
St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...
) before finally being defeated by Suetonius Paulinus and his legions. Although the Britons outnumbered the Romans greatly, they lacked the superior discipline and tactics that won the Romans a decisive victory. The battle took place at an unknown location, possibly in the
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
somewhere along
Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
. Today, a large statue of Boudica wielding a sword and charging upon a chariot, called "
Boadicea and Her Daughters
Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. Sh ...
", can be seen in London on the north bank of the Thames by
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side.
The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the ...
.
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
's ''
Geographia
The ''Geography'' ( grc-gre, Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις, ''Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis'', "Geographical Guidance"), also known by its Latin names as the ' and the ', is a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, com ...
'', at section 2,3,21, names people called Σιμενοι in the original Greek, but usually thought to be a copying error for Ικενοι, as having a town called Venta. Venta, also mentioned in the ''
Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...
Cosmography'', and the ''
Antonine Itinerary'', was a settlement near the village of Caistor St. Edmund, some 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of present-day Norwich, and about 2 kilometres (1.5 mi) from the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
Henge
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...
at
Arminghall
Arminghall is a small village and former civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, around southeast of Norwich, now in the parish of Caistor St Edmund and Bixley, from April 1935 until April 2019 it was in Bixley parish. Most of the house ...
.
Post-Roman period
Ken Dark suggests that there was a period of depopulation of the homelands of the Iceni during the fourth century. This was quickly followed by the settlement of Germanic speakers from the continent, beginning at the start of the fifth century. Toby Martin has identified the region as one in which a mass migration of these incomers likely occurred; there are particularly few Celtic toponyms in most of East Anglia.
Suggestions have been made that the descendants of the Iceni survived longer in
the Fens
The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
. In the ''Life of Saint Guthlac'' – a biography of the East Anglian hermit who lived in the Fenland during the early 8th century – it is stated that
Saint Guthlac
Saint Guthlac of Crowland ( ang, Gūðlāc; la, Guthlacus; 674 – 3 April 714 CE) was a Christian hermit and saint from Lincolnshire in England. He is particularly venerated in the Fens of eastern England.
Life
Guthlac was the son of Penwal ...
was attacked on several occasions by demons who spoke Brittonic languages living in the Fens at that time. Bertram Colgrave and Lindy Brady have argued that this passage cannot be taken literally, as these "Britons" seem to have been intended to represent figments of Guthlac's imagination rather than real people. However, several place names do suggest a longer British presence in the region. These include
Chatteris
Chatteris is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely. The town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency.
The parish of C ...
,
Chettisham
Chettisham is a pretty hamlet in East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire (locally known as East Cambs) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely. The population of the District Council at the 2011 ...
and
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
, all of which seem to contain Brittonic elements. A number of lost toponyms (such as ''Bretlond'' and ''Walecroft'') also suggest land held by Britons well into the Anglo-Saxon era.
[Susan Oosthuizen, ''The Anglo-Saxon Fenland'' (2017), pp. 42-43]
Fiction
*
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Allen, D. F. "The Coins of the Iceni." ''Britannia'' (1970): 1-33. Web. 12 March 2013.
* Bunson, Matthew. “Britannia.” ''Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire''. New York: Facts on File, 1994. Print.
* Bunson, Matthew. “Iceni.” ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Rome''. 3rd Ed. New York: Facts On File, 2012. Print.
* “Britain, Roman.” ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary''. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.
* Davies, John. A., Gregory, Tony. "Coinage from a 'Civitas': A Survey of the Roman Coins Found in Norfolk and their Contribution to the Archaeology of the 'Civitas Icenorum'" "Britannia" (1991): 65-101. Web. 12 March 2013.
* Dio, Cassius. Roman History :. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1987. Print.
* Gardiner, Juliet, and Neil Wenborn. “Civitas.” ''The Columbia Companion to British History''. New York: Columbia UP, 1997. Print.
* Mossop, H. R. and Allen, D. F. "The Elusive Icenian Legend." ''Britannia'' (1979): 258-259. Web. 12 March 2013.
* Williamson, Tom. ''The Origins of Norfolk''. Manchester University Press: 1993.
External links
Icenia
Roman-Britain
{{coord, 52.5, N, 1.0, E, region:GB_dim:200km, display=title
Historical Celtic peoples
Celtic Britons
History of Norfolk
Archaeology of Norfolk
Tribes conquered by Rome