When thinking of 1st century Iron Age queens, Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, seems to be the main one to spring to mind. However, whilst wandering around Buxton Museum’s ‘Wonders of the Peak’ exhibition, I found the name of another Iron Age Queen, Cartimandua. She was the last Queen in the North and considered by some historians to be “the first queen in British history to play a determining part in the policy of the whole island”. So why have the majority of people never heard of her?
Cartimandua was the Queen of the Brigantes. Their land of Brigantia centred around Yorkshire, spreading south into Derbyshire and north to Northumberland. The names ‘Brigantes’ and ‘Brigantia’ derive from the Celtic word ‘Brigant’, meaning high or elevated. It is unclear if this is due to the possible high birth of the Brigantes’ people or because of the elevation of their land, which covered the Pennines. There are no records of the Brigantes prior to the invasion of Britain by the Emperor Claudius in 43 CE. Therefore, what is known about Cartimandua only derives from Roman sources, namely the works of the Roman historian Tacitus. Due to this limited information, we do not know exactly how long Cartimandua reigned for, nor the exact details on how she came to rule. Given that Cartimandua retained her throne throughout her two marriages, it is most likely that she inherited her crown; some historians believe that she was the granddaughter of the Brigantes King Bellnorix. This made Cartimandua a Queen Regnant, unlike her contemporary Boudica, who was a Queen Consort via her marriage to the Iceni King Prasutagus.
Whilst Tacitus refers to both Cartimandua and Boudica as queens, he writes about them in very different ways. Boudica is acknowledged as a militant queen – how could she be called otherwise after destroying the settlements of Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans)? However, despite acknowledging her military prowess, Tacitus judges her for the political actions and rebellion against Rome rule in 60-61 CE. Cartimandua, on the other hand, did submit to Rome and counted for more in the eyes of the Romans because of it. Therefore, rather than discrediting her for her politics, Tacitus judged her morality and her perceived treachery.
Following the Roman invasion, Cartimandua and her husband Venutius became ‘client kings’ to the Roman Empire, although this was not a term contemporarily used. This meant that, in the words of Tacitus, that they were “defended by our [Roman] arms”. This loyalty to Rome affected Cartimandua’s popularity as she was seen to be more loyal to the Romans than to her own people. The best example of this was in 51 CE when Caratacus, chieftain of the Catuvellauni, sought sanctuary in Brigantia with his family. He was seeking sanctuary following his resistance to Roman rule in Catuvellauni territory, which was centred around St Albans and spread to the surrounding areas of Herefordshire, Bedfordshire, and north Cambridgeshire. Cartimandua turned Caratacus over to the Romans in chains. This event is the first mention of Cartimandua in the historical record.
Soon after this event, Cartimandua divorced her husband Venutius and married his armour-bearer, Vellocatus. It is for this that Tacitus criticised her morality as she not only separated from her husband but re-married somebody socially below her, thus elevating him to the rank of King. Venutius was also unhappy about Cartimandua’s actions, so he gathered an army and invaded Brigantian territory in response. Here, Cartimandua’s unpopular loyalty paid off as the Romans sent her the troops that allowed her to defeat the invasion. Rather than succeeding with military skill as Boudica did, Tacitus attributes Cartimandua’s victory to callidus artibus, or cunning. We cannot pinpoint the date of Cartimandua’s victory over her ex-husband, who escaped, only that it occurred between 52 and 57 CE, under the governorship of Aulus Didius Gallus.
Despite Cartimandua’s victory, Venutius tried again to attack Brigantian territory in 69 CE. This year is also known as ‘The Year of the Four Emperors’, and Venutius utilised this weakening of Roman infrastructure to his advantage. When he attacked again, Roman troops could not be sent to Cartimandua because they were too busy securing the perimeters of their empire during this tumultuous period of regime change. Instead, Cartimandua was sent auxiliaries and whilst they could not secure her hold on Brigantia, they aided her escape to Deva (Chester), where she disappears from recorded history.
Following Cartimandua’s deposition, Vespasian, who was the last of 69 CE’s four emperors, appointed Qunitus Petillius Cerialis to be the governor of Britain. Over the next decade, he continued the conquest of Britain. When they finally took Brigantia from the now anti-Roman Venutius, the Romans built the fort of Navio (located in the Hope Valley) in 75 CE, which was followed by the fort of Melandra (near Glossop) three years later. Both forts were connected, by road, to the growing settlement of Aquae Arnemetiae (now known as Buxton), which had previously sat on the edge of Brigantia. As Brigantia included lands in Northumbria, the Roman taking of the kingdom allowed for their conquest to stretch up to the borders of Caledonia (Scotland), where Hadrian’s Wall was eventually established in 122 CE to deter attacks from the anti-Roman Caledonian tribes.
So why do we predominantly remember Boudica, but not Cartimandua? After all, they were both queens, living in the same century and facing the same challenges that the Roman invasion brought to the Iron Age British, albeit in different ways. Really, the Victorian’s interest in history is the main reason why Boudica is more remembered. The Victorians believed that the name ‘Victoria’ derived from the name ‘Boudica’, therefore reviving her story and image in the popular imagination, in homage to their queen. I suppose the peaceful alliance between Cartimandua and the Romans is slightly less interesting than Boudica’s burning of cities. However, the actions of Cartimandua are no less important in the history of the decline of Iron Age Britain or the history of this country’s queens as both, despite their different methods, attempted to retain their land, people and customs in the face of invasion.
(Featured image credit: Francesco Bartolozzi (publisher/printer; printmaker; Italian; British; Male; 1728 – 1815) – http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3179575&partId=1&people=33023&peoA=33023-2-70&page=1, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34674891)
Buxton Museum and Art Gallery 
Really interesting post, thank you. Interesting to read of the strong Iron Age women that were able to hold positions of power.
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