Boudicca and the Slaughter of the Britons.

[waltonbasinman]

As we detectorists  gain new farms and land to detect on and the hobby grows I have often wondered when Boudicca was defeated by the Romans with the supposed slaughter of 60,000 Britons why do you think we have not found the battlefield yet. It is supposed to be in the East Midlands and within easy reach of the Fosse Way. As history is usually written by the winners do you think this battle and supposed deaths ever occurred or is it a case of good spin doctoring.

[nfl]

i used to live at syston, leic, a stones throw from the foss way even though i wasnt detecting then i never even new that the fossway was a roman road till i started tectin {to turn back the clock eh? i might have even found boudicca,s army   lol.

[Chef Geoff]

OK, I've always wanted to say this, "read my book" lol.
Seriously though, I run a group that is made up of detectorists and archaeologists, namely the 60-61 Research Group. our so;e aims are to locate the site of the only two battles that are recorded between the Boudican army and the Romans.
If you go to my web site and then go to the ETHOS page and click on the PDF link bottom right, you can download all we know or don't know about the battle and its location.
www.wix.com/chefphones/detecting-the-past

By the way it was Watling street not the Foss way.

[Neil]

Do you sell a published copy of your book Geoff? I would certainly be interested - its going to be found sooner or later!

Hopefully see you on Saturday with Rob and Ray

Neil

[Chef Geoff]

Unfortunately not Neil, the "Book" is still in its infancy, only the pdf booklet so far.
Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, don't go finding it all before I get there.

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

Geoff , I'm glad you've brought the subject of you research group up , I do think it should have a post of its own on here. Could you cut n paste some info , as an introduction to your group ?

[Chef Geoff]

Certainly Rob and thank you, I'll put something together over the next couple of days.

[PHIL YNYSBOETH]

Well the roman where the masters of Spin  
Tacitus works on the defeating of the Germanic tribes have been pulled apart over the years.
So who knows !
And psychical evidence like Trajan,s Column is one huge lump of propaganda

Interesting Post !

all the best
Phil

[handyman [Alan}]

a superb read chef. thank you.

good luck with the search -we'll do our bit to help

[waltonbasinman]

Sorry Chef I was actually driving down the Fosse Way from Leamington to Cirencester and the thought suddenly hit me about the battle. The Roman period has left so many obvious things in the landscape you would have thought folk lore at least would be an indicator. Thanks for correcting me and it will teach me to try and post when I am half asleep after a fourteen hour day.

[Chef Geoff]

No problem Paul, Unfortunately there are so many pieces that we just don't know, we can be 95% sure that there was an uprising and that Colchester, London and St Albans were destroyed, but as to weather Boudicca was really the leader or in fact if she even lived is pure speculation. Tacitus did have an axe to grind as his farther in law was Agricola, the whole story is biased towards the Britons and against the former governors of Britain. In describing the aftermath of the battle and of the Romans slaughtering the women, children and animals he follows it by saying that this was like the glories of old, Roman sarcasm.
This is also why the number of 80,000 Britons killed can't be believed, along with the way he does not state it as a fact but refers to other writers. Tacitus was a senator and would have had access to the official records.
With no native written media at the time, after a generation or two the event would of been forgotten about, also she was not going to be remembered as a heroin of British freedom by most of the tribes, as they didn't have any concept of "Britain" and as she had proved at St Albans she was no friend of tribes friendly to Rome. The uprising of the Brigantes some 10 years later suffers even more from lack of knowledge.
Unfortunately academia has done a lot of harm to historical investigation, over the years it has made assumptions that somehow have become fact. Even the place of the Roman invasion and the battle of "Medway" is now looked at more sceptically because we just don't know.
We all have a habit of asking "were the Romans here" or "were the Romans there", after 400 years there would of been no them and us, we were all Romans (pax Romana) and the thought of some barbaric past would not of been looked on with relish.

[waltonbasinman]

Yes I totally agree Geoff. History is always written by the winners and how often have we heard the saying recently that " This will rewrite History " Well impressed with your dedication to the subject.