Iceni
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The Iceni (
Name
The meaning of the name Iceni (
Icenian coins dating from the 1st century AD use the spelling ECEN:[3] an article by D. F. Allen titled "The Coins of the Iceni", discusses the difference between coins with the inscription ECE versus coins with ECEN. This difference, Allen posits, tells archaeologists and historians when Prasutagus started his reign because the coins did not start reading the name of the tribe until around AD 47. Allen suggests that when Antedios was king of the Iceni, the coins did not yet have the name of the tribe on them but instead the name of its ruler, stating, "If so, the coins suggest that the Prasutagus era commenced only after the events of 47".[4]
The word echen in Welsh as given by the Owen-Pughe etymological dictionary of 1832, means origin or source; a tribe. The current Dictionary of the Welsh Language defines echen as "stock, lineage, family, tribe, source, origin, nature", cognate with Cornish eghen.[5]
In his 1658 treatise "
The final '-i' is a Latin nominative plural case ending added to the two-syllable tribal name.Archaeology
Archaeological evidence of the Iceni includes torcs — heavy rings of gold, silver or electrum 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
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”.[9]
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.[10]
The
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.[11] 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.[12]
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"[13]
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Gold stater (15 BC - 20 AD). (right) horse (left) flower
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Iceni coin
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Iceni coin (reverse)
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Bronze coins of the Iceni. Museum of London.
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Icenian silver coin, found in Norfolk.
At the
Roman invasion
In 47 the Iceni rebelled after the governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula, ordered them and other British client kingdoms to disarm. The Iceni were defeated by Ostorius in a fierce battle at a fortified place, the most obvious known candidate for this battle being at Stonea Camp in Cambridgeshire.[citation needed] Nonetheless, the Iceni were still allowed to retain their independence.[15]
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),
...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.[18]
The revolt caused the destruction and looting of Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London), and Verulamium (St Albans) 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.[19] The battle took place at an unknown location, possibly in the West Midlands somewhere along Watling Street.[20] Today, a large statue of Boudica wielding a sword and charging upon a chariot, called "Boadicea and Her Daughters", can be seen in London on the north bank of the Thames by Westminster Bridge.
After the revolt
The fate of the Iceni immediately after the rebellion is not clearly recorded. The rebellious Britons were subjected to harsh retaliatory measures by Suetonius Paulinus, until he was recalled and replaced by a governor with a more conciliatory approach. Further, Roman historians note that the British had neglected their fields and crops, leading to famine.
Venta Icenorum may have been the civitas capital of the Iceni following the rebellion.
Post-Roman period
Ken Dark suggests that there was a period of depopulation of the homelands of the Iceni during the fourth century.
Suggestions have been made that the descendants of the Iceni survived longer in
Fiction
- Scott, Manda (2003–2006). Boudica series.
- Henty, George (1893). Beric of Britain: A story of the Roman Invasion. London.
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Notes
- ^ He writes, "A note in Wilkin adds 'But, unfortunately, iken does not signify an elbow: and it appears that the Iceni derived their name from the river Ouse, on whose banks they resided, — anciently called Iken, Yken, or Ycin. Whence also, Ikenild-street, Ikenthorpe, Ikenworth.' Unfortunately Wilkin gives no source for this information. The note also begs the question, as we are still left asking why the river is the Iken (though the origins of river names are notoriously difficult, they are still often traceable with work)."[6]
- ^ formerly Bishop's Lynn
References
- ^ a b (Ó Faoláin 2006, pp. 954–955)
- ^ a b (Snyder 2003, pp. 40–42)
- ^ Perkins, C H. "Celtic Coinage".
- ^ (Allen 1970, p. 16)
- ^ a b A Dictionary of the Welsh Language. University of Wales. 2017.
- ^ (Browne 1658)
- ^ Henry, Robert (1771). The History of Great Britain. London: T.Cadell. p. 176.
- ^ Graham Webster (1978), Boudica: the British Revolt Against Rome AD 60, pp. 46-48
- ^ (Mossop & Allen 1979, p. 258)
- ^ Sir Thomas Browne (1658), Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial
- ^ Britannia, Vol. 22, The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, (1991) pg. 90
- ^ Britannia, Vol. 22, The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, (1991) pg.67
- ^ Britannia, Vol. 22, The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, (1991) pg.
- ^ "Boudica and the Romans". www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk. Norfolk Museums. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- ^ Tacitus, Annals 12.31
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ (Allen 1970, p. 15)
- ^ Dio, Cassius. Roman History. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1987.
- ^ Cambridge Latin Course Textbook, Unit 2
- Dio Cassius, Roman History 62:1-12
- ^ Ptolemy, Geography 2.2
- ^ "Roman Britain".
- ^ "Roman Britain". Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ^ Dark, Ken R. "Large-scale population movements into and from Britain south of Hadrian's Wall in the fourth to sixth centuries AD" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- ^ Catherine Hills, "The Anglo-Saxon Migration: An Archaeological Case Study of Disruption," in Migrations and Disruptions, ed. Brenda J. Baker and Takeyuki Tsuda, pp. 45-48
- ^ Toby F. Martin, The Cruciform Brooch and Anglo-Saxon England, Boydell and Brewer Press (2015), pp. 174-178
- ^ Coates, Richard. "Celtic whispers: revisiting the problems of the relation between Brittonic and Old English".
- ^ Lindy Brady, Writing the Welsh Borderlands in Anglo-Saxon England (2017: Manchester University Press)
- ^ Susan Oosthuizen, The Anglo-Saxon Fenland (2017), pp. 42-43
Bibliography
- Allen, D. F. (1970). "The Coins of the Iceni". Britannia. 1: 1–33. doi:10.2307/525832.
- Browne, Thomas (1658). "Hydriotaphia: Chapter II" – via uchicago.edu.
- Bunson, Matthew (1994). "Britannia". Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. New York: Facts on File.
- Bunson, Matthew (2012). Encyclopedia of Ancient Rome. Facts On File. ISBN 978-0-8160-8217-9.
- “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.; Allen, D. F. (1979). "An Elusive Icenian Legend". Britannia. 10: 258–259. doi:10.2307/526062.
- Ó Faoláin, Simon (2006). "Iceni". In Koch, John T. (ed.). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 954–955. ISBN 1851094407. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- Snyder, Christopher A. (2003). The Britons. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 34–36, 40–42. ISBN 0-631-22260-X.
- Williamson, Tom. The Origins of Norfolk. Manchester University Press: 1993.