The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were an ancient tribe of eastern Britain during the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

and early

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

. Their territory included present-day

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and parts of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

and

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, and bordered the area of the

Corieltauvi The Corieltauvi (also the Coritani, and the Corieltavi) were a Celtic tribe living in British Iron Age, Britain prior to the Roman conquest of Britain, Roman conquest, and thereafter a ''civitas'' of Roman Britain. Their territory was in what is ...

to the west, and the

Catuvellauni The Catuvellauni (Common Brittonic: *''Catu-wellaunī'', "war-chiefs") were a Celtic tribe or state of southeastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century. The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and thei ...

and

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 ...

to the south. In the Roman period, their capital was

Venta Icenorum Venta Icenorum (, literally "marketplace of the Iceni") was the civitas or capital of the Iceni tribe, located at modern-day Caistor St Edmund in the English county of Norfolk. The Iceni inhabited the flatlands and marshes of that county and ...

at modern-day

Caistor St Edmund Caistor St. Edmund is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Caistor St. Edmund and Bixley, in the English county of Norfolk. Caistor St. Edmund is located east of Wymondham and south of Norwich. The village is located alon ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

does not mention the Iceni in his account of his invasions of Britain in 55 and 54 BC, though they may be related to the

Cenimagni The Cenimagni were a tribe of Iron Age Britain in the first century BCE. They are known only from a brief mention in the writings of Julius Caesar. It has been suggested that the name is a variant of ''Iceni'' with the Latin adjective ''magni'', ...

, whom Caesar notes as living north of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

at that time. The Iceni were a significant power in eastern Britain during

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

' conquest of Britain in AD 43, following which they allied with Rome. Increasing Roman influence on their affairs led to revolt in AD 47, though they remained nominally independent under king

Prasutagus Prasutagus (died AD 60 or 61) was king of the Iceni, a British Celtic tribe who inhabited roughly what is now Norfolk, in the 1st century AD. He is best known as the husband of Boudica. Prasutagus may have been one of the eleven kings who surre ...

until his death around AD 60. Roman encroachment after Prasutagus' death led his wife

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, from Brittonic languages, Brythonic * 'victory, win' + * 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh language, Welsh as , ) was a queen of the Iceni, ancient ...

to launch a major revolt from 60–61. Boudica's uprising seriously endangered Roman rule in Britain and resulted in the burning of

Londinium Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was originally a settlement established shortly after the Roman conquest of Brit ...

and other cities. The Romans finally crushed the rebellion, and the Iceni were increasingly incorporated into the Roman province.

Name

The meaning of the name ''Iceni'' () is uncertain and modern suggestions are speculative. Icenian coins dating from the 1st century AD use the spelling ''ECEN'': 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 Antedios or Anted
homepages.rpi.edu was an ancient king of the

In his 1658 treatise " Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial", the English polymath Sir

Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne ( "brown"; 19 October 160519 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His writings display a d ...

suggests that "Iken" was the old name for the River Ouse, where the Iceni were said to have originated and from which they might have derived their name. Robert Henry (1771) refers to a suggested naming from the Brittonic word ''ychen'' meaning

oxen An ox (: oxen), also known as a bullock (in BrE, British, AusE, Australian, and IndE, Indian English), is a large bovine, trained and used as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castration, castrated adult male cattle, because castration i ...

. Ych (s.) and Ychen (pl.) are still used in modern Welsh. The final '-i' is a Latin nominative plural case ending added to the two-syllable tribal name.

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 have hook and ring closures and a few hav ...

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 is ...

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 the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, 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 Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

. 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, in 1658 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, withi ...

, an

ancient trackway Historic roads (or historic trails in the US 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 track ...

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 In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

, 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 London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...

. File:Iron Age coin , Icenian silver unit (FindID 646126).jpg, Icenian silver coin, found in Norfolk. At the Norwich Castle Museum, 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 historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

records that the Iceni were not conquered in the Claudian invasion of AD 43. It is uncertain whether the Iceni formed part of the British resistance. The war against the Roman landings was led by the

who had themselves not long subdued the Iceni's southern neighbours

; history does not record whether the Iceni viewed the Romans as a dangerous threat, or perhaps as a welcome counterweight to Catuvellauni expansion. It is likely that the Iceni were among the 'eleven kings' who surrendered to Claudius at

Camulodunum Camulodunum ( ; ), the Roman Empire, Ancient Roman name for what is now Colchester in Essex, was an important Castra, castrum and city in Roman Britain, and the first capital of the province. A temporary "wikt:strapline, strapline" in the 1960s ...

. At that point, the Iceni retained independence as a

client kingdom A client state in the context of international relations is a state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state. Alternative terms for a ''client state'' are satellite state, associated state ...

. In 47 the Iceni rebelled after the governor,

Publius Ostorius Scapula Publius Ostorius Scapula, modern statue on 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 ...

, 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

. Nonetheless, the Iceni were still allowed to retain their independence. 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 — jointly to the Emperor and his own daughters. The Romans ignored this, and the procurator Catus Decianus 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 Gaius Suetonius Paulinus (fl. AD 40–69) was a Roman general best known as the commander who defeated Boudica and her army during the Boudican revolt. Early life Little is known of Suetonius' family, but it likely came from Pisaurum (modern Pe ...

, was campaigning in Wales, Boudica led the Iceni and the neighbouring

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

(

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

(London), and Verulamium (

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 somewhere along

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

. Today, a large statue of Boudica wielding a sword and charging upon a chariot, called "

Boadicea and Her Daughters ''Boadicea and Her Daughters'' is a bronze sculpture, bronze sculptural group in London representing Boudica, queen of the Celts, Celtic Iceni tribe, who led an uprising in Roman Britain. It is located to the north side of the western end of West ...

", can be seen in London on the north bank of the Thames by

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge crossing 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 ...

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.

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's ''

Geographia The ''Geography'' (, , "Geographical Guidance"), also known by its Latin names as the ' and the ', is a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, compiling the geographical knowledge of the 2nd-century Roman Empire. Originally wri ...

'', at section 2,3,21, names people called Σιμενοι in the original Greek, but usually thought to be a copying error for Ικενοι (Icenoi), as having a town called Venta. Venta, also mentioned in the ''

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) 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 during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

Cosmography'', and the ''

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...

'', 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 () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

Henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. 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 ditches ...

Arminghall Arminghall is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Caistor St Edmund and Bixley, in the South Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. It is around southeast of Norwich. Most of the houses in the village are loca ...

. Venta Icenorum may have been the ''

'' 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. 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 Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

toponyms in most of East Anglia. Suggestions have been made that the descendants of the Iceni survived longer in

the Fens The Fens or Fenlands 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 system o ...

. 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 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, Chettisham 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 north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, 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

* * * * * “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. * * * * Williamson, Tom. ''The Origins of Norfolk''. Manchester University Press: 1993.

External links

Iceni
a
Roman-Britain
{{coord, 52.5, N, 1.0, E, region:GB_dim:200km, display=title Celtic Britons History of Norfolk Archaeology of Norfolk Tribes conquered by Rome