He accuses her of pride, duplicity, savagery, adultery, and lust, but… she, too, is a powerful leader.
Women of power
Tacitus, in his book on the life and character of his father-in-law Julius Agricola, the Roman Governor of Britain from c.AD 77 to 84, makes the often-quoted observation that ‘Britons make no distinction of sex in their leaders’. In his Annals (XIV.35), the same author depicts Boudica (AD 30-61) rallying her supporters with the cry: ‘we British are used to women commanders in war’. In his Annals and Histories, Tacitus gives a less flattering portrait of Cartimandua (c.AD 43-69), whom he accuses of pride, duplicity, savagery, adultery, and lust, but the fact remains that she, too, is presented as a powerful leader of her people, the northern British Brigantes.
It is therefore not entirely surprising that researchers analysing the DNA of 57 of the individuals buried in richly furnished graves in the Iron Age cemetery located near Winterborne Kingston in Dorset should have concluded that land and power in this community was potentially passed down through the female line.
