After the destruction of three towns and the IX Hispania, Boudicca marshaled her forces, and set off in pursuit of the governor.  To regain their freedom, to throw off the hated Roman yoke once and for all, they needed to win in open battle.  Boudicca certainly understood this.  The fact that she persuaded her followers to see it, speaks highly of not only her oratorical powers, but of the respect her fellow Celts had for her abilities.  Facing and defeating the Roman legions was not an easy thing.  It had certainly not been done often, but Boudicca felt confident that she could do it.  Her followers shared that confidence. 

Where this monumental battle actually took place, remains a mystery.  From clues in Tacitus and the assessment of first century Roman roads, the best guess is Mancetter.  That this battle took place can not be doubted – after the destruction of three towns it was obvious the Celts wanted to be free of the Romans.  In order to attain this freedom, they would have to drive the Romans from the province by costly military defeat – the destruction of most of the legions in the province.  The Germans under Arminius had done this successfully only fifty years before.  But for the Celts of Britannia, it was not to be.

It would appear obvious that Boudicca was defeated by the same thing that had defeated all her male Celtic predecessors – from Vercingetorix on.  The Celts were a society of independent beings who fought together only in the sense that they fought on the same day, in the same place, against the same foe.  They fought for individual grievance and glory, for personal reasons and personal fame.  Against the discipline of the Roman legions, this had consistently spelled disaster.  That day in the year 60, somewhere along Watling Street, would turn out to be no different. 

Tacitus tells us that after the defeat, Boudicca committed suicide.  It seems a very sad ending to the life of such a brilliant military leader.  On the other hand, some sources say that three hundred years before Boudicca, a male Celtic war leader led a raid against the Greeks, and when finally defeated, he killed himself.  In the end, Boudicca may have simply been following the tradition of a defeated Celtic war leader.  Gender had never been a bar to Celtic women, who could choose whatever lifestyle suited them.  Once a woman had chosen the life of a warrior, the same expectations and the same code of behavior would have applied to her that applied to her male counterparts.  The great warrior woman of the Celts, Boudicca of the Iceni, proved that they were more than equal to the task. 

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