Did Boudicca and Joan of Arc ever actually participate in battle?

by [deleted]

[deleted]

Iguana_on_a_stick

In this thread I discuss Boudicca in much more depth... or rather, the limits of our knowledge about her.

I don't discuss her participation in combat, but reading it should demonstrate how it is pretty much impossible to answer your question with any kind of authority when dealing with a figure about whom so little is known.

However, when looking at our primary sources which discuss here, I will stress that they describe her as leading her army in a manner exactly analogous to that of the Roman general she faces: Riding in front of her army (in a war-chariot instead of on a horse) and making rousing speeches before directing them to attack the enemy. The sources do not mention her participating in personal hand-to-hand combat, but neither do they mention the Roman generals doing that: that was not the general's role according to the Roman way of war. (In general, there are very few accounts of Roman generals fighting in personal combat, and some of those that do exist are rather... fantastical, to say the least. I talk more about this here, in particular as regards Caesar.

Edit: Heh, just got a notification u/Vespertine linked that first post just after I clicked post. Thanks for that.

Vespertine

This should certainly not discourage further discussion, but here are some previous answers about Joan: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/26sujs/was_joan_of_arc_ever_in_handtohand_combat_or_was/ by u/TheGreenReaper, and https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3mi0tk/a_lot_of_pictures_depict_joan_of_arc_clad_in/ by u/sunagainstgold and https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/49d1sm/do_we_have_real_evidence_for_or_against_the/ by u/Cheimon , who quotes some translated 15th century accounts.

About Boudicca, there are fewer earlier posts, and none that directly answers your question, but here https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3pi28c/how_truly_significant_was_boudiccas_rebellion_in/ u/Tiako quotes from Tacitus' account of the rebellion.