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II

Cymbeline's Queen has no direct source in Holinshed's reign of Kymbeline. She bears a striking resemblance, however, to Voadicia, or Boadicea, who appears in Holinshed's narrative of Roman Britain roughly sixty years after the events depicted in Shakespeare's play.²⁶ Like Cymbeline's Queen, Boadicea man conquerors but ultimately failed to free Britain of the imperial yoke, taking her own life (or dying of "a natural infirmity") after a conclusive battle. Also like the wicked Queen, she was famous for her nationalist stance, especially her great speech on British freedom and resistance to tyranny, where she opposed the payment of tribute to Rome and invoked the same topoi of the island's natural strengths and the glorious history of Britain's people and kings. Ultimately, Boadicea, too, suffered condemnation for her ruthless defense of this position. Although Holinshed acknowledges the legitimacy of her initial grievance (the Romans had seized...

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1. Introduction
2. I
3. Ii
4. Iii
5. Copyright