A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Veleda, or Velleda

Layout 2

VELEDA, or VELLEDA,

Was a German prophetess, who lived in the country of Bructeri in the first century. She exercised a powerful influence over her own countrymen, and the Romans regarded her with great awe and dread. She was venerated as a goddess, and to increase the respect with which she was regarded, she lived in a high tower, allowing no one to see her, and communicating her directions, on the important affairs of her nation, to the people through one of her relations. She instigated her countrymen to rebel against the Romans.