Queen Boadicea Print

Boadicea was an ancient British queen who in 60 AD led a revolt against Roman rule. Boadicea’s husband, Prasutagus, was king of the British Celtic Iceni tribe (in what is now Norfolk) as a client under Roman suzerainty. When Prasutagus died in 60 with no male heir, he left his private wealth to his two daughters and to the emperor Nero, trusting thereby to win imperial protection for his family. Instead, the Romans annexed his kingdom, humiliated his family, and plundered the chief tribesmen. While the provincial governor Suetonius Paulinus was absent in 60 or 61, Boadicea raised a rebellion throughout East Anglia. The insurgents burned Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Albans), the mart of Londinium (London), and several military posts. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, Boudicca’s rebels massacred 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Britons and cut to pieces the Roman 9th Legion. Paulinus met the Britons at a point thought to be near present-day Fenny Stratford on Watling Street and regained the province in a desperate battle. Upon her loss, Boadicea died soon after and was said to have poisoned herself or died of her wounds although there is no actual evidence of her fate. Considered a national heroine of England, Boadicea inspired numerous books and movies.