Boudica's Revolt
King Prasutagus was the king of the Iceni tribe in Norfolk. When he died in in AD 60 he left his kingdom jointly to his two daughters and Nero, the Roman emperor. Nero refused to share power with Prasutagus' daughters and orders were given to the Roman Army to take the kingdom by force. Prasutagus' widow Boudica and her two daughters were also flogged by the Roman soldiers. According to Tacitus, Boudica was flogged and her two daughters were raped by Roman soldiers.
Boudica was furious about the way she and her daughters had been treated and decided to lead a rebellion against the Romans. Boudica received support from the Iceni and other tribes in the region. Boudica's army attacked Roman settlements at London, Colchester and St Albans. Roman historians claim that Boudica's soldiers killed at least 70,000 people in these attacks.
At the time the Roman soldiers were involved in a military campaign in Wales. As soon as Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman governor, heard about the rebellion he rushed his troops back to England.
We do not know where the battle between Boudica and Paulinus took place. We do not know where the battle between Boudica and Paulinus took place but historians suspect it was somewhere in the Midlands. The Roman historian Tacitus claims that the Roman army had an easy victory. According to Tacitus, 80,000 Britons and 400 Romans were killed during the battle. Boudica managed to escape but when she realised that she would be unable to defeat the Romans, she committed suicide.
Primary Sources
(1) Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome (c. AD 118)
Prasutagus, king of the Iceni... made the emperor co-heir with his own two daughters. Prasutagus hoped by this submissiveness to preserve his kingdom and household from attack when he died. But it turned out otherwise. Kingdom and household alike were plundered by the Roman army. His widow Boudicca was flogged and their daughters raped.
(2) Boudica, speech to her troops before fighting the Roman army, quoted by Tacitus in The Annals of Imperial Rome (c. AD 118)
I am not fighting for my kingdom and wealth. I am fighting as an ordinary person for my lost freedom... Consider how many of you are fighting - and why. Then you will win this battle, or perish. That is what I, a woman, plan to do! - let the men live in slavery if they will.
(3) Cassius Dio, Roman History (c. AD 215)
The rousing of the Britons, the persuading of them to fight against the Romans, the winning of the leadership and the command throughout the war - this was the work of Boudicca, a woman of the British royal family who had uncommon intelligence for a woman... When she had collected an army about 120,000 strong, Boudicca mounted a rostrum... She was very tall and grim... and her voice was harsh. She grew her long auburn hair to the hips. Taking a spear too to add to her effect upon the entire audience.
(4) Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome (c. AD 118)
The Britons enjoyed plundering and thought of nothing else. Bypassing forts and garrisons, they made for where loot was richest and protection weakest. Roman deaths at (Colchester, London, St. Albans) are estimated at 70,000 ... They could not wait to cut throats, hang, burn, and crucify... Suetonius Paulinus decided to attack without further delay.