Boudicca d. AD 60

also spelled BOADICEA, ancient British queen who in AD 60 led a revolt against Roman rule.

Boudicca's husband, Prasutagus, was king of the Iceni (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, Boudicca raised a rebellion throughout East
Anglia. The insurgents burned Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium, the mart of
Londinium (London), and several military posts; massacred (according to Tacitus)
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 in a desperate battle regained the province. Boudicca took poison
or died of shock.