General Notes

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Iceni is the land now comprising Norfolk and Suffolk, England

     Prasutagus had for many years under the Claudian treaty been the faithful ally of Rome. He was the Druid ruler of the
     Iceni, inhabitants of the land now comprising the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and in part Cambridgeshire and
     Huntingdonshire. The capital was Venta, now Winchester. After a war of about forty years, waged by Emperors Claudius,
     Nero, and Domitian, much of the Icenian land was subject to Roman authority. Prasutagus, thinking to protect his wife,
     Boadicea (many alternate spellings), Queen of the Iceni, and their daughters, made the Emperor Nero coheir with them of
     his great wealth. The outcome was not as planned, for at his death in A.D. 61 the Roman officers took complete possession
     of the palace, giving up the princesses to the brutality of the soldiers, and humiliating the Queen by a public scourging.
     Stung to madness by the wrongs which most nearly affect womanhood, Boadicea led 120,000 men to battle. The sense of
     injury changed her whole nature and she lived only for revenge. At Leicester she ascended the general's tribunal. In her
     hand she carried a spear. She addressed the Britons, gathered about as follows:

     "I rule not over beasts of burden as are the effeminate nations of the East, nor over tradesmen and traffickers, nor like the
     man-woman Nero, over slaves; but I rule over Britons, little versed in craftiness and diplomacy, it is true, but born and trained to
     war; men who in the cause of liberty willingly risk their lives, their lands and property. Queen of such a race, I implore your aid for
     freedom, for victory! Never let a foreigner bear rule over me or my country-men! Never let slavery reign in this island!"

     Attacking their oppressors, they burned London, Colchester and other cities. Some say her army increased to 230,000
     men. Over 70,000 on each side were killed. These valiant Icenians were finally defeated by the Romans under Sentonius
     Paulinus in A.D. 62, and rather than fall into the hands of the invaders, Boadicea took her own life with a poisoned dagger,
     and was buried in Flintshire. Boadicea, in Latin "Victoria," is described in the records as "cousin" of Caradoc and his sister,
     Gladys. Boadicea and Prasutagus had at least one daughter, whose name has not been preserved.