General Notes

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.


submitted by DEBORAH LYNNE FOX B.1-13-1960


K7179wt

[De La Pole.FTW]

Sources: Kraentzler 1812; Pfafman and several history books.
   Died 60 A.D. PAF won't accept that date.