General Notes

Boudicca (died 60), queen of the Iceni, a British tribe inhabiting the territory constituting the present-day counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. On the death of her husband, King Prasutagus, the Romans seized her territory. The queen was tortured and beaten, her daughters were raped, and the noblest Iceni were enslaved. Boudicca gathered a large army, destroyed the Roman colony of Camulodunum (now Colchester), sacked Londinium and Veralamium (now London and Saint Albans), and, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, killed some 70,000 Romans. The Roman governor of Britain, who had been absent in Mona (now Anglesey), advanced against the queen and destroyed her force. In despair, Boudicca killed herself by taking poison. She has been the subject of various literary works including the tragedy Bonduca by John Fletcher, the ode Boadicea by William Cowper, and the poem Boadicea by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

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