Boudicca's Revolt — Britain's Fire
When the Iceni king Prasutagus died in 60 CE, he left his kingdom jointly to Rome and his two daughters. The Roman procurator Catus Decianus ignored the will, annexed the kingdom outright, flogged Boudicca and assaulted her daughters. Boudicca raised the Iceni and the neighbouring Trinovantes and swept south. Camulodunum (Colchester) fell first — the Ninth Legion's relief force was ambushed and destroyed. The city was burned; the temple of Claudius was demolished. Londinium was abandoned by the governor and sacked and burned. Verulamium (St Albans) suffered the same fate. Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was in Wales suppressing the druids on Anglesey when the revolt broke out. He marched east with extraordinary speed. He selected a narrow defile flanked by forest for the decisive battle, negating the Britons' numerical advantage. The Roman line held while the Briton mass charged into the defile. Unable to manoeuvre, the Britons pressed each other to death against Roman shields. The Romans then advanced methodically. Tacitus gives Roman dead as 400; Briton dead as 80,000 — numbers probably exaggerated but the victory was total. Boudicca is said to have taken poison. Suetonius's harsh reprisals were later reversed by a new procurator.
- Year: 60 CE
- Category: Military
