As King Prasutagus of the Iceni was dying in AD60, he reneged on an agreement with the incumbent Roman emperor, Nero, to hand over his land in East Anglia. Instead, he passed joint ownership to his kin. Nero’s man on the ground took exception to this volte-face and ordered that the territory be annexed and his family humiliated.
Prasutagus’s widow – a certain Boudicca – was enraged. “In the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh,” wrote historian Cassius Dio. Mounting her chariot, she led a revolt south and her army cut down about 70,000 Romans. So devastating was her attack, Nero nearly threw in the towel. Alas, legions were dispatched from Cambria (Wales) and Boudicca’s boys were defeated.
