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[See Wikipedia link below]
Celtic Queen Boudica (pronounced /ˈbuːdɨkə/; also spelled Boudicca), formerly known as Boadicea /boʊdɨˈsiːə/ and known in Welsh as "Buddug" [ˈbɨ̞ðɨ̞ɡ][1] (d. AD 60 or 61) was a queen of a Scottish tribe who led an uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
Boudica's husband, Prasutagus, ruler of the Iceni who had ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome, left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman Emperor in his will. However, when he died his will was ignored. The kingdom was annexed as if conquered, Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped, and Roman financiers called in their loans.
In AD 60 or 61, while the Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was leading a campaign on the island of Anglesey in north Wales, Boudica led the Iceni people, along with the Trinovantes and others, in revolt. They destroyed Camulodunum (Colchester), formerly the capital of the Trinovantes, but now a colonia (a settlement for discharged Roman soldiers) and the site of a temple to the former emperor Claudius, which was built and maintained at local expense. They also routed a Roman legion, the IX Hispana, sent to relieve the settlement.
On hearing the news of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (London), the twenty-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels' next target. Concluding he did not have the numbers to defend it, Suetonius evacuated and abandoned it. It was burnt to the ground, as was Verulamium (St Albans). An estimated 70,000–80,000 people were killed in the three cities (though the figures are suspect).[2] Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces in the West Midlands, and despite being heavily outnumbered, defeated the Britons in the Battle of Watling Street. The crisis caused the emperor Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from the island, but Suetonius' eventual victory over Boudica secured Roman control of the province. Boudicca then killed herself so she would not be captured, or fell ill and died, Tacitus and Dio differ.
The history of these events, as recorded by Tacitus[3] and Cassius Dio,[4] was rediscovered during the Renaissance and led to a resurgence of Boudica's legendary fame during the Victorian era, when Queen Victoria was portrayed as her "namesake". Boudica has since remained an important cultural symbol in the United Kingdom. The absence of native British literature during the early part of the first millennium means that Britain owes its knowledge of Boudica's rebellion to the writings of the Romans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudica
http://www.whoosh.org/issue28/blanken2.html
From the website directly above
>Marriage - [5] Tacitus relates the first abortive attempt at revolt by the Iceni in the year 49 or 50 CE. It is this period when mention is first made of King Prasutagus, king by consent and cooperation of the occupying Roman forces. It is believed that by then he was already married to a woman of royal birth named Boadicea. The exact date of her marriage, like so much else, is not known.
[6] Prasutagus' death is known to have been in either 59 or 60 CE, after having been "longa opulentia clarus" (or "long renowned for his wealth") and after a long reign. His wealth he left to his two daughters, and he left the regency to Boadicea in the girls' behalf. The Romans had other ideas about the estate - they took it all. According to Tacitus, "Kingdom and household alike were plundered like prizes of war". The first step in accomplishing this was to humiliate and viciously flog Boadicea in her own home and in front of her family. The brutal rape of her daughters soon followed.<
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Comment: In order to include a role for RA in the Boudicca saga, I'd for the first time understand a slight adjustment of known historical facts. For instance, her husband's age -- why not make him her age and instead of dying he could come to her rescue as she's being abused by the Romans. hehehe...I've never ever before suggested it would be a good thing to tamper w/history. Perhaps instead Richard could play a Roman soldier who comes to her rescue and whisks her away at least for awhile...as well as her daughters. Much better. Let the screen or stage play writing begin;)
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