British Folk Hero. Born in what is present day East Anglia to a prominent family about AD 25. Probably in her late teens, she married Prasutagus, who would become chief of the Iceni tribe. The couple had at least two daughters. After the Roman invasion of AD 43, he negotiated a treaty with the Romans and established himself as a client king for the remainder of his life. In the 17 years between the Romans arrival, and the death of Prasutagus, the royal family led a fairly comfortable existence, upon his death, however, despite the fact that he willed half of his kingdom to the Roman emperor and half to his family, the Roman administrator ignored the will and took over the entire kingdom, historian Tacitus wrote, "... his widow Boudica was flogged and their daughters raped. The chieftains of the Iceni were deprived of their... estates ...The king's own relatives were treated as slaves." The tribes were enraged, and rallied to Boudica who joined Iceni forces with the neighboring Trinobantes, and then led an attack on the Roman colony Camulodunum (now Colchester), destroying it. Quintus Petilius Cerialis Caesius Rufus, and his 2,000 Legionaries and 500 auxiliary set out immediately, but Boudica ambushed and slaughtered his infantry. Her army grew with each victory, and the Britons marched on the raw, undefended Roman town of Londinium. Much of the populace had fled but, those who remained were savagely slaughtered, and the city burned to the ground. The force moved on to Verulamium, northwest of Londinium (near of present-day St. Albans), and destroyed it utterly, the same fate befell other settlements as well. Finally Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman governor of Britain, gathered available Roman troops in the south and lay in wait for the Britons in a narrow valley where his smaller force would be protected from all but a frontal assault. Tacitus reported that Boudica was seen riding her chariot before the battle, inspiring her troops. The well trained Roman force, however, destroyed the much larger Celtic army, slaughtering warrior, camp follower, and stock alike. It is unclear weather Boudica and her daughters died of wounds received or killed themselves to avoid capture and defeat. Records indicate that the Britons mourned her deeply and gave her a costly burial. Her rebellion almost forced the Romans out of Britain, but in the end, she did at least defeat Suetonius who was recalled, and a more neutral governor, whose policy toward the native population was one of appeasement, installed. The Roman writer Cassius Dio, described her as very tall and grim, with a piercing gaze and a harsh, projecting voice. She had thick fair hair which fell down to her hips, and wore a great gold torque about her throat. Her name has also been recorded as Boudicca, Boudicea and Boadicea.