Boudicca of the Iceni

For the play by William Shakespeare, see Boudicca (Play)

Boudicca (d 60 or 61 AD) was an ancient queen of the British tribe known as the Icini. After being subjected to humiliation at the hands of the Roman Empire (including the annexation of her people, the rape of her daughters, and her own flogging), she led her tribe in a rebellion against the Roman occupiers in AD 60 or 61. Although she burned several settlements, Londonium among them, Boudicca was ultimately defeated and executed by a Roman officer named Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, but her story became a part of British lore.

Boudicca in Ruled Britannia
Boudicca was the inspiration for the English playwright William Shakespeare's 1597 play of the same name. The play had been secretly commissioned by William Cecil in the hopes that it would inspire English audiences to overthrow the Spanish occupying forces and restored Queen Elizabeth to the throne. This it did in 1598, not in small part because it drew many parallels between Boudicca and Elizabeth.

In the play's 1598 debut, Boudicca was played by Joe Boardman.