Iceni

Territory: Norfolk and North-West Suffolk in South-East Britain (modern East Anglia) Tribal Capital: Venta Icenorum (modern Caistor St. Edmunds, Norfolk)

The Iceni were a monarchic Celtic state, occupying Norfolk and North-West Suffolk and their only known industry was ceramics. Britain’s famous warrior-queen was an Iceni: Boudicca.

The Iceni allied themselves with Rome after the invasion of Claudius, revolted the first time in 47CE when governor Ostorius Scapula wanted to disarm the (allied) tribes and were ruled by Prasutagus as a client kingdom from 48CE.

Upon Prasutagus’ death in 60CE, he left half of his inheritance to his two teenage daughters and his wife Boudicca regent ruler on their daughters’ behalf. Trying to appease Rome and attempting to provide security for his people, he arranged for the other half to be given to the Roman Emperor Nero. From Roman perspective it was illegal for a client King to not will his entire estate to the Emperor upon his death, and Nero dissolved the Iceni's client status. Nero's tutor and close advisor Seneca recalled all the loans made to British chiefs at the time of Claudius’ invasion.

According to Tacitus: 'His (Prasutagus) dominions were ravaged by the centurions. His wife, Boudicca, was disgraced with cruel stripes; her daughters were ravished, and the most illustrious of the Icenians were, by force, deprived of the positions which had been transmitted to them by their ancestors. The whole country was considered as a legacy bequeathed to the plunderers. The relations of the deceased king were reduced to slavery.' The Iceni become a “conquered tribe” instead of a client kingdom.

Enraged by the way they were treated by the Romans, the Iceni revolted under leadership of Boudicca and were soon joined by the neighbouring Trinovantes.

Dio Cassius described Boudicca as follows: "Buduica, a Briton woman of the royal family and possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women. In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of divers colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch."

Within a short time she was able to gather an army of over 100,000 strong and after destroying the IX Legio Hispana, sacking the towns of Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (Saint Alban's) and Londinium, the Iceni and the Trinovantes were finally being defeated and almost wiped out in a pitched battle with Suetonius Paulinus' forces at an unknown location, probably in the West Midlands somewhere along Watling Street.

A large statue of Boudicca wielding a sword and charging upon a chariot can be seen in London on the north bank of the Thames by Westminster Bridge.

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