Battle of Londinium

Who Fought

History & Significance

The Boudican revolt was an armed uprising by native Celtic Britons against the Roman Empire during the Roman conquest of Britain. It took place circa AD 60–61 in the Roman province of Britain, and it was led by Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni tribe. The uprising was motivated by the Romans' failure to honour an agreement they had made with Boudica's husband, Prasutagus, regarding the succession of his kingdom upon his death, and by the brutal mistreatment of Boudica and her daughters by the occupying Romans.

Although heavily outnumbered, the Roman army led by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus decisively defeated the allied tribes in a final battle which inflicted heavy losses on the Britons. The location of this battle is not known. It marked the end of resistance to Roman rule in most of the southern half of Great Britain, a period that lasted until AD 410. Modern historians are dependent for information about the uprising and the defeat of Boudica on the narratives written by the Roman historians Tacitus and Cassius Dio, which are the only surviving accounts of the battle known to exist.

In AD 43 Rome invaded south-eastern Britain. The conquest was gradual, and while some native kingdoms were defeated in battle and occupied, others remained nominally independent as allies of the Roman Empire.

One such tribe was the Iceni in what is now Norfolk. Their king, Prasutagus, attempted to secure his kingdom's independence by leaving his lands jointly to his daughters and the Roman emperor in his will. However, when he died, his will was ignored. Tacitus describes the Romans as seizing lands, enslaving Iceni, and violently humiliating the royal family; his widow, Boudica, was publicly flogged and their daughters raped. According to Dio, Roman financiers, such as Seneca the Younger, called in their loans.

In AD 60 or 61, while the Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was leading a campaign against the island of Mona (modern Anglesey) off the northwest coast of Wales, a refuge for British rebels and a stronghold of the druids, the Iceni conspired with their neighbours the Trinovantes, amongst others, to rise in revolt.

Boudica was their leader. According to Tacitus, the rebels drew inspiration from the example of Arminius, the prince of the Cherusci who had driven the Romans out of Germany in AD 9, and their own ancestors who had driven Julius Caesar from Britain. Cassius Dio says that at the outset Boudica employed a form of divination, releasing a hare from the folds of her dress and interpreting the direction in which it ran, and invoked Andraste, a British goddess of victory.

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Londinium lies on Thames Group, bedrock that formed in the Eocene. The rock here is clay, silt, sand and gravel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Londinium

Remains of St Pancras Church, Pancras Lane

Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

The Remains of St Pancras Church on Pancras Lane is an ancient monument comprising the surviving fabric of a medieval parish church in Middlesex, England. The church originated in the medieval period, with evidence of occupation and ecclesiastical use extending across several centuries. The survi…

Bashereyre (talk) / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Tallow Chandlers' Hall

Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Tallow Chandlers' Hall is a livery hall located in Gutter Lane, City of London, dating principally from the late seventeenth century. The hall was rebuilt following the Great Fire of London in 1666 and represents an important example of post-Fire City of London civic architecture. The building re…

Katie Chan / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Skinners' Hall

Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Skinners' Hall is a Grade I listed building located in Dowgate, London, that serves as the historic headquarters of the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the ancient livery companies of the City of London. The hall dates primarily from the seventeenth century, with its current structure larg…

© Steve Cadman / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Dyers' Hall

Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Dyers' Hall is a building located in Middlesex that served the dyeing trade in England. The structure dates from the medieval period and reflects the commercial and craft activities that characterized the region's industrial heritage. As a hall associated with a specific trade guild or craft, it…

Graeme.duckworth / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Innholders' Hall

Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Innholders' Hall is a seventeenth-century building located in London, Middlesex, serving as the historic meeting place and headquarters of the Innholders' Company, one of the ancient livery companies of the City of London. The hall was constructed following the Great Fire of 1666 and represents a…

Graeme.duckworth / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Vintners' Hall

Scheduled monument · ~0.2 mi

Vintners' Hall is a historic building located in Upper Thames Street in the City of London, serving as the meeting place and headquarters of the Worshipful Company of Vintners, one of the oldest and most prestigious of the City's livery companies. The hall dates from the seventeenth century, havi…

Graeme.duckworth / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

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• Boudican revolt · Wikipedia
• Londinium · Wikipedia