In AD 60 or 61, Boudica, queen of the Iceni, led a major uprising against Roman rule in Britain. Upon learning of the revolt, the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus hurried from the island of Mona (modern Anglesey) towards Londinium, then a roughly 20-year-old commercial settlement. Unable to mount a credible defence of the town, Suetonius abandoned it, leaving it to the mercy of the rebels.
Boudica's forces subsequently burnt Londinium to the ground, along with Camulodunum (Colchester) and Verulamium. The destruction was total: archaeological and historical evidence confirms the settlement was razed. Tacitus noted that at the time of the uprising Londinium was much frequented by merchants and trading vessels, though it had not yet been distinguished by the rank of colony. In all, an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 Romans and Britons were killed across the course of Boudica's campaign.
Following the destruction, Suetonius regrouped his forces, and despite being heavily outnumbered he decisively defeated the Britons in battle. Boudica died shortly afterwards, either by suicide or illness. In the wake of the revolt, a military installation was established at Londinium and the city was rebuilt, having largely recovered within about a decade. The crisis even prompted the Emperor Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, but Suetonius's victory confirmed continued Roman control of the province.
When Boudica's army reached the abandoned commercial settlement of Londinium, they burned it utterly; Tacitus recorded that the town, though undistinguished by the name of colony, had been much frequented by a number of merchants and trading vessels, making its destruction a severe blow to Roman commercial interests in Britain. The rebel forces, who had already destroyed Camulodunum, swept through Londinium and then Verulamium, killing an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 Romans and Britons in total before Suetonius at last turned the tide against them.
An estimated 70,000 to 80,000 Romans and Britons were killed across the course of Boudica's rebellion, which encompassed the destruction of Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium.
Boudica's combined Iceni and allied British tribal forces attacked the abandoned settlement. Suetonius Paulinus had withdrawn Roman forces before the assault, having already suffered the defeat of a detachment of the Legio IX Hispana.
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