In 60 or 61 CE, a rebellion erupted in Roman Britain.

At its centre was Boudicca, a woman of royal descent among the Iceni and the widow of their king, Prasutagus.

According to the Roman historian Tacitus, after Prasutagus's death his kingdom was treated as conquered territory. Boudicca was flogged, her daughters were sexually assaulted, leading Iceni were stripped of their ancestral possessions, and members of the royal household were enslaved.

Boudicca rose in revolt.

But the rebellion was not merely an act of personal revenge. Resentment extended far beyond Boudicca and her household. The Iceni were joined by the Trinovantes and others who had suffered under Roman rule, forming a rebellion that Tacitus associated with the desire to reclaim their freedom.

Boudicca's forces went on to destroy major Roman settlements at Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium before eventually being defeated by the Roman governor Suetonius Paulinus. What happened to Boudicca afterwards is uncertain: Tacitus wrote that she took poison, while Cassius Dio later claimed that she became ill and died.

Her rebellion ended, but her story did not. Across the centuries, Boudicca became a lasting symbol of resistance, freedom and female leadership.

Remembered not because she accepted what was imposed upon her, but because she stood against it.