What this song renders
The exact location of the battle is unknown. Tacitus describes the ground — a defile with a forest at the Roman rear and an open plain in front — without naming it. Modern candidates include sites near Mancetter, High Cross, and Cuttle Mill; archaeology has yet to confirm any of them. What is clear is that Suetonius chose ground that nullified the British numerical advantage.
Tacitus puts the British force at 230,000 and the Roman force at 10,000. Both numbers are likely inflated — the Roman one downward, the British upward. Modern military historians estimate the actual British fighting force at perhaps 30,000–50,000, with non-combatants and wagons swelling the camp. The Romans were two legions plus auxiliaries: roughly 10,000 disciplined troops on chosen ground.
The British line was broken in the first sustained engagement and pushed back into its own wagon lines. Tacitus says 80,000 Britons died. The number is Roman propaganda but the scale of the defeat is not in dispute. Boudicca survived the battle; Tacitus reports she died by poison shortly after, while Dio says she fell sick and died. The Iceni and Trinovantes paid an even heavier price in the suppression that followed.
The battle, the Roman victory, the catastrophic British defeat, and Boudicca’s death within weeks are all documented. The exact site, the precise British numbers, and the manner of her death are uncertain — but the political outcome ended the revolt and reset Roman policy in Britain for a generation.