Richard III found buried under parking lot!
- Thread starter JLM
- Start date
The face of Richard III was unveiled on the Channel 4 documentary "Richard III: The King in the Car Park."
His face was reconstructed from the skull found beneath a social services car park that was confirmed as that of the last Plantagenet king.
Revealed: This is the face of King Richard III, reconstructed from 3D scans of his skull after the positive identification of his skeleton found beneath a social services car part in Leicester last year. Archaeologists discovered Richard III's skeleton in September on the spot where a church once stood.
The facial reconstruction was released following the confirmation that the skeleton unearthed in Leicester was that of the king killed in battle more than 500 years ago.
The image is based on a CT scan taken by experts at the University of Leicester, who discovered the king's skeleton with the help of the Richard III Society during an archaeological dig last September. Richard was buried in Greyfriars Church in Leicester with his hands bound together after his death in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Ten years later, Henry VII, the victor of the battle, paid for a tomb 'of many-coloured marble' to be built, the location of which, until Richard's skeleton was found in September, was a mystery. The tomb is presumed to have been demolished along with the Church following its dissolution after 1536. Today a social services car park occupies the spot.
The facial reconstruction was officially unveiled on 5th February, but it was broadcast on 4th February - the day that Leicester University confirmed that the skeleton is that of Richard III - in the Channel 4 documentary on the find.
It reveals the controversial king had a more pleasant, younger and fuller appearance than period portraits reveal - a face far removed from the image of the cold-blooded villain of Shakespeare's play.
The 'calm and apparently thoughtful' face is in contrast to the many portrayals of Richard III, showing contorted facial and bodily features some say were created for political reasons following his death.
However, with its slightly arched nose and prominent chin, the essential features of the slain king are largely similar to those shown in portraits of Richard, of whom no contemporary portraits exist.
Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, deposed at the age of just 32 after just two years on the throne by the forces of Henry Tudor, who became King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch.
His body was discovered in a shallow grave just 2ft beneath the concrete car park following a search instigated by Philippa Langley, a member of the Richard III Society.
'It doesn't look like the face of a tyrant. I'm sorry but it doesn't,' she told the documentary on the search last night. 'He's very handsome. It's like you could just talk to him, have a conversation with him right now.'
Posthumous portrait: With its arched nose and prominent chin, the features are similar to those shown in this picture of Richard painted in 1520, 35 years after his death
Historian and author John Ashdown-Hill, an expert on Richard III's reign, told the BBC that the reconstruction largely matched the prominent features in posthumous representations of the king.
'All the surviving portraits of him - even the very later ones with humped backs and things which were obviously later additions - facially are quite similar [to each other] so it has always been assumed that they were based on a contemporary portrait painted in his lifetime or possibly several portraits painted in his lifetime,' he said.
The reconstruction comes after University of Leicester academics yesterday revealed the the king's remains bore the marks of ten injuries inflicted shortly before his death.
More gruesome, however, was evidence of ‘humiliation’ injuries, including a cut to the ribcage and a pelvic wound likely caused by an upward thrust of a weapon through his buttock whilst his corpse was being paraded on horseback after the battle.
However, what appeared to be a barbed iron arrow head lodged between two vertebrae is believed to be a Roman nail.
Richard III was found under a letter R
Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz2K2Ip1Rkh
His face was reconstructed from the skull found beneath a social services car park that was confirmed as that of the last Plantagenet king.
Revealed: This is the face of King Richard III, reconstructed from 3D scans of his skull after the positive identification of his skeleton found beneath a social services car part in Leicester last year. Archaeologists discovered Richard III's skeleton in September on the spot where a church once stood.
The facial reconstruction was released following the confirmation that the skeleton unearthed in Leicester was that of the king killed in battle more than 500 years ago.
The image is based on a CT scan taken by experts at the University of Leicester, who discovered the king's skeleton with the help of the Richard III Society during an archaeological dig last September. Richard was buried in Greyfriars Church in Leicester with his hands bound together after his death in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Ten years later, Henry VII, the victor of the battle, paid for a tomb 'of many-coloured marble' to be built, the location of which, until Richard's skeleton was found in September, was a mystery. The tomb is presumed to have been demolished along with the Church following its dissolution after 1536. Today a social services car park occupies the spot.
The facial reconstruction was officially unveiled on 5th February, but it was broadcast on 4th February - the day that Leicester University confirmed that the skeleton is that of Richard III - in the Channel 4 documentary on the find.
It reveals the controversial king had a more pleasant, younger and fuller appearance than period portraits reveal - a face far removed from the image of the cold-blooded villain of Shakespeare's play.
The 'calm and apparently thoughtful' face is in contrast to the many portrayals of Richard III, showing contorted facial and bodily features some say were created for political reasons following his death.
However, with its slightly arched nose and prominent chin, the essential features of the slain king are largely similar to those shown in portraits of Richard, of whom no contemporary portraits exist.
Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, deposed at the age of just 32 after just two years on the throne by the forces of Henry Tudor, who became King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch.
His body was discovered in a shallow grave just 2ft beneath the concrete car park following a search instigated by Philippa Langley, a member of the Richard III Society.
'It doesn't look like the face of a tyrant. I'm sorry but it doesn't,' she told the documentary on the search last night. 'He's very handsome. It's like you could just talk to him, have a conversation with him right now.'
Posthumous portrait: With its arched nose and prominent chin, the features are similar to those shown in this picture of Richard painted in 1520, 35 years after his death
Historian and author John Ashdown-Hill, an expert on Richard III's reign, told the BBC that the reconstruction largely matched the prominent features in posthumous representations of the king.
'All the surviving portraits of him - even the very later ones with humped backs and things which were obviously later additions - facially are quite similar [to each other] so it has always been assumed that they were based on a contemporary portrait painted in his lifetime or possibly several portraits painted in his lifetime,' he said.
The reconstruction comes after University of Leicester academics yesterday revealed the the king's remains bore the marks of ten injuries inflicted shortly before his death.
More gruesome, however, was evidence of ‘humiliation’ injuries, including a cut to the ribcage and a pelvic wound likely caused by an upward thrust of a weapon through his buttock whilst his corpse was being paraded on horseback after the battle.
However, what appeared to be a barbed iron arrow head lodged between two vertebrae is believed to be a Roman nail.
Richard III was found under a letter R
Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz2K2Ip1Rkh
Last edited:
More about the 1485 Battle of Bosworth and the events leading up to it, a part of the Wars of the Roses, which saw Richard III become the last English king to die in battle.
According to Shakespeare, as he lay on the ground the king uttered the immortal words ‘My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse!’ as Henry's men came upon him to finish him off.
It is believed by many that he uttered those words in real life, but reality was, in fact, very different...
Treason he cried as he charged into the carnage: David Leafe recreates a war hero king's last hours
By David Leafe
5 February 2013
Daily Mail
Leicester councillors show that they have a sense of humour
With the sun glinting off their swords and their giant steeds raring to charge down the Leicestershire hillside and into battle, Richard III’s troops must have looked a terrifying sight indeed.
They outnumbered by two to one the forces of Henry Tudor, gathered in the valley below them on that August morning in 1485, but still the King seemed unduly troubled as he prepared to defend his crown near the town of Market Bosworth.
‘He had seen dreadful visions in the night, in which he was surrounded by a multitude of demons, as he himself testified in the morning,’ wrote a chronicler of the time.
End of the line: An artist's impression of the Battle of Bosworth, 22 August 1485, shows the last Plantagenet king, Richard III, on white horse
‘He consequently presented a countenance which, while always drawn, was on this occasion more livid and ghastly than usual.’
The King’s fears would prove well-founded. At sunset two days previously he had been on horseback, leading his troops towards Leicester, when his stirruped foot struck the parapet of a bridge.
Legend has it that an old woman in the crowd prophesied that his head would strike the same stone on the way back.
And she was said to have been proved right when, following his catastrophic defeat at Bosworth, with his naked corpse flung across the back of a mule, his dangling head smacked against the stonework of the same bridge.
The villain king: But there are those who suggests Richard III's bad reputation is more down to Tudor propaganda than his actual actions
Whether Henry Tudor was aware of this detail of his opponent’s final indignity we do not know. But, if so, he would surely have applauded it, because for his enemies it was not enough that Richard should merely die.
They wanted to humiliate him, too, as became clear this week when scientists revealed the manner of his death.
His death was probably caused by one of two injuries to the base of the head, possibly inflicted by a halberd.
This fearsome-looking double-bladed axe was fully capable of slicing through the skull, as early investigations suggest may have happened to the King.
Perhaps the most disturbing wounds, however, were what the archaeologists described as ‘humiliation’ injuries, including a pelvic wound most likely caused by an upward thrust of a weapon through the buttock after death.
The idea that his killers went far beyond what was necessary to dispatch the King is consistent with gory contemporary reports of a battle which changed the course of English history, bringing about the start of the Tudor reign and the huge influence on national life of monarchs such as Henry VIII (Richard III's great-nephew) and Elizabeth I.
Many would argue that Richard, the last of the Plantagenets, got exactly what was coming to him, a view encouraged by Shakespeare’s portrayal of him as a Machiavellian hunchback who stopped at nothing in his craving to become King.
Born in 1452, he was a member of the House of York (along with the House of Lancaster it was a branch of the Plantagenet royal dynasty) and the younger brother of King Edward IV, who died in 1483 and who was succeeded by his 12-year-old son King Edward V.
That same year, Edward V's uncle Richard seized the throne, having both Edward V and his younger brother declared illegitimate and imprisoned in the Tower of London where, it was alleged, he had them murdered (the fate of the two Princes in the Tower remains a mystery).
But the Princes in the Tower scandal made Richard highly vulnerable to the scheming of Henry Tudor, a descendant of the rival House of Lancaster — and a pretender to the throne.
Five years Richard’s junior, the Welshman Henry had lived in France since 1471, but in the summer of 1485, accompanied by 2,000 French mercenaries, he set sail across the Channel to Wales, where his family wielded its greatest influence, to fight for the English throne.
The hunchback king: The skeleton, unearthed in a dig last September, showed evidence of the same curvature of the spine and battle injuries thought to have been suffered by the last Plantagenet king
Richard, who had been King for barely two years by then, had laid contingency plans for just such a move.
These included a misguided attempt to enlist the support of the hugely wealthy Stanley family, which commanded a great private army and in effect had the power to win the coming battle for either side.
To guarantee their co-operation, Richard took hostage Sir Thomas Stanley’s son, Lord Strange — a move which would later contribute to his undoing.
As Henry Tudor marched through Wales and into the Midlands, consolidating an army of 5,000 men along the way, Richard was massing a force of 12,000 soldiers moving towards them from the south.
Like all battles of the time, the outcome would depend primarily on hand-to-hand combat, with weapons designed to maim and kill and none of the chivalric courtesies shown to opponents in tournaments.
The face of a king: There were cheers from media who had gathered from around the world as the announcement was made at the University of Leicester this morning
Ironically, although the discovery of his skeleton suggests that Richard suffered from curvature of the spine, as has been suspected for so many centuries, he was in some ways better equipped for the fray than Henry.
Small and slender, he may not have had the robust physique associated with many of his Plantagenet predecessors.
But he was said to have enjoyed rough sports and activities that were considered manly and, unlike Henry, he had previous experience of the battlefield.
When they met at Bosworth on the morning of August 22, the inexperienced Henry handed command of his army to the Earl of Oxford — a veteran of many conflicts — and retired behind the front line with his bodyguards.
His men had the double disadvantage of fighting up the grassy hill upon which Richard had gathered his troops, and also being hemmed in by marshland.
But there was a crucial element that both commanders knew could be decisive: on rising ground on the far side of the battlefield stood the 6,000-strong army commanded by the Stanleys.
They had pledged their allegiance to the King, but they were known to be fickle, often watching the progress of a battle before they decided which side they would support.
True to form, they kept their troops back as the two sides prepared to fight.
The fatal blows? This image of the skull shows where Richard III was injured
‘One of the Welshmen came after him,’ wrote one historian of the time, ‘and struck him dead with a halberd, and another took his body and put it before him on his horse and carried it, hair hanging, as one would bear a sheep.’This X-ray tomography image shows the two injuries which could have killed Richard: The area in the middle marked A is where the spine meets the skull. There are two injuries to the left (B) and right (C) of this that could have led to death if inflicted in life. The right hand injury, possibly from a halberd would have damaged the cerebellum. The left hand injury was probably caused by a sword and could also have been fatal
When Richard - who was wearing his crown during the battle - sent a message to Stanley, telling him his son would be executed if he did not join the attack on Henry, Stanley replied that he had other sons (in the event, his son’s life was spared).
With the Stanleys still undecided, the Earl of Oxford ordered Henry Tudor’s men to advance in a single tight formation, flanked by their horsemen. Manoeuvring away from the marsh, they held their position on firmer ground.
High on his hilltop, Richard gave the order to advance. As the opposing archers exchanged fire, hails of arrows pierced even chain-mail, and men fell screaming and dying in the front ranks of both armies.
As the first blood was drawn, the King’s men thundered downwards, some 1,500 mounted knights engaged in the last great cavalry charge of the medieval era.
Seeing this writhing wall of steel and horseflesh galloping towards him, Henry appeared briefly dumbstruck, but recovered his faculties as his men formed a tight knot and braced themselves for the impact.
Over the next two hours, with nobles and foot soldiers alike fighting hand-to-hand in a sea of severed limbs, Henry’s men held their own and the King’s troops looked for reinforcements as men were hacked or clubbed to death where they stood. Others gave up the fight and ran.
As they were found: The remains of King Richard III were found in a hastily dug grave beneath a council car park in Leicester last September, in what were once the precincts of Grey Friars church
Fearing a defeat, the King, never one to lead from the rear, seized the initiative and threw himself into the battle. Finally, he saw a chance of winning outright — by killing Henry.
As he and his mounted knights charged, the King’s lance pierced the armour of Henry’s standard-bearer Sir William Brandon and snapped in half. But still Richard fought on, unhorsing one of his burliest opponents and dealing him a blow on the head with his broken lance.
He might have succeeded in killing Henry himself, but the press of men and horses carried him off course as the tide began to turn against him.
One of his supporters, Sir Percival Thirwell, lost his legs in a spray of blood, but continued to hold the Yorkist banner aloft until he was hacked to death, while the King’s horse became mired in soft ground and he was forced to continue his fight on foot.
The skull of the king as it was found by archaeologists: Trauma to the skeleton showed the king died after one of two significant wounds to the back of the skull - possibly caused by a sword and a halberd
Hunched in death as he was in life: The skeleton was found in good condition with its feet missing
This, of course, is the point in the battle immortalised by Shakespeare in the phrase: ‘My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse!’
Yet in reality, though the King’s followers offered him their steeds to escape, Richard refused, even after the Stanleys finally agreed to lead their men into the fighting at Henry’s side and, with his army disintegrating, he found himself outnumbered by his foes.
Shouting ‘Treason! Treason! Treason!’ according to reports of the time, he soon met his end.
‘One of the Welshmen came after him,’ wrote one historian of the time, ‘and struck him dead with a halberd, and another took his body and put it before him on his horse and carried it, hair hanging, as one would bear a sheep.’
As we now know, it seems likely the 32-year-old Richard also suffered a series of other horrific injuries before he was carried back to Leicester and buried in a local monastery.
This week’s announcement will rekindle debate about whether he was a good king or bad, but what has never appeared to be in doubt is that he was a brave soldier.
The evidence of his skeleton appears to confirm that — bearing the injuries of a man never afraid to be at the thick of fighting, right until his brutal end.
A plaque and the Royal Standard mark the spot where Richard was slain. After the battle, Richard's crown was found, probably by one of the Stanleys, in a hawthorn bush and it was placed on Henry Tudor's head.
Read more: Treason he cried as he charged into the carnage: David Leafe recreates a war hero king's last hours | Mail Online
He is to be interred in Leicester Cathedral in 2014.
According to Shakespeare, as he lay on the ground the king uttered the immortal words ‘My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse!’ as Henry's men came upon him to finish him off.
It is believed by many that he uttered those words in real life, but reality was, in fact, very different...
Treason he cried as he charged into the carnage: David Leafe recreates a war hero king's last hours
By David Leafe
5 February 2013
Daily Mail
Leicester councillors show that they have a sense of humour
With the sun glinting off their swords and their giant steeds raring to charge down the Leicestershire hillside and into battle, Richard III’s troops must have looked a terrifying sight indeed.
They outnumbered by two to one the forces of Henry Tudor, gathered in the valley below them on that August morning in 1485, but still the King seemed unduly troubled as he prepared to defend his crown near the town of Market Bosworth.
‘He had seen dreadful visions in the night, in which he was surrounded by a multitude of demons, as he himself testified in the morning,’ wrote a chronicler of the time.
End of the line: An artist's impression of the Battle of Bosworth, 22 August 1485, shows the last Plantagenet king, Richard III, on white horse
‘He consequently presented a countenance which, while always drawn, was on this occasion more livid and ghastly than usual.’
The King’s fears would prove well-founded. At sunset two days previously he had been on horseback, leading his troops towards Leicester, when his stirruped foot struck the parapet of a bridge.
Legend has it that an old woman in the crowd prophesied that his head would strike the same stone on the way back.
And she was said to have been proved right when, following his catastrophic defeat at Bosworth, with his naked corpse flung across the back of a mule, his dangling head smacked against the stonework of the same bridge.
The villain king: But there are those who suggests Richard III's bad reputation is more down to Tudor propaganda than his actual actions
Whether Henry Tudor was aware of this detail of his opponent’s final indignity we do not know. But, if so, he would surely have applauded it, because for his enemies it was not enough that Richard should merely die.
They wanted to humiliate him, too, as became clear this week when scientists revealed the manner of his death.
His death was probably caused by one of two injuries to the base of the head, possibly inflicted by a halberd.
This fearsome-looking double-bladed axe was fully capable of slicing through the skull, as early investigations suggest may have happened to the King.
Perhaps the most disturbing wounds, however, were what the archaeologists described as ‘humiliation’ injuries, including a pelvic wound most likely caused by an upward thrust of a weapon through the buttock after death.
The idea that his killers went far beyond what was necessary to dispatch the King is consistent with gory contemporary reports of a battle which changed the course of English history, bringing about the start of the Tudor reign and the huge influence on national life of monarchs such as Henry VIII (Richard III's great-nephew) and Elizabeth I.
Many would argue that Richard, the last of the Plantagenets, got exactly what was coming to him, a view encouraged by Shakespeare’s portrayal of him as a Machiavellian hunchback who stopped at nothing in his craving to become King.
Born in 1452, he was a member of the House of York (along with the House of Lancaster it was a branch of the Plantagenet royal dynasty) and the younger brother of King Edward IV, who died in 1483 and who was succeeded by his 12-year-old son King Edward V.
That same year, Edward V's uncle Richard seized the throne, having both Edward V and his younger brother declared illegitimate and imprisoned in the Tower of London where, it was alleged, he had them murdered (the fate of the two Princes in the Tower remains a mystery).
But the Princes in the Tower scandal made Richard highly vulnerable to the scheming of Henry Tudor, a descendant of the rival House of Lancaster — and a pretender to the throne.
Five years Richard’s junior, the Welshman Henry had lived in France since 1471, but in the summer of 1485, accompanied by 2,000 French mercenaries, he set sail across the Channel to Wales, where his family wielded its greatest influence, to fight for the English throne.
The hunchback king: The skeleton, unearthed in a dig last September, showed evidence of the same curvature of the spine and battle injuries thought to have been suffered by the last Plantagenet king
Richard, who had been King for barely two years by then, had laid contingency plans for just such a move.
These included a misguided attempt to enlist the support of the hugely wealthy Stanley family, which commanded a great private army and in effect had the power to win the coming battle for either side.
To guarantee their co-operation, Richard took hostage Sir Thomas Stanley’s son, Lord Strange — a move which would later contribute to his undoing.
As Henry Tudor marched through Wales and into the Midlands, consolidating an army of 5,000 men along the way, Richard was massing a force of 12,000 soldiers moving towards them from the south.
Like all battles of the time, the outcome would depend primarily on hand-to-hand combat, with weapons designed to maim and kill and none of the chivalric courtesies shown to opponents in tournaments.
The face of a king: There were cheers from media who had gathered from around the world as the announcement was made at the University of Leicester this morning
Ironically, although the discovery of his skeleton suggests that Richard suffered from curvature of the spine, as has been suspected for so many centuries, he was in some ways better equipped for the fray than Henry.
Small and slender, he may not have had the robust physique associated with many of his Plantagenet predecessors.
But he was said to have enjoyed rough sports and activities that were considered manly and, unlike Henry, he had previous experience of the battlefield.
When they met at Bosworth on the morning of August 22, the inexperienced Henry handed command of his army to the Earl of Oxford — a veteran of many conflicts — and retired behind the front line with his bodyguards.
His men had the double disadvantage of fighting up the grassy hill upon which Richard had gathered his troops, and also being hemmed in by marshland.
But there was a crucial element that both commanders knew could be decisive: on rising ground on the far side of the battlefield stood the 6,000-strong army commanded by the Stanleys.
They had pledged their allegiance to the King, but they were known to be fickle, often watching the progress of a battle before they decided which side they would support.
True to form, they kept their troops back as the two sides prepared to fight.
The fatal blows? This image of the skull shows where Richard III was injured
‘One of the Welshmen came after him,’ wrote one historian of the time, ‘and struck him dead with a halberd, and another took his body and put it before him on his horse and carried it, hair hanging, as one would bear a sheep.’This X-ray tomography image shows the two injuries which could have killed Richard: The area in the middle marked A is where the spine meets the skull. There are two injuries to the left (B) and right (C) of this that could have led to death if inflicted in life. The right hand injury, possibly from a halberd would have damaged the cerebellum. The left hand injury was probably caused by a sword and could also have been fatal
When Richard - who was wearing his crown during the battle - sent a message to Stanley, telling him his son would be executed if he did not join the attack on Henry, Stanley replied that he had other sons (in the event, his son’s life was spared).
With the Stanleys still undecided, the Earl of Oxford ordered Henry Tudor’s men to advance in a single tight formation, flanked by their horsemen. Manoeuvring away from the marsh, they held their position on firmer ground.
High on his hilltop, Richard gave the order to advance. As the opposing archers exchanged fire, hails of arrows pierced even chain-mail, and men fell screaming and dying in the front ranks of both armies.
As the first blood was drawn, the King’s men thundered downwards, some 1,500 mounted knights engaged in the last great cavalry charge of the medieval era.
Seeing this writhing wall of steel and horseflesh galloping towards him, Henry appeared briefly dumbstruck, but recovered his faculties as his men formed a tight knot and braced themselves for the impact.
Over the next two hours, with nobles and foot soldiers alike fighting hand-to-hand in a sea of severed limbs, Henry’s men held their own and the King’s troops looked for reinforcements as men were hacked or clubbed to death where they stood. Others gave up the fight and ran.
As they were found: The remains of King Richard III were found in a hastily dug grave beneath a council car park in Leicester last September, in what were once the precincts of Grey Friars church
Fearing a defeat, the King, never one to lead from the rear, seized the initiative and threw himself into the battle. Finally, he saw a chance of winning outright — by killing Henry.
As he and his mounted knights charged, the King’s lance pierced the armour of Henry’s standard-bearer Sir William Brandon and snapped in half. But still Richard fought on, unhorsing one of his burliest opponents and dealing him a blow on the head with his broken lance.
He might have succeeded in killing Henry himself, but the press of men and horses carried him off course as the tide began to turn against him.
One of his supporters, Sir Percival Thirwell, lost his legs in a spray of blood, but continued to hold the Yorkist banner aloft until he was hacked to death, while the King’s horse became mired in soft ground and he was forced to continue his fight on foot.
The skull of the king as it was found by archaeologists: Trauma to the skeleton showed the king died after one of two significant wounds to the back of the skull - possibly caused by a sword and a halberd
Hunched in death as he was in life: The skeleton was found in good condition with its feet missing
This, of course, is the point in the battle immortalised by Shakespeare in the phrase: ‘My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse!’
Yet in reality, though the King’s followers offered him their steeds to escape, Richard refused, even after the Stanleys finally agreed to lead their men into the fighting at Henry’s side and, with his army disintegrating, he found himself outnumbered by his foes.
Shouting ‘Treason! Treason! Treason!’ according to reports of the time, he soon met his end.
‘One of the Welshmen came after him,’ wrote one historian of the time, ‘and struck him dead with a halberd, and another took his body and put it before him on his horse and carried it, hair hanging, as one would bear a sheep.’
As we now know, it seems likely the 32-year-old Richard also suffered a series of other horrific injuries before he was carried back to Leicester and buried in a local monastery.
This week’s announcement will rekindle debate about whether he was a good king or bad, but what has never appeared to be in doubt is that he was a brave soldier.
The evidence of his skeleton appears to confirm that — bearing the injuries of a man never afraid to be at the thick of fighting, right until his brutal end.
A plaque and the Royal Standard mark the spot where Richard was slain. After the battle, Richard's crown was found, probably by one of the Stanleys, in a hawthorn bush and it was placed on Henry Tudor's head.
Read more: Treason he cried as he charged into the carnage: David Leafe recreates a war hero king's last hours | Mail Online
He is to be interred in Leicester Cathedral in 2014.
Last edited:
Richard III’s hair and eye colour ‘to be revealed’
Tuesday 11th February 2014
Submitted by Emma McFarnon
BBC History Extra
Researchers hope to shed new light on the health and ancestry of Richard III, by examining his DNA.
A team will extract DNA from a bone sample, before sequencing the former Plantagenet king’s genome.
Analysis of Richard III's genome will offer insights into his genetic make-up, including hair and eye colour, and susceptibility to diseases such as Alzheimer’s or diabetes.
Genome sequencing is a way of reading our entire genetic code – the exact sequence of roughly three billion As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up our DNA.
The project will be led by Dr Turi King of the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester, in collaboration with Professor Michael Hofreiter at the University of Potsdam.
The team plans to make Richard III’s genome freely accessible as a resource to researchers wishing to analyse and interrogate its genetic information.
Richard III will become one of only a small number of ancient individuals to have had their genome sequenced. Others include Otzi the Iceman, a hunter-gatherer from Spain, Neanderthal specimens, and a Greenlandic Inuit.
Richard will be the first ancient individual of known identity to have his genome sequenced.
University of Leicester
Dr King and colleagues will also sequence one of his living relatives, Canadian Michael Ibsen. An initial analysis of the DNA of his mitochondria – the batteries that power the cells in our bodies, which is passed down the maternal line – confirmed the genealogical evidence that Ibsen and Richard III shared the same lineage. A more detailed analysis is due to be published shortly.
Dr King said: "It is an extremely rare occurrence that archaeologists are involved in the excavation of a known individual, let alone a king of England.
“At the same time, we are in the midst of a new age of genetic research, with the ability to sequence entire genomes from ancient individuals and with them, those of pathogens that may have caused infectious disease.
“Sequencing the genome of Richard III is a hugely important project that will help to teach us not only about him, but ferment discussion about how our DNA informs our sense of identity, our past and our future."
Dr Glenn Foard, reader in battlefield archaeology at the University of Huddersfield, told History Extra of his reservations: “As a battlefield archaeologist who has investigated the place where Richard III died, I was very keen to hear the results of the study of his skeleton. This is because both the weapon trauma and evidence of disability may shed light on his role in the events of 22nd August 1485 and earlier battles.
“In contrast, I cannot immediately see how DNA analysis will help in my area of study. However, given the speed with which research on the human genome is advancing, I guess this data might, one day, cast new and unexpected light on his abilities as a military commander.”
Richard's skeleton was discovered underneath a Leicester council car park in September 2012, some 527 years after he was killed at the battle of Bosworth.
The remains were in February 2013 identified as those of the last Plantagenet king.
To listen to our October 2013 podcast, in which Philippa Langley and Michael Jones describe the discovery of Richard III's remains, click here.
To listen to our Richard III special podcast, click here.
Genetics at Leicester — University of Leicester
Richard III’s hair and eye colour ‘to be revealed’ through DNA genome sequencing | History Extra
Tuesday 11th February 2014
Submitted by Emma McFarnon
BBC History Extra
Researchers hope to shed new light on the health and ancestry of Richard III, by examining his DNA.
A team will extract DNA from a bone sample, before sequencing the former Plantagenet king’s genome.
Analysis of Richard III's genome will offer insights into his genetic make-up, including hair and eye colour, and susceptibility to diseases such as Alzheimer’s or diabetes.
Genome sequencing is a way of reading our entire genetic code – the exact sequence of roughly three billion As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up our DNA.
The project will be led by Dr Turi King of the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester, in collaboration with Professor Michael Hofreiter at the University of Potsdam.
The team plans to make Richard III’s genome freely accessible as a resource to researchers wishing to analyse and interrogate its genetic information.
Richard III will become one of only a small number of ancient individuals to have had their genome sequenced. Others include Otzi the Iceman, a hunter-gatherer from Spain, Neanderthal specimens, and a Greenlandic Inuit.
Richard will be the first ancient individual of known identity to have his genome sequenced.
University of Leicester
Dr King and colleagues will also sequence one of his living relatives, Canadian Michael Ibsen. An initial analysis of the DNA of his mitochondria – the batteries that power the cells in our bodies, which is passed down the maternal line – confirmed the genealogical evidence that Ibsen and Richard III shared the same lineage. A more detailed analysis is due to be published shortly.
Dr King said: "It is an extremely rare occurrence that archaeologists are involved in the excavation of a known individual, let alone a king of England.
“At the same time, we are in the midst of a new age of genetic research, with the ability to sequence entire genomes from ancient individuals and with them, those of pathogens that may have caused infectious disease.
“Sequencing the genome of Richard III is a hugely important project that will help to teach us not only about him, but ferment discussion about how our DNA informs our sense of identity, our past and our future."
Dr Glenn Foard, reader in battlefield archaeology at the University of Huddersfield, told History Extra of his reservations: “As a battlefield archaeologist who has investigated the place where Richard III died, I was very keen to hear the results of the study of his skeleton. This is because both the weapon trauma and evidence of disability may shed light on his role in the events of 22nd August 1485 and earlier battles.
“In contrast, I cannot immediately see how DNA analysis will help in my area of study. However, given the speed with which research on the human genome is advancing, I guess this data might, one day, cast new and unexpected light on his abilities as a military commander.”
Richard's skeleton was discovered underneath a Leicester council car park in September 2012, some 527 years after he was killed at the battle of Bosworth.
The remains were in February 2013 identified as those of the last Plantagenet king.
To listen to our October 2013 podcast, in which Philippa Langley and Michael Jones describe the discovery of Richard III's remains, click here.
To listen to our Richard III special podcast, click here.
Genetics at Leicester — University of Leicester
Richard III’s hair and eye colour ‘to be revealed’ through DNA genome sequencing | History Extra
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Was he the bastard that smothered the two princes in the Tower of London?
Looks like his nose took a bit of a beating but his teeth look sound.
Definitely him.
Hellova place to chuck a king.
Looks like his nose took a bit of a beating but his teeth look sound.
The Queen has expressed her shock that the remains of her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-uncle were found beneath a car park.
She made the remark about Richard III at an event honouring higher and further education institutions at Buckingham Palace, where the University of Leicester’s archaeological team that helped uncover the remains of the king were praised.
Professor Sir Bob Burgess, vice chancellor of the University of Leicester revealed that the Queen asked if it was true that Richard III was really found buried under a car park.
‘The Queen wanted to know if the remains were really found under a car park, but generally she seemed well-informed about the dig,’ said Sir Bob.
The Yorkists, led by Richard III, were defeated by the Lancastrians in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, and so also lost the Wars of the Roses. Richard was killed in the battle.
Queen expresses shock at how her 14th great-grand uncle Richard III was found under a car park
Scientists want to map the king’s DNA before his remains are reinterred
They hope it will shed light on his ancestry and his links to living people
It could also provide detail about his susceptibility to diseases
Genome of the king’s living relative, Michael Ibsen, will also be sequenced
By Sarah Griffiths
27 February 2014
Daily Mailhttp://forums.canadiancontent.net/s...rand-uncle-Richard-III-car-park.html#comments
27 February 2014
Daily Mailhttp://forums.canadiancontent.net/s...rand-uncle-Richard-III-car-park.html#comments
The Queen has expressed her shock that the remains of her 14th great-granduncle were found beneath a car park.
She made the remark about Richard III at an event honouring higher and further education institutions at Buckingham Palace, where the University of Leicester’s archaeological team that helped uncover the remains of the king were praised.
Professor Sir Bob Burgess, vice chancellor of the University of Leicester revealed that the Queen asked if it was true that Richard III was really found buried under a car park.
The Queen (pictured left) asked if it was true that great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-uncle Richard III was really found buried under a car park. A 3D model of the king is pictured right
‘The Queen wanted to know if the remains were really found under a car park, but generally she seemed well-informed about the dig,’ said Sir Bob.
Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 - ending the Wars of the Roses and the Plantagenet dynasty - and his body was taken to Leicester by supporters of the victorious Lancastrian Henry VII - the first Tudor monarch - and buried in Greyfriars church.
His remains were found under the car park owned by Leicester City Council on the former site of the church.
‘The project illustrates the power of research and how it can fire the imagination of the public. The discovery of Richard III has helped to develop the heritage of Leicester and put the city on the map,’ Sir Bob said.
The Queen has expressed her shock that the remains of her 14th great-granduncle, Richard III were found beneath a car park. This diagram shows how she is related to the infamous king
The University of Leicester and the Ministry of Justice will visit the High Court on March 13, to argue the legality of an exhumation licence, which gives the university control of Richard III's remains.
A total of 17 universities were honoured at the Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education.
A total of 17 universities were honoured at the Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education.
The University of Dundee was recognised by the Queen for its work on the areas of human anatomy, forensic human identification and facial reconstruction. Academics at Dundee were responsible for carrying out a facial reconstruction of Richard III based on the skull found in Leicester.
Caroline Wilkinson, professor of craniofacial identification at the University of Dundee, led the work which used CT scan data from the remains to reconstruct a 3D bust version of what Richard III would have looked like.
‘Leicester approached us with the CT data and we used imaging software to build his face. The likeness was so strong that I had to do it three times just to make sure,’ said Professor Wilkinson.
Richard III is to make history by becoming the first to have his genetic code sequenced.
Scientists want to map the king’s DNA before his remains and any samples taken from them, are reinterred.
They hope the work will reveal information about the dead monarch’s hair and eye colour and shed light on his ancestry and links to people living today.
Researchers also hope the sequencing will provide more details about the king's susceptibility to diseases such as Alzheimer's and diabetes.
Experts have already learned that besides being a hunchback, the king was badly infected with roundworm, a once common parasite in the UK.
Experts have already learned that besides being a hunchback, the king was badly infected with roundworm, a once common parasite in the UK.
A battle-scarred skeleton with a twisted spine, pictured, was unearthed by archaeologists in a Leicester car park in 2012. It was later identified as that of Richard III
Dr Turi King, from the University of Leicester, who is leading the gene sequencing project, said: 'It is an extremely rare occurrence that archaeologists are involved in the excavation of a known individual, let alone a king of England.
'At the same time we are in the midst of a new age of genetic research, with the ability to sequence entire genomes from ancient individuals and with them, those of pathogens that may have caused infectious disease.
'Sequencing the genome of Richard III is a hugely important project that will help to teach us not only about him, but [stir up] discussion about how our DNA informs our sense of identity, our past and our future.'
Results from the analysis of King Richard III's bones will be made available to historians, scientists, and interested members of the public.
HOW THE QUEEN IS RELATED TO RICHARD III
Richard III
Elizabeth Woodville and King Edward IV
King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York
Margaret Tudor
Margaret Douglas
Henry Stuart
James I
Queen Elizabeth Stuart and Frederick V
Queen Sophia and Ernest Augustus
George I
George II
Frederick
George III
Edward
Victoria
King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark
George V
George VI
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth Woodville and King Edward IV
King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York
Margaret Tudor
Margaret Douglas
Henry Stuart
James I
Queen Elizabeth Stuart and Frederick V
Queen Sophia and Ernest Augustus
George I
George II
Frederick
George III
Edward
Victoria
King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark
George V
George VI
Elizabeth II
KING RICHARD III: THE CONTROVERSIAL AND DISEASED MONARCH
Richard was born on in 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire.
During the War of the Roses, Richard's father, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York was killed and in 1470, Richard and his brother Edward were exiled when Henry VI, from the rival house of Lancaster, took back the throne.
Henry's reign was short lived and during a battle the following year, Edward became king.
In 1483, Edward died and Richard was named as protector of the realm for Edward's son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V.
Edward V and his brother Richard were placed in the Tower of London and after a campaign to condemn the deceased king's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, the princes were declared illegitimate.
Richard III took to the throne the following day.
He was crowned in July and in August that year, the two princes disappeared, Rumours claimed the king had killed them to remove any threat they may have posed to his reign.
In 1485, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond launched an attack on Richard III on Bosworth Field in Leicestershire.
Many of Richard III's key lieutenants defected and he was killed in battle. Henry Tudor took the throne as Henry VII.
It has been confirmed that Richard III had a curvature of the spine, although rumours of a withered arm haven't been verfied form the bones found in the Leicester car park last year.
Last year scientists discovered the king was riddled with roundworm after finding large numbers of the parasite’s eggs in soil taken from Richard III’s pelvic region. The find suggests that the king’s intestines were infected with roundworm during his life.
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