Experts find remains of England's King Richard III

Phys.Org ^ | 02-04-2013 | Jill Lawless

[Red Badger]

He wore the English crown, but he ended up defeated, humiliated and reviled.

Now things are looking up for King Richard III. Scientists announced Monday that they had found the monarch's 528-year-old remains under a parking lot in the city of Leicester—a discovery that will move him from a pauper's grave to a royal tomb and that fans say could potentially restore the reputation of a much-maligned king. "We could end up rewriting a little bit of history in a big way," said Lin Foxhall, head of the school of archaeology at the University of Leicester, which conducted the research. On Monday the researchers announced that tests on a battle-scarred skeleton unearthed in the central England city last year prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that it is the king, who died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and whose remains have been missing for centuries. "Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England, has been found," said the university's deputy registrar, Richard Taylor, describing the find as "truly astonishing."

[Red Badger]

Undated photo made available by the University of Leicester, England, Monday Feb. 4 2013 of the skull found at the Grey Friars excavation in Leicester, potentially the long lost remains of England's King Richard III, ahead of an announcement about the identity of the skeleton found underneath a car park last September. Richard was immortalized in a play by Shakespeare as a hunchbacked usurper who left a trail of bodies—including those of his two young nephews, murdered in the Tower of London—on his way to the throne. (AP Photo/ University of Leicester)

Jo Appleby, a lecturer in Human Bioarchaeology, at University of Leicester, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, who led the exhumation of the remains found during a dig at a Leicester car park, gestures at the university Monday Feb. 4, 2013. Tests have established that a skeleton found , including this skull, are "beyond reasonable doubt" the long lost remains of England's King Richard III, missing for 500 years.(AP Photo/Rui Vieira, PA)

[cripplecreek]

Big news in the UK.

[Red Badger]

GGG Ping!.........

[Puppage]

Lo...The King approaches!!

[carriage_hill]

Helluva spinal curve.

[massgopguy]

How did they find him? Did they have a “hunch”?

[massgopguy]

Holy Scoliosis Batman!

[Red Badger]

Well, it appears Shakespeare was right about that particular.

I wonder if he was right about the ‘other’ as well?.............

[cotton1706]

That’s really cool!

[donhunt]

Looks to me as a potential victim of Obamacare.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

****Ibsen said he was “stunned” to discover he was related to the king—he is a 17th great-grand-nephew of Richard’s older sister. ****

He should immediately demand the Montbatten usurpers in England get off HIS THRONE! OR ELSE!

[CondorFlight]

Now where to they bury him? Westminster—right next to Henry VII?

[supremedoctrine]

Yep, that’s him!
It seems even long ago, though, that he had better teeth
than most Englishman do today.
BTW, was the horse found?

[mikrofon]

"Alas, poor Richard - I knew him not well..."

[supremedoctrine]

Yep, that’s him!
It seems even long ago, though, that he had better teeth
than most Englishman do today.
BTW, was the horse found?

[Izzy Dunne]

he is a 17th great-grand-nephew of Richard's older sister.

That makes him also a 17th great-grand-nephew, or a 17th great-grand-son of Richard, doesn't it?

[Red Badger]

Wrong country, that was Denmark.......

[sneakers]

Wow! Fascinating! Thanks for posting!

[mass55th]

I believe he’s going to be reburied in the Leicester Cathedral.

[mass55th]

I read about the DNA confirmation here:

The History Blog

[mass55th]

"How did they find him? Did they have a “hunch”?"

I believe they found text that said he'd been reburied in the choir loft of the Greyfriar's Abbey that was on the site at the time. What's interesting, is that they were able to locate the remains of the Abbey, then pinpoint where the choir loft had been...in the parking lot!

[Red Badger]

BTW, was the horse found?

Possibly......

[eyedigress]

I thought it was “My kingdom for a nose”?

Oh wait, that was Jerry.

[Tennessee Nana]

"Yorick !!! I knew it was you !!!"

[Patriot Babe]

“a hunchbacked usurper who left a trail of bodies on his way to the throne”

1) So this tells us that a perfect burial for a Usurper is a Parking Lot.

2) Trail of bodies? hmmm seals, top brass generals okayyy

So has anyone notice if our usurper is a hunchback?

[RedMDer]

Freepers, your Contributions make every difference!
Please keep ‘em coming! Thank you all very much!

[AnAmericanAbroad]

His Majesty is pleased.

[verga]

So has anyone notice if our usurper is a hunchback?

Can't say that i have but I did notice a bit of a belly in the "Skeet shooting" photo.

I am willing to say that that is close enough for me.

[agere_contra]

Richard III invented the concept of bail - whereas his treacherous successor Henry VII invented the Star Chamber.

The world would have been a better place without the Tudors.

[SevenofNine]

Sweettt
If they get around to it

How about find out mystery of what happen to his nephew Prince of Tower

[Beowulf9]

Did Thomas Moore describe Richard III as a hunchback? Seems he was right, doesn’t that lend more credence to his story of Richard III as the murderer of the Princes?

Cheated of feature by dissembling Nature,
Deform’d, unfinish’d, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up-
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them-
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun,
And descant on my own deformity.
And therefore since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain this fair well-spoken days,
I am determine’d to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasure of these days.

~Shakespeare~

[TurboZamboni]

I remember that song.

“they paved Richard III and put up a parking lot...”

[Puppage]

What kind of person hogs a parking space for 500 years any way?

[dfwgator]

Kings - Steely Dan

Now they lay his body down
Sad old men who run this town
I still recall the way
He led the charge and saved the day
Blue blood and rain
I can hear the bugle playin’

[Chorus:]
We seen the last of Good King Richard
Ring out the past his name lives on
Roll out the bones and raise up your pitcher
Raise up your glass to Good King John

While he plundered far and wide
All his starving children cried
And though we sung his fame
We all went hungry just the same
He meant to shine
To the end of the line

We seen the last of Good King Richard
Ring out the past his name lives on
Roll out the bones and raise up your pitcher
Raise up your glass to Good King John

[AngieGal]

ping

[Red Badger]

Even Elizabeth I?.......

[cotton1706]

What kind of person hogs a parking space for 500 years any way?

These elites, I tell ya!!

[agere_contra]

Not particularly. Thomas More was five years old when Richard III died. His 'notes' about Richard III were not historical observations - they were copybook tracts inspired by - perhaps written by - Morton (the tax-collecting prelate who invented 'Morton's Fork').

Henry VII set up an enormous campaign of state-sponsored vilification against Richard III after his death. This is because his own claim to the throne was very tenuous.

Many believe that Henry VII had the princes killed just before Titulus Regius was signed into law.

Titulus Regius gave Elizabeth of York (Henry's wife) a claim to the throne - and so gave Henry VII a claim to the throne. But at the same time it gave the Princes in the Tower a better claim to the throne than Henry VII - he had a very good reason to kill them.

[agere_contra]

I’m no great fan of that wooden-toothed fanatic.

She used to starve the crews of her Navy ships so that they would have to desert the ships in harbor - which meant that she didn’t have to pay them. The famous victory over the Armada was no thanks to her - she just took credit after the fact.

A modern context might be: Obama’s ‘victory’ in killing bin Laden. It was very much despite Obama, not because of him.

[libstripper]

Henry may have had a motive, but did he have the means? As I understand it, Richard became the princes’ guardian when Edward VI, their father, died and remained their guardian until he was crowned king. During that time when they disappeared he was, apparently, in charge of the Tower. Why didn’t Richard dispel the suspicions about him by just producing the live princes or thier remins and a legitimate explanation for their deaths? Edward VII and his younger borther were Edward VI’s sons and heirs apparent before Richard, giving Richard a motive to kill them. Thus, it appears their disappearences lead straight to Richard’s door.

[libstripper]

Isn’t that picture from a modern remake of Richard III?

[bunkerhill7]

They had a tailgate party over his body in the parking lot as soon as he was cold.

[444Flyer]

Hospital for Over Acting "...This is the Richard the III Ward"

[dsutah]

Or someone who wanted Richard on the throne did it! Still, like you said, why didn’t he make some attempt to prove he didn’t do it? He was their uncle; wouldn’t he want to find out why and how they disappeared? Why wouldn’t he want to find out who killed them once they found out they’d been killed?

If Richard took over as king when his brother died, he would’ve acted as regent, wouldn’t he? But he would’ve had them present at state functions so the people could see them, after the older one was coronated, wouldn’t he? he would’ve been advising him and educating him in ruling the kingdom as he grew! If he was king for at least 2 years before losing to Henry, people would wonder why the didn’t see the princes anymore!

If Henry did it, where were they in those 2 years of Richard’s reign, in the tower? Possibly. But someone would’ve seen them, unless they were sworn to secrecy? Lastly, Henry married their sister, Elizabeth; why would he want to kill his wife’s brothers? Old Henry might have been a turd, but a killer?

For years after the boys disappearance and Richard’s death, a few people claiming to be one of the 2 boys surfaced.(example: Tzar Nickolas’s children, Louis XV1’s son)King Henry V11’s queen actually thought and hoped at least one of them was her one of her long-lost brothers who may have survived.She was overjoyed! Unfortunately, there was no proof, and the poor woman’s hopes were squashed!

[libstripper]

I've just done a little reading on how Richard III became king. Edward IV was the father of the two princes, Edward V and Richard of York. Richard III was Edward IV’s brother, meaning Edward V and Richard of York both had precedence over him as heirs to Edward IV.

Richard III was appointed Protector and gained custody of Edward V and Richard of York, both of whom he put in the Tower, from whence they never emerged alive. Then he had parliament declare both bastards on the allegation that Edward IV had not properly married their mother. That left the road to the throne open to Richard, who was crowned on July 6, 1483.

Richard III reigned for a little more than two years, until August 22, 1485, when he was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field. During that entire time he had sole custody of the deposed princes, neither of whom was heard from or seen during that entire time, despite constant demands for their production and growing, highly destructive, rumors that Richard had them murdered. Indeed, the developing consensus that he had them murdered was one of the main things that destroyed his legitimacy, enabling Henry VII to overthrow him. Hence, the only logical thing for him to have done, had he been innocent of their deaths, would have been either to produce them both alive, or to produce their bodies with an adequate, legitimate explanation of why they had died. He did neither, leading to the logical conclusion that had them killed and had their bodies disposed of. I've seen no historical evidence to indicate either that the princes were alive after August 22, 1485 or that Henry VII had access to their persons before that date which would have enabled him to kill them or have them killed. Inevitably, that leaves Richard as the murderer.

[Eva]

Thanks for the refresher course. From looking at the skull, it looks like Richard III had a pronagthic jaw, where the lower teeth close outside the upper teeth, better known as an under bite. The more recent royals seem to have a receding lower jaw, and possibly an overbite.

Just an observation.

[mikrofon]

Verily, but something was also rottin’ in the state of England...

[supremedoctrine]

EVERYTIME I see her I can’t help but think of the tabloid
expose of Prince Charles before their marriage saying that
fantasized about being “her tampon”. YUK. WHAT A FALL from Diana.

[supremedoctrine]

EVERYTIME I see her I can’t help but think of the tabloid
expose of Prince Charles before their marriage saying that
fantasized about being “her tampon”. YUK. WHAT A FALL from Diana.

[lqcincinnatus]

I doubt Shakespeare was right. Henry paid him to defame Richard.