The 500-year-old mystery surrounding the remains of Richard III, the
controversial 15th-century English monarch portrayed by Shakespeare as a
hunchbacked tyrant, has been finally solved with archaeologists
confirming that a battle-scarred skeleton found underneath a council car
park in Leicester was his.
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| Richard III |
“Beyond reasonable doubt it’s Richard,” Richard Buckley from the
University of Leicester, who had led a team of researchers, declared on
Monday, bringing down the curtains on a subject that had intrigued
generations of Britons.
Leicester University described it as “one of the most ambitious
archaeological projects ever attempted”. “Richard III, the last
Plantaganet King of England, has been found,” said its deputy registrar,
Richard Taylor.
The Richard III Society, which believes the monarch had been unfairly
reviled by historians, said the discovery of his final resting place
would “spark a lot more interest” and “hopefully people will have more
open mind toward Richard”.
Until now, all that was known was that the king was buried in an
unmarked grave in the church of Greyfriars in the centre of Leicester
following his brutal death in battle in 1485 at the age of 32, after
only two years on the throne that he had been accused of usurping.
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| Burial site of Richard III (now car parking) |
But after the church was demolished in the 16th century the exact
location of where he was buried became uncertain, triggering the search
for the “lost king”. Then, in a dramatic breakthrough in August last
year, the excavation of the car park led archaeologists to the buildings
connected to the church. And within days they were looking at “a
battle-scarred skeleton with spinal curvature”.
The skeleton was in good condition with its feet missing. Its hands were
crossed over the front of the pelvis and there was no evidence of a
coffin or shroud found with it, media reports said.
“The analysis of the skeleton proved that it was an adult male but was
an unusually slender, almost feminine, build for a man. Taken as a whole
the skeletal evidence provides a highly convincing case for
identification as Richard III,” said Dr. Jo Appleby, an
osteoarchaeologist.
Researchers said the bones were subjected to “rigorous academic study”
and carbon dated to a period from 1455-1540. The remains were compared with, and found to match a 17th-generation descendant of Richard’s sister.