Richard III’s burial: Not fit for king
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British scientists announced Monday, February 4, that they are convinced “beyond reasonable doubt” that a skeleton found during an archaeological dig in Leicester, central England, last August is that of the former king, who was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. The skull shows a wound to the right cheek.
Mitochondrial DNA extracted from the bones was matched to Michael Ibsen, a Canadian cabinetmaker and direct descendant of Richard III’s sister, Anne of York.
The skeleton was discovered buried among the remains of what was once the city’s Greyfriars friary, but is now a council car park. The skull was found in the first trench of the Grey Friars dig.
The skeleton being excavated, shows the curve in the spine and the way the head had been squashed into the grave. The hands may also have been tied.
Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist on the project, said the unusual position of the skeleton’s arms and hands suggested the king may have been buried with his hands tied.
Archaeologists say the man they found appears to have met a violent death. The skull shows a wound to the right cheek.
The base of the skull shows the larger of two potentially fatal injuries. This shows clearly how a section of the skull had been sliced off.
Archaeologists say it appears Richard’s corpse may also have been mistreated. The image shows a cut mark on the right rib.
Two vertebrae showing some abnormal features relating to the scoliosis. The spinous processes of the vertebrae (pointing down), which should be straight, are twisted to one side. The joints between vertebrae show signs of osteoarthritis.
The lower jaw shows a cut mark caused by a knife or dagger.
The image shows a blade wound to the pelvis, which has penetrated all the way through the bone.
A wound to the cheek, possibly caused by a square-bladed dagger. The front part of the skull has separated naturally along the line of a suture (a joint between the skull bones), which is why it is not present in this picture. This would have fused as Richard became older had he lived.
Looking through the hole left by the largest skull injury, two flaps of bone can clearly be seen on the interior of the skull. These are associated with the penetrating injury to the top of the head.
The penetrating injury to the top of the head. “The skull was in good condition, although fragile, and was able to give us detailed information,” said Jo Appleby, a lecturer in human bioarchaeology at the university who led the exhumation of the remains last year.
The complete spine. The width of the curve is correct, but the gaps between vertebrae have been increased so that they do not touch each other and get damaged. This makes this spine look longer than it would have been in life.
The complete skeleton showing the curve of the spine. Supporters of the infamous king, including members of the Richard III Society, hoped the discovery would force academics to rewrite history, which they say has been tainted by exaggerations and false claims.
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(CNN) — Richard III’s burial was hardly fit for a king.
The awkward position of the English monarch’s body, and the inferior quality of his grave, suggests medieval gravediggers placed him there in a hurry or didn’t care much for him, according to researchers.
Or perhaps both.
British archaeologists, in the first academic paper since the discovery of his skeleton under a parking lot, said Richard’s body was buried in Leicester, central England, “with minimal reverence.”
The king, 32, was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. It was the last fight in the War of the Roses, which ended with the ascension of Henry VII and the Tudors.
The skull of Richard III.
A painting of England’s King Richard III by an unknown artist is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in central London on January 25, 2013.
A facial reconstruction of King Richard III is unveiled by the Richard III Society on February 5, 2013 in London, England.
The skeleton being excavated, showing the curve in the spine and the way the head had been squashed into the grave. The hands may have been tied.
Facial reconstruction of Richard III.
The skull showing the wound to the right cheek.
A reconstruction of King Richard III’s head at the University of Dundee.
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See how history transformed Richard III
In the wake of Richard III’s remains being discovered, take a look at some of the thespians who have brought the historical character to life. In this photograph: Kevin Spacey in “Richard III” for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2012.
Sir Ian McKellen in the film “Richard III,” 1995.
The Monty Python comedy team gave us a whole room of Richard III’s in the skit “Hospital for Overactors.”
Peter Sellers took the throne as Richard III for his rendition of a “Hard Day’s Night” in 1965 for the television special “The Music of Lennon McCartney.”
Paul Daneman as Richard III with Eileen Atkins as Lady Anne in Richard III at the Old Vic Theatre, 1962.
Donald Wolfit as Richard III, 1941.
French actor Denis Podalydes as Richard III in “The Life and Death of Richard the Third,” 2010.
Madge Compton as Lady Anne Neville and Balliol Holloway as Richard III, 1930.
Laurence Olivier as Richard III in the film “Richard III,” 1955.
Paul Daneman as Richard III, 1962.
George Hayes as Richard III during a Shakespeare Festival at Stratford-Upon-Avon, circa 1925.
John Barrymore as Richard III in “Henry VI Part III,” 1929.
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Photos: Richard III on stage and screen
Richard’s naked body was returned to Leicester for public display before he was interred three days after death.
His torso was lowered into a too-short grave, leaving it in an “odd position” that left the head partially propped up against the grave side.
“Only a little extra effort by the gravediggers to tidy the grave ends would have made this grave long enough to receive the body conventionally,” the University of Leicester researchers wrote in an article published Friday in the journal Antiquity. “That they did not, instead placing the body on one side of the grave, its torso crammed against the northern side, may suggest haste or little respect for the deceased.”
They suggested one possible factor.
“The haste may partially be explained by the fact that Richard’s damaged body had already been on public display for several days in the height of summer, and was thus in poor condition.”
Richard was discovered buried among the remains of what was once the city’s Grey Friars friary. Other graves were of correct length and neat rectangular with vertical sides, according to researchers.
“This grave was an untidy lozenge shape with a concave base and sloping sides, leaving the bottom of the grave much smaller than its extent at ground level,” researchers wrote.
There was no evidence of a shroud or coffin.
In February, scientists announced that they were convinced “beyond reasonable doubt” that the skeleton belonged to Richard.
Mitochondrial DNA extracted from the bones was matched to Michael Ibsen, a Canadian cabinetmaker and direct descendant of Richard III’s sister, Anne of York, and a second distant relative, who wished to remain anonymous.
Experts say other evidence — including battle wounds and signs of scoliosis, or curvature of the spine — found during the search and the more than four months of tests since strongly supported the DNA findings.
Richard III met a very violent death
Some of findings have been publicized before.
The king’s feet had been lost at some point in the intervening five centuries, but the rest of the bones were in good condition, which archaeologists and historians say was incredibly lucky, given how close later building work came to them — brick foundations ran alongside part of the trench, within inches of the body.
Archaeologists said their examination of the skeleton shows Richard met a violent death: They found evidence of 10 wounds — eight to the head and two to the body — which they believe were inflicted at or around the time of death.
Wounds to the face and two other cuts to the body may be “humiliation injuries” delivered after death, scientists said.
The skeleton also showed marks that could have come from period-appropriate weapons. In particular, a large wound at the base of his skull seemed likely to have been made by a blade like a halberd. Other wounds seemed similar to those inflicted by daggers and knives of the time.
Richard’s hands also may have been bound.
More recent analysis of the remains, using radiocarbon dating, indicates a high-protein diet, heavy on seafood, indicating a high status in society.
After centuries of demolition and rebuilding work, the exact location of Richard’s grave had been lost to history, and there were even reports that the defeated monarch’s body had been dug up and thrown into a nearby river.
“The skull was in good condition, although fragile, and was able to give us detailed information,” bioarchaeologist Jo Appleby, who led the exhumation of the remains in 2012, said earlier this year.
Clues coaxed from the skeleton may shed “a new light” on the physical description of Richard III as a humpbacked man with a “withered arm,” which was used to support history’s evil image of him, Professor Lin Foxhall, head of the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History, said then.
One immediate discovery was that the skeleton does not have a “withered arm” as depicted by Shakespeare, researchers said.
While not humpbacked, Richard III did suffer from the “severe scoliosis” that appeared to start around the time of puberty, they said.
The king will finally get respect next year.
His remains will be reburied in Leicester Cathedral, close to the site of his original grave.
CNN’s Bryony Jones, Alan Duke and Alden Mahler Levine contributed to this report.
Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/24/world/europe/richard-iii-burial/index.html?eref=edition
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/VCASbESrx0k/richard-iiis-burial-not-fit-for-king
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