Wednesday, February 13, 2013

WE KNOW THE BONES ARE KING RICHARD III

King Richard III,  1452-1485  was the last of the Plantagenet Kings and the last king of the Royal House of York.  His actual reign was short,  about two years,1483-1485.  He was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field. His death brought to an end The Wars Of The Roses. Why a war of roses?  The House of York, (Yorkists)  used the white rose as their emblem. The Lancastrian House, (from Lancashire) used the red rose as their emblem.  The Lancastrians were fighting the Yorkists to claim the English Throne.  

Richard III is thought to be much traduced by Shakespeare in his play, Richard III; a medieval form of political spin?

Richard's the III's remains were believed to have been buried in Greyfriars Abbey, Leicester.  Over time, the Abbey disappeared.  Five hundred years after his death in battle, remains were found under a Leicester City car park, which is in a place where Greyfriars was believed to have stood. It has now been scientifically confirmed - 4th February 2013 - that the mortal remains are irrefutably those of King Richard III.   

Richard III-Society Of Antiquaries London.

Of course, there has been a lot of discussion and analysis of this medieval find.  The BBC website was buzzing with interest in it.    One guy asks;


Question..... Why did they bury him under a car park?
 _____________

Answer ...... It was very common in Richard's time for losers in Battle to be buried in Car parks

Don't forget cars were a symbol of power in those days




 

8 comments:

keiko amano said...

ZACL,

I read the news on Los Angeles Times the other day with much interest.

About the portrait of the king, do you think he looked like it? Or is it the imagination of the painter?

The Owl Wood said...

The most important question though is surely 'Why were his remains not given a succession of parking fines?' They should have been towed away decades ago.

Snowbird said...

A rolls, a rolls, my kingdom for a rolls!!!
I was fascinated watching that on the news. It's incredible how they found him.xxxxx

ZACL said...

Hello Keiko,

may people have asked the same question about the king's likeness, as painted.

A team of reconstructive archeologists (I think that's what they are called) worked on the skull measurements and features, (using computer-aided technology) then the team reproduced a model of Richard's face. The team say they had no knowledge of how he may have looked.

The painting of Richard is the only one that appears to have survived.

The modelled face and the painting bear great likeness to one another.

ZACL said...

Hello OW,

I think the problem there was, no-one thought about drilling a pipe hole down to his Imperialness' underground chamber.

Poor communication!

ZACL said...

Did those rolls have real butter on them, Snowbird? Wheels turneth and turneth. Without the genuine grease, they get slow. If not, his Maj was in deep trouble.

Hindsight is amazing. ;)

Anonymous said...

Ha ha ha - thoroughly enjoyed this post and the comments!

ZACL said...

Thanks GillyK, I am happy you enjoyed the post etc.