Richard III and Me

Last year I watched Richard III’s funeral on TV, which was pretty amazing really, since he is considered to be the last medieval king, and died in 1485! However, he had been AWOL for over 500 years, having been buried by monks in haste after being displayed by the victor of The Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII.

Leicester has been quick to capitalise on the search for and discovery of Richard’s body, evident in the excellent visitor centre near Leicester Cathedral where Richard now rests. His discovery and identification were a case of all the planets aligning. If he had been discovered 50 years ago, DNA matching would not have been possible. The DNA necessary to identify relationship is carried in the female line, so the task of genealogists in tracing female descendants of Richard’s sister was instrumental. And the amazing thing? Two descendants were discovered – neither of whom have children, so the opportunity to conclusively identify Richard would have ended in this generation.

Richard III remains a controversial figure to this day. For a medieval king who reigned for only two years he has been a familiar figure, being immortalised by Shakespeare as regicidal, power hungry hunchback. We know, however, that history is written by the victors, and the Tudors had every reason to vilify him in order to justify their own somewhat tenuous claim to the crown. The Richard III society, who were instrumental in the search for his remains take a more generous position on Richard, and the very fact that this society exists at all indicates the depth of feeling regarding his character.

We were fortunate to hop on the coat tails of a tour being conducted for French archaeologists (yes, it was in English!), and to meet a knowledgeable volunteer at the cathedral who gave us some insights into the amount of behind the scenes work necessary to bury a King.