A king’s final hours, told by his mortal remains
Skeleton of Richard III reveals a violent and chaotic end
History and literature have painted England’s King Richard III as a scoundrel who met a violent death in battle and was unceremoniously buried. Now that researchers have revealed some conclusions from a fast-paced scientific investigation of a skeleton found last year under a parking lot in Leicester, England, that end seems all the more gruesome. The results announced February 4 by a team from the University of Leicester paint a picture that is remarkably consistent with both historical and fictional accounts.
The search for the king’s body began in August 2012, in the parking lot of a Leicester city council building. An excavation there uncovered walls and other structures of Grey Friars church, where Richard III was buried after his ignominious death on August 22, 1485, in the Battle of Bosworth. Beneath the spot where the church stood, the researchers found a skeleton stuffed into what appears to have been a hastily dug grave, too small for the body it contained.