Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Last Plantagenet

527 years after the death of Richard III of England at Bosworth, he's in the news. Not that he's not newsworthy. There is still mystery and intrigue around his life. Shakespeare made him out a villain, deformed, pathetic and friendless. But of course, Shakespeare was writing to please the new world order of their day, the Tudors, who were the real victors in the War of the Roses.

But lately, people have been digging into who Richard III was and how much truth we know:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6JczvS1PL4

Here's the earliest portrait we have of him.

Speaking of digging... It's all but an absolute certainly that the bones that were unearthed last fall in Leicester are his, at the site of an ancient Grey Friars church. Rumors had placed the defeated monarch as buried in the civic parking lot, where the church choir had once been.

Now scientists have researched DNA evidence that the now-living family members of Richard III (his older sister's descendants) carry, and are satisfied that it is the actual skeleton of Richard III. Watch the vid to see why it was all done "just in time"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYPTuwdMrW0

Here's a facial reconstruction (they waste no time, eh?)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21328380

And of course, as soon as the news was out, the jokes started
http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/04/top-ten-twitter-jokes-about-discovery-of-king-richard-iiis-skeleton-3380279/
So anyway, about those two princes...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/05/princes-in-tower-staying-under?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been absolutely fascinated by this story.

Geo. said...

See, this is what I find so classy about England. We don't have kings laying around our parking lots here. Granted, 500 years is a long time for medicos to show up but I doubt they could've helped him even if they'd got there in half that.

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

Geo.'s comment was terrific. Letterman could not have done better.

Austan said...

So have I, Lawless. The York/Lancaster/Plantagenet/Tudor saga has always sucked me in.

Austan said...

Geo., you're right again. They've got these things down to a system. We've only had one king- Elvis the Only, and we don't even all agree that he's dead.

Austan said...

Arleen- I agree. I'll be snorting over that for days.

Petronela said...

History will always fascinate us. I am not very keen on Richard the 3rd but I would love to see a facial reconstruction of Louis the 15th.

Austan said...

Unikorna- Good or bad, there are people in history that capture our imaginations. I'd like to see Catherine de Medici and Mary Queen of Scots done!