The remains of English Monarch Richard III have been found under a parking lot in Leicester (pronounced Lester), England.
According to Yahoonews.com:
Archaeologists announced today (Feb. 4) that bones excavated from underneath a parking lot in Leicester “beyond reasonable doubt,” belong to the medieval king. Archaeologists announced the discovery of the skeleton in September. They suspected then they might have Richard III on their hands because the skeleton showed signs of the spinal disorder scoliosis, which Richard III likely had, and because battle wounds on the bones matched accounts of Richard III’s death in the War of the Roses.
The announcement comes a day after the archaeologists had released an image of the king’s battle-scarred skull.
To confirm the hunch, however, researchers at the University of Leicester conducted a series of tests, including extracting DNA from the teeth and a bone for comparison with Michael Ibsen, a modern-day descendant of Richard III’s sister Anne of York.
Indeed, the researchers found the genetics matched up between Ibsen and that from the skeleton. “The DNA remains points to these being the remains of Richard III,” University of Leicester genetics expert Turi King said during a press briefing.
History has not been kind to King Richard III. He met an untimely death on Bosworth Field during the War of the Roses in 1485. He only ruled for 2 years. William Shakespeare came along and did a number on him in his play entitled Richard III. He has been depicted as ugly and deformed. Richard III was also accused of killing his little nephews and hiding their bodies.
It is believed the King Richard III was buried at the Church of the Greyfriars in Leicester when he was killed. An excavation of that monastery led to the discover back in September.
History of Richard III
DNA is amazing. It never ceases to amaze me what we can find out about the past through DNA. The little nephews still haven’t been proven.
Washington Post: Remains of King Richard III Identified
That is just cool.
“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse” or so Richard III said according the the Bard of Avon.
Yes, DNA is an amazing thing. What happens when they match someone to a chimp or some other such beastie?
Some very interesting coincidences today. I find the discovery of Richard III’s grave and remains amazing. Refer to the other comments in the open thread on the new “House of Cards” series on Netflix. As I wrote there, the new American version is based on the 1990 British version of “House of Cards,” which is based on Michael Dobbs’ novels. Both Dobbs and the BBC fashioned the key character, Francis Urquhart, largely after Shakespeare’s portrayal of King Richard III. The new remastered Blu-Ray release of the British version of “House of Cards” is available starting tomorrow on Amazon, and the American version is recently available on Netflix.
Dead for over 500 years and Richard III is still making news, and being depicted in drama.
“And thus I clothe my villany
With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ
And seem a saint, when I play the devil”
Richard III
(He would have fit right in on FOX)
@Steve Randolph
Wonderful quotation!!!
NTK – aside from the fact that Francis Urquhart was played by a magnificent actor named Ian Richardson, I always enjoyed the fact that his opponents referred to him as “F. U.”
Welcome back, Don.
Now I am wondering if I watched the entire 13 episodes of the American version and failed to notice that Frank Underwood was called F.U.
That really just punctuates the entire show! You must catch the Netscapes version!!!
Is Ian Richardson any relation?
House of Cards bbc version can be streamed from Netflix also. You can also get it on disks. I am going to brave F. U. brit style now and compare the two. I suspect I will vote USA, simply because I understand the process better.
Ian Richardson was superb as Francis Urquhart.
The images of the entire skeleton show very decided scoliosis. Remarkable.
I’m going to try to access Netflix to see the American, Kevin Spacey version. We have HBO but don’t subscribe to any other services. Mrs. NTK and I want the kids to spend time doing other things than staring at the TV all day. We don’t watch enough TV ourselves to make paying for a lot of subscriptions worthwhile.
The BBC version is actually three films with four approximately one-hour episodes each. Not much of a spoiler here, but F.U. becomes Prime Minister early on in the series. It starts just after Margaret Thatcher leaves office and his aim is to serve longer than she did. My guess is that if the Netflix series does well Kevin Spacey will return and be promoted to president.
I ordered the Blu-Ray set from Amazon yesterday. I have the DVD set, but it looks awful on a flat-screen. After the discussion here, and the January 29 open thread (which Moon retired yesterday), I can’t wait to see it again.
Moon, let us know what you think of the BBC version.