Second set of bones I think. They found the bones of a female as well.
And as others said, it was under a church, not a graveyard.
They weren’t just digging at random. Or rather, not completely at random. There is one early source that indicates not only that Richard was buried in Greyfriars, but specifically in the choir of the church. That’s the sort of information that can often be wrong, but, then again, can often be accurate. Then there is the fact that the choir of a church was always a prestigious burial location, so anyone buried there is likely to have been either very closely connected to the friary or very important. The wounds also don’t sound as if they are the type a friar would have been likely to sustain. The bigger puzzle may actually be the female skeleton, as she obviously couldn’t have been a member of the friary. Although I don’t suppose she’ll have anything to do with Richard III.
The much bigger uncertainty beforehand was whether they could locate the choir at all. It would appear that the archaeologists were really very lucky, but monastic buildings did tend to have a standard layout, so once one bit of a building has been identified, the rest is usually easy to find (if it survives at all).
None of this means that the bones have to be those of Richard III. And one hopes that the entire choir will now be excavated, just to be on the safe side. It’s not as if it’s a big building. But the archaeologists have every right to be getting excited.
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…I wonder if they can tell, after all this time, how bad the problem with his back was.
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Interestingly, it has been claimed that the archaeologist who actually excavated them was able to work out that there was something wrong with his spine as she was lifting the bones from the ground. The inevitable TV documentary will doubtless come up with some extremely detailed CGI reconstruction.
Will the archaeologists now be able to excavate the entire site? I was thinking they had been given limited permission for the trenches, and wondered if they would now have to fill them in or if they can keep going.
From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept
A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death:
That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes,
To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood,
That foul defacer of God’s handiwork,
That excellent grand tyrant of the earth,
That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls,
Thy womb let loose, to chase us to our graves.
I know what Sam & Dean Winchester would do: Salt and burn.
I think they might have a hunch.
Flush 'im down the Rag ‘n’ Bone (nyuk nyuk)!
Considering he is a former monarch, does Elizabeth II have any royal perogative regarding his burial?
If they extracted his DNA and cloned him, would he be the rightful King of England, ahead of Charles et al?
How would they determine if it’s him? Does he have living descendants? Or could they exhume the bodies of some dead ones?
I think there are living descendants of his mother and they have DNA from them.
..
Tony Robinson.
I’d like to see him buried in Westminster Abbey, next to his wife. If nothing else, it gives them an excuse for more pomp and pageantry and an excuse to have a dry run of QE2’s funeral.
Thanks.
I think it’s fair to say the rightful King of England is whomever Parliment agrees it to be. Go ask the Stuarts if you disagree.
Or Edward VIII.
A British historian and MP would like a full state funeral and burial in Westminster Abbey or York Minster according to Google news.
A clone of Richard III would not recognize Parliament’s authority. He’d gather a few thousand supporters and lead a two-pronged cavalry charge, one on Westminster, the other on Buckingham Palace.
The RSPCA would prevent any police or military action because the horses might be hurt, and Tricky Dick II would be king in fact, not simply in name.
Then he’d invade Frace and from Notre Dame Cathedral declare himself king. Unsurprising when you think about it.
He wouldn’t know about Buckingham Palace (it was built more than 200 years after he died), and he would be rather confused by the appearance of the Palace of Westminster, given that it’s been rebuilt a few times since he lived in it.
Soup?
Not to sound too morbid, but I’m thinking Prince Philip’s not-too-distant funeral will serve this purpose.