King Richard III Research Paper

‘At last: A Decent Funeral for the King’

The Guardian mentioned that last Monday, people from all over England, and even from abroad, were gathering at Leicester Cathedral, determined to have a look at the coffin of Richard III, king of England. Richard was buried at the Cathedral later that week, on Tuesday the 26th of March, after his remains were found at a nearby car park in Leicester.

Digging up the King

In 2012, a team of archaeologists from the University of Leicester had found a corpse, that could possibly be the corpse of King Richard III, at a car park in Leicester. The corpse was soon to be reckoned as that of Richard III for several reasons, as we can read on the BBC website. The investigators found signs of a near-death trauma to the skull and an arrow head near the spine. This was a relevant sign, given the story that Richard III was pulled off his horse at battle, and eventually killed with a blow in his head. The spine of the corpse was curved, which indicated scoliosis. King Richard was often portrayed as a hunchback, mainly by Shakespeare, so this

Son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, Richard the third was born on October 2nd, 1452 in Northamptonshire. Through both parents (his mother is Cecily Neville), he had a claim to the throne. Richard’s father was an essential figure in the War of the Roses due to his conflict with Henry VI, that eventually caused the war. After his father and older brother died at one of the many battles, Richard’s brother Edward became King Edward IV, and Richard was named Duke of Gloucester. In 1470, Henry VI was restored to the throne, and Richard and his brother had to live in exile. When they returned to England after one year, Richard contributed to Yorkist victories and his brother Edward could reclaim the throne again. Edward, unfortunately, died in April 1483 and Richard was named protector of Edward’s son. It was expected that Edward’s son would become the new king: Edward