Richard III - bound and thrown in the unfinished tomb - Aftenposten

Researchers at the University of Leicester found last year that they thought was the grave of English King Richard III (1452 – 1485) under a car park in Leicester. In February came the confirmation that it was indeed the historical king who lay in the grave. DNA taken from the bones match the DNA of the king’s descendants.

No honorary funeral

Richard III reigned as king over the last two years of his life. The Present, and not least by the time that largely knows him through Shakespeare’s description in his drama “Richard III” from about 1592, has the king as very inconsiderate. Among other things he should have done away with close family to secure the throne.

Less ruthless enough was not his enemy and slayer Henry Tudor, later known as King Henry 7 At the end of an over 30-year long civil war state in England, known as the Wars of the Roses, they met on the battlefield of Bosworth Field. Here, August 22, 1485, fell King Richard III. Henry Tudor brought the corpse bare to Leicester and put it on display to the horror of residents.

When the body after a few days would be buried there was simply no ceremony with pomp and circumstance, as a dead king would normally receive. Rather the opposite. The graves were dug quickly and unfinished, the BBC today, probably because his body was starting to disintegrate so that a sudden hurry to get it in the ground.

Bound hands

The latest report from scientists now tell more in detail about how the funeral should have happened. Admittedly, he was buried in the chancel of the Church Greyfriars (later demolished and the space that is now a parking lot), but which also stopped the credit. His body was hoisted into an all too brief grave feet first. The head and upper body did not fit, but had to lean against the wall tomb. The body was lying as it fell. King had no chest, yes not even a shroud. The hands were crossed, but hardly because they were so arranged in a sort of dignified pose. The reason was that his hands were bound, according to the researchers.

Tudor house

Henry VII was therefore not a Sunday school teacher he could. But he established the so-called Tudor house by marrying Elizabeth of York. He ruled England until his death in April 1509. When he was succeeded by his son Henry VIII – king including beheaded two of his six wives.