Posted on 02/12/2014 3:04:42 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
What a treat for all medieval historians! More than 500 years after he was killed, the skeleton of Richard III is giving them much more reliable biographical information than they acquired over the previous half a millennium.
Henry VII, his successor, and opponent at Bosworth, encouraged his court historians to produce a warped picture of Richard.
Thank God, then, for the miraculous discovery of his body in a Leicester car park in 2012, and the undeniable truths it provided. Analysis of his skeleton showed the king didn’t have a hunchback exactly; he suffered from scoliosis of the spine, meaning his vertebrae were bent sideways and his right shoulder was higher than his left. His skull had a big hole at its base where, it’s thought, it was hacked away by a halberd; on the right side of his head, a blade had apparently thrust through the bone to a depth of more than four inches. Tudor soldiers were nothing if not thorough.
Richard’s DNA has already been analysed, confirming that the battered body in the car park was indeed his. But his genome will tell us even more from beyond the grave. “The original discovery only told us so much about Richard himself – he had scoliosis, he ate seafood, he died violently,” says the historian David Horspool, who is writing Richard III’s biography for Bloomsbury. “Anything that increases our knowledge would be interesting. The waxwork made of him guessed that he had black hair and very bushy eyebrows; perhaps the genome will tell us something different.”
~snip~
Other ancient bodies have had their genomes sequenced, including Otzi the Iceman, Neanderthal specimens, a Greenlandic Inuit and a hunter gatherer from Spain. But Richard III will be the first named, identifiable historical figure to undergo the process.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
Ping
Richard had scoliosis which raised one shoulder slightly. He was approximately 5’’4” and was of a very slight “gracile” build. He did not have black hair, probably, but reddish brown and grey-blue eyes. We know this from several portraits painted of him which match amazingly with his reconstructed head. He was 32 years old when he died in battle.
He served as the lord of the north for almost 12 years, eventually bringing the Scots under control. He served only 2 years as king after his brother died and Parliament decreed that he should assume the throne rather than face another minority rule which had been ruinous in other years. To this day, we do not know what happened to the two young princes, one of whom would have been Edward V.
Richard’s parliament was conscientious in helping the peasants of England. He implemented (he did not “invent”) bail so that people’s lands could not be confiscated while awaiting trial.
I remember seeing something about this on TV. The effort to prove that the bones found in the carpark were indeed those of Richard III.
You mean we will know more about Richard III than President Obama?
That just wouldn’t be right. We should sequence his genome right away. It could answer at least a couple questions.
Shedding light on the “Sun of York?”
Please add me to the GGG ping list.
Thanks
Netflix streaming currently has the documentary about the discovery of Richard’s skeleton.
https://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/Secrets:%20Richard%20III%20Revealed/70299212?trkid=438403
By comparing Richard’s genes with one of his living relations, Michael Ibsen, scientists will also see what other segments of DNA have passed down the royal bloodline.
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I did not know such a person exists. That’s great.
Thanks for the ping.
China bought the aircraft carrier on the false pretext that it was going to be used as a floating hotel and casino.
The joke may end up being on them
??
Richard III Facial reconstruction
I just finished watching “The White Queen” which was a very fascinating story about all this
Ping
A Richard more to Elizabeth’s liking. Shakespeare at times seemed to walk a tightrope with his references. But he knew where his bread was buttered too.
Are they waiting for Hump Day?
“He was 32 years old when he died in battle. He served as the lord of the north for almost 12 years, eventually bringing the Scots under control.”
But American are deemed by their government as incapable of even providing their own healthcare, forcibly covered by mommy & daddy’s plans until age 26.
I season one of The Black Adder a historical account of Richard III?
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