Posted on 09/17/2014 12:39:21 PM PDT by Scoutmaster
Richard III's last moments were likely quick but terrifying, according to a new study of the death wounds of the last king of England to die in battle.
The last king of the Plantagenet dynasty faced his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field on Aug. 22, 1485, only two years after ascending the throne. The battle was the deciding clash in the long-running Wars of the Roses, and ended with the establishment of Henry Tudor as the new English monarch. But Richard III's last moments were the stuff of legend alone, as the king's body was lost until September 2012, when archaeologists excavated it from under a parking lot in Leicester, England. Now, a very delayed postmortem examination reveals that of nearly a dozen wounds on Richard's body, only two were likely candidates for the fatal blow. Both were delivered to the back of the head.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Hey, I’m not going to wade into the “Richard was painted a villain by history” thing. People feel too strongly about it.
What I said was that he had a severe scoliosis, and that such things were very difficult to hide, with the level of court intrigue. It was a vicious time and at that level real schemers use everything they can to do all the damage they can - and no one will say the Tudors weren’t schemers. Heck, they killed him, didn’t they? Now what people thought of him at the time we’ll probably really never know.
Sword Ping! Perhaps a little tardy but better late than never. Interesting observations about the injuries to Richard III.
So the story goes that Richard’s horse became bogged down in mud, so he dismounted. He was fully armored but at some point had lost (or removed) his helmet.
Those “shaving” or glancing wounds to the head almost have to be combat injuries sustained while fighting some one (or two, or...) probably armed with a longsword. Somebody almost got him with a zwerchhau, sounds like. Maybe even a couple more hits in addition. Seems that at some point he knew he was beaten. Perhaps disarmed. Knelt down and took the final blow with his head bowed. That weapon they say may have been a sword but I would submit that then it would have been more likely to decapitate him. Which it didn’t. A more likely implement would be something like a war hammer, or some such tool with a spike or point on the back. Short handle for use up close. Like a halberd head, but a halberd would be too long and unwieldy to do a precision execution.
Bump....
The only people who would have known about his scoliosis were his close personal attendants and family. The only descriptions of him describe him as short and thin. No one mentions any raised shoulder - not even the rumor-mongering spies of King Louis and they would have been the first to push the “deformed” line. Thomas More described him as ugly and with a withered arm - we now know the withered arm was a lie. BTW, his scoliosis is adolescent on-set - developed as a young page and squire. I’m told that it had nothing to do with rigorous physical training but I find that hard to believe.
Don’t feel run off because some people get out of control.
I think all the weapons have been identified by experts who looked at the remains - the rondel being, to my mind, the worst. I believe he was stunned and fell to his knees - we know that a front tooth was loosened and lost at this period - probably from the terrible blows to the head.
“My kingdom for a horse!”
So we know it was adolescent onset? That is interesting. I did not know that. I am no expert on Richard. I do study on the history of science and medicine of ancient and medieval times, that is one of my interests, and I do know a bit about scoliosis. The cause of scoliosis nowadays is still hotly debated. By the way, if you are interested, here is a better modern article about scoliosis that shows a few pictures of what it looks like in the undressed individual, and for maybe others that may be following the thread. Although I am sure Richard was not seen undressed by many and probably took care not to be by any but his intimates.
http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/scoliosis
It is said not to have anything to do with physical activity but I can tell you it can be very painful - just think of living with your spine rotated - yes, you do get “used to it” to some degree, but it’s still not comfortable. Massage helps, and believe it or not moderate physical activity because it keeps things moving, but if he was as active as you say, it sounds like maybe he had an injury that set him up for this.
Do you have scoliosis? I’ve run across many people today who have it. It seems to bother some people and not others. Of course, we’ll never know what Richard the Third felt - he left no notes about it (unless destroyed by the Tudors!)
I do know that medieval archers from the Towton battlefield and skeletons of archers from one of Henry the 8th’s sunken battleships, reveals many twisted spines. It’s hard to believe the heavy bows did not contribute some stress on spines. Richard was not a professional archer, of course, but was put through his paces as a young knight.
From one Ricardian to another :)
Thank you! I knew there must be another Ricardian out there in the ether!
Very interesting as I am currently reading a book on the Tudor Dynasty, including its founding.
Once the MontyPython Virus is loaded, there is no escape. :)
Yes, but not severely. It causes me a lot of spasm and is one reason I got into the profession.
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