Richard III Suffered an Ignominious Burial, Researchers Find

An anonymous reader writes "Richard III may have been the King of England and the subject of a Shakespearean play, but even that couldn't keep him safe from ending up in a hastily-dug grave that ultimately became part of a parking lot, according to a new study published in the journal Antiquity."

Comments

I guess he started to stink . . .

[PolygamousRanchKid]

FTA:

the late king’s body was reportedly stripped naked, despoiled and publicly displayed for three days before it was buried

. . . and someone was in a rush to get what was left of him underground . . . lest his remains doth starteth to again walk . . .

Richard III's Final Words

[A. I. Agent]

A hearse, a hearse, my kingdom for a hearse.

Re:in otherwords

[bruce_the_loon]

No. It took researchers months to write an article, get it proof-read, submitted to a journal, peer-reviewed and finally published in the journal.

A bit of perspective folks...

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember that the new King, Henry Tudor, hereafter referred to as that Evil Bastard Henry VII (EBH7) dated his accession to the throne to the day BEFORE the battle of Bosworth, thus rendering those followers of Richard III who remaied loyal to the end traitors to the crown, and that the turncoats who ensured his victory would make sure they heaped as many indignities in the corpse of their former king as possible to demonstrate their loyalty to EBH7.

Given these circumstances, its entirely reasonable that the interrment of Richard would be done as quickly as possible, at the first opportunity that the body would not be missed. Originally the grave was in the church of the Grey Friars, probably in front of an altar and would have been deep enough not to cause "offence". It may have been hastily prepared and thus not quite the right size for Richard, but rather than indicating that the scenario was "ignominious", it shows that his remaining supporters wanted to bury him in a holy place, away from the vengance of EBH7s new supporters. Given the time constraints and the location, speed would have been of the essence. Just because it wasn't a State Funeral doesn't mean that it would not have been done without reverence. The fact that the site ended up as a car park can be indirectly ascribed to the activities of EBH7s son, Henry VIII who dissolved the monasteries, friaries, etc.

We're lucky that the grave still exists. Part of the foundations of a Victorian brick privy intrude into the burial site, a few feet further and he would have been completely obliterated.

Unanswered question

[antifoidulus]

Well, after reviewing the research one question still remains unanswered, did he at least get a good spot in the parking lot?

Re:Hastily-dug?

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Sure. I performed an experiment called Read The Fucking Article (RTFA), which yielded this curious observation:

First of all, the grave Richard III was placed in was “badly prepared,” which, the researchers from the University of Leicester said, suggests gravediggers were in something of a rush to get the corpse underground.

It was found approximately 73 mm from the entrance to TFA, not very far in. Note the use of the phrase "First of all", which provides supporting evidence that it was near the entrance.