Lost and Found: One Medieval Monarch

A few days ago, somewhere while Q and I have been sick with yet another miserable round after round of this never-ending cold, an excavation team searching for the ruins of Grey Friars Monastery in Leicester, England found what are undoubtedly the remains of Richard III, last Plantagenet king of England.

Under a pay-to-park lot.

How very strange a series of events.

Last king of a dynasty.  Brother to a king, uncle to another.  Alleged murderer of his own nephews, Edward V and Richard, to whom he was sworn Lord Protector. His hand is the one that declared the boys the invalid issue of Edward IV, and whether it was his hand that issued the orders for their demise, who knows?  Shakespeare certainly believed it to be true, though.

King for 2 years, two very tumultuous and rebellion-filled years.  Edward IV's supporters despised him, distrusted him.  He had, after all, at the very least imprisoned and invalidated the claim of Edward's heir.  At the worst, he'd had the two boys killed and buried.  Likely the latter.  Then Henry Tudor rebels.  The two forces meet at Bosworth Field, and the famous last words...
his kingdom for a horse.  It's 1485, Richard the III has been killed.  Quite thoroughly.

He has Richard displayed in a nearby monastery.  It's Medieval England, it's not like he's going to take him anywhere.  Richard is buried at Grey Friars, Leicester.

Oh, Henry VII isn't all bad.  He relegitimizes Edward IV's line, marries Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York, has several children, including the one-day-king Henry VIII.  He pays for a marble tomb for Richard...though it doesn't necessarily look as though the church followed through with that.
Fraud.  Ah, well, wait a few years. 

Some 50 years pass, Henry Tudor, Henry VII dies after 24 years on the throne.  He's the last king to take the throne through siege instead of succession.  His son follows him.  He wants a divorce from that pesky wife and the Catholics say no.  He declares the Catholic church anathema in England, declares himself the highest religious power in the land, takes all money and property of the churches, and has them disbanded and destroyed.

The land is gifted to someone or another, sold, built upon, sold, rebuilt, over and over.
Until it becomes a car park.


A car park.
How much horsepower do you have now, Richard?

How strange.

This is a facial reconstruction of Richard III.
Last Plantagenet.
Last king killed in battle to have his throne claimed by another.
His brother took the throne from Henry VI through cunning...and treachery.
He took the throne from his nephew with more of the same.
Brother to a king.  Uncle to a king.
With the lack of scruples that you had to have to seize power and become the ruler in Medieval England.
His face is interesting.
This strange man, stooped by scoliosis.
This lost and found king.

It seems his line may die completely soon.
His sister's line is tapering out, traced to a Canadian family that had no clue.
Direct descendants of the Yorks.
Relatives of a Medieval king.