Table Of ContentT h e
B o n e s
o f a
K i n g
T h e
B o n e s
o f a
K i n g
richard iii
rediscovered
The Greyfriars Research Team
with Maev Kennedy and Lin Foxhall
This edition first published 2015
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Cover image: Boar badge of Richard iii, discovered at Bosworth field
© Leicestershire County Council Museums service; Background image
© clearviewstock / istockphoto.
Cover design by simon Levy
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1 2015
C
o n t e n t s
Illustrations vi
The Greyfriars Research Team ix
Acknowledgements xii
1 Investigating the Bones of a King 1
2 So How Did He Get There? (rb, mm) 5
3 The Bigger Picture 35
4 The Bones Tell Their Tale 57
5 Who was Richard? 78
6 The Cousins in the Swabs (tk, ks) 109
7 What Did Richard Look Like? 127
8 The Big Announcement 139
9 The Afterlife of Richard III and the City
That Never Forgot 158
10 Richard Laid to Rest 174
Appendix 1 191
Appendix 2 209
Index 211
I
l l u s t r at I o n s
Figures
2.1 Section of the Rous manuscript showing description
of Richard III’s burial place. British Library,
MS Cotton Vespasian A XII, folio 137r. 11
2.2 Section of medieval stone wall in New Street
car park that may have belonged to the friary. 13
2.3 Plan of the Greyfriars excavations. 17
2.4 Epitaph from Richard III’s gravestone set up by
Henry VII, in Ellesmere 1129 manuscript. 27
3.1 Plan of Greyfriars friary, Walsingham. 39
3.2 Plan of Greyfriars friary, Carmarthen. 40
3.3 Section of Harley manuscript 433, showing
the promise of a chantry college of 100 priests
to York Minster. 54
4.1 Diagram showing the angle of entry of the
weapons used in attacking Richard III. 66
5.1 Fotheringhay castle mound, with the church
in the background. 80
5.2 Fotheringhay church. 81
5.3 Simplified genealogy of the families of York
and Lancaster. 85
Illustrations vii
5.4 Fotheringhay church, the monuments of
Duke Richard (L) and Duke Edward (R),
either side of the high altar. 103
5.5 Fotheringhay church, monument of Duke Edward. 104
5.6 Fotheringhay church, bronze tassel on
Duke Edward’s original monument, underneath
the Elizabethan monument. 105
5.7 Talbot Inn, Oundle, the staircase down which
Mary Queen of Scots is said to have walked. 106
6.1 Genealogical links between Richard III and
modern‐day relatives who participated in
the project. 125
Maps
2.1 Reconstruction of the centre of Medieval Leicester. 8
5.1 Key places in the Wars of the Roses. 83
5.2 Survey finds in the area of Bosworth. 100
Plates
1 Thomas Roberts’s eighteenth‐century map of Leicester
2 The initial stages of the Greyfriars excavation, August 2012
3 Greyfriars excavation, the east end of the church showing the
difference in level between presbytery and choir
4 Greyfriars excavation, Jo Appleby and Turi King excavating
Skeleton 1
5 Greyfriars excavation, the skull emerging from the soil
6 Greyfriars excavation, Skeleton 1 in the grave
viii Illustrations
7 Reconstruction of the late medieval town of Leicester, c.1450
8 Scan of the spine
9 Skeleton of Richard III
10 Wound to the upper jaw
11 Injuries on the dome of the skull
12 Injury on the saggital suture of the skull
13 Wounds to base of skull
14 Cut injury to rib
15 Cut injury to pelvis
16 Vertebrae showing signs of asymmetry
17 M emorial wall plaque to Anne, Duchess of Exeter, and
Sir Thomas St Leger
18 Michael Ibsen and Wendy Duldig
19 Labwork on DNA
20 Richard III and his wife, Anne, from the Salisbury Roll
21 Richard III. Portrait from the Royal Collection Trust
22 Richard III. Portrait from the Society of Antiquaries
23 A facial reconstruction of King Richard III, unveiled by the
Richard III Society on 5 February 2013 in London, England
24 Press conference 4 February 2013, the view from the platform
