Richard III was a man of many moods.  On one hand, he died bravely in battle in 1485, despite being a hunchback in the parlance of his time.  On the other hand, he was regarded by many as an evil king who had his nephews imprisoned and killed in an attempt to consolidate power in his own hands.  He was immortalized by Shakespeare with the play Richard III (he was once played by Roy Scheider), and he’s one of the most misunderstood of rulers of that time, if only because no one knew where his body was buried.  Turns out, Richard III was buried under a parking lot.

Amazingly, the parking lot location was exactly where everyone assumed he was buried.  The lot was the site of a monastery way back when, and the body of Richard III was uncovered in the choir area of where the monastery’s church building would have been.  That’s where dignitaries were traditionally buried; even an evil king is considered a dignitary.  As for where he goes next, there’s a monument to Richard III in the city’s current cathedral, so it seems like a logical place to give him a state funeral.

“The skull was in good condition, although fragile, and was able to give us detailed information,” said Jo Appleby, a professor of  human bioarchaeology at the University of Leicester who led the exhumation team last year.

Tags: england, great britain, Leicester, Richard III, Shakespeare, Richard III discovered under a parking lot, Richard III burial site uncovered, Richard III found, body of Richard III found buried under parking lot, University of Leicester, Jo Appleby, royalty, english monarch, 1485

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