The Plantagenets 1154-1495 Henry II to Richard III

[PrincessOfPeace]

The remains of the last Plantagenet King, Richard III, will be reburied in Leicester cathedral, it has been revealed.

Distant relatives of the King, who formed the Plantagenet Alliance, have lost their battle in the High Court over where the remains should be buried.

Richard's skeleton was discovered underneath a car park by excavation teams from University of Leicester in September 2012.

The question of where the King's remains should be reburied has been a contested issue over the past months. The Plantagenet Alliance have continued to argue that the Ministry of Justice should not have given the University of Leicester the rights to decide where Richard should be buried.

The Alliance were given a judicial review over the decision to reinter the remains in Leicester cathedral by the University for Leicester. However, the relatives were told by judges in the High Court this morning that there was "no duty to consult" the issue. They also commented: "There was no public law grounds for the court to interfere".

More: Richard III remains to be reburied in Leicester cathedral | Royal Central

[cinrit]

Richard III Bones Set for 'Dignified' Leicester Reburial

The remains of King Richard III are set to be reburied in Leicester Cathedral after his distant relatives lost a High Court battle over the choice of his final resting place.  Today three judges ruled it was "time for King Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest" after a dispute about where England's last Plantagenet king should rest.

His bones were found under a council car park in Leicester in 2012 and plans were immediately drawn up to reinter them in the city.

Relatives who make up the Plantagenet Alliance had argued the monarch known as Richard of York should be buried in York Minster.  They wanted Chris Grayling, Justice Secretary, to set up a wide-ranging public consultation exercise on where he should be buried.

More: Richard III bones set for 'dignified' Leicester reburial - Telegraph

Cindy

[Mike]

Court rules Leicester will be final burial place of King Richard III - CNN.com

[TLLK]

Have to say that I am a little surprised. I would have thought it would be York.

[Curryong]

 I suppose Leicester does have a claim, as Richard's bones rested there for so long, but I do feel quite strongly that he should have a Catholic funeral. I'm no admirer of King Richard but he was a pious man when alive and very strict in his religious observances. A book of prayers used by him still exists.

Yet he is going to be given a Protestant funeral and lie in a tomb in what has become since his day a Protestant Cathedral. (I say this as an Anglican myself.) It just doesn't seem right somehow.

[TLLK]

^^^You raise a good point regarding the type of funeral service that should be conducted. As a Roman Catholic I do believe that this would honor the late king's memory in a way that he would have expected.

[PrincessOfPeace]

I doubt the Queen would make a comment or statement about this. Her descent is through Henry VII and not Richard III.

[HereditaryPrincess]

Richard III will finally be laid to rest at Leicester Cathedral after judges said it was time for the monarch to be given a 'dignified burial'.
Distant relatives opposed plans to bury him in the city after his remains were discovered in a council car park in August 2012.
They said he should be placed in York Minster because it was a wish of 'the last medieval king of England'.

Richard III to be laid to rest at Leicester Cathedral after family fail in bid for York Minster burial | Mail Online

[PrincessOfPeace]

His body was buried 600 years ago without any pomp and ceremony befitting of a king.

But now the traditional funeral crown that Richard III never had, has gone on display in York.

The golden headpiece was commissioned for the last king of the House of York by a leading historian who was involved in the archaeological dig that discovered Richard III's remains beneath a car park in Leicester.

More: Richard III 'funeral crown' on display in York | Mail Online

[TLLK]

Wow those skeleton photos! The spine's curvature is truly an "S."

[PrincessOfPeace]

KING Richard III's curved spine was not bad enough to make him limp, say experts who have scanned his bones.

He had a common condition called adolescent onset idiopathic scoliosis, which would have started after he was 10.

Writing in medical journal The Lancet, Dr Piers Mitchell, of Cambridge University, said: "The physical deformity was probably slight.

"His trunk would have been short relative to the length of his limbs and his right shoulder a little higher than the left.

"However, a good tailor to adjust his clothing and custom-made armour could have minimised the visual impact of this.

More: http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/479134/King-Richard-III-had-no-limp

[Mike]

A case of scoliosis: Richard III's spine was twisted, not hunched - CNN.com

[cinrit]

The design of the tomb King Richard III will be reburied in at Leicester Cathedral has been unveiled.

The wooden coffin will be made by Michael Ibsen, a descendant of Richard III, while the tomb will be made of Swaledale fossil stone, quarried in North Yorkshire.  The total cost of reburial is £2.5m and work will start in the summer.

The Very Reverend David Monteith, Dean of Leicester, said the design "evokes memory and is deeply respectful".

More: BBC News - Richard III tomb design unveiled in Leicester

Cindy

[Curryong]

I'm sure the tomb design will be 'deeply respectful'. I'm still in two minds about a pre-Reformation king being buried in a Protestant cathedral, however.

[Limabeany]

 :goodpost: I've been wondering about that!!  :thumbsup:

[cate1949]

well pre reformation that cathedral was catholic so - consider how many catholic English kings now are in protestant cathedrals that were catholic when they were buried.  They are going to do a combined Catholic Protestant service for him at least. my annoyance is that he is not being buried at York minster which is surely where he would have preferred to be buried or - since he was King - at Westminster with his beloved wife.

The tomb does look good - I rather liked the earlier recommendation made by the Richard III society it was more decorative and medieval looking but this is okay.

[Curryong]

^^^Yes Cate, but those kings were buried in the cathedrals already, not buried in a Protestant edifice as the result of a conscious decision made centuries later. They were interred with the full pomp of a medieval ceremony fit for a Roman Catholic king, including High Mass.

I think, as Richard was found in Leicester and will bring plenty of 'pilgrims' to the city, the local authorities there were determined to hold on to him, so to speak, and won out!

[cate1949]

this too is annoying - the decision was made on tourist dollars =- rather than on what would be the right thing to do for a King maligned through the ages.  The notion of proper respect for him is trumped by tourist dollars.  Just so crass and the complete sum up of what our society has become.  His remains should be given a full requiem mass with all that is due him (one can be sure he got a requiem back when he was hurriedly buried after Bosworth).

I totally do hear what you are saying but there is realistically no chance in hell that they are going to bury him as a Catholic in a Catholic church - one must pretend that England has always been protestant.

[PrincessOfPeace]

King Richard III did plan to be buried in York, not Leicester, a new letter unearthed in the National Archives suggests.

The extraordinary letter, discovered by historian and Tory MP Chris Skidmore, provides fresh ammunition to those who believe the King was establishing a major new religious foundation at York Minister with a view to it becoming his mausoleum.

It shows that Richard III wanted the 100 priests at the new foundation to use their prayers to make him 'more acceptable to God and his saints'.

More: Revealed: King Richard III planned to be buried in York not Leicester, according to extraordinary 529 year old letter | Mail Online

[cate1949]

well there you go - not at all surprising - but - it still won't happen  Leicester has his body - he is going into a church there.  Stinks IMHO

[Curryong]

Yes, Leicester's got him and Leicester's keeping him, and contemplating a large lift in tourist numbers. The re-internment ceremonies will be televised I guess, and will be of some interest.

[cinrit]

In the heart of Leicester, visitors will be invited to gaze down through a pane of glass into a rough oblong hole in the ground: the grave that for more than 500 years held the body of the last Plantagenet king, Richard III.

An outline of the skeleton with the twisted spine is projected on to the red-brown earth. The pit also holds the yellow pegs used by the excavators from the University of Leicester archaeology service in August 2012 to mark a discovery that would make front-page news around the world.

The city council now hopes the crowds who followed the story so avidly will come to its £4.5m visitor centre, opening to the public on Saturday. The attraction tells the tale of Richard's life, brief reign and death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, and the discovery of his hastily dug and slightly too small grave in what had been the choir of the long-vanished Greyfriars church.

More: King Richard III visitor centre in Leicester opens to the public | UK news | The Guardian

Cindy

[cinrit]

Leicester's Richard III Visitor Centre: Crowds at Opening

Scores of people arrived more than 90 minutes early for the official opening of Leicester's Richard III visitor centre.

Visitors can see below their feet to the spot where the king was found by archaeologists in 2012.  Although the actual bones are not on display inside the £4m visitor centre, there is a 3D printout of the skeleton.

City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby officially cut the ribbon amid medieval-themed celebrations at 10:30 BST.

More: BBC News - Leicester's Richard III visitor centre: Crowds at opening

Cindy

[TLLK]

 I love how they incorporated the glass enclosure over the site where he was discovered. 

[HistoryGirl]

This story has always fascinated me and its ending (for now) is just as astonishing as the beginning.