The newsworld is abuzz today with the news that skeletal remains found a few months ago under a parking lot in Leicester are indeed those of England’s King Richard the Third who was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. He was hastily buried by the Greyfriars friars, but the associated church is long gone and the location forgotten. The parking lot inadvertently covered the cemetery which included, ironically, King Richard III. He was buried without a coffin or shroud in a shallow grave. His skull is shown below, courtesty of the University of Leicester.
Of course, for the genetic genealogy community, the exciting part of this is that DNA evidence is a prime piece of the puzzle proving his identification, along with bone analysis of his known scoliosis.
The mitochondrial DNA of the remains matches that of Michael Ibsen, a Canadian cabinetmaker and direct maternal descendant of Richard’s sister, Anne of York.
Be sure to watch the video that accompanies this news article.
Debbie Kennett, a British genetic genealogy blogger has been following these developments closely and has done a wonderful writeup complete with the backstory and discovery. In addition, she has compiled a nice list of resources for those interested.
http://cruwys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/richard-iii-king-is-found.html
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