Monday 23 March 2015

Richard III The Reburial of a King


King Richard III of England died (the last King of England who died on the battlefield actually) in 1485.
Richard, the last Plantagenet king, was killed in battle against Henry Tudor in 1485 and buried hastily without a coffin in a long-demolished monastery.
His bones weren't found until 2012, when archaeologists excavated them from a Leicester parking lot. DNA tests, bone analysis and other scientific scrutiny established that the skeleton belonged to the King.




On Sunday, yesterday, a hearse carrying the monarch's remains, sealed inside an oak coffin, processed through Leicestershire's countryside to Bosworth, the battlefield where the monarch fell. Crowds lined the route of the cortege, and re-enactors in costume fired cannons in a 21-gun salute. Unfortunately Channel 4 aired that so we couldn't watch that. I just saw bits and pieces of it online. 
Remarkable to witness a reburial of a King after all those years! It brought a tear to my eye even though this particular King does have kind of a reputation; like I talked about recently in my Art on Friday blog about Richard III  .


The coffin will lie in Leicester Cathedral, where it will be lowered into a tomb on Thursday.

Richard III was also a play by Shakespeare. But this will now have an end no one could have ever guessed. Not even the great bard. 

© KH

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I love how they embrace their history. We could learn from that. Going to Bosworth in August if all goes to plan.

Kati said...

I feel the same Saskia! I feel more connected to the British History than our own! They do embrace it more. Here it's just ingnorance and indifference. Sad really. Bosworth sounds lovely.

A van de Aa said...

Na zoveel jaar, wie had dat verwacht ........
Geschiedenis heeft er een apart hoofdstuk bij.

Kati said...

Prachtig he A? Ik vind het ongelooflijk. Ik ben verzot op geschiedenis en om dit nu mee te maken is zeer bijzonder!