Richard’s Legacy: The Relics of Richard III

In 2012, the bones of a long-lost King of England were discovered buried under a car park in Leicester. In 2015, they were reburied in a religious ceremony in Leicester Cathedral. Immediately, Leicester City, who had been anchored to the bottom of the Premier League, began an unprecedented winning streak that saw them avoid relegation in what has become known as the Great Escape, going on to win the Premier League at odds of 5,000-1 the following year. In the third of our three part mini-series on Richard III, Dr. Orton investigates the legacy of Richard’s discovery and reburial in Leicester’s folklore.

If you’re an A Level History student, this is a summary of one of the main topics you will need for your exams. For university-level scholars or independent researchers, we’ve included clickable links to useful literature, primary sources and canonical scholarship you’ll need to know. For other interested learners, read on!

Battle of Bosworth Mural on King Richard's Road, Leicester

In Search of a Lost King

Fifteenth century chronicler John Rous wrote that Richard was “buried among the Friars Minor (Franciscans) of Leicester in the choir.”

However, mapmaker and historian John Speed records the legend that Richard’s remains were thrown into the river near Bow Bridge by a jeering mob during the destruction of the friary in the mid-16th century. 

Speed also tells the story that Richard III struck his spur against the bridge on the way to Bosworth, prompting a wise woman to prophesise that his head would strike the same spot on the way back.

Interestingly, Speed’s 1610 map of Leicester mislabels the location of Black Friars as “Graye Fryers,” whereas the real site of the Grey Friars is unlabelled.

The idea that the bones had been thrown into the River Soar was an obstacle to the search for Richard, but historians such as Charles Billson and Audrey Strange questioned the story. These historians thought the bones might still be located on the site of the old Greyfriars Church.

In 2011, John Ashdown-Hill and Philippa Langley proposed that the bones would be found at the Greyfriars Social Services car park site.

Historians took an old map of Greyfriars and overlay it onto the modern city to identify the approximate location. In modern Leicester, this was located under a local council car park. Ground penetrating radar surveys and an archaeological dig were commissioned.

The archaeological dig for the ‘Looking for Richard’ project began in August 2012. Three trenches were dug. Just 6 hours into the excavation, Richard’s body was found in trench one -  the location of the church and choir.

Identifying Richard

The University of Leicester confirmed the skeleton to be Richard III using radiocarbon dating. All living things contain carbon, which exists in three kinds of isotopes: Carbon-12, Carbon-13 and Carbon-14. Isotopes are atoms of the same element which have different numbers of neutrons. Carbon-12 and Carbon-13 are common, but Carbon-14 is only found in trace amounts, but it can be used to determine the age of organic objects like skeletons.

Because Carbon-14 has two additional neutrons, it is unstable. This means that Carbon-14 begins to degrade when an organism dies (radioactive decay). It takes around 5568 years Carbon-14 to degrade to half its original amount, meaning that we can use this to calculate the age of organic objects.

One complication with the dating of Richard’s skeleton is that marine life contains more Carbon-14, making marine life look much older than other objects when carbon dated. As Richard’s diet would have contained more fish than other people, this had to be accounted for in the scientists’ analysis. That’s why stable isotopes analysis was used. Radiocarbon and stable isotope analysis showed that the bones dated to 1455-1540, which coincides with Richard III’s death. 

Because our bones and teeth contain stable isotopes of oxygen, strontium, nitrogen, and carbon, composition of these can tell us where someone has lived, as well the type of food and drink they have consumed. Forensic analysis of the bones were identified to be of a man between late 20s or early 30s with a high-status diet. As Richard III died aged 32, this fit his profile. The skeleton also showed signs of scoliosis, which would fit John Rous’ account of Richard having his right shoulder higher than the left.

Leicester City's Historic Premier League Win

The final stage was to use DNA to confirm Richard’s identity. Mitochondrial DNA is the circular chromosome found inside mitochondria, which in turn is found inside our cells. Mitochondrial DNA is useful for historians because mitochondria are inherited from the mother. It’s much easier to be sure that the named mother is really the biological parent of a child than the named father, so this means there are less doubts about the ancestral line.

Historian John Ashdown-Hill had previously traced an all-female line of descent from Richard’s sister, Anne of York, to a Canadian woman, Mrs Joy Ibsen. Her son Michael Ibsen provided a DNA sample to use for comparison. A second all-female line was identified by Professor Kevin Schürer, who traced  descent from Cecily Neville to Wendy Duldig. Wendy and Michael matched DNA to confirm a shared female ancestor. DNA results showed a perfect whole-mitochondrial genome match between the skeleton and Michael Ibsen and a match with Wendy Duldig with one mutation. 

King Richard’s skeleton also shows the trauma received in the last minutes of his life. He received 11 perimortem wounds about his face, head, chest and pelvis. These wounds tell us that, after being unhorsed, he either lost his helmet or had it forcibly removed.

He was hit around the head probably with daggers; this would have caused bleeding but it would not have been fatal. Cause of death was a blow to the back of the head, almost certainly with Richard leaning forward without a helmet. Once dead, Richard was naked and thrown over the back of a horse. His  osteology shows two humiliation wounds: a stab to the back (which we can tell by the graze on the inside of a rib) and a stab in the buttock (which we can tell by a cut to the inside of the pelvis).

Richard’s Legacy

Once identified, Richard was given a proper funeral and buried in Leicester Cathedral. This was not without controversy, as some people wanted him to be buried in York. The Mayor of Leicester became quite feisty over the issue, declaring at a Leicester City Council meeting, “Those bones will leave Leicester, over my dead body!” Even Leicester rock band Kasabian got involved, with lead singer Tom Meighan saying, “he belongs here.” 

The FA Cup Winners Mural Near Filbert Street, Leicester

Richard’s legacy in the city of Leicester runs deep. The city’s football team, Leicester City, are not a ‘big club’. We are known for cycling between promotion to the top division of football, and relegation from it. Life is never boring as a Leicester fan. At the time of Richard’s reburial, the city’s football club was languishing at the bottom of the Premier League having only recently been promoted after a decade outside of the top division. They had been bottom of the league since November.

In the first match after Richard’s reburial (against West Ham on the fourth of April), Leicester won! In what became known as the “Great Escape,” the team not only avoided relegation, but their change in fortunes earned them 14th place in the league. The following season, Leicester won the Premier League against odds of 5,000-1, becoming one of only six teams (at the time) to have won this title.

To put this into perspective, this was thought so unlikely that ex-Leicester player Gary Lineker promised to present Match of the Day in his underwear if they won the league. This story was re-told from the point of view of a family of football-loving foxes in Michael Morpurgo’s The Fox and the Ghost King.

On the same night that Leicester won the league, Leicester-born Mark Selby won the snooker world title. Also that season Leicester City Women won the Women’s Premier League Midlands Division One with a record of one hundred percent wins. The city’s basketball team, the Leicester Riders were British Basketball League champions and BBL Trophy winners.

Leicestershire is proud of its sporting heritage. Near the city’s Clock Tower, on the corner of Humberstone Gate and Gallowtree Gate stands the Sporting Success statue, unveiled in 1998. The statue celebrated the 1996-1997 success of Leicestershire County Cricket Club in the Britannic Assurance County Championship, Leicester City’s victory in the Coca Cola Cup and Leicester Tigers’ victory in the Pilkington Cup. Following the Premier League win, Leicester City went on to win the FA Cup for the first time in 2021.

Twelfth Man Mural Near Filbert Street, Leicester

Could Richard’s reburial have helped restore the city’s fortunes? The story has many of the characteristics of protective relics, similar to the protective power of St. Cuthbert or Sangha Tenzin, whose mummy protects the village of Giu in the Himalayas. Certainly a lot of Leicester fans would agree!

Find Out More

Meet more fascinating people from history in our History and Art History blog – we have a post about St. Cuthbert, of whom Richard was a fan and whose relics protect the city of Durham! If you’d like to learn more about the Wars of the Roses and the Plantagenets, we have suggestions for a customisable course on this on our History page. Alternatively, if you’re interested in the rare, the niche and the esoteric aspects of the world’s most fascinating cities, take a look at our Interdisciplinary course, The Secret History of Cities.

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