Of Kings and Car Parks

I have been truly thrilled this week by the awaited confirmation that the bones found under the Leicester car park are indeed those of King Richard III—someone whose story has engaged me ever since college, one January when I took a class called “Royal Scandals” which considered various historic mysteries which have never been and may never be solved.  I was as rapt by the apparent wrongful defamation of the man with only evidence made up by Tudor adversaries (which was then of course made famous by Shakespeare and passed on as unquestioned truth rather than the fine fanciful yarn it was), as by the mysteries of Dorothy Sayers, investigations of another learned sort made by Lord Peter Wimsy, which I discovered that same winter.  Josephine Tey’s investigation of the Richard mystery in The Daughter of Time is one of the most compelling books I’ve ever read.

Finding the lost king, with his scars of final battle, is why I love archaeology.  The wonder that the past can speak again, can pick up the story where it trailed off into silence, five hundred years later.

“The discovery of King Richard III is nothing short of miraculous, an emotional link to a bygone age.”

Finding the bones of a lost king beneath a city car park—there’s a strange thought, but whimsical.

Whether it will correct the bad rap Richard’s been stuck with isn’t certain, but as another comment in the press release says, “This is a unique moment in history. Richard III has been found and can now be given a reinterment with dignity and solemnity, something denied him these last 500 or more years.”

And as food for thought, as you go back to watching Laurence Olivier in his over-the-top rendition of the fictional monarch:

Richard III was an innovative king of England; initiatives such as the Council of the North, an early example of devolution, lasted until the mid-seventeenth century; his legal reforms continued long after his death, with some still embedded in our laws today. Noteworthy aspects of his reign include:

• being the  first king to use English to swear his coronation oath and to record acts of parliament.  

• a commitment to fair play in the judicial system: his actions and proclamations stressing that his laws were to be administered impartially without delay or favour, thereby helping to establish the legal principle of ‘blind justice.’

• development of an early form of Legal Aid, which provided support for those unable to afford lawyers by allowing people to make direct petitions to the Royal Council. Under Henry VII this became the Court of Requests.

• introduction of bail, thereby initiating the legal principle of ‘presumption of innocence.’

• active encouragment of the fledging book printing industry, a policy reflecting the king’s own personal interest in books.

images:  Facial reconstruction from a 3D scan of the Greyfriars skull created by Professor Caroline Wilkinson of Dundee University and commissioned by the Richard III Society.  Image copyright: The Richard III Society

Christie B. Cochrell, Window at Barnard Castle constructed by Richard III