Leeds expert pieces together how Richard III died
Historians and scientists who conducted a series of scientific studies on bones have now confirmed they are the remains of Richard III.
Royal Armouries' curator Bob Woosnam-Savage formed part of an expert team that identified the remains of the "skeleton in the car park" as those of England's last king to fall in battle - Richard III.
Now, nearly 530 years after his death, Mr Woosnam-Savage is attempting to get a better picture of just what happened to the king who famously gave battle in vain.
Historians believe Richard was buried at Greyfriars after his death at the Battle of Bosworth, in 1485 but his corpse was disinterred during the Dissolution.
We know he was slain by the army of Henry Tudor, father of Henry VIII - but how?
Mr Woosnam-Savage said: "What we have is a very tentative first attempt to try and create a possible narrative reconstructing the last minutes and death of Richard III, the last king of England to die in battle. It is extremely important to bear in mind that this is exactly that; a first attempt. It will no doubt evolve as more is discovered.
"My narrative that follows is a synthesis, based upon various elements from the historical accounts - the veracity of each is a discussion for another time - and what we presently understand the evidence the skeleton may possibly suggest. The scenario offered suggests just one possible scenario.
"Richard was described as leading a mounted charge against Henry Tudor in an attempt to kill him. Cutting down Tudor's standard bearer, Sir William Brandon, there is the possibility Richard's momentum was stalled by marshy ground, a feature confirmed by the recent archaeology of the Bosworth battlefield. His horse stuck, or slain, Richard, fully armoured, continues fighting on foot, maybe only a few feet away from his intended target, Henry Tudor.
"However, the tide of battle had seemingly already begun to turn as Stanley's forces decided to side with Tudor, and they came down upon the Plantagents and Richard. Tudor's own bodyguard would have been defending him as well and so, within a very short space of time, Richard could have found himself outnumbered and in the press of his enemies. But then what?
"His armour, successfully protecting him up to this time, probably began to fail under ferocious attack. There is no evidence to say how long this sustained attack lasted but at some point it would appear that his helmet was forcibly removed (possibly cut or ripped away). It is perhaps from these moments that the skeleton appears to begin to provide some glimpses of a possible scenario, regarding the dying moments of Richard III.
"At this time, Richard immediately receives more blows; a number of individual wounds from bladed weapons to the head, particularly to the top and rear of the skull, indicate a sustained and repeated attack on an unprotected head, one particularly massive blow possibly proving fatal. That particular blow could well have been delivered by a staff weapon such as a halberd. Other blows, including a penetrating wound to the top of the skull, and another to the base, both again probably dealt to an unprotected head, appear to have been perhaps delivered either near, or at the point of, death, with Richard possibly finally keeling over in a kneeling position or even lying semi-prone on the ground (although the body position must remain speculative at this time). This trauma to the head certainly would appear to fit accounts that include descriptions such as his head was shaved and that his brains came out with blood.
"However the skeleton bears other wounds which, if it were that of Richard, can only be explained as having been delivered after any armour was removed from the body and therefore probably after the king was presumably already near death, or dead. These 'insult injuries' might have included the small stab wound to the face; a stab in the back from behind, which struck a rib and, perhaps most tellingly of all, a stab wound, possibly delivered with a knife or dagger, to the buttocks. This last, insulting, blow could easily have been delivered to king's body by an infantryman** *with a bladed weapon after it had been slung over the back of a horse, as he was borne to Leicester. *
"Finally it should be borne in mind that the trauma to the skeleton (over 10 wounds) must be regarded as an under enumeration of the number of wounds the body originally sustained - for Richard may well have borne wounds to the soft tissue , which have not been preserved. The state of his body would therefore no doubt have matched descriptions which say Richard was all besprinkled with mire and blood.
"We are obviously aware of how previous historians, including Murray Kendall, have been vilified for attempting to create such an account but with the discovery of the skeleton we are now approaching a time when we can indeed begin to create such a picture with a degree of accuracy, especially as all of the identified traumas are indeed consistent with what we know about the death and subsequent treatment of the corpse of Richard III. However to reiterate, this is only a first attempt to contextualise what has been discovered so far and more work, from me and others, will without doubt follow.