A desk-based assessment involves gathering together the written, graphic, photographic and electronic information that already exists about a site to help identify the likely character, extent, and quality of the known or suspected remains or structures being researched. [15], The origin of Speed's claim is unclear; it was not attributed to any source, nor did it have any antecedents in other written accounts. [24] In 2005, John Ashdown-Hill announced that he had discovered the mitochondrial DNA sequence of Richard III after identifying two matrilineal descendants of Richard III's sister Anne of York. Died: 20 May 2017. [106] On 23 May the High Court ruled there was "no duty to consult" and "no public law grounds for the court to interfere", so reburial in Leicester could proceed. [32], In March 2011 an assessment of the Greyfriars site began to identify where the monastery had stood, and which land might be available for excavation. The exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England began with the discovery of the king's remains within the site of the former Greyfriars Friary Church in Leicester, England, in September 2012. Royal visitors for Richard III funeral Her Royal Highness the Countess of Wessex will be special guest at the reburial service, joining their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of … Three burials identified but not excavated in the 2012 project were tackled afresh. It was there, near Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, where in August 1485 he fell while fighting Lancastrian forces under the command of Henry Tudor - later Henry VII, bringing a decisive end to the Wars of the Roses. [54], Despite the matching mitochondrial DNA, geneticist Turi King continued to pursue a link between the paternally-inherited Y DNA and that of descendants of John of Gaunt. [68] Elsewhere on the skull, a blow from a pointed weapon had penetrated the crown of the head. [28], In February 2009, Langley, Carson and Ashdown-Hill teamed up with Richard III Society members David Johnson and his wife Wendy to launch a project with the working title Looking for Richard: In Search of a King. Contemporary reports described Richard, stripped of his helmet, being hacked to death whilst heroically fighting off a crowd of his enemies. [54][55] Ibsen's mitochondrial DNA was tested and found to belong to mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup J, which by deduction should be Richard's mitochondrial DNA haplogroup. A previous attempt to exhume Harald in 2006 was blocked by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren).[126]. The crown was designed and comissioned by Dr John Ashdown-Hill, the historian who discovered the mtDNA sequence of King Richard III, and a founding member of the Looking for Richard team. [82], In February 2013, Leicester Cathedral announced a procedure and timetable for the reinterment of Richard's remains. [107] The litigation cost the defendants £245,000—far more than the cost of the original investigation. [60] Analysts found a mitochondrial DNA match among the exhumed skeleton, Michael Ibsen, and a second direct maternal line descendant, who shares a relatively rare mitochondrial DNA sequence,[61][62][63] mitochondrial DNA haplogroup J1c2c. [70][73][76] There may have been further flesh wounds not apparent from the bones. [91] Channel 4 subsequently screened a follow-up documentary on 27 February 2014, Richard III: The Untold Story, which detailed the scientific and archaeological analyses that led to the identification of the skeleton as Richard III. Richard III's Funeral Will Bring Catholic and Anglican Clergy Together. The age of the bones at death matched that of Richard when he was killed; they were dated to about the period of his death and were mostly consistent with physical descriptions of the king. In 1915 the rest of the site was acquired by Leicestershire County Council which built offices on it in the 1920s and 1930s. [15] The rest of the site, where Herrick's garden had once been, was turned into a staff car park in about 1944, but was not otherwise built on. Today a series of services and a procession heavy with symbolism were under way in Leicester as his mortal remains are borne to the city's cathedral. You couldn't make it up.[127]. Sign up to receive our rundown of the day's. Such accounts would certainly fit the damage inflicted on the skull. Afterwards, the king was carried in a cortege through the Leicestershire countryside to Bosworth battlefield where, in 1485, he fell in battle against Henry Tudor, His reburial at the end of the week will have all the dignity and solemnity that his original burial never had. [17], Another local legend arose about a stone coffin that supposedly held Richard's remains, which Speed wrote was "now made a drinking trough for horses at a common Inn". He had suffered eight wounds to his head, among them a brutal slash to the base of skull which cleaved away a large portion of bone. This lunchtime a poignant service was held at remote Fenn Lane Farm, thought to be the spot where he made his final stand. [89] It proved a ratings hit for the channel, watched by up to 4.9 million viewers,[90] and won a Royal Television Society award. Copy link. Jacquie was commissioned by Leiciester Cathedral in 2013 to create the Funeral Pall for King Richard III after she presented her design to the commissioning committee who unanimously awarded her the commission. Richard III would want Catholic funeral, says Dr John Ashdown-Hill. [15] The writer Audrey Strange suggests that the account may be a confused retelling of desecration of the remains of John Wycliffe in nearby Lutterworth in 1428, when a mob disinterred him, burned his bones and threw them into the River Swift.