Cratering

February 4, 2013

shortformblog:

nationalpost:

‘Beyond reasonable doubt’: King Richard III’s remains found buried beneath England parking lot
He wore the English crown, but he ended up defeated, humiliated and reviled. Now things are looking up for King Richard III. Scientists announced Monday that they had found the monarch’s 500-year-old remains under a parking lot in the city of Leicester — a discovery Richard’s fans say will rewrite the history books.

University of Leicester researchers say tests on a battle-scarred skeleton unearthed last year prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that it is the king, who died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and whose remains have been missing for centuries.

“Richard III, the last Plantaganet King of England, has been found,” said the university’s deputy registrar, Richard Taylor. (AP Photo/ University of Leicester)

For fans of skeletons and old kings.

That is so cool!

My family (and probably most of yours) are descended from the Plantagenets—Edward and John, not Richard—so it’s always fascinating to me what became of them.

I love this. I took a Shakespeare class in college to satisfy some non-nerd requirement and it turned out to be one of the best classes I ever took. The class went heavy on the histories, and Richard III was my favorite of the ones we read. He was such a monstrous bastard.

Or was he? The professor pointed out that many scholars believed that there was a disinformation campaign waged by the Tudors to make the Plantagenets look bad after the fact, and that Shakespeare, sympathetic to the Tudors, did his part. Makes sense. Five hundred years from now, will they look at today’s playwrights as historians? Should they?

I don’t remember the score of the game last night but I remember those lectures like I am sitting there now.

8:34am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZEG6ZydNnwFy
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