Death of a King

Today, our travels are dedicated to Richard's death, first at the sight of his fall and then at the car park where his remains were found just this year.  It seems there was more black worn today by my fellow travelers than usual.

Our first stop today was at Bosworth Field, where the Plantagenet dynasty came to an end August 22, 1485. We had a very knowledgeable guide show us around the field and tell the story of that tragic day.  Richard should have won the day, but one of his battle commanders held back to see how the battle was going before choosing which side to join.  Stanley's treachery  spelled defeat for Richard.

Richard's White Boar 

The knights wore armor and helmets as protection

The Well Richard drank from before battle

Medieval Armaments

Henry Tudor was victorious on this day.  This was the last battle in The War of the Roses, the struggle between the Lancasters and the Yorks.  Richard was slain on the battlefield, which rarely happened to kings because they were well armed and usually rode to battle on horseback. It was a very sad ending.  The sight was very well down and a highlight of our trip.

I don't know if you followed the news last spring but Richard's remains were found and identified in Leicester under a car park.  We were lucky enough to meet with Phillippa Langley, the woman who's responsible for believing that he could be found.  This was a several year journey for her which involved talking a city into allowing the dig, convincing archaeologists that he could possibly be there, find funding, find more funding and even more funding.  She's an amazing person with an amazing story to tell.

Matthew Morris was in charge of the dig and took us to the sight where he was found.  It was raining, but we were all excited to see exactly where he was uncovered.  The King and the Car Park is a documentary taken during the discovery.  A film crew from this original production is back in Leicester filming a follow-up. They followed us to the sight and also talked to some of our group afterwards.  Who knows, we may all be famous.

After the visit to the sight, Matthew and Phillippa told us their story.  One of the big discoveries was that Richard had scoliosis but was not a humpback as Shakespeare portrayed  him.  Ricardians everywhere feel vindicated that Richard was not the villain Shakespeare made him out to be.

This was a very emotional day for all of us.  It was so special to spend time with Phillippa and Matthew.  It was wonderful to be able to spend it with a group that really appreciated everything that was done to find Richard.