Free The Last Days of Richard III and the Fate of His DNA by John Ashdown-Hill

Introduction
    There have been innumerable books about Richard III, but this one is unique because it combines the true story of the last five months of Richard’s life with the true story of the fate of the king’s body and DNA after his death.
    First and foremost, my study focuses upon a detailed exploration of the last 150 days of the life and reign of England’s most controversial king, examining in detail what Richard did from Friday 25 March 1485 (the first day of the medieval English New Year) up to Monday 22 August that same year. It also considers what thoughts may have preoccupied Richard during those last five months of his life.
    It is surely a great mistake – almost bound to lead to errors – to view historical events in the light of hindsight. Yet most accounts of Richard III have been greatly overshadowed by the Battle of Bosworth – an event of which Richard himself never heard. The fact of that final battle cannot, of course, be ignored – but neither should Richard’s unawareness of it. Therefore, this book deliberately seeks to see things as they might have appeared to contemporaries, most of whom must simply have assumed, at the beginning of 1485, that Richard III still had many years of life and reign ahead of him.
    It then becomes clear that Richard himself also assumed that he would continue to reign victoriously. Despite the gloomy view presented by previous writers, during what we now know to have been the last months of his life the king was not simply winding down and waiting for his cousin, known as Henry ‘Tudor’, to come and defeat him. 1 On the contrary, he was preoccupied with ordinary events and activities, with his own day-to-day life, and with the proper government of his country. At the same time he was also busy with important plans for the future – real plans at the time – even though ultimately destined to come to nothing.
    This study also consciously seeks to avoid overshadowing Richard’s actions with reports of the doings of his rival, the so-called Henry ‘Tudor’. Since the latter was ultimately victorious (with the result that he and his supporters were around subsequently to talk to early historians), it is unfortunately the case that most previous books about Richard III actually tell us more about what the future Henry VII was doing between March and August 1485. By contrast, this book concentrates on Richard’s activities.
    In order to establish the context for some of the important happenings and concerns of those last 150 days, the account actually opens about ten days earlier, thus encompassing the sickness and death of Richard’s consort, Queen Anne Neville. It also glances back even further, to the death of Richard’s only legitimate son and heir, Edward of Middleham, thereby setting in context the problem of the succession, which was unquestionably one of the principal concerns occupying Richard’s mind during those last few months of his life.
    But this book also differs from every other book on Richard III in another respect. Its story does not simply end on Monday 22 August with Richard’s death. The second part of this study goes on to cut through five centuries of persistent mythology and recount the true fate of Richard’s body.
    First, we examine the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Bosworth: how Richard’s dead body was transported back to Leicester, placed on public view, and subsequently buried in the choir of the Franciscan Priory Church. New insights into the handling of the corpse are offered, based upon a careful consideration of the most contemporary accounts available, and informed by the recorded treatment of the remains of other vanquished leaders, both in England and elsewhere in Europe, at about this period. Detailed evidence of Richard’s burial is drawn from the recent excavations on the Greyfriars site in Leicester – an archaeological project which