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| - The last king of the Plantagenet dynasty, Richard was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, during the War of the Roses. His body was brought to Augustinian Greyfriars Friary in Leicester, where it was buried in a crude grave. Following the friary's dissolution in 1538 and its subsequent demolition, Richard's tomb was lost. An account arose that when the tomb was destroyed Richard's bones were thrown into the River Soar by the nearby Bow Bridge. This story was not universally accepted, however, and in 1986 historian David Baldwin suggested that the remains were still in the Greyfriars area of the city.
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| abstract
| - The last king of the Plantagenet dynasty, Richard was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, during the War of the Roses. His body was brought to Augustinian Greyfriars Friary in Leicester, where it was buried in a crude grave. Following the friary's dissolution in 1538 and its subsequent demolition, Richard's tomb was lost. An account arose that when the tomb was destroyed Richard's bones were thrown into the River Soar by the nearby Bow Bridge. This story was not universally accepted, however, and in 1986 historian David Baldwin suggested that the remains were still in the Greyfriars area of the city. A search for Richard's body began in August 2012, initiated by Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society. The dig was led by the University of Leicester working in partnership with Leicester City Council. On the first day of the dig a human skeleton belonging to a man in his thirties was uncovered. The skeleton showed signs of multiple wounds and had a number of unusual physical features, most notably a severe curvature of the back. It was exhumed to allow scientific analysis, which found that the man had probably been killed either by a blow from a large bladed weapon that cut off the back of his skull, or by a halberd thrust that penetrated his brain. There were signs of other wounds on the body, which had probably been inflicted after death as "humiliation injuries". The bones' age at death matched the age at which Richard died; they were dated to approximately the period of his death and were mostly consistent with physical descriptions of him. DNA analysis also showed that mitochondrial DNA extracted from Richard's bones matched that of two 17th-generation matrilineal descendants of Richard's sister Anne of York. On the basis of these points and other historical, scientific and archaeological evidence, the University of Leicester announced on 4 February 2013 that it believed the skeleton was that of Richard III. It was subsequently announced that Richard was to be reinterred at Leicester Cathedral in early 2014. However, a legal challenge was launched to change the place of burial. In August 2013 the original decision was successfully challenged in court by a group calling themselves the "Plantagenet Alliance," and the burial decision is now subject to a judicial review. A judge granted the Plantagenet Alliance's request for a judicial review, as the original decision on the place of burial ignored a legal requirement for a public consultation. The Alliance believes Richard's personal desire was to be buried in York Minster, asserting that "It is well documented throughout the centuries that he wanted his remains to be buried in York, amongst his family." Richard's wife Anne Neville is buried within Westminster Abbey. It is uncertain where their only child Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, is buried; theories have included Sheriff Hutton Church, or Middleham, both in North Yorkshire. Richard's parents are both buried in Fotheringhay Church, in Northamptonshire.
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