Wars of roses were a series of civil wars between the house of Lancaster and the house of York for the throne of England. The last significant battle of roses was in the Bosworth field in August 1485 causing the Richard IIIs death and the victory of Henry Tudor who later crowned as the Henry VII and King Richard was buried in the Greyfriars church. Later in his reign England abandoned Catholicism and disbanded monasteries and as a result Greyfriars was demolished. King Richard's grave was lost and people believed his remains were thrown into river Soar.
King Richard only ruled for a very short period of time and hence the history of that era is almost lost other than the Shakespeares play "Richard III" which implies the king was a heartless tyrant. Even though the popular culture describes him as a violent character, a curious group of historians suggested that there is more to his story and in 1924 they established the "Richard III society" pledging to research kings life. Today the society has more than 4000 members from all over the world and in 2012 they took the initiative in locating the remains of the king. The excavation was lead by the University of Leicester Archaeology Services and they found the kings skeleton in a car park built in the land of the Greyfriars. He had been killed in the battle, dishonored after death and buried without a coffin a small grave. From the wounds in the skull scientists concluded the cause of death to be a blow from a large bladed weapon, most probably a halberd and there was another stab wound to the skull which penetrated the head and came out from the other side. Most importantly his spine has a curvature which indicates the king had scoliosis. Carbon 14 analysis proved the mans existence in the 15th century and about his meals, which was of course a rich mans diet. Mitochondrial DNA tests using two of his matrilineal descendants proved that it is indeed the kings bones they found. On 26th March 2015 the remains were reburied at Leicester Cathedral.
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