Digging up Richard III will not bury old arguments | Paul Lay

I have a bone to pick with those who claim the maligned monarch's skeleton will rewrite the history booksLeopold von Ranke, the father of modern history, described his discipline as "an endless argument". Never was this more so than in the case of Richard III. While the science appears conclusive – it is the skeleton of the last Plantagenet king, claims Leicester University's team of archaeologists – the historical arguments that surround Richard's reign of two years and two months will go on, not least the immortal question of who killed the princes in the Tower.Was it Richard? Probably. The Duke of Buckingham? Possibly. Henry Tudor? Almost certainly not. Scepticism remains the mark of the historian and so the claim that the discovery will "rewrite the history books" is unconvincing. Even so, the Middle Ages got their day in the sun. The press conference, watched by a global audience, was expertly paced, like a cerebral X Factor, and it told us something of the tactile brutalities of 15th-century warfare: eight wounds to Richard's head, two to his body and the postmortem humiliation of a knife to the buttocks, giving new meaning to the expression "gettin' medieval on your ass". If such drama excites people to explore history and archaeology still further, then all to the good.The less-than-impartial Richard III Society, arm-in-arm with Leicester University during the entire project, sees this as its best chance yet to restore the reputation of the "rudely stamp'd â€...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Leicester News Archaeology guardian.co.uk UK news Monarchy Science Source Type: news