In a press conference this morning, the University of Leicester stated that DNA testing performed on a tooth extracted from skeletal remains found beneath a council car park in 2012 has confirmed that scientists have indeed found the five hundred year old body of King Richard III, killed at the battle of Bosworth Field on the 22 of August, 1485, ending the War of the Roses. He was the last of the Plantagenet dynasty, and the last English king to die in battle.

Richard, immortalized by Shakespeare, had idiopathic adolescent onset scoliosis resulting in a severe curvature of his spine. Without this condition, Richard would have stood approximately 5’ 8” tall; however his height would have been reduced quite a bit due to the curvature. No evidence of a withered arm was found.

There were a total of ten wounds found on the body, including two on the skull, one of which would certainly have been fatal. No clothing, personal objects, or remnants of a shroud were found in the grave; Richard’s hands may have been tied in front of him. The body is to be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral.

The University of Leicester has a website containing a great deal of further information and detail about the discovery.