Five interesting archaeological discoveries….

  According to this article there have been five interesting archaeological discoveries in the past decade. First among them, of course, is the finding of Richard III’s remains:- “….When King Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, he was buried in the church of the Grey Friars. In 2012, The Richard III Society…

Edward V, the Coldridge Mystery and the Telegraph article

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Stained glass image of Edward V in the Evans chapel at Coldridge Church.  Image has been verified as being of Edward V by stained glass experts Brooks and Cherry as well as the Keeper of  Ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Photo  Photo Dale Cherry Here is a…

Professor Turi King has written a new book about DNA….

  “….Transworld has landed a ‘myth-busting’ book about DNA by Professor Turi King, best known for her work identifying Richard III from the remains discovered under a Leicester city car park….” If publishers are snapping up this book, titled DNA: Why Genetics Matters, (thankyou a commenter below for finding the title) which is due out…

Richard III WASN’T buried under a car park….!

A list of ten facts that were taught at school but are no longer true has been published at this site.  It’s a very interesting list with some things that I really didn’t know about, but at number 8 is the following:- “[Untrue fact} NO-ONE KNOWS WHERE RICHARD III’S BODY IS. “Correction: He was buried…

Completing the Set (2) – the female line cousins

In October, we published an updated version of a Bulletin article, showing that all of Henry VIII’s “wives” were descended from Edward I. Thanks to Ann for her comment on the above article, that Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Katherine Howard share the same mtDNA, therefore Edward VI and Elizabeth I should do. Having investigated…

Together in Mechelen?

As Ashdown-Hill found, although he was unable to locate her precisely in the genealogical research that eventually located Michael Ibsen as a mitochondrial DNA match for Richard III, Richard’s sister Margaret Duchess of Burgundy was buried in a Franciscan church in Mechelen, in her Duchy Although it was destroyed during subsequent religious conflicts, a reconstruction…

Berengaria of Navarre

Kingfinding (or consortfinding) is back, this time in France. The lady in question, however, was from Navarre and became queen to Richard I. Although he wasn’t in England much during his reign, due to his crusading activities, she did accompany him part of the way on occasion. Here is a Guardian article, located by Robert…

Combining genetics with genealogy to identify the dead in unmarked graves….

  Can you imagine swarms of investigators milling around unmarked graves (and known graves) across the UK, taking samples of DNA in the hope of locating someone of historic interest? After all, it’s how Michael Ibsen’s descent from Richard’s sister was discovered. Well, the nature of events in Quebec, Canada, described in this article, raise…

So wrong he may be right (2) – William Cowper

Here we have the poet and hymnwright William Cowper (left), who we referred to in our previous article but couldn’t find the evidence for the Essex anniversary in February. The usual sources have been a little troublesome but we know from Lord David Cecil’s The Stricken Deer that he was the great-nephew of an Earl…

NEW BONES FROM THE TOWER–HOW LONG BEFORE THEY BLAME RICHARD FOR THESE TOO?

Recently, archaeologists working at the Tower of London discovered the remains of two people, an adult woman age 35-45 and a child of about seven. Proper modern carbon dating has taken place and it is determined that the pair are from between 1450-1550. Osteological examination shows no signs of trauma on the bones, although the…