Digging for Richard III: The Search for the Lost King Paperback – October 6, 2015

There is something enduringly fascinating about royal personages who have died a violent death, who then disappear and whose remains are discovered and identified decades or even centuries later. The story of the discovery and identification of the skeleton of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England, is an absolutely riveting one. Indeed, when an archeological expedition found the skeleton of one of England’s most maligned kings in an urban parking lot in Leicester in 2012, it was a worldwide sensation.Shakespeare in his great play “Richard III” depicts the king as a monstrous, Machiavellian, grossly- deformed and evil hunchback. He is certainly one of Shakespeare’s great characters. Therefore it is somewhat disappointing and very interesting to learn from this excellent book that although the monarch was deformed because of severe spinal scoliosis, he may actually have been a brave and noble man who had simply been maligned for political purposes by the Tudor successors to his throne. History tells us though that Richard III was likely implicated in the murder of his two nephews, the Princes in the Tower. Therefore, the picture that emerges is a somewhat mixed one.The author of this book is Michael Pitts, an archeologist and award-winning journalist. He likens the discovery of the King’s remains to that of the uncovering of Tutankhamun’s tomb about ninety years earlier. However, I think a closer parallel to the story of the discovery of Richard III is the story of the unearthing of the remains of the Russian Imperial family and their retainers in 1991 in a Siberian mass grave near Ekaterinburg after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This fascinating story is recounted in Robert Massie’s wonderful book “The Romanovs - the Final Chapter.”Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra and their five children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei and their remaining retainers were shot in Ekaterinburg on July 17, 1918. The action had been ordered by the Bolshevik government in Moscow to prevent the rescue of the Imperial Family by approaching White forces during the ongoing Russian Civil War.Richard III, on the other hand, died at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 after only a two-year reign. His remains were identified by a combination of facial reconstruction, high-resolution CT scanning, radio-carbon dating of his skeleton, his spinal curvature, the distribution of his battle wounds and the use of mitochondrial DNA which is always the final arbiter in cases of this sort. The Romanovs were also identified by analysis of mitochondrial DNA in their skeletons, their DNA being compared with that of known relatives of Tsar Nicholas and the Empress Alexandra including Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Earl Macduff, the third Duke of Fife.Mitochondrial DNA is passed on unchanged from mother to daughter and comparison of mitochondrial DNA in old skeletal remains with the mitochondrial DNA of living relatives and descendants in a continuous female line is therefore possible and often dispositive. A historian, John Ashdown-Hill, through assiduous research, had found a descendant of Richard III in a continuous female line living in Canada in the person of Joy Ibsen. Mrs. Ibsen had no idea of her royal connection. However, the mitochondrial DNA of one of her sons, Michael Ibsen, who lived in England, proved to be identical to that of the King thus establishing the identity of the remains beyond question.Mr. Pitts, being an archaeologist, focuses most of his attention on the remarkable dig in an urban parking lot in Leicester in 2012 that resulted in the finding Richard III’s skeleton on the first day. This account tends at time to be a little tedious for non-archaeologists whereas the more interesting details about the actual identification of the remains in 2013 seem crammed into the latter part of the book and do not receive as much attention. However, the story is a fascinating one. Mr. Pitts dismisses those critics who point out what they consider the uselessness of this kind of discovery. I agree with him that this discovery was of great importance and illuminates an important period in English history.The major players in this story are those whose passion and expertise resulted in the discovery of Richard’s skeleton. Philippa Langley, as the representative of the Ricardian Society and as the person who set the whole process in motion, emerges as a larger than life character. Her devotion to rehabilitating the King’s posthumous image and reputation is quite remarkable and at the same time quintessentially English in its eccentricity. Then too we have the archaeologists from Leicester University, who were more interested in unearthing information about a lost friary than the King’s skeletal remains. The relationships as depicted in this book were somewhat difficult at times when the interests of the obsessive Ricardians clashed with those of the more pragmatic archeologists. However, the story ended well for all concerned.Mr. Pitts starts out the book by discussing the Shakespearean Richard. We then get a summary of the King’s brief reign. Although I have studied royal genealogies for years including those of the Romanovs, the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas, the Mecklenburgh-Strelitzes and the Hesse-Darmstadts, I found the genealogy table on page 16 very difficult to use because the print is so tiny. However, the greatest source of difficulty is the intermarriages among the descendants of King Edward III and the resulting complexities of the houses of York, Lancaster and Tudor. I’m sure there will be later editions of this book and I think a larger genealogy table with more explanations might be helpful to readers. I eventually gave up on trying to untangle this highly-complicated genealogy.I would strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history in general and that of the English monarchy in particular.

This was a very good book about the unearthing of the bones of Richard III. it's a fascinating story, told with intelligence and humor. The pictures and maps were useful, but I could have used a few pictures of all the people involved--lots of names to keep track of without the visual supports.

If you are intrigued by Richard III you will love this book as it details how a member of the Richard III society pushed her hunch and twisted arms among academics, archaeologists and local politicians to authorize and fund a search for his remains somewhere under the long lost church he was reportedly buried in. In a rather amazing manner they found his body almost in the exact spot she predicted, buried underneath a municipal parking lot built in the last century. And having his remains (confirmed by DNA) answered some historical puzzles that have long intrigued historians. No he was not a hunchback but he did have a dramatically curved spine and misshapen shoulder. Great read.

This book is full of small errors and definitely has a point of view -- a pro-academia, male-centered point of view. It's funny, I saw the movie ("The Lost King") first, and was aware when seeing it that it had been criticized for giving Philippa Langley's remembrances without working with or including those of the University of Leicester, for example. And yes, you can tell. But it's this kind of representation that made her want to tell her story that way, that's perfectly clear as well.So, it's ok. Read it if you're interested. and then read some other things as well, and see the movie. And yay for Philippa having the last word.

I’ll start off by saying I found this book enthralling. I discovered it when I got home from work on a Friday evening and I’d finished it by noon on Saturday. It’s hard to know where to start in describing what I like about it.To begin, I liked Mike Pitts idea of doing the contents as though it were a play divided into five Acts and some individual scenes plus a prologue and epilogue. The organization of the book flows naturally and is easy to follow. Another aspect of the book I especially liked is the non-biased way the views of the archeologists and the Ricardians are presented. In particular, I like the way Pitts explains the motivations of the Ricardians.Pitts provides interesting background on two key figures behind the project—Richard Buckley of University of Leicester Archaeological Services and Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society. In addition, he presents a wealth of detail about the preparations for the dig, the dig itself and the subsequent scientific studies. At the conclusion, he tackles the controversy regarding the significance of finding Richard III’s remains.I’d say the only negative comment I can make about this book is the fact all the illustrations are black and white, which is disappointing after the many color illustrations in Richard III: The King Under the Carpark.

I certainly enjoyed it. I was curious about the dig and how it got organized and executed. The woman who instigated the whole thing is a member of the Richardian Society (a group that believes Richard was innocent of the crime of murdering his own nephews and was actually a good king who was smeared by the Tudors). She was out to search for and find Richard's bones and ensure they had a proper burial once his remains were examined.Lots of illustrations of the parking lot, the area of the dig, photos of the skeleton, and the archeological dig for Greyfriars, as well as the history of the King and his last battle at Bosworth field.I certainly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in English kings, and, specifically, in Richard III.Right now I have a friend who lived in that area of England who is reading the book.

A great account of an amazing discovery of a dead king in a parking lot.

Superb! If you watched the television documentary about the dig in the Leicester car-park, you may think you don't need to read this book. You do! It gives you so much more than the excellent documentary about the finding of King Richard III. The first part, for example, explains how the situation that led to his death at the Battle of Bosworth came about. It is complicated, but it is fact, and the author can't help that that is what happened, and that people were changing sides and allegiances while plots were thickening all the time. Instead, he writes about it as clearly and succinctly as he can. And then moves on to the mission itself, with one set of people looking for Richard, the others, the archaeologists, realising there was very little chance of finding him and concentrating instead on finding a friary. That they found King Richard - straight away! - gives nothing away, because the documentary told us that, but the book adds so much to the television programme, and the author tells it in a way that makes this into a page-turner (well, in my case, a Kindle page-turner), very difficult to put down. The human side is here too, with a famous writer who is convinced they will find King Richard and won't be put off by any number of professionals telling her that that sort of thing just doesn't happen; and, fortunately, highly-skilled and talented archaeologists, who know exactly how to go about such a difficult task. Marvellous, fascinating book, not dry at all (well, perhaps the first part about who-did-what-to-who can be - my advice is either don't even try to work out the various allegiances, or to write every one down as you go along, so you can keep referring back), but is every bit as thrilling as a novel, while having the added advantage of telling the reader all about true historical events uncovered by modern archaeological methods and skill. Great book, highly recommended.

This is a totally fascinating and compelling book and is as exciting as an adventure story. It tells how Philippa Langley became interested in Richard III and determined to find his grave having had a feeling she knew exactly where it was. The task was taken on by an archaeological unit in Leicester which undertakes digs for the construction industry and local authorities when new building work is taking place to ensure than historical evidence is not overlooked and destroyed.Their investigation had two aims - to find the site of the long demolished Grey Friars in the centre of Leicester and also to try and find Richard III's grave. Richard Buckley, the head of the archaeological unit thought finding Richard III's grave was a totally outside chance but he did believe they would find Grey Friars as all the records pointed to the area where they were going to dig.The book is well written with plenty of notes at the end of the book and a bibliography for those who want to read more about Richard III and the investigation. I was completely absorbed in this book to the extent that I read for about three hours yesterday afternoon without moving. It is that sort of book. If you've every watched Time Team or similar archaeological programmes you will love this.

This is a very interesting account of the finding and identification of the body of Richard III, which was discovered under a car park in Leicester.The book moves along nicely most of the time, although it is sometimes rather drawn out, in particular the early chapter in which we are given an over-detailed account of who was who in the warring late-medieval Yorkist and Lancastrian feudal gangster families.The most interesting thing is how the dig came to take place. In my view it was a case of getting the right result for the wrong reason. The dig took place because of campaigning and financing by Philippa Langley and the Richard III Society. The actual archaeologists involved thought that there was no chance of finding Richard III’s body, but they hoped to learn something about the medieval friary on the site.Philippa Langley had got a “feeling” that Richard was buried under the car park when she visited the place. I’m not a believer in the paranormal, so I’d put this down to the imaginative workings of her brain and wishful thinking. The “R” painted on the car park was just a coincidental reserved parking place, not a “sign”!The Richard III Society wanted to find his body because he is their hero. They spend their time trying to prove that he didn’t actually have the “Princes in the Tower” murdered, and that he was a “good” king whose reputation was destroyed by Tudor propaganda (and by Shakespeare’s portrayal of Richard as a villain).For me, Richard is no hero. He is just a typical feudal gangster-lord. Even if he didn’t have the two young princes killed (and he probably did), and even if he was no worse than any other medieval monarch, he was still – like all the others – a tyrant at the head of a (squabbling) ruling class who all lived on the backs of the peasantry. There was no such thing as a “good” medieval monarch.If you want to find a medieval hero, then why not look a hundred years earlier and choose Wat Tyler or John Ball, the leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt?But anyway, they DID find Richard III’s body, and that does make an interesting story.

I love the story of Richard III and the fact that he has been found. I love how it was done and it is fantastic. This book tells how this was all done. It isn't a "Who did it ?" - it is more of a "Who is it ?".