Good Guy Richard III: Found At Last

Yes, it is time for another addition of Interesting Historical Folk. This month's feature is Richard III, King of All England for About 24 Months Before His Brutal Slaying in 1485.

Shakespeare demonized this young king in his plays, and it was commonly accepted that Richard had killed his two boy nephews to usurp the throne. Since then this guy's been portrayed in movies and books as sly, devious, and selfish, but hopefully that's going to change since the big news.

THE BIG NEWS: After almost 600 years, Richard's bones have been excavated from underneath a Leicester car park.

Wow. And I thought Waldo was winning the hiding game.

Besides the mtDNA testing that proved positive for Richard III, evidence in the bones of severe scoliosis helped solidify the archaeologists' discovery. Poor Richard had to toil through life with this ailment that set in during adolescence. According to Philippa Langley, a screenwriter and producer who has a special thing for this deceased monarch, the scoliosis just proves that Richard was adept and didn't let his imperfections get in the way of doing his duty:

Dem bones showing spine curvature.

"The scientists say you can't see character in bones--but for me, you kind of can. We have Richard III's itinerary. He had an incredibly powerful, strong work ethic. This man never stopped. He was on a horse every day, fighting skirmishes, doing everything they had to do. I've spoken to scoliosis experts and they say acute scoliosis like that was painful. So we know that he was working through the pain barrier every day just to do his job. That tells me about his character." Source here.

Maybe the usurping, child-murdering, evil-cackling king can yet be redeemed by this find, with some more historically correct study of his life. He implemented some great reforms once he became king that benefited the average working man, including the Court of Requests, where poor people who couldn't afford a lawyer could apply for their grievances to be heard; bail to protect suspected criminals before their trials; banned restrictions on the printing and sale of books (spread ALL the literature!); and he ordered the written laws to be translated from French to English so even the serf could understand them. Source here.

I hearby appoint Richard III as Good Guy Richard III, to be referred to hence.

BUT WAIT--THERE'S MORE!

Yes, you can't stop reading this post until you've seen the best part: the reconstruction of Good Guy Richard III's face using CT scans of his skull bones! Fascinating! I love how technology and science party together to give dead people back their faces.

And heeeeeeeeeeeere's the King! What a beauty!

I mean, just look at that chin. So formidable.

Another Source!