14 DAY TRIAL // If you think the deaths of “Game of Thrones” characters are among the absolute goriest anyone would ever dare imagine, just wait until you hear what happened to King Richard III on the battlefield.
For those who are not familiar with the life and death of this monarch, King Richard III was killed in 1485 during a battle against Henry Tudor. Come 2012, his remains were at long last recovered from under a parking lot in Leicester, England.
In a new report, researchers with the University of Leicester argue that, having taken the time to study what remained of Richard III's corpse, they found that the monarch was killed by a sword, a spike or a halberd that somebody thrust upwards into his brain.
The blow that killed the monarch was skillfully delivered
Back in last year's September, it was revealed that, during the 1485 Bosworth Field battle against Henry Tudor and his army, King Richard III suffered a total of 11 injuries. Specifically, he was stabbed with a dagger and poked at with a sword and a halberd.
All of these 11 injuries were quite severe. However, University of Leicester specialists say that, by the looks of it, it was a skillfully delivered blow to his head that ultimately killed the monarch. Who it was that fatally injured King Richard III remains a mystery.
What is known is that whoever killed Richard III pushed a sword, a spike or a halberd upwards into his neck. The sharp weapon moved through the monarch's brain, slicing it with surprising ease, and only stopped when it hit the top of his skull.
Hence the fact that, when they examined King Richard III's remains, specialists found damage to the vertebrae at the base of his neck and a dent on the inside of his skull. Check out the video below to see what the broken vertebrae and the mark on the inside of the monarch's skull look like.
“Richard’s skeleton sustained 11 wounds at or near the time of his death - 9 of them to the skull, which were clearly inflicted in battle. The injuries to the head suggest he had either removed or lost his helmet,” explains Sarah Hainsworth, Professor of Material Engineering at the University of Leicester.
Richard III will soon get a burial fit for a king
As mentioned, the remains of King Richard III were recovered from under a parking lot in Leicester, England, in September 2012. Having taken the time to study the site, researchers found that the monarch did not exactly get a burial fit for a king.
On the contrary, his body was simply tossed into the ground. In fact, it looks like the hole that was supposed to serve as his tomb was not even big enough to properly accommodate for his body. Hence the fact that Richard III spent centuries with his arms and legs bent and twisted in unusual ways.
Not that this will make him feel any better seeing how he is, well, very much dead, but word has it that, come March 26, the monarch's bones will be laid to rest in a pretty impressive tomb built especially for him at the Leicester Cathedral.
