So....were they Richard III's bones then?

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

Has anyone heard yet?

[LadyDamerel]

It's still going to be a while, isn't it? I had 12 weeks in my mind, I'm sure it hasn't been that long yet.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

[LadyDamerel]

I know, I'm on tenterhooks.

[MooncupGoddess]

Yes, I don't think we'll know until December. DNA testing takes ages.

[WhereMyMilk]

It doesn't take ages on CSI!:o

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

Nothing expected till mid January

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

but that didn't stop the MPs having an argument about it.

I'm glad Hugh Bayley said it was inappropriate. I knew he was a good egg because he came to a demo the York feminist group organised in support of Afghan women.

[MooncupGoddess]

How funny to see MPs squabbling opportunistically over his remains!

I had no idea there was a Richard III Museum in York. Has anyone been?

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

"DNA results on the bones are being compared to that of living descendants of the king, who was killed in 1485."
But Richard III had no living decendents!?

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

descendants even!

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

Crappy journalist.
They're using a descendant of his sister Anne.

[MooncupGoddess]

Well indeed, they are talking nonsense. In fact they are comparing the body's mitochondrial DNA with one of Richard's sisters' descendants (mitochondrial DNA is passed down through the female line, so there must have been some impressive genealogical detective work involved!

www.newscientist.com/article/dn22266-is-this-richard-iii-englands-last-plantagenet-king.html

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

'How can we be sure Joy Ibsen is a direct descendent?
This is one of the shakiest parts of the project'

LOL.
So if they don't find a match it won't prove it's NOT him.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

So if the descendants of Anne are hard to verify, cant the geneticists(sp) take the line further back? His mother was a daughter of Joan Beaufort who had 9 living children, her mother Katherine Swynford had 7. They all married into important families. There must be records...

[Mirage]

DH still hasn't told me what the 'significant item' was that was found,but did tell me where the remains are being stored.They can't store them in a normal forensic or biology lab because of the danger of cross contamination from other DNA.

[MooncupGoddess]

Is your DH involved in the testing, Mirage?

[ravenAK]

The Richard III museum in York is located inside the city walls (as in, literally inside the wall!). It's small but fabulous.

www.richardiiimuseum.co.uk/main.html

[TheDoctrineOfSnatch]

How did I go to York as a child with history-obsessed parents and miss THAT museum? Harrumph.

[greenhill]

Yesterday I read that the skeleton had scoliosis and that an arrowhead was in its back, which was how Richard III was supposed to have died. I'll see if I can find a link.

Thanks for the link to the York Museum

[greenhill]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2224256/King-Richard-III-cathedral-burial--skeleton-car-park-500-years-death.html

It is not a particularly interesting link, apart from the arrowhead comment and speculation about re-internment at a cathedral.

[Mirage]

No,DH isn't involved in the case,but has connections with the people who are working on it.

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

I've just got back from the Richard III museum. According to that he had 2, possibly 3 illegitimate children.

Just thought you'd like to know

There's not all that much in the museum btw, apart from some good medieval toilets and a very small prison cell, but it's good all the same, just because.

[FeckOffWithYourXmasBollocks]

I stayed at home and read that in Phillipa Gregory's "The Kingmakers Daughter"! It must be true!

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

Is that a new one? She churns them out, doesn't she? I can't keep up! Is it good?

[FeckOffWithYourXmasBollocks]

It's not bad. it's through Anne Neville's eyes. They're pretty good for light entertainment.