Ghost of a King

So a while back, I had read that somewhere in England a parking lot was being excavated in hopes of finding the remains of an English king who had died in battle and had been buried in secret. In the unlikeliest of places, they found human remains bearing similar physical traits, such as scoliosis.. I thought this was all fascinating, because really, what are we if not creations of our history?

Today, I read that the remains had been identified positively as King Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet line of royalty. They were able to track down a current living relative of the king's sister and identify him through mitochondrial DNA. Here's the articlar:

http://news.yahoo.com/experts-remains-englands-king-richard-iii-105948025.html

Honestly, I find it fascinating. I love historical fiction, but the truth is often more intriguing. Fiction is distant from reality, if only by a faint line in our minds. History, however, is amazing in its intensity and twisted stories. It's said that it really is written by the winners, and it really makes you wonder about the stories told of the short-lived rule by Richard III. They say he murdered his nephews, the Princes in the Tower, to secure his rule, and he was touted as a cruel, deformed man. In truth, he did have scoliosis, but Shakespeare likely took more than his share of artistic license.

His remains tell of his demise and the humiliation that was rumored, and now proven, to follow, and I wonder what else the ghost of a king will reveal. History is written by the winners, and the losers are condemned to loathing, fear, distaste, and a story of half-truths. I hope that a clearer picture of who he was, how he lived, and how he died will clear some of the murk of history and legend that surrounds his name.

What other wonders of history lay hidden beneath something so bland as a parking lot?

TxT