The last Plantagenet king of England's remains are going to talk

Alors que leur sort était resté un mystère pendant plus de 500 ans, les restes de Richard III, dernier roi de la dynastie Plantagenet originaire d'Angers, tué en 1485, vont maintenant parler. Peu de personnages historiques ont été "soumis", post-mortem, à des analyses de leur Adn. Elles diront si les peintures du souverain sont fidèles à la réalité. Le portait moral de Richard III, établi par Shakespeare, est lui aussi l'objet de controverses. Et même le lieu où sa dépouille doit définitivement être inhumée l'est aussi...

After his complete disapperance for more than 500 years, and in spite of his immortality due to his eponym
play written by William Shakespeare, Richard III, the last heir of the Plantagenet dynasty Angers native, is now more alive than ever. While his memory was revived after archeologists found his remains under a car park in Leicester in 2012 (a place where the only royal marks were Austin Princess), now the bones of the last Plantagenet king of England are going to talk. Along with very rare cases like Otzi the Iceman discovered in 1991 on the Alpine border between Italy and Austria, the deoxyribonucleic acid (Dna) of Richard III is to be mapped, potentially revealing details like hair and eye colours.

Within 18 months, a study could provide informations about Richard III was looking like and what were his health conditions. Details of Richard III's appearance are not known for certain because all portraits of him were done long after his death and historians dispute over the truthfulnessof Shakespeare's description of the king, killed at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 by Henry VII, the first Tudor dynasty king. The medical resarch will allow scientists to decide if Richard III suffered from conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or scoliosis.


In England, the Richard III's return, which sets the problem of his final resting place, also led to a legal case,
some distant relatives calling for the bones to go to York, others pleading in favor of Leicester. The two cities continue their own battle in his name. Public petitions about the choice of the place Richard III will be definitely buried were also organized : the one for Leicester hit 34,000 signatures beating a rival petition (for York) by more than 3,000 signatures. Angers didn't competed in the contest even if the city holds a monument built by a Plantagenet king of England, the Saint-Jean Hospital. And currently the city doesn't lack pretenders to the throne...