Richard III Gets a Kingly Burial, on Second Try

LEICESTER, England — For an English monarchy that has lasted more than 1,000 years, there could have been few more improbable occasions than the ceremony of remembrance for the reburial of one of the most bloodstained medieval sovereigns, King Richard III, who was slain in battle seven years before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World.

After three days of viewing by thousands who lined up for hours to file past the bier in Leicester’s Anglican cathedral, Richard’s skeletal remains, in a coffin of golden English oak with an incised Yorkist rose and an inscription giving the sparest details of his life — “Richard III, 1452-1485” — were removed by 10 British Army pallbearers wearing red sashes over their khaki uniforms.

The king’s remains,were then lowered into his final resting place. That placed him barely a stone’s throw from his grave for the past 530 years, in ground beside the cathedral, where frightened Franciscan friars disposed hastily of his corpse after his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field outside Leicester on August 22, 1485 in the Wars of the Roses.

That first grave lay unremarked until it was discovered beneath a municipal parking lot beside the cathedral in September 2012. The good fortune of the archaeologists, who found what proved to be Richard’s bones was followed by an exercise of extraordinary scholarship, involving a team of experts in archaeology, engineering, forensics, genetics, geology, history and medicine.

Their work confirmed “beyond a reasonable doubt,” that the bones were those of Richard. Critical to their findings was that the nearly complete skeleton included a deeply curved spine, evidence of the bone disease known as scoliosis. It has been known from history that Richard was a hunchback.

They also found nearly a dozen wounds, including two ferocious blows to Richard’s skull from a sword or halberd which comported closely with contemporary accounts of how he died. He toppled from his horse in boggy ground, after two hours of combat at Bosworth that placed him only yards away at his death from Henry Tudor, the victor at Bosworth Field who succeeded him on the throne as Henry VII. Thursday’s ceremony, where the few hundred seats available were keenly sought-after was well attended. Crowds running into tens of thousands lined Leicester’s streets to watch Richard’s coffin pass on its way to the cathedral last weekend. The ceremonies drew hours of live television coverage. The presiding cleric at the cathedral service was the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

The recovery of Richard’s bones has spawned a lot of new books about the fallen king, and the BBC is planning a new television series to be titled “The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses,” with the role of the king to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Mr. Cumberbatch, who has been identified by genealogists as a third cousin 16 times removed of King Richard, attended the cathedral ceremony on Thursday 26, March and read a poem specially written for the service by Britain’s poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.

Notably absent from the cathedral on Thursday was Queen Elizabeth II. She limited her role to a message noting the “importance” of the occasion.

“The reinterment of King Richard III is an event of great national and international significance,” the queen’s message said. “Today, we recognize a king who lived through turbulent times and whose Christian faith sustained him in life and death.”

For Richard, the years since the discovery of his bones have marked a remarkable comeback. For more than 500 years, he has been popularly cast as one of the most odious villains of English history — the “poisonous, bunch-back’d toad” of Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” reviled as a child killer for his role, as Shakespeare and generations of historians have depicted it.

The public response of the past week appears to have been driven in part by the jamboreelike atmosphere that has swept Leicester. The weekend procession in which Richard’s coffin was driven to Bosworth and back featured people dressed in medieval suits of armour, period dress and the habits of Franciscan friars, some shouting “Long live the king!”

Archbishop Welby, standing beside the grave as the coffin was lowered, invoked forgiveness for Richard. “We have entrusted our brother Richard to God’s mercy,” he said, “and we now commit his human remains to the ground, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

source: The New York Times

And now let’s summarize the story using some of the new words.

Richard III was a (1.) középkori uralkodó ………….. who (2. ) csatában ölték meg……………. He died in a (3.) ütközet  ……………. at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. His (4.) holttest ……… was (5. ) sietve ………. buried close to Leicester Cathedral by (6.) ferences szerzetesek ……………….. .In 2012 his (7.) csontváz maradványok ……………..  were found beneath a(8.)……………….beside the cathedral. He was a (9.) púpos……… so it was not very difficult to identify him. His (10.) újra temetés ………. was a very big event in Leicester. Lots of people took part in the (11.) felvonulás ……… in the streets in (12.) páncélzat……….. in (13.) korhű ruha…………… , or in (14.) ferences reverenda ………….. . The (15.) érsek ……… of Canterbury (16.) esdekelt ………….. forgiveness for Richard from God. Richard III was considered to be an (17. ) gyűlöletes gazfickó ……………… in English history. Shakespeare called him a ’poisonous, bunch-back’d (18.) varangy .…….. in his play.The recovery of Richard’s bones has (19.) életre hívott ………….. a lot of new books about the fallen king, and the BBC is planning a new television series to be titled “The (20.) lyukas/fedetlen …………. Crown: The Wars of the Roses.

Key:

1. medieval sovereign/king

2. was slain in battle

3. combat

4. corpse

5. hastily

6. Franciscan monks

7. skeletal remains

8. municipal parking lot

9. hunchback

10. reburial/reiterment

11. procession

12. suit of armour

13. period dress

14. Franciscan habit

15. archbishop

16. invoked

17. odious villain

18. toad

19. spawned

20. Hollow