Richard’s bones in tug of war
English cities vie for remains now declared king’s
LONDON — The discovery of King Richard III under a parking lot in the English city of Leicester thrilled history buffs around the world. But the news meant a winter of discontent for the rival city of York, and now the two are doing battle over the royal bones.
Officials in Leicester said the monarch, who was unceremoniously buried without a coffin 528 years ago, will be reinterred with kingly dignity in the city’s cathedral.
“The decision has already been made,” said Leicester Mayor Peter Soulsby. “All the permissions have been granted, and the various authorities involved have agreed that the interment will take place in Leicester.”
Not so fast, said York, a city 100 miles to the north that claims the late monarch as its own.
“Every taxi driver I talk to, every shopkeeper I talk to, they are very excited about it — they want Richard back in York,” said Michael Ormrod, professor of medieval history at the University of York. “There is a view that he is a king for York.”
The York City Council said Wednesday that it is petitioning the government and Queen Elizabeth II, arguing that “one of the city’s most famous and cherished sons” — who grew up in the region and was once known as Richard of York — should be buried in the northern city.
The two cities have launched rival petitions to the government. As of Wednesday, York had the edge, with a gatehouse in the city walls, where visitors are invited to act as jury in an imaginary trial of Richard for the murder of the Princes in the Tower.
For now, the battle over the royal bones remains civilized. There’s no new outbreak of the Wars of the Roses — yet.
“I have many good friends in Leicester,” Ormrod stressed.
The professor would not go so far as to call burial in Leicester an insult — but he said it would, at least, be an irony.
“Leicester was a very big stronghold of the house of Lancaster, Richard’s rivals for the throne,” he said. “He was buried almost in enemy territory in Leicester.”