More to the point, congratulations to Philippa Langley, Dr. John Ashdown-Hill, Annette Carson and the entire Looking for Richard project team who funded the dig, hired the archaeologists and told them exactly where to dig (down to the square meter!) even though the "professionals" believed Richard was in the River Soar and would never be found.
I like how Matthew Morris, the project's site manager, remarked:
'Of all things that have happened in the last two years seeing all those journalistic and television crews was something to behold.'
Congratulations to Mr. Morris for his historic discovery!
And he required that all laws and Acts of Parliament be published in English too.
Richard was elected King by Parliament after his brother Edward IV was proven to be a bigamist to the satisfaction of the Three Estates (Lords Spiritual, Temporal, and the Commons) who were in London for what was to be the coronation of Edward V. The records pertaining to the bigamy disappeared under Henry VII along with all the Council records of June 1483 and anything else regarding Richard's election as far as January 1484 when Titulus Regis was passed.
As Constable of England (appointed for life by his brother Edward IV) Richard had the power to both try and summarily execute, which he seldom used. Rivers and Grey were actually tried by the Earl of Northumberland after Richard had continued on to London. Lord Hastings was most likely given a trial before the Council before his execution although all records of the council meetings of June and July 1483 were ordered destroyed by Henry VII and most of the official and parliamentary records pertaining to RIII's reign were also destroyed. A contemporary letter from a London mercer seems to show that everyone knew Hastings was guilty. BTW, only FOUR men were executed by Richard during June-July: Grey, Rivers, Hastings, and Vaughan. Rivers actually made Richard the executor of his will, written while he was awaiting death, acknowledging both the justness of his sentence and R's trustworthiness to carry it out, which he did. None of these men's attainders were extended to their families, so they kept their lands and titles. Buckingham was executed later, after his quite open rebellion and his family also did not share in his punishment. Richard actually pardoned or simply placed in comfortable custody several others involved in the plotting, including Margaret Beaufort and her favorite priest John Morton, when no one would have questioned their executions. This pales against the numbers of people executed by Henry VII early in his reign and later by his son and grandchildren - including most surviving members of the Plantagenet family not tied to Henry by blood (Margaret Countess of Salisbury was 69 when Henry VIII had her beheaded; one of her grandsons simply disappeared into the Tower and was never heard from again, in quite a similar manner to her brother.) Henry VII had also backdated his reign to the day BEFORE Bosworth and convicted all those who fought for RIII of treason - taking all lands from their families and leaving them destitute.
