Philippa Langley - The King's Grave

17 February 1461

Earl of Warwick defeated at Second Battle of St Albans. Richard and his brother George sent for protection to Philip, Duke of Burgundy

4 March 1461

Edward IV proclaimed king in London

29 March 1461

Yorkists defeat Lancastrians at Battle of Towton

12 June 1461

Richard and his brother George return to England

1 November 1461

Richard created Duke of Gloucester

May 1464

Edward IV marries Elizabeth Woodville

September 1465

Richard resident in household of Earl of Warwick

January 1469

Richard returns to court

June 1469

Warwick’s rebellion starts

26 July 1469

Battle of Edgecote. Henry Tudor’s guardian, William, Lord Herbert, Earl of Pembroke defeated by rebels and subsequently executed

17 October 1469

Richard made Constable of England

12 March 1470

Warwick rebels again. Battle of Losecote Field. Warwick and Clarence flee to France and ally themselves with the Lancastrians

2 October 1470

Warwick invades; collapse of Edward IV’s authority. Richard accompanies Edward Into exile in Burgundy. Readeption (Restoration) of Henry VI

March 1471

Edward IV and Richard return from exile and land in Yorkshire

14 April 1471

Earl of Warwick is defeated at the Battle of Barnet

4 May 1471

Margaret of Anjou and the Lancastrian Prince Edward are defeated at Tewkesbury

21 May 1471

Henry VI is murdered in the Tower of London, almost certainly on Edward IV’s orders

Spring 1472

Richard marries Warwick’s daughter Anne Neville, starts to fight for a share of the Neville inheritance and begins to build up a northern affinity

29 August 1475

Edward IV and Louis XI meet at Picquigny, ending the English invasion of France. Richard shows his displeasure by absenting himself from the agreement

18 February 1478

Richard’s brother, George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason and executed in the Tower of London

24 August 1482

Richard Invades Scotland. Berwick recaptured

9 April 1483

Death of Edward IV; succession of Edward V

29–30 April 1483

Richard and Buckingham arrest Rivers, Grey and Vaughan at Northampton and Stony Stratford and secure custody of Edward V

4 May 1483

Richard and Edward V enter London: George Neville, Duke of Bedford dies and Richard loses hereditary right to the Neville lands

10 June 1483

Richard appeals for help from northern supporters against the Woodvilles

13 June 1483

Execution of Lord Hastings and arrest of Morton and Archbishop Rotherham at council meeting

22 June 1483

Richard’s right to the throne proclaimed in a sermon by Ralph Shaw

26 June 1483

Richard becomes king

6 July 1483

Coronation of Richard III

29 August 1483

Richard arrives in York on royal progress

10 October 1483

Rebellion flares up in southern England

2 November 1483

Execution of the Duke of Buckingham at Salisbury

23 January 1484

Richard’s only parliament meets at Westminster

April 1484

Death of Richard’s son, Edward of Middleham

7 December 1484

Richard’s first proclamation against Henry Tudor

16 March 1485

Death of Richard’s queen, Anne Neville

9 June 1485

Richard arrives in Nottingham to await Henry Tudor’s landing

23 June 1485

Richard’s second proclamation against Henry Tudor

7 August 1485

Henry Tudor lands at Milford Haven

22 August 1485

Battle of Bosworth. Richard III killed; Henry Tudor (Henry VII) succeeds him

1230

House in existence on Greyfriars site

1255

Church of Greyfriars first mentioned

1402

Rebellion: number of greyfriars executed by Henry IV

25 August 1485

King Richard III buried in the choir of the Greyfriars Church

1495

Tomb and epitaph erected over burial by Henry VII

1538

Dissolution of the Monasteries. Greyfriars expelled and priory and church closed. Sold to John Bellowe and John Broxholme to remove roof lead and timbers

1540s

Greyfriars priory and church become ruins. Site sold to Sir Robert Catlyn

(superstructure of King Richard’s tomb removed)

1600

Site sold to Robert Herrick. Mansion house and gardens built

1611

John Speed reports King Richard’s grave lost and his bones dug up at the Dissolution

1612

Christopher Wren records a ‘handsome stone pillar’ marking the site of King Richard’s grave in Herrick’s garden

1711

Herrick’s descendants sell land to Thomas Noble. New Street laid out with houses

1759

Herrick’s mansion house sold to William Bentley

1914

Land and gardens sold to Leicestershire County Council who erect offices around it

1930s–40s

Land and gardens tarmacked to become car parks

1968

Site passes to Leicester City Council, Social Services Department

2004–5

Philippa Langley visits car parks. Dr John Ashdown-Hill discovers Richard III’s mtDNA

2007

University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) digs in nearby Grey Friars Street but uncovers no trace of Greyfriars Church

2008

Ashdown-Hill refutes River Soar story. Annette Carson in Richard III: The Maligned King asserts the king’s grave is probably in the Social Services car park

21 February 2009

Langley and Ashdown-Hill meet. Langley begins Looking for Richard (LFR) project at Cramond Inn, Edinburgh

September 2010

Leicester City Council supports LFR project

January 2011

Langley obtains TV rights to John Ashdown-Hill’s book, Last Days of Richard III

March 2011

Langley commissions ULAS for LFR project

June 2011

Langley receives permission from Leicester City Council for Ground Penetrating Radar Survey and archaeological investigation of Social Services car park

28 August 2011

Langley carries out Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of the three car parks

March 2012

April dig cancelled

July 2012

International Appeal saves dig

25 August 2012

Two-week dig begins. Leg bones discovered beside letter ‘R’

31 August 2012

Langley instructs exhumation of remains found beside letter ‘R’. ULAS applies for licence to exhume up to six sets of remains of persons unknown

3 September 2012

Discovery of Greyfriars Church. Exhumation licence received from Ministry of Justice. Dig extended into third week by Leicester City Council