Secrets of the Dead - Richard III

So, I usually start working on my blog post at around 5:00 am. It's 5:22 am and I have half an hour or so to slap this together. Deep thoughts just don't happen under those time constraints, but let's see where my mind wanders today anyway. Time flows no matter what, right?

This portrait of Richard III c 1520 is thought to be one
of the oldest portraits found of the King. Of course he
had died almost 50 years before the painting, so it
probably wasn't very accurate. 

I sacrificed an hour of sleep last night to watch an episode of "Secrets of the Dead" that dealt with Richard III. The episode was really fascinating in many ways. Of course, the grave/bones of Richard III were found in August, 2012 in Leicester under a parking lot. A lot of scientific study has been done on the bones since their discovery and it's pretty much conceded that these are, indeed, Richard's bones.

The coverpiece for the episode of "Secrets of the Dead - Resurrecting Richard III"
featured this marvelous painting of the King. Just look at those
sumptuous clothes. 

The bones exhibited the extreme scoliosis of the spine that had been documented for the King. The producers of "Secrets of the Dead" were investigating whether someone with that much spinal twist and curvature could be the fierce warrior that Richard was reputed to be. The episode, entitled "Resurrecting Richard III" featured that study.

The excavated bones of Richard III laid out and articulated, clearly show
the extreme curvature of the spine that he suffered from. 

The producers were fortunate enough to be contacted by a young man named Dominic Smee who has a similar scoliosis condition and, in fact, who could almost be a body double for the deceased king. Volunteering his services to assist in discovering how well Richard may have been able to be a medieval warrior, he was trained for three months in hand-to-hand and mounted combat. A custom set of armor similar to what the king might have worn was created for him by the world's most renowned armorer, and he was trained in hand-to-hand and mounted combat, riding on a medieval saddle similar to that which Richard would have used.

Dominic Smee's scoliosis was a 70 degree twist in his spine. Other
physical problems kept him from having had surgery to correct this while
he was a child. He is almost an exact body double for the deceased king. 

The thing I found amazing is that when the armor was fitted properly, Dominic actually found that it helped him because it supported him and kept him encased. Likewise, the high cantle of the medieval saddle, both front and back, kept him more secure on horseback. At the end of his three month training sessions, the young man actually made the charge that Richard had made toward Henry at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He successfully used both a lance and a war hammer to strike at the enemy with great accuracy and total devastation. It was wonderful to watch.

A custom set of armor was made for Dominic, similar to what the king
most likely had made for himself. It was important to not show his
deformity to the people or the enemy, so the armor was cunningly altered and
fitted internally to support the king's back while giving an outward appearance
of balance and normalcy. 

The show also went into Richard's diet which was shown by analysis of several different bones which age at different rates, thus allowing analysis from his younger days, his middle years and within the last year of his life. His diet certainly changed in the two years he was king, and it seemed that he also hit the ale and wine a bit heavily over the last few years of his life.

Here, Dominic is almost ready for his charge upon Henry's encampment. He is
fully dressed in plate armor (helmet is off, obviously) and his horse is also
encased in plate. It was wonderful to watch him with lance and hammer. 

I guess it was worth losing some sleep over this episode. If you have an opportunity to catch it in your area, I highly recommend it. Happy Tuesday, everyone!