Headlines
Mysterious coffin buried next to Richard III opened
London, March 3
A mysterious lead coffin found
close to the site of king Richard III's grave at the Grey Friars friary
has been opened and studied by experts from the University of
Leicester.
The coffin was discovered inside a much larger
limestone sarcophagus during a second excavation of the site, in August
2013 - one year after the remains of the former king of England were
unearthed.
Inside the lead coffin, archaeologists found the
skeleton of an elderly woman. The high status female was in one of 10
graves discovered in the grounds of the medieval complex, including that
of Richard III, six of which were left undisturbed.
"Although it
might seem unusual that Richard III is the only male skeleton found
inside the Grey Friars church, the other four skeletons all being
female."
"But it must be remembered that we have only excavated
five of the 10 identified graves in the church's chancel with the
potential for hundreds more burials elsewhere inside the church, the
other friary buildings and outside in the cemetery," said Grey Friars
site director Mathew Morris, who led the dig.
"Statistically, the sample is too small to draw any conclusions to the significance of so many women at Grey Friars."
"Richard
III would certainly not have been the only male buried here during the
friary's 300 year history and historic records list at least three other
men buried in the church," Morris added.
The lead coffin, with
an inlaid crucifix, the location of her burial in presbytery of the
friary's church (possibly close to the high altar) meant that she had a
special significance to the holy Catholic order.
The discovery is the first example of an intact medieval stone coffin to be unearthed in Leicester during modern excavations.
"This
makes it a unique discovery which will provide important new insights
into the lives of the people of medieval Leicester," Morris said.