Plan to Decode Richard III's Genome Sparks Protest From Historian

King Richard III has been dead for more than 500 years, but his bones continue to ignite fresh controversy.

The medieval king, unearthed from a Leicester parking lot in 2012, has been the center of debate over where and how his body should be reburied. Now, a plan to sequence the full genome of Richard III has brought new strife.

"Why is the University of Leicester doing this, and why is it doing it without any consultation?" said John Ashdown-Hill, an independent historian involved with the search for the bones. The DNA testing will add very little to scientific knowledge, and it breaks agreements with Buckingham Palace made before the university got involved in the Richard III search, Ashdown-Hill told LiveScience. [See Photos of the Search of King Richard III]

"We're talking about a member of the royal family and a former head of state," he said.

A lost king and controversy

Richard III died in 1485, a victim on the field at the Battle of Bosworth in the English War of the Roses. Historical records held that his battered body was taken to Leicester and buried, but the grave was lost in the early 1600s.

The search for Richard III's body was sparked by the Richard III Society, a group of historical enthusiasts who call themselves Richardians. Ashdown-Hill is part of the "Looking for Richard" team that got the ball rolling. In 2003, he started working to sequence the mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down the maternal line, of Richard III's living descendant.

Screenwriter and dedicated Richardian Philippa Langley took the lead on the archaeology, urging the Leicester City Council to allow a dig in its building's parking lot, as historical records suggested that the lot sat over the site of Greyfriars, the church where Richard III was buried. The Richard III Society funded the dig and hired University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) to do the archaeology. ULAS is an independent group of archaeologists embedded in the University of Leicester's school of archaeology and ancient history.

These players have sometimes clashed with each other as well as with outsiders. Most prominent are debates over where the king will be reburied. The University of Leicester was granted the exhumation license for the body, making it the institution responsible for the reburial. The plan is to rebury Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. That arrangement has sparked anger from some who claim relation to the king and would like to see him buried in his adopted hometown of York. Even some who accept a Leicester burial are upset with the modernistic designs for Richard III's tomb.

DNA debate

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Plan to Decode Richard III's Genome Sparks Protest From Historian