Blizzard of 2013 and Discovery of Richard III’s Remains

How could it be that two of the week’s most talked about topics are related? The topic for the first weeks of February 2013 is the blizzard. Another topic that has grabbed much space in the newspapers of the same period is the discovery of the remains of Richard III found buried under a parking lot in Leicester, England. Richard III died at age 32 in the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last battle of the War of the Roses. Not every person in the eastern part of the United States is unhappy about the Blizzard of 2013. The TV channels are using two weather people at a time. The norm is one. I suspect one of the duo is getting some extra compensation. The companies that produce the road salt and sand are thrilled and the potato chip makers? You can only guess how many more cases of chips will be bought to help us deal with the snow. How could it be that the opening lines of Shakespeare’s play Richard III, could seemingly fit so well into the major weather event of the year? Shakespeare wrote, “Now is the Winter of our Discontent,/ Made glorious Summer by this Sun of Yorke. This sun, son, of York(e) was one of the two sons of Edward V. He was the last king of the House of York and his death meant the end of the Plantagenet dynasty. He was buried where he fell in Leicester, England, on August 22, 1485 after dying in battle. Last year, an archaeological excavation in a city car park on land once occupied by the Grayfriars discovered Richard’s remains. Using both DNA testing from, the matrilineal descendants of Richard’s oldest sister, Anne of York and radiocarbon dating, authorities are convinced that they have found Richard III’s remains. The question soon arose as to what is a proper burial for the King whose death is considered the end of the Middle Ages? An exhumation license requires that Richard III be reinterred at Leicester Cathedral but many of the people from York feel otherwise and signed a petition requiring Richard’s bones be reburied in York claiming Leicester didn’t treat the remains well for the last 528 years. The other question is, does the Blizzard of 2013 make this the winter of our discontent?