Richard III (1483-1485) is described by historians as a tyrannical king with an ungrateful physique. The recent discovery by researchers at Cambridge University will not be used to rehabilitate the monarch.
New analyzes of his skeleton, unearthed in August 2012 during excavations under a parking lot in the city of Leicester, suggest that the king had ascariasis, a scientific name to signify that the king was a carrier of intestinal worms. Here is information which should not restore the blazon of Richard III but which informs a little more about the life of the sovereign.
The eggs of these parasites called Ascaris lumbricoides have been found in soil samples at the location of the pelvis and the skull of the skeleton. These eggs, which measured up to 8 mm in length, identified with a powerful microscope, certainly resided in the king’s intestines, point out the authors of the study, published in The Lancet.
The king certainly caught these worms during his childhood. Parasites develop normally by puncturing their host’s food, but in Richard III’s case, researchers found no symptoms of malnutrition. If roundworms did not pose any health problem, it was because the king had to eat a diet rich enough not to be bothered by these worms.
The monarch was infected with these worms certainly through fecal contamination as was common in his day. Surprisingly, no trace of other parasites was detected on the remains of Richard III. This suggests that the cooking mode practiced at the time protected the king from other contaminations. “Parasites are killed by cooking meat completely, so perhaps medieval chefs were more conscientious than some might think,” asks Dr. Piers Mitchell, author of the study.
Intestinal worms are only a small part of the discoveries made by researchers on the bones of Richard III. Analyzes have already established that the king, reputed to be a hunchback, had suffered from scoliosis since adolescence.
