Scientists Discover the Lethal Blow that Killed King Richard III in Battle (VIDEO)

Researchers may have found the lethal killing blow that claimed the life of King Richard III. New film footage shows a dramatic injury to the base of the skull as well as the inside of the top of the skull.

The new footage is among 26 sequences that were taken to chronicle the key events of the life and death of the last Plantagenet king.

Richard was a royal prince until the death of his brother, Edward IV, in 1483. Although he was meant to act as a protector for his nephew and the heir to the throne, Edward V, Richard instead took power from the young king and assumed the throne. He then confined Edward V and his brother to the Tower of London, which resulted in the story of the "Princes of the Tower." The princes soon disappeared after their confinement, and historians believe that Richard likely had them killed to avoid potential rivals.

Richard's reign didn't last that long. Challenged by Henry Tudor, King Richard died on the battlefield at Bosworth in 1485, just 26 months after his reign began. He was given a low-key burial in the church of Greyfriars in the center of Leicester, and the location of his grave was lost until it was recently uncovered beneath a car park.

Now, researchers have taken a look at the blow that killed Richard. The researchers examined the skull and linked marks on the vertebra, the smaller of the two wounds to the base of the skull and a mark on the inside of the skull. This suggests that whoever killed Richard thrust his weapon from the base of Richard's neck and into his head.

"Following the identification of the major sharp force trauma to the base of the skull, which was probably inflicted by a sword or the top spike of a bill or halberd, we were interested to determine the angle of the blow," said Jo Appleby, who led the examination of the skeleton, in a news release. "During filming, Professor Rutty noted a small traumatic lesion on the interior surface of the cranium, directly opposite the sharp force trauma. Careful examination showed that the two injuries lined up with one another, and also with an injury to Richard's first cervical vertebra. The combination of all three injuries provided evidence for the direction of the injury and also the depth to which the weapon had penetrated the skull."

The recent findings show how King Richard finally perished. Currently, researchers are continuing to analyze the 500-year-old skeleton for futher details about the king.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.

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