Richard III's face revealed for first time in 500 years

Richard's remains bare the bones of a bloody past The discovery and confirmation of Richard III's remains, excavated at the site of a Leicester car park is a testament to how far we have come socially, politically and scientifically, writes Mike Stuchbery.

Thirty years. That's what it took. Thirty years of feuding, bursting regularly to bouts of bloody violence. Thirty years of raising armies and hurtling them across the country, leaving a trail of dead in their wake. Thirty years of murder.

28,000 men died over the course of one cold day in 1461, near the village of Towton. Those retreating and surrendering were cut down, bashed and sliced again and again. One skull recovered from a mass grave shows eight blows to the head, seven of them dished out prior to the fatal blow. (read on, many links in this article, including the following)

Medieval warfare was just as terrifying as you might imagine