THE war of words over where Richard III’s final resting place should be has now seen descendants of the dead king call for him to be buried in York.

Stephen Nicolay, who claims the controversial monarch as his 15th great uncle, said Richard’s final resting place should “without question” be York Minster, while Charles Brunner, a descendant of Richard’s sister, Anne of York, said: “We repatriate those who give their lives in battle, so why is this any different?”

York Minster, whose new dean comes from Leicester, has said it does not want the bones to be buried there.

However, the calls continue to grow for the remains to come to York, and a petition has now gathered more than 15,000 signatures.

Meanwhile, council leaders from all parties in Yorkshire and the north-east are voicing their support, including Bill Dixon, leader of Darlington, Tim Fox leader of Scarborough and Linda Cowling, leader of Ryedale.

James Alexander, leader of City of York Council, said: “As there is no precedent for this extraordinary situation, we have a duty to represent the voice of local people and have submitted appropriate representation to be considered by the respective authorities.

“A number of his descendants have appealed to us to uphold their ancestor’s known living wishes to be buried in York where the king was establishing a chantry of 100 priests. By the time of his death in 1485, six altars were already in place in the Minster where prayers for his and his family’s souls were said.”

Sandra Wadley, chairman of the Society of Friends of King Richard III, said: “York was Richard’s city, the people of York loved him and Richard loved York. You only have to look in York city archives to see how much he was loved.”

To sign the petition, go to bringbackrichard.co.uk

• A German academic working with City of York Council’s archives service has recreated the medieval bread presented to Richard III when he visited the city in 1482. 

Richard was presented with a kind of bread unique to the city called “mayne” – a rich and spicy loaf made for special occasions and traditionally presented to Royal or noble visitors by the Mayor, Sheriff and Aldermen.  

Coun Sonja Crisp, the council’s cabinet member for leisure, culture and tourism, said: “The art of making it was lost in the 17th century, but attempts to reconstruct the recipe have been underway since the 1950s.

“Now, after working with archive staff to collect all references to the bread in the city’s records, Dr Almute Grohmann-Sinz, a German academic, believes she has developed a mixture close to the medieval original.”

This week, staff received a parcel containing the final version of the bread.