Richard III of England due to the fact that it helped to legitimise Henry VII's seizure of the throne. The Richard III Society contends that this means that 'a lot of what people thought they knew about Richard III was pretty much propaganda and myth building.' The Tudor characterisation culminated in the famous fictional portrayal of him in Shakespeare's play "Richard III" as a physically deformed, Machiavellian villain, ruthlessly committing numerous murders in order to claw his way to power; Shakespeare's intention perhaps being to use Richard III as a vehicle for creating his own Marlowesque protagonist. Rous himself, in his "History of the
Richard III of England was executed by Henry VII in 1499. The only extant direct male line of Plantagenets is the House of Beaufort, headed today by Henry Somerset, 12th Duke of Beaufort, but the Beaufort line was barred from the succession by Henry IV. There are numerous contemporary, or near-contemporary, sources of information about the reign of Richard III. These include the "Croyland Chronicle", Commines' "Mémoires", the report of Dominic Mancini, the Paston Letters, the Chronicles of Robert Fabyan and numerous court and official records, including a few letters by Richard himself. However, the debate about Richard's true character and motives continues, both