Cultural depictions of Richard III of England Cultural depictions of Richard III of England Richard III of England has been depicted in literature and popular culture many times. In the Tudor period he was invariably portrayed as a villain, most famously in Shakespeare's play "Richard III", but also in other literature of the period. Richard's life was not much depicted again until the 20th century when the "Ricardian" movement sought to restore his reputation. Much of more recent creative literature has portrayed him in a positive light. However his reputation as a hunchbacked villain has remained a familiar historical cliché within popular culture. The foremost work of
The Troublesome Reign of King John Peter Ackroyd have defended the Shakespearean attribution. Candidates put forward for the author of "The Troublesome Reign" include Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, Thomas Lodge, and George Peele, among others, alone or in various collaborative combinations; no scholarly consensus has been achieved. The main historical sources for "The Troublesome Reign" are thought to be the "Chronicles" of Raphael Holinshed and "Foxe's Book of Martyrs", and perhaps Richard Grafton's "Chronicle at Large", which recapitulates much of the material in John Foxe's book. The Troublesome Reign of King John The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, commonly called The Troublesome Reign of