12 Reasons You're Wrong About King Richard III

11. The Tudors Hated Him... And That's One Of The Reasons He Has Been Portrayed As An Evil King

Shakespeare's portrayal of the former king in "Richard III" was perfectly aligned with the contemporary 16th-Century propaganda used against the last Yorkist monarch. Venerated English lawyer Thomas More was another 16th-Century scholar who aimed to tarnish the reputation of the final Yorkist king - in part to try and legitimise the Tudor household's ascension to the throne. King Henry VII (pictured above) had snatched the throne from Richard III and he wanted his reign legitimised in any way possible. Some of the unsubstantiated rumours that were spread by Tudors about Richard III include that he murdered his own wife Anne - although it appears she actually died from natural causes - and that he killed several political opponents in order to get the crown. Richard III certainly was not a saint, but he was no worse than any other king from the Middles Ages. King Richard II was likely starved by King Henry IV, while King Edward II was probably killed by his own son King Edward III. It appears that King Richard III was no worse than any other monarch at the time - but Tudor propaganda did all it could to paint him as the embodiment of the "evil" and "illegitimate" Yorkist House.