Crookback SHAKESPEARE'S 'RICHARD III' REBOOTED Writing to please his patron, Elizabeth I, and relying on sources which supported the Tudor portrayal of Richard III as a usurper of the throne and tyrannical mass murderer, Shakespeare crafted one of the most monstrous villains of literature - a fictional character that came to supplant the Richard of history. But how different might be Shakespeare's 'Tragedy of Richard III' were...