Letter from Richard III, 1483Letter from King Richard III to the Lord Chancellor, the Bishop of Lincoln, ordering him to send the Great Seal and some of the officers of the Chancery, since he could not come in person by reason of his 'infirmities and diseases'.

It is dated 12 October 1483 and the postscript refers to the 'duc of Bokyngam, thel most untrewe creature lyvyng'. The Duke of Buckingham rebelled against the King on 18 October 1483. He was defeated and beheaded on 2 November.

Richard III is perhaps the most maligned figure in British history, largely as a result of the political propaganda put about by the Tudors. William Shakespeare's play, Richard III, depicted him as a deformed hunchback, a monstrous tyrant and murderer of his two nephews (the 'Princes in the Tower'). Some contemporary accounts, however, state that he was handsome, kind and popular with the people.