Thomas More

=== ''History of King Richard III'' ===
Between 1512 and 1519 More worked on a ''History of [[Richard III of England|King Richard III]]'', which he never finished but which was published after his death. The ''History'' is a Renaissance biography, remarkable more for its literary skill and adherence to classical precepts than for its historical accuracy.{{sfn|Wegemer|1996|p=218}} Some consider it an attack on royal tyranny, rather than on Richard III himself or the [[House of York]].<ref>{{cite journal | last = Meyer | first = Jürgen | author-link =  | title = An Unthinkable ''History of King Richard the Third'': Thomas More's Fragment and his Answer to Lucian's ''Tyrannicide''| journal = [[Modern Language Review]] | series =  | date = 2014 | volume = 109 | issue = 3 | pages = 629–639 | doi = 10.5699/modelangrevi.109.3.0629}}</ref> More uses a more dramatic writing style than had been typical in medieval chronicles; Richard III is limned as an outstanding, archetypal tyrant—however, More was only seven years old when Richard III was killed at the [[Battle of Bosworth]] in 1485, so he had no first-hand, in-depth knowledge of him.

The ''History of King Richard III'' was written and published in both English and Latin, each written separately, and with information deleted from the Latin edition to suit a European readership.<ref name = Logan168>Logan (2011) p168</ref> It greatly influenced [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]''. Modern historians attribute the unflattering portraits of Richard III in both works to both authors' allegiance to the reigning [[Tudor dynasty]] that wrested the throne from Richard III in the [[Wars of the Roses]].<ref name = Logan168/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bate |first1=Jonathan |author1-link=Jonathan Bate |title=Soul of the age : the life, mind and world of William Shakespeare |date=2008 |publisher=Viking |location=London |isbn=9780670914821 |page=268}}</ref> According to [[Caroline Barron]], Archbishop John Morton, in whose household More had served as a page {{See above}}, had joined the 1483 [[Buckingham's rebellion|Buckingham rebellion]] against Richard III, and Morton was probably one of those who influenced More's hostility towards the defeated king.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwyzer |first1=Philip |author1-link=Philip Schwyzer |title=Shakespeare and the remains of Richard III |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199676101 |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barron |first1=Caroline M. |author1-link=Caroline Barron |editor1-last=Logan |editor1-first=George M. |title=The Cambridge Companion to Thomas More |date=2011 |isbn=9780521888622 |chapter=The making of a London citizen|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> [[Clements Markham]] asserts that the actual author of the chronicle was, in large part, Archbishop Morton himself and that More was simply copying, or perhaps translating, Morton's original material.<ref>{{cite book|first=Clements|last= Markham|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36451 |title=Richard III: His Life and Character, reviewed in the light of recent research|year=1906|publisher=[[Smith, Elder & Co.]]|pages=168–171| author-link=Clements Markham}}</ref><ref>Yoran, H. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24413094?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=richard&searchText=iii&searchText=history&searchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=richard+iii+history&prq=richard+iii+historicity&group=none% ''Thomas More's Richard III: Probing the Limits of Humanism.''] Renaissance Studies 15, no. 4 (2001): 514–37. Retrieved 1 December 2015.</ref>