I’m sorry, but this is the most embarrassing fake Q&A I’ve ever seen a novelist publish on their website
I may be a Richard III enthusiast but if I see one more lukewarm take about blah blah Shakespeare forced by Elizabeth I to write RichardIII as evil because of some political ploy I’m throwing them in a lake
This is not the first time I’ve seen them compare Tudor propaganda to fake news and it just makes me wonder whether they know anything about Early Modern England at all? First, there were no big media outlets nor any effective means of mass communication to brainwash the population. Second, why did Elizabeth I even need to blacken Richard III’s name? There were no Plantagenets around to claim the throne, her dynasty was in fact on its way out and all possible successors descended from Henry VII, so it’s not like there were any practical reasons to boost the dynasty’s legitimacy. Thirdly, the usual authors they claim to have been pure Tudor minions, Polydore Vergil and Thomas More, both got in trouble with Henry VIII so they were clearly very capable of expressing their own thoughts and opinions.
They insist on a conspiracy theory that verges on anti-intellectualism and disregards everything about actual Tudor history.
Also, one of the reasons Thomas More left his history unfinished and it only circulated in manuscript among elites is likely due to his fears it was too politically subversive, particularly when discussing a Duke of Buckingham. Not only that, More came from a Yorkist family and may well have met Elizabeth Shore.
