Historical approach to Shakespeare's Richard III

The battle of Bosworth from an early-sixteenth-century refief carving (from Seward, 1997)

Regarding the historical aspects one cannot definitely say whether Shakespeare created a new, evil Richard, or a historical portrait about a person full of villainy. Certainly we are not in the position to give an answer but you can be sure to get an insight into different attitudes of the medieval King Richard III.