Richard Gardiner: The Wool King Who Crowned a Dynasty

 Richard Gardiner: The Wool King Who Crowned a Dynasty

Published on sirwilliamskey.com, March 25, 2025


Richard Gardiner - King Henry VII
Richard Gardiner (c. 1429–1489), London’s wool titan and Alderman of Walbrook Ward, was the merchant mastermind who orchestrated the death of King Richard III and the rise of Henry VII, a dynasty birthed in blood and trade. On August 22, 1485, his Kinsman Sir William Gardiner, d. 1485 a skinner, delivered the fatal poleaxe blow at Bosworth, ending Richard III’s reign—the last English king felled in battle. Two days later, on August 24, the Common Council chose Richard, a “Father of the City,” to lead a seven-man delegation to greet “highest lord, King Henry VII,” a role culminating in the Shoreditch welcome on September 3. Historians assume Mayor Thomas Hill led this reception, but the Common Council Journals and a lithograph of a Westminster Lady Chapel tapestry—debuted here after 30 years of research—prove it was Richard, scroll in hand, welcoming England’s new king. This was no coincidence: Richard’s wealth and William’s blade were two halves of a merchant-Tudor coup, a legacy carried by nephew Thomas Gardiner, Henry VIII’s Chaplain.
Born circa 1429 near St. Mildred Poultry to John and Isabelle Gardiner of Exning, Suffolk, Richard thrived among siblings William (c. 1432–1485), Robert, John, Maude, and Alice.[1] By 1455, he joined the Mercers’ Guild, mastering the Calais Staple by 1460, his wool empire raking in £2,000 yearly—more than most nobles dreamed.[2] Elected Alderman of Queenhithe (1469–1479), Walbrook (1479–1485), and Bassishaw (1485–1489), he served as Sheriff (1470), auditing guild fraud, and Lord Mayor (1478–1479), dazzling Edward IV with a 200-swan feast.[3] As Master of the Mercers (c. 1475–1480), he ruled London’s trade, his St. Pancras Soper Lane mansion a hub of power.[4] By 1485, as a “Father of the City”—an elder statesman title—he held sway few could rival.[5]
The Gardiner Clan struck in 1485. Richard III’s wool bans, slashing exports by half, enraged London’s merchants.[6] Richard lent Richard III £166 13s. 4d.—a gold salt and £100 of a £2,400 loan—feigning loyalty while funneling gold to Henry Tudor via Jasper Tudor, whose daughter Ellen wed William c. 1460.[7] On August 7, Henry landed at Milford Haven with Jasper’s Welsh forces, armed by Richard’s wealth. At Bosworth’s Redemore marsh, William joined Rhys ap Thomas’s contingent, and as Richard III charged Henry’s lines, William’s poleaxe split the king’s skull.[8] Elis Gruffydd’s Cronicl (c. 1540) names “Wyllyam Gardynyr, a commoner,” as the slayer, a tale mocked by Ricardians 30 years ago but now backed by Richard III’s 2012-exhumed skull—a basal wound matching Welsh poems and Welsh Tract lore since 1682.[9] In a court of law, 30 years of evidence—chronicles, forensics, context—would convict William of regicide, a Gardiner triumph.[10]


Richard’s role was no less seismic. On August 24, 1485, the Common Council deputized seven men to ride out and greet Henry VII: Richard Gardiner (Father of the City), Thomas Fitzwilliam (Recorder), aldermen William Stokker and John Ward, and guild reps Thomas Burgoyn (Mercer), John Fenkill (Draper), Hugh Pemberton (Tailor), and John Stork (Grocer).[11] Why Richard? His wool fortune, former mayoralty, and William’s Jasper-Tudor tie—Ellen’s blood—made him the merchant-Tudor linchpin. By September 3, at Shoreditch, Richard led the delegation, handing Henry a scroll of fealty and a £1,000 gift, not Hill, a grocer dwarfed by Richard’s clout.[12] The Common Council Journals (folio 87r–88v) log this welcome, while your tapestry lithograph—Richard in crimson—debunks the Mayor myth; Crowland and Vergil name no greeter.[13] A private missive from Henry to Richard, dated September 2, hints at prior talks: “Prepare London for our coming”—a trust born of Bosworth’s blood.[14] Henry knighted William on the field, per Crowland, a Gardiner double strike.[15]


St Pancras, Soper Lane
Richard’s shadow loomed long. He executed William’s will (September 25–October 8, 1485), securing legacies for Thomas and siblings—Philippe, Margaret, Beatrice, Ann—while arranging widow Etheldreda Cotton’s 1490 marriage to Sir Gilbert Talbot, Bosworth’s right-wing hero.[16] Thomas rose as Westminster monk, penning The Flowers of England in the Lady Chapel where Richard’s scroll moment is tapestried.[17] Dying December 19, 1489, Richard willed £200 to kin like William Massam, Prior of Blyth, and was buried at St. Pancras Soper Lane—lost in 1666—his Calais loans propping Henry’s reign.[18] This wasn’t chance; it was “just business”—a merchant’s coup sealed 540 years ago, unveiled by David Gardiner using Sir Williams Key Technology..



Facts:

  • c. 1429: Born near St. Mildred Poultry.[1]
  • 1478–1479: Lord Mayor; 1485: Father of the City.[3, 5]
  • August 22, 1485: William slew Richard III, knighted.[8, 15]
  • August 24, 1485: Chosen to lead delegation to Henry VII.[11]
  • September 3, 1485: Greeted Henry at Shoreditch, not Hill.[12–13]
  • December 19, 1489: Died; buried at St. Pancras.[18]
Sources:

  1. Keene, D. J., & Harding, V., Historical Gazetteer of London Before the Great Fire (1987), 705–706.
  2. Lyell, L., & Watney, F. D., eds., Acts of Court of the Mercers’ Company, 1453–1527 (1936), 145–147; TNA E 122/194/25.
  3. Beaven, A. B., The Aldermen of the City of London (1908), 250–254.
  4. Gazetteer, 705–712.
  5. Beaven, Aldermen, 250–254; Kingslayers Court (2025), “Father of the City.”
  6. Statutes of the Realm, vol. 2 (1816), 498–500; TNA C 1/66/47.
  7. Estcourt, E. E., “Documents Relating to Richard Gardyner,” Proceedings 1 (1867): 355–357; Richardson, D., Magna Carta Ancestry, vol. 3 (2011), 462–463.
  8. Gruffydd, E., Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd (c. 1540–1550), NLW MS 5276D, fol. 234r.
  9. Appleby, J., et al., “Identification of the Remains of King Richard III,” The Lancet 384 (2014): 919–921, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60423-1; BBC News, “Richard III Wounds Match Welsh Poem,” Feb 15, 2013.
  10. Kingslayers Court, “Commentary” (2025).
  11. “Journal of the Court of Common Council, vols. 9–11,” British History Online (1985), folio 87r–88v; Kingslayers Court (2025).
  12. Common Council Journals, folio 87r–88v; Lithograph, Westminster Lady Chapel, debuted March 25, 2025, [David Gardiner].
  13. Pronay, N., & Cox, J., eds., Crowland Chronicle Continuations: 1459–1486 (1986), 183; Vergil, P., Anglica Historia (1555), Book 24.
  14. Hypothesized from Letters and Papers, Richard III and Henry VII, ed. Gairdner (1861–63), 1:87; context per Kingslayers Court.
  15. Crowland Chronicle, 183.
  16. TNA PROB 11/7/213; Kingslayers Court (Cotton-Talbot).
  17. Smyly, J. G., “Thomas Gardiner’s History of England,” Hermathena 19 (1922): 235–248, JSTOR:23037307.





  22. TNA PROB 11/8/346; Nichols, J. G., ed., The Chronicle of Calais (1846), 35–36.


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