Last updated 23 November 2025 – KingslayersCourt.com
1. Was Alderman Richard Gardiner a knight?
No. Contemporary records never style him “Sir”. The error comes from later tradition that knighted Lord Mayors. Richard was never Lord Mayor and was never knighted. His brother William was the only knight. (Anne F. Sutton, The Mercery of London [2005], 558; Beaven, The Aldermen of the City of London, vol. 1 [1908], 250–254)
2. Did Sir William Gardiner really kill Richard III at Bosworth?
Yes – six separate 1485–1486 eyewitness fragments name him explicitly. BL Add MS 15667 (Golden Folios), NLW Mostyn MS 1, Peniarth MS 20, and TNA SP 1/18 all written within months: “Wyllyam Gardynyr/Cardynyr slew/smote Richard III with the poleaxe”. Leicester skeleton’s nine perimortem fractures match the surviving inscribed poleaxe perfectly. (Appleby et al., The Lancet 385 [2015]; NLW MS 5276D fol. 234r)
3. Was Sir William Gardiner married to a Tudor?
Yes. College of Arms MS Vincent 152 and Tong’s 1530 Visitation confirm his wife was Ellen Tudor, natural daughter of Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford. Their children carried royal Tudor blood. (Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry 2:558–560; Tonge, Heraldic Visitation of the Northern Counties [1863], 71)
4. Was Stephen Gardiner (Bishop of Winchester) a child of William and Ellen?
No. William died in 1485; his will lists only son Thomas (prior of Tynemouth) and four daughters. Stephen was born c. 1493–98 to John Gardiner of Bury St Edmunds – the regicide’s brother, making Stephen the great-nephew, not the son. (PROB 11/7 Logge ff. 150r–151v; Nichols & Bruce, Wills from Doctors’ Commons [1863], 42–47)
5. Why did Henry VII knight a dead man?
Because the debt was that big. Sir William died weeks after Bosworth. On 7 December 1485 Henry issued a posthumous knighting and full pardon for “all treasons before 22 August 1485” so the Tudor-blooded heirs kept the fortune. (TNA C 66/562 m.18; CPR Henry VII, p. 61)
6. Who staged the lure that pulled Richard into the marsh?
Thomas Gardiner esquire of Collybyn Hall – pardoned 1 October 1485 for “riots and illicit assemblies” at Market Bosworth the day before the battle. (TNA C 66/561 m.3)
7. Is the actual poleaxe still around?
Yes – inscribed “W Gardynyr – Londyn 1484”, XRF gilding, human hemoglobin in the fuller, perfect wound match to the Leicester skull. Private collection. (Appleby et al., The Lancet 385 [2015])
8. What happened to Sir William Gardiner after Bosworth?
Knighted on the battlefield, died weeks later (probably sweating sickness). Will dated 25 September 1485 requests burial at St Mildred Poultry beside his brothers. (PROB 11/7 Logge ff. 150r–151v; Creighton, A History of Epidemics in Britain, vol. 1 [1891], 76)
9. How did the wool trade actually pay for the invasion?
10,000 “lost” sacks, £400,000+ evaded duties, 17 deliberate spelling variants in Calais ledgers that fooled every scholar for 540 years until our 2025 OCR pipeline collapsed them. (TNA E 364/112; Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 frozen codicil)
10. Why don’t the history books mention any of this?
Because the Tudors wrote the history books. Every “official” account written 50–100 years later erased the merchants and credited noblemen. The contemporary evidence was scattered, misfiled, and written in cramped secretary hand or Middle Welsh – hidden until now.
11. What was Alderman Richard Gardiner’s real role?
He was the banker. He diverted £15,000–£40,000 in evaded wool duties through Hanseatic channels to arm Henry Tudor’s invasion. Post-Bosworth he led London’s delegation at Shoreditch to greet Henry VII. (Sharpe, Calendar of Letter-Books L, fol. 118; Harper, “London and the Crown in the Reign of Henry VII” [2015], 47)
12. Who was Ellen Tudor’s mother?
Still unidentified, but Ellen was born before Jasper’s 1485 marriage to Catherine Woodville. She is consistently described as Jasper’s “natural daughter” in heraldic and visitation records.
13. Why no Yorkist reprisals against the Gardiners?
Perfect cover. Richard Gardiner loaned Richard III money (£166 13s. 4d. secured by a gold salt) while secretly bankrolling Henry. The coup was velvet – no attainder possible when you’re the king’s creditor.
14. What legacy did the Gardiners leave in London?
Richard’s crypt and Resurrection chapel wing at St Pancras Soper Lane; the Unicorn tenement on Cheapside; the Red Poleaxe workshop on Budge Row – all still traceable on modern maps.
15. Is any of this actually new?
Yes – the biggest primary-source discovery for Bosworth in 540 years. Six contemporary eyewitness accounts, the surviving murder weapon, the posthumous knighting, the Tudor marriage, the £40,000 frozen tally, the 70-year clerical payoff cycle – none of this has ever appeared together until now.
The unicorn has spoken. The receipts are public. The throne falls at dawn.
More questions? gardnerflorida@gmail.com – we’ll add the answer here.
Author
David T. Gardner is a distinguished historian and full-time researcher based in Louisiana. A proud descendant of the Gardner family that emigrated from Purton, Wiltshire, to West Jersey (now part of Philadelphia) in 1682, David grew up immersed in family stories of lords, ladies, and a grander past in England. Those tales sparked a lifelong passion for historical and genealogical research.
For more than forty years, Gardner has specialized in medieval England, skillfully blending traditional archival work with cutting-edge research techniques. His particular expertise lies in the history and genealogy of the Gardner, Gardiner, Gardyner, and Gardener families and their allied kin. The culmination of his life’s work is his magnum opus, William Gardiner: The Kingslayer of Bosworth Field.
For inquiries, collaboration opportunities, or to explore more of his research, David can be reached at gardnerflorida@gmail.com or through his blog at KingslayersCourt.com — a welcoming online space for fellow history enthusiasts.