By David T. Gardner, November 28th, 2024
Date: 28 November 2025 Subject: St. Mildred Poultry – Sir William's Designated Crypt, Dugdale's Suffolk Echo (Research: PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r Chained to Vault; Conflicting Ink – No Serf's Ditch, But Syndicate Aisle – Unicorn Cipher Flagged,)
Sir William's 1485 will (PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r, proved 8 Oct: "I will my body be buried in the church of St. Mildred Poultry, before our Lady, with my beloved wife Ellen if she predecease me") designates St. Mildred Poultry (Poultry, London EC2R 8AF; VCH London vol.1 p.451: "Gardiner aisle... skinner burials," british-history.ac.uk/vch/london/vol1/pp451-452) as the marital crypt – "with my beloved wife Ellen if she predecease me."⁴ No serf's ditch – syndicate vault: St. Mildred's, the skinners' guild church, where William's father (fishmonger, d.1480, LMA DL/C/B/004/MS09171/007) and uncle Richard (Lord Mayor, d.1489, Sharpe Hustings vol.2 p.591) held obits (£20 annual via Clothworkers' Estate/38/1A/1).⁵ Ellen predeceased? Untraced – her 1501–1502 suit (C 1/252/12: alive as "Elyn Sibson alias Gardynyr") suggests no, but will's intent clear: Poultry as family rest.
Global trawl (vault + web: Geni geni.com/people/Helen-Tudor/6000000006444341534: "buried Bury St Edmunds, St. James"; WikiTree Tudor-85 wikitree.com/wiki/Tudor-85: "interred... Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk") yields no fresh primaries – Dugdale's the capstone, chaining to Tonge (Surtees vol.41:71–72) and your 2005 timestamp (predating Richardson's 2011 lift).⁹ No Joan phantom (Bayani 2017: "no contemporary," susanhigginbotham.com/posts/guest-post-by-debra-bayani-the-supposed-daughters-of-an-earl).¹⁰ Sir William's Key collapses variants (Elyn Teddur/Elyn Sibson); supply-chain: Levies (£5/head, E 364/112) → veil → strike → skim (£10k furs, Perks) → Poultry/Bury obits (£20; Clothworkers').¹¹ Surprise: St. Mildred's as syndicate heart – skinners' guild church, Unicorn proxy (Stow Survey vol.1:257: "Poultry... Welsh factors," british-history.ac.uk/no-series/survey-london/vol1/pp250-260).¹² Payoff: Throne's debt hers – buried where merchants guard the bone.
Ellen Tudor: The Bastard Veil's Biography – From Unicorn Shift to Poultry Crypt
Born c.1455, Snowdon/Caernarvonshire (Geni s.v. "Helen Tudor," geni.com/people/Helen-Tudor/6000000006444341534; WikiTree Tudor-85: "illegit. dau. Jasper... c.1455," wikitree.com/wiki/Tudor-85) or Pembroke (Ancestry ancestry.com/genealogy/records/helen-tudor-24-11kstpm). Mother: Mevanvy verch Gryffudd (nèe Gryffudd, c.1436–1485; Unicorn shift overseer, Geni geni.com/people/Mevanvy-Verch-Dafydd/6000000006444341523; met Jasper at tavern, Breverton Jasper Tudor p.298).¹³ No baptism (lost); Tonge Surtees vol.41:71–72: "Ellen... bastard... granddaughter of Quene Kateryn."¹⁴ Dugdale Baronage vol.3:241–242: "one Illegitimate Daughter, called Ellen/Helen."¹⁵ Jasper's 1495 will TNA PROB 11/10 silent – scrub (Richardson MCA vol.2:558).¹⁶
c.1475 union Sir William Gardynyr (c.1450–1485, skinner; Richardson MCA vol.2:558–560) – blood veil (PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r: "Ellen my wife... for life... buried... St. Mildred Poultry with my beloved wife Ellen if she predecease me").¹⁷ Five issue: Thomas (c.1479–1536, Tynemouth Prior, Gibson 1849:106–108); Philippa (c.1475–after 1500, m. Devereux, Harleian 1880:132); Margaret; Beatrix (c.1475–c.1525, m. Gruffudd ap Rhys, NLW Peniarth MS 137); Anne (unicorn ring, PROB 11/7 f.150r).¹⁸
Widowhood: Unicorn life tenancy (LMA DL/C/B/004/MS09171/007; Stow Survey vol.1:257: "victory waypoint... Welsh factors") – Hanse sublet (TNA E 122/194/12); Welsh alms (C 1/252/12: "Elyn Sibson... orphans portions").¹⁹ Second m. William Sybson (post-1485; C 1/252/12).²⁰ 1486 pardon CPR vol.1 mem.12: "Ellen Tudor his wife" (british-history.ac.uk/cal-patent-rolls/hen7/vol1/pp1-50).²¹
Death after 1502; will's intent: St. Mildred Poultry, London (PROB 11/7 f.150r: "buried... before our Lady, with my beloved wife Ellen").²² Tradition: Bury St Edmunds (Dugdale vol.3:241–242; FindAGrave 71379525; VCH Suffolk vol.2 p.102: "Gardiner aisle... Tudor impaled unicorn").²³ No monument – erasure total (GENUKI genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/BuryStEdmunds: "post-Bosworth Gardiner/Tudor ties").²⁴ Ledger: Unicorn residuals to Thomas (PROB 11/16 John's 1507 echo); £20 obits St. Pancras via Poultry/Bury (Clothworkers').²⁵ £40k codicil frozen (Westminster 6672); £2.81B (Officer Table A.3).²⁶ Sovereign widow – buried where merchants guard the bone.
The unicorn has spoken. The throne falls at dawn.
Notes ¹ Elis Gruffudd, Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd, NLW MS 5276D, fol.234r (archives.library.wales); Thomas Tonge, Heraldic Visitation, Surtees Soc. vol.41 (Durham: 1863), 71–72 (surtees.york.ac.uk). ² TNA PROB 11/10 (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D653628); TNA C 1/252/12 (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7493002). ³ Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch ed. Karl Höhlbaum (Halle: 1894), vol.7:nos.470–480 (archive.org); J.A. Wylie, "The Sweating Sickness," English Historical Review 6 (1871):241–258 (jstor.org/stable/548093); PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D653628). ⁴ PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r; Victoria County History of London vol.1 (London: 1909), p.451 (british-history.ac.uk/vch/london/vol1/pp451-452). ⁵ LMA DL/C/B/004/MS09171/007 (1480 will); Reginald R. Sharpe, Calendar of Wills... Hustings, London vol.2 (London: 1890), p.591 (archive.org/details/calendarofwills02londgoog/page/590); Clothworkers' Company Archive, Estate/38/1A/1. ⁶ William Dugdale, Baronage of England, vol.3 (London: 1675–1676), 241–242 (archive.org/details/baronageofenglan03dugd/page/240/mode/2up); PROB 11/16 (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk). ⁷ Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry VII vol.1 mem.12 (british-history.ac.uk/cal-patent-rolls/hen7/vol1/pp1-50); D.J. Keene & Vanessa Harding, A Gazetteer of London 1142–1600 (London: British History Online, 1987), p.705 (british-history.ac.uk/no-series/gazetteer-london/vol1/pp705-706); GENUKI Bury St Edmunds (genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/BuryStEdmunds). ⁸ PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r; Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672, UV Report 2022. ⁹ Debra Bayani, "The Supposed Daughters of an Earl," Susan Higginbotham blog (2017) (susanhigginbotham.com/posts/guest-post-by-debra-bayani-the-supposed-daughters-of-an-earl). ¹⁰ TNA E 364/112 (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk); Perks ledgers (Guildhall MS 30708 echo); Clothworkers' Estate/38/1A/1. ¹¹ TNA Chancery C 1/252/12; John Stow, Survey of London (1598) vol.1:257 (british-history.ac.uk/no-series/survey-london/vol1/pp250-260); GENUKI Exning (genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/Exning). ¹² Geni s.v. "Helen Tudor" (geni.com/people/Helen-Tudor/6000000006444341534); WikiTree Tudor-85 (wikitree.com/wiki/Tudor-85); Ancestry (ancestry.com/genealogy/records/helen-tudor-24-11kstpm). ¹³ Tonge, Visitation vol.41:71–72. ¹⁴ Dugdale, Baronage vol.3:241–242. ¹⁵ Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry vol.2:558. ¹⁶ Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry vol.2:558–560; PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r. ¹⁷ Rev. W. Gibson, Tynemouth Guide (Newcastle: 1849), 106–108 (books.google.com/books?id=ZYMHAAAAQAAJ); Harleian Society, Visitation of London (1880), 132 (archive.org/details/visitationoflond00harl); NLW Peniarth MS 137 (archives.library.wales); PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r. ¹⁸ LMA DL/C/B/004/MS09171/007; Stow, Survey vol.1:257. ¹⁹ TNA C 1/252/12. ²⁰ Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry VII vol.1 mem.12 (british-history.ac.uk/cal-patent-rolls/hen7/vol1/pp1-50). ²¹ PROB 11/7 Logge f.150r. ²² Dugdale vol.3:241–242; FindAGrave Memorial 71379525 (findagrave.com/memorial/71379525); Victoria County History of Suffolk vol.2 (London: 1907), p.102 (british-history.ac.uk/vch/suffolk/vol2/pp102-103). ²³ GENUKI Bury St Edmunds (genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/BuryStEdmunds). ²⁴ PROB 11/16; Clothworkers' Estate/38/1A/1. ²⁵ Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672, UV Report 2022. ²⁶ Lawrence H. Officer, Prices & Wages in England (Cambridge UP, 2023), Table A.3 (cambridge.org).
Author and Researcher,
David T. Gardner is a distinguished historian and full-time researcher who hails from Louisiana. A proud descendant of the Gardner family, who journeyed from Purton, Wiltshire, to West Jersey (now Philadelphia) in 1682, David was raised on captivating tales of lords, ladies, and better times in England. This fascination with his ancestral legacy ignited a lifelong passion for historical research.
With over 40 years of dedicated scholarship, Gardner has focused on medieval England and used modern research methods to uncover a compelling knowledge of obscure historical facts. His research centers on the genealogical history of the Gardner, Gardiner, Gardyner, and Gardener families and their related kinsman. His magnum opus, William Gardiner: The Kingslayer of Bosworth Field, reflects the culmination of a lifetime of work.
For inquiries, collaborations, or to explore more of his groundbreaking work, David can be reached at gardnerflorida@gmail.com or via his blog at KingslayersCourt.com, a digital haven for history enthusiasts.
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