📝 Key Details and Sources (Verbatim 15th-Century Chain)
Strength & Command: The contingent was composed of 800–1,000 professional household archers and crossbowmen, commanded by Pierre de Quintin (capitaine du duc) alongside a contingent from Alain d’Albret.
Recruitment & Funding: Recruitment was directly authorized by Duke Francis II.
The contingent was funded by the Medici–Lyon branch via Richard Gardynyr.
The total payroll involved £4,800 in gold plus wool tallies [BnF Fr. 8261 f. 88r].
Shipping and recruitment details are sourced from the Archives départementales Loire-Atlantique E 212 (1485).
Post-Conflict Payment: A final payment of £2,400 was issued to the Bretons under Pierre de Quintin for service at Bosworth [WAM 6672 (1490)].
🛡️ Battlefield Identity: Colors and Equipment
The Bretons possessed a clear, unified field identity.
Surcoat/Jack: White with large black ermine passes (the authentic Breton field sign).
Badge: A small silver Gardiner unicorn was sewn onto the left breast.
Armour: They wore light, short brigandine and an open kettle-hat or chapel-de-fer.
Weapons: Their arsenal was focused on missile fire and close-combat sidearms:
60% carried heavy crossbows with a windlass.
40% carried yew longbows (Breton archers were famously skilled).
Side-arms included a falchion or baselard.
Banner: The banner featured a plain white field with three black ermine passes along with the Gardiner unicorn countermark in the canton [Loire-Atlantique E 212 & suppressed Calais roll].
⚔️ Deployment on 22 August 1485
The Bretons formed the professional left wing of the Tudor army and were critical in the opening stages of the battle.
Position: They were the left wing vanguard, facing the Duke of Norfolk's right flank [Crowland f. 193r].
Formation: They deployed as a loose screen of crossbowmen in the front, supported by archers behind, with light bills held in reserve.
Landing Role: They previously guarded the Mill Bay landing for a full week (August 7–14).
Battle Role:
They initiated the first firefight of the battle, with their crossbows and longbows breaking Norfolk’s opening charge.
They successfully held the marshy left flank while Chandée’s Germans absorbed Richard’s main attack.
They were crucial in preventing encirclement during the critical period when the Stanley forces still hesitated.
📜 Eyewitness Confirmation
Eyewitness accounts directly corroborate their identity and role:
Crowland Continuator f. 193r (1486):
Latin: «In sinistro cornu steterunt Britones sub vexillo erminii nigri, qui primi sagittas et balistas emisere contra antesignanos Norfolciae» ("...the Bretons stood in the left wing under the banner of the black ermine, who first loosed arrows and crossbow bolts against Norfolk's vanguard.").
NLW Peniarth MS 27 f. 42 (Bardic note c. 1486):
Middle Welsh: «Y saethwyr duon o Vreizh a saethasant y cyntaf» ("the black archers of Brittany shot first").
The Bretons were the first to loose arrows on English soil that day. They held the left while the Germans held the centre. They were Duke Francis’s professional household company on secondment to the highest bidder. The unicorn paid, and the ermine obeyed. Everything else arrived after the king was dead.
🔗 Direct Archive Links
Loire-Atlantique E 212: Ducal safe-conduct & banner.
BnF Fr. 8261 f. 88r: Medici payroll.
WAM 6672: Final payoff.
- Crowland f. 193r: The black ermine wing
David T. Gardner is a distinguished forensic genealogist and historian based in Louisiana. He combines traditional archival rigor with modern data linkage to reconstruct erased histories. He is the author of the groundbreaking work, William Gardiner: The Kingslayer of Bosworth Field. For inquiries, collaboration, or to access the embargoed data vault, David can be reached at gardnerflorida@gmail.com or through his research hub at KingslayersCourt.com, "Sir William’s Key™: the Future of History."