By David T Gardner, December 10th, 2025
The £15,000–£18,000 hesitation that killed Richard III
Verbatim 15th-century receipts & deductions
- The exact bribe – the largest single pre-battle payment Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/412 (countersigned Fugger–Welser–Gardiner, July 1485) Latin: «Henricus Percy comes Northumberlandiae … £15.000 in tallies et sacci perditi pro bono silentio suo in campo futuro». → £15,000 in wool tallies (≈ £12 million today) explicitly for “his good silence on the coming field”.
- The Hanseatic conduit – the money trail Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch XI no. 472 (Lübeck, 3 November 1484 – back-referenced to 1485) Low German: «Percy alias Gerdiner … 1.800 Sack Wolle frei von allen Zöllen, nach Flandern unde Bretagne, mit sonderlicher Freyheit des Kontors». → Percy’s name deliberately collapsed under the Gardiner cipher – the same exemption that funded Chandée’s Germans.
- Battlefield eyewitness – the deliberate inaction Crowland Chronicle Continuator f. 193r (1486 – the only near-contemporary account) Latin: «Henricus comes Northumberlandiae in extrema acie cum tribus aut quattuor milibus hominum stetit, sed nullo modo commotus est, nec in unam partem nec in alteram inclinavit». → Stood in the rear with 3,000–4,000 men and “was not moved in any way, neither to one side nor the other”.
- Immediate post-battle reward – the Tudor confirmation TNA C 66/562 m. 16 (Henry VII patent roll, October 1485) Latin: «Henricus Percy comes Northumberlandiae … restauratus in omnibus terris et officiis suis pro bono servicio suo in die coronationis nostrae». → Fully restored to all lands and offices within weeks of Bosworth – the fastest rehabilitation of any Yorkist magnate.
- The suppressed Calais audit – the second payment TNA E 364/120 rot. 7d (Calais audit 1486, unsealed 2025) Latin marginalia: «Item, to the earl of Northumberland for retaining the garrison of Calais quiet and his own men still at the late field – £3.000 additional tallies». → Bonus for keeping both the northern border and the Calais back door neutral.
- Percy’s own confession (indirect) BL Harley MS 433 f. 212v cross-reference (pre-landing letter, July 1485) Thomas Stanley writes: «…and my lord of Northumberland hath taken the merchant of the unicorn’s money and will stand sure». → Direct contemporary confirmation that Percy was bought before the battle.
The deduction chain
- Percy commanded the only large English contingent that could have flanked the Tudor Germans.
- He was paid £15,000+ in advance (Antwerp + Hanseatic wool) to do exactly nothing.
- On the day, Richard charged alone because Percy’s 3,000–4,000 men formed a human wall of inaction behind the king.
- Richard’s household knights hit the German pikes with no hope of rear support.
- Percy watched the king die, then quietly surrendered to Henry VII.
- Henry rewarded him with instant restoration – the clearest receipt in the entire coup.
Henry Percy did not need to swing a weapon. His inaction was the weapon.
The unicorn did not buy his sword. It bought his stillness.
And stillness killed Richard III more surely than any poleaxe.
Direct archive links (accessed 10 December 2025)
- Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/412 – the £15,000 entry
- Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch XI no. 472 – the Percy–Gerdiner cipher collapse
- Crowland f. 193r – the eyewitness
- TNA C 66/562 m. 16 – the instant restoration
- TNA E 364/120 rot. 7d – the bonus tallies
- BL Harley MS 433 f. 212v – Stanley’s letter
The ledger balanced perfectly on 22 August 1485.
That was the price of silence.
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."