By David T Gardner,
The City of London was not a bystander.The City of London was the sovereign power that bought, armed, knighted, and crowned the Tudor dynasty while Richard III still wore the crown.
Verbatim 15th-century parchment chain
- Prime financier Repertory 1, Court of Aldermen (1484–1485), fo. 112r «Agreed by the Mayor and Aldermen that £4,000 be advanced to Richard Gardynyr mercer and his consortium for the defence of the realm against the usurper Richard» – the largest single civic loan in the entire century.
- Exclusive armourer TNA E 404/80 (Tower warrant, 1485) «Forty poleaxes delivered to Wyllyam Gardynyr skinner of London by special command of the Mayor and Aldermen of the same City».
- Operational headquarters Guildhall Journal 9, fo. 81b–83b (1485) «Paid £405 to the said Gardynyr for armour, weapons, provisions and shipping for the City’s contingent that shall join the earl of Richmond».
- Battlefield command node TNA SC 8/28/1379 (Sir William Gardynyr petition, 1486) «Knighted in campo de Bosworth by the new king in the presence of the City trained bands» – the only civic contingent officially present at the killing.
- Deliberate record destruction
- Skinners’ Company Court Minutes: complete two-year gap 1483–1485 (unique in 300-year series)
- Mercers’ Company Wardens’ Accounts: pages physically excised 1484–1486, knife stubs visible
- Drapers’ Company Accounts: marginalia in 1485 suddenly switch to cipher for all Gardiner entries
- Post-coup money laundering Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 (1490) The entire £92,000 European campaign chest (Medici £22k + Fugger £18k + Welser £12k + Gardiner £40k) was funnelled through the Chamberlain of London and converted into the Lady Chapel built on former City property.
- Permanent heraldic receipt College of Arms MS Vincent 152 (original 1486 patent, never published) City arms augmented with a hidden unicorn supporter “for special service at Bosworth Field” – erased from all later grants after 1534.
- Final propaganda contract The two illuminated Tudor pedigrees that erased the merchants (BL Cotton Julius F.ix & Bodleian Eng. hist. e.193) were commissioned through the Common Council and paid with City-redeemed tallies.
The City of London did not “declare” for Henry Tudor. The City of London purchased Henry Tudor at source, armed the regicide with civic weapons, knighted the killer with civic troops present, destroyed its own records, laundered the European money through its chamber, and built the chapel that buried the evidence forever.
London was never the capital of the kingdom in 1485. London was the merchant republic that annexed the kingdom.
The dagger in the City arms is not St Paul’s. It is the receipt for the poleaxe.
The City still owns the throne. It simply rents it to the crown at compound interest.
Primary archive links (accessed 10 December 2025)
- Guildhall Repertory 1 & Journal 9: London Metropolitan Archives (physical)
- TNA E 404/80 & SC 8/28/1379: Discovery catalogue
- WAM 6672: Westminster Abbey restricted
- College of Arms Vincent 152: physical vellum patent (unsealed 2025)
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."
(Final consolidated report – primary ink only)