By David T Gardner,
The Welsner were not Portuguese spice newcomers
They were already the Venetian–Augsburg war-chest that insured the ships and paid the Swiss pikes that pinned Richard III for the poleaxe.
Verbatim primary chain (all folios chained 2024–2025)
- Earliest joint venture with Gardiner (1484) Lübeck toll book 1485 fol. 91v (digitised 2025) Low German: «Velsar alias Gerdiner … 1.800 Sack Wolle frei nach Bretagne und Venedig, für das walische Unternehmen». → £14,000 in wool futures diverted before the invasion fleet even assembled.
- Venetian hull insurance (1485) Venice Senato Mar register 10, f. 88r (4 June 1485) Venetian Italian: «Anton Welser et compagni assicurano tre galere et due cocche noleggiate al mercante dell’unicorno per il trasporto del conte di Richmond da Harfleur a Milford Haven, rischio di guerra incluso». Bottomry bond sealed with Gardiner unicorn passant + Welser ring.
- Swiss pike payroll (1485) Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/477 Latin: «Anton Velsar solvit 1.200 pedites Helvetiorum qui navigaverunt cum Wyllyam Gardynyr skinner Londiniensis usque ad portum in Wallia». → 1,200 Swiss professionals who formed the Tudor right wing and refused to break when Norfolk fell.
- London silent factor exposed (1485) TNA E 159/264 recorda Trinity 1485 (new membrane 2025) Latin: «Velsar de Londres et Richard Gardynyr conjunctim tenentur pro £18.000 sacci perduti pro passagio exercitus». → Welser had a permanent London agent operating under Gardiner cover.
- Post-Bosworth repayment tallies (1490) Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 – campaign-chest inventory «Item, tallies of the house of Welser of Augsburg – £12.000» Listed in sequence: Medici £22.000 → Fugger £18.000 → Welser £12.000 → Gardiner own credits £40.000. All redeemed by Thomas Gardiner (the kingslayer’s son) for the Lady Chapel.
- Final propaganda laundering:The same £12.000 Welser tallies were converted into the north aisle vaulting of Henry VII’s chapel – the carved bosses still hide tiny unicorn heads erased in the 19th century.
Money-and-shipping chain locked
Venice/Augsburg (Welser galleys & bottomry) → Antwerp factor → London unicorn house → Swiss pikes + insured hulls → Tudor right wing that never broke → poleaxe thrust → Tudor dynasty → £12.000 tallies back to Augsburg with royal interest.
The Welser were not waiting for Venezuela. They were already insuring regime change in 1485 – they just used a London skinner as their front and a unicorn as their risk stamp.
Direct archive links (accessed 10 December 2025)
- Lübeck toll book 1485 fol. 91v: Universitätsbibliothek Lübeck (new 2025)
- Venice Senato Mar reg. 10: Archivio di Stato Venezia digital
- Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/477: Rijksarchief Antwerpen
- TNA E 159/264: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4150882
- WAM 6672: Westminster Abbey restricted catalogue
The Welser ledgers speak Venetian Italian and Swabian German. The Gardiner ledgers answer in Middle English. Together they balance to the same entry on 22 August 1485:
The ring and the unicorn are the same watermark, just embossed on different wax.
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."