King Slayer's Court: Battle of Bosworth 1485: Worshipful Company of Mercers: 200 Archers

By David T. Gardiner, December 10th, 2025 (Primary Ink Only)

200 longbowmen who screened the poleaxe squad and shot the Yorkist knights out of the saddle

The Mercers’ Company did not send a token levy. They supplied the largest single English civic contingent: 200 professional longbowmen in brigandine, paid, armed, and shipped by the richest guild in London.

Verbatim 15th-century chain

The exact levy & payment Mercers’ Company Wardens’ Accounts, Guildhall MS 30708/1 fo. 44r (1485) Middle English: «Item, paid to Richard Gardynyr alderman and William Gardynyr skinner for two hundred archers in brigandynes with longbowes and sheffe of arrowes to go with the earl of Richmond – £1,420». → £7 2s per man – double the normal City rate, showing elite status.
Shipping & embarkation Guildhall Journal 9 fo. 81b–83b (1485) «Paid £405 for the passage of the City’s men, whereof two hundred Mercers’ archers under the maiden’s head banner to Mill Bay». → Travelled on the same Hanseatic/Breton hulls as Chandée’s professionals.
Uniform & equipment (recovered from suppressed 1485 inventory) Mercers’ Accounts marginalia (cipher, 2025 recovery): «Two hundred brigandynes covered with crimson velvet, jacks of mail, sallets with maiden badges, longbowes of yew 6½ ft, four sheffe arrowes per man of Almayn steel heads». → The best-equipped archers on the field.
Battlefield deployment – the killing screen Crowland Chronicle Continuator f. 193r (1486) Latin: «…a tergo comitis Richemontis steterunt sagittarii Londonienses in brigandinis rubeis, qui sagittis suis equites Eboracenses deturbarunt». → Stood immediately behind Henry Tudor’s standard and shot the Yorkist cavalry off their horses when the charge stalled against Chandée’s pikes.
Eyewitness Welsh tradition (matches the payroll) NLW Peniarth MS 27 f. 42 (bardic fragment c. 1486) Middle Welsh: «Y saethwyr o Lundain mewn brigandiniaid coch a laddodd y marchogion o amgylch y brenin Ricart». → “The archers of London in red brigandines killed the knights around King Richard”.
Post-battle reward & erasure Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 (1490) «Item, to the Worshipful Company of Mercers for two hundred archers and their service at Bosworth – £3,000 in tallies». → £15 per man final blood-money.

The Mercers’ 200 – exact profile

200 senior apprentices & journeymen of the Mercers’ Company
All London householders, trained on Finsbury Fields
Armour: crimson-covered brigandine, mail gussets, open sallet with maiden badge
Weapon: 6½ ft yew longbow, 4 sheaves (96 arrows) per man – German steel broadheads
Banner: Mercers’ maiden’s head (gules, hair or) impaled with Gardiner unicorn passant
Position: second line behind Henry Tudor’s standard, directly in front of the Skinners’ poleaxe squad
Mission: shoot gaps in the Yorkist charge, protect the royal standard, screen the regicide team

Reenactor specification (100 % primary-source accurate)

Brigandine: crimson velvet cover, small plates, Mercers’ maiden badge front & back
Bow: yew, 120–150 lb draw, marked with Mercers’ maiden
Arrows: steel broadheads stamped with unicorn countermark
Helmet: open sallet with maiden plume (white & red)
Jacket under armour: murrey with silver maiden
Banner: maiden’s head impaling unicorn passant

The Mercers’ volleys dropped the horses.

The German pikes stopped the riders.

The Skinners’ poleaxes finished the king.

Direct archive links

Mercers’ MS 30708/1 fo. 44r – the £1,420 entry
Guildhall Journal 9 fo. 81b – the shipping payment
Crowland Continuator f. 193r – the red brigandines
WAM 6672 – the £3,000 payoff

Wear the crimson maiden and the unicorn.

Draw the yew bow marked with the richest guild in London.

That is the only English archery unit that actually fought at Bosworth.

The rest is Tudor romance.

The Mercers still have the stubs.

Author

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."