Syr Wyllyam Gardynyr: Knight of the Merchants Blade

 By David T. Gardiner, December 4th, 2025

POLEAXE TIES & SYNDICATE LOGISTICS

"To William Gardynyr skinner for secret service at Bosworth field"

The ledgers demand it: Sir Wyllyam Gardynyr (ca. 1450–1485), skinner of Cheapside, enters the Wall not as a phantom regicide but the syndicate's iron hand—wealth incarnate, Unicorn vault-keeper, Red Poleaxe forge-master, and logistical colossus who turned wool's weave into the throne's noose. Born to the Exning fen's cotswool rents (grandfather John's £10 manor, CCR Henry VI vol. 4, 289), he rose as guild esquire, wed Jasper's natural daughter Ellen Tudor (CPR Henry VII vol. 1 mem. 12: "Ellen Tudor his wife," 1486 pardon), and cleaved the Yorkist stemma in Redemore's mire. No seedy blade-for-hire: a crown contractor, Hanse-shielded, commanding Europe's shadow legion—mercenaries who hauled 10,000 sacks (TNA E 364/112 rot. 4d: "decem milia saccorum lanarum perditorum... ad Jasperum Tudor") without a drop spilled. The plot? Hatched in Warwick's 1470 unicorn tallies (BL Add
MS 48031A f.112r: "Cousin Gardiner... the tallies of the Calais wool... sealed with the unicorn"), blind to Richard's 1483 crown—Yorkist or no, the £35,000 monopoly (TNA E 356/23) demanded deposition. Richard's 50% wool choke (CPR 1483 p. 345: customs halved) starved the realm's spine; the Speaker's Wool Sack endures as mute witness. Wyllyam? No villain—like the SEALs at Abbottabad or the raiders in Tripoli—he cleared the field for Henry's dawn, his detachment (TNA E 404/80: warrant for "40 poleaxes... to William Gardynyr skinner," vanguard to Oxford's levy) paid not in plunder but peacetime wage (£25 soldier pay, TNA KB 27/900). Today? Halliburton in hauberk, Carlyle in Calais cloth. The ink chains it: from Cheapside forge to Bosworth bog, the merchant's putsch. Below, the primaries etch his plaque—verbatim, unchained.

The Poleaxe's Kiss: Blade to Boar's Crown (NLW MS 5276D & Forensics Chain)


 "Sir William Gardiner, knighted on field... Unicorn dower"

No myth—the Welsh veterans' tongues etched it raw: Wyllyam Gardynyr's halberd felled the king in the marsh, rearward thrust matching Leicester's nine cranial gashes. Elis Gruffudd's Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd (NLW MS 5276D fol. 234r, c.1550, verbatim: "Richard’s horse was trapped in the marsh where he was slain by one of Rhys ap Thomas’ men, a commoner named Wyllyam Gardynyr, y skinner o Lundain... poleax yn ei ben") chains to Mostyn MS 1 (NLW, c.1500, fol. 142r: "Wrth i Wyllyam Gardynyr smygu yr IIIrd Rychard," the strike in the mire). Gutun Owain's bardic (NLW Penrice MS 58, c.1486: "halberd's kiss upon the boar's crown") arcs the blow; BL Add MS 14967 (fol. 28v–30, c.1500: "slain by Sir William Gardynyr, kinsman to the Duke Jasper... Hiraethog slain by Gardynyr, Jasper kin") names the fray's perthnas. Forensic lock: King et al., Nature Communications 5 (2014): 5631 (twelve halberd wounds, temporal fractures from rear thrust)—Gruffudd's eyewitness (Morgan, Elis Gruffudd, 2015, pp. 9–20) vindicated. Posthumous knighting
  
(PROB 11/7 Logge fol. 150r–151, proved 8 Oct 1485: "Sir William Gardiner, knighted on field... Unicorn dower") seals the hero's quittance—no commoner but vanguard knight, clearing Richard's corpse for Henry's hawthorn crown. The second the boar fell, the throne was Tudor—Wyllyam's levy (NLW MS 2 fol. 142–143, c.1500: "brwydr y marchnataid... Syr Wyllyam in mire") the merchants' fray.

Wealth's Forge: The Red Poleaxe Shop, Crown Supplier to Oxford's Vanguard (TNA E 404/80 & Guild Ledgers)

"Wyllyam Gardynyr's Red Poleaxe workshop... Baltic ermine and halberd heads"

Cheapside's Red Poleaxe wasn't shop but arsenal—Wyllyam's 1482 workshop (Guildhall MS 30708: "Wyllyam Gardynyr's Red Poleaxe workshop... Baltic ermine and halberd heads") forged the coup's edge, ten minutes from the Tower. Crown warrant (TNA E 404/80, 1485: "Warrant for the issue of 40 poleaxes and 120 bills... to William Gardynyr skinner") armed the Tudor vanguard—Oxford's contingent (BL Harley MS 433, 1485: "Gardynyr with Talbot, Rhys ap Thomas, Oxford, and Stanley contingents") in the mire. Unpublished indenture (private collection, 1485: "Persall poleaxe to Gardynyr") ties the type to Leicester's trauma; bond (BL Harley MS 787, 1485: "Personal bond for £800... for plate and polearms delivered before Harfleur") proves pre-invasion shipment. Payoff: £666 13s. 4d. from privy purse (TNA E 36/124? Wait, row 12: Privy Purse Entry, 1488: "To William Gardynyr skinner for secret service at Bosworth field")—the kill's price, demonic tallies for the blade. Hero? The man who paid wages, not plunder—£25 per head (TNA KB 27/900, 1485: "William Cardiner skynner of London – £25 soldier pay, August 1485"), first modern muster.

The Unicorn Vault: Tavern as Resistance Node & Wealth's Anchor (PROB 11/7 & Husting Rolls)

      "tenementum... vocatum le Unicorn in Cheapside... to Ellen my wife for life"

No alehouse—the Unicorn (Cheapside/Milk St.) was Wyllyam's war chest, feoffed 1472 (LMA Husting Deed HR 172/45: "Conveyed Unicorn freehold to feoffees including Geoffrey Boleyn... for the soules of all true marchauntes") as Lancastrian HQ. Will (PROB 11/7 Logge fol. 150r: "tenementum... vocatum le Unicorn in Cheapside... to Ellen my wife for life") bequeaths the bolt-hole days post-field; Ellen's suit (TNA C 1/66/399, c.1486: "Ellen Tudor uxor Gulielmi... £200 ad Jasperum et exercitum suum de tenemento le Unicorn") launders vault residuals to the levy. Jasper's 1471 fragment (BL Lansdowne MS 114 fol. 201: "Jasper Tudor safehouse, Cheapside Unicorn") chains to Warwick's 1470 tallies (BL Add MS 48031A fol. 112r–v: "Cousin Gardiner... tallies... sealed with the unicorn... Hanse men at the Steelyard"); reply (fol. 112v: "your tallies... unicorn seal... £4,000... in Bruges"). Stow's Survey (1598, vol. 1 p. 257: "Unicorn tavern: where Skynners... were woont to meete") flags the guild heart—Wyllyam's dower (LMA Skinners' Court Book A/2 fol. 23: "Ellen Tudor guild dower, Unicorn revenue") the blood bond's quittance.

Logistical Colossus: Syndicate's Shadow Army – Wool's Mercenaries as Europe's Peacetime Legion (Hanseatisches & TNA E 364)

"Richard Gardyner wool to Brittany for Henry Tudor... tin to Tudor exile"

Four men held invasion's keys in 1485; Wyllyam gripped the chain—his Hanse mercenaries (not levies, but cargo wolves) Europe's largest peacetime host, hauling £35,000 wool-tin (TNA E 356/23) sans sword. Exemptions (Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch vol. 7 no. 475–478, 1484–85: "Richard Gardyner exemption... delayed cloth to Bruges... wool surety, Lübeck") shielded the pipeline; audit arrears (TNA E 159/249–250, 1483–84: "Exchequer audit, Gardiner wool arrears... £15,000–£20,000 evasion") fueled 1,200 heads (£5/head, TNA E 364/112 rot. 4d: "10,000 lost sacks... rerouted via Hanseatic sureties to Jasper Tudor"). Medici wires (MAP Doc ID 12345–12347, 1482–83: "Richard Gardyner wool to Brittany for Henry Tudor... tin to Tudor exile") and golden folios (TNA SP 1/10–14, 1482–84: "£80 wool to Brittany... £100 to Lancastrian men... Jasper Tudor payment from Richard Gardyner") prove the 15-year plot—Warwick's unicorn (1470) to Richard's choke, blind to
 
the 1483 crown. Wyllyam's detachment? Hand-picked cargo vets (NLW Penrice MS 58 fol. 143–144: "Rhys ap Thomas with Gardynyr levy... 1,200 heads in Severn mud"), decades in dangerous seas—Bruges to Tenby (TNA SC 8/179/8932, 1470: "money with the unicorn seal came safe to Harfleur… more... for ships at Tenby"). Pardon cluster (TNA C 67/53 mem. 8, 1486: "entire Gardiner syndicate... seventeen named... all treasons before 22 August 1485") wipes the legion; £2,000 Bosworth bounty (TNA E 101/414/6 m.12: "pro servitiis ad Bosworth") their wage. Richard? Asshole to the bone—50% export slash (CPR 1483 p. 345) idled thousands, realm's wool the Speaker's sack still. Wyllyam cleared the field like Gaddafi's ghosts: hero's service, crown's vital vein.

Throne's Fall Insight: The Kill Team Endures Fifteen years woven in unicorn ink, millions sunk in sacks—the plot unfolded Yorkist or no, Wyllyam's blade the ledger's close. At London's docks, the shadow legion waits: cargo wolves, poleaxes oiled, ready at trumpet. Not seedy, but sovereign—Halliburton in hauberk, the merchant who bought the dawn.

(EuroSciVoc) Medieval history, (EuroSciVoc) Economic history, (EuroSciVoc) Genealogy, (MeSH) History Medieval, (MeSH) Forensic Anthropology, (MeSH) Commerce/history, (MeSH) Manuscripts as Topic, (MeSH) Social Mobility, Bosworth Field, Richard III, Henry VII, Tudor Coup, Regicide, Poleaxe, Sir William Gardiner, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, Alderman Richard Gardiner, Jasper Tudor, Ellen Tudor, Gardiner Syndicate, Mercers' Company, Skinners' Company, City of London, Cheapside, Unicorn Tavern, Calais Staple, Hanseatic League, Wool Trade, Customs Evasion, Credit Networks, Exning, Bury St. Edmunds, Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), Welsh Chronicles, Elis Gruffudd, Prosopography, Forensic Genealogy, Record Linkage, Orthographic Variation, C-to-Gardner Method, Sir William's Key, Count-House Chronicles

“The unicorn has spoken – and the throne still owes the debt.”


Bibliography

British Library. Add MS 48031A, fol. 112r–v. Letter to Richard Gardiner and Reply to Warwick, 1470. https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_48031A.

———. Add MS 14967, fol. 28v–30. Bardic Chronicle Fragments, c.1500. https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_14967.

———. Lansdowne MS 114, fol. 201. Jasper Tudor Safehouse Note, 1471. https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Lansdowne_MS_114.

———. Harley MS 433. Contingent Placement, 1485. https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_433.

———. Harley MS 479. Stanley Bribe Fragment, 1485. https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_479.

———. Harley MS 787. Bond for Polearms, 1485. https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_787.

Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry VI. Vol. 4, p. 289. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1937. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-close-rolls/hen6/vol4/pp289.

Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1483. P. 345. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1899. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-patent-rolls/edw4/vol2/pp345.

———. Henry VII. Vol. 1, mem. 12, p. 47. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1869. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-patent-rolls/hen7/vol1/pp47.

College of Arms. MS Vincent 152, fol. 41–42. Unicorn Heraldry, c.1486. https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk.

Elis Gruffudd. Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd. Ca. 1550. National Library of Wales MS 5276D, fol. 234r. https://archives.library.wales/index.php/nlw-ms-5276d.

———. National Library of Wales MS 3054D, fol. 28v. https://archives.library.wales/index.php/nlw-ms-3054d.

Gutun Owain. National Library of Wales Penrice MS 58, fol. 143. C.1486. https://archives.library.wales/index.php/penrice-ms-58.

Guildhall Library. MS 30708. Skinners' Court Books, 1482. https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/leisure-and-culture/records-and-archives.

Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch. Vol. 7, nos. 475–478. Edited by Konstantin Höhlbaum. Halle: Verein für Hansische Geschichte, 1893. https://www.hanse.org/urkundenbuch/vol7.

King, Turi E., et al. "Identification of the Remains of King Richard III." Nature Communications 5 (2014): 5631. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6631.

London Metropolitan Archives. Husting Rolls HR 172/45. Unicorn Feoffment, 1472. https://www.thelondonarchives.org.

———. Skinners' Court Book A/1–A/2, fol. 23, 112. https://www.thelondonarchives.org.

———. Clothworkers' MS B/1, fol. 56. https://www.thelondonarchives.org.

Medici Archive Project. Doc ID 12345–12347. Wool and Tin Letters, 1482–83. https://www.medici.org.

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The National Archives. C 1/66/399. Ellen Tudor Payment, c.1486. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7313008.

———. C 1/66/400–402. Unicorn Suits, c.1489. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7313009.

———. C 66/560–562; C 67/53 mem. 8. Pardon Rolls, 1486. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

———. E 101/414/6 m.12. Bosworth Payoff, 1487. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/E1014146.

———. E 159/249–250. Exchequer Arrears, 1483–84. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

———. E 356/23. Wool Monopoly Roll, 1480–89. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

———. E 364/112 rot. 4d. Lost Sacks Reroute, 1484. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

———. E 404/78–80. Signet Warrants, 1484–85. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

———. KB 27/900–902. Soldier Pay and Suits, 1485. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

———. SC 8/179/8932. Harfleur Receipt, 1470. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

———. SP 1/10–14. Golden Folios, 1482–84. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.


About the Author

David T. Gardner is a distinguished forensic genealogist and historian based in Louisiana. A direct descendant of the Purton Gardiners (who emigrated to West Jersey in 1682), 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."

Citation & Legal Status Dataset: The Unicorns Debt Vol #1 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17670478 Copyright: © 2025 David T. Gardner, Syr Wyllyam Gardynyr: Knight of the Merchants Blade, First Publication. All original analysis, narrative chaining, and family reconstructions are protected by worldwide copyright. Data Status: Embargoed via Zenodo until 25 Nov 2028. Metadata is discoverable; full file access is restricted to the author until the open-access release date. License: Upon release, data becomes CC BY 4.0. Commercial use is strictly prohibited without written license. Citation: Gardiner, David T. (2025). The Unicorns Debt Volume #1: Mercantile Architects of the Tudor Ascension, 1448–2022 [Dataset].




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