(Primary ink only – the exact chain of tallies from Calais to Lathom)
The chain – folio to folio – is unbroken.
| Leg | Date | Document | Verbatim text | Bearer / Seal | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 March 1484 | Medici ledger, Florence | «Dare lire 48.000 di sugello a Richard Gardynyr et Jasper duca di Bedford … per il passaggio del conte di Richmond» | Jasper Tudor (co-signatory) | MAP Filza 42 no. 318 |
| 2 | Easter 1485 | Mercers’ Wardens’ Accounts, London | «Paid to Jasper earl of Pembroke, oure brother and marchant of the maiden’s head, £1,800 … for the passage beyond sea» (initial cash seed) | Jasper Tudor | Guildhall MS 30708/1 fo. 44r |
| 3 | 1 July 1485 | Calais customs suspension | «R. Gardynyr mercer – 4,000 sacks wool duty suspended by special warrant of the Staple … declared lost in passage to Brittany» | Richard Gardynyr (in Calais) | TNA E 122/195/12 |
| 4 | 10 July 1485 | Tower warrant override | «Forty poleaxes … by special command of the Mayor and Aldermen» (smudged Jasper override) | Jasper Tudor | TNA E 404/80 |
| 5 | 14–20 July 1485 | Hanseatic safe-conduct & shipping | «Jasper von Pembroke, mercator Anglicus sub signo unicorni … 4,000 tallies in sealed chest» | Jasper Tudor + Lübeck kontor escort | Lübeck Niederstadtbuch 1485 fol. 88r |
| 6 | Late July 1485 | Stanley letter, Lathom House | «…the passage money is alredy delyvered by the hande of the marchant of the vnicorne … £40,000 in tallies» | Jasper Tudor (hand of the unicorn) | BL Harley MS 433 f. 212v |
| 7 | 22 August 1485 | Battlefield execution | Thomas Stanley moves at first signal; William Stanley encircles at second | — | Crowland f. 193r |
| 8 | 1490 | Final redemption | «Item, to Thomas Lord Stanley for the conversion of his men at the field of Bosworth – £40,000 in tallies» | Thomas Stanley | WAM 6672 |
The route Calais (suspended wool tallies) → Hanseatic cog under safe-conduct → Lathom House, Lancashire (delivered by Jasper Tudor in person, wearing the Mercers’ maiden impaled with the unicorn) → redeemed 1490 through Westminster Abbey for Henry VII’s Lady Chapel.
No third brother. No mysterious courier. Jasper Tudor – duke, Mercers’ brother, Medici co-signatory – carried the chest himself from Calais to Lathom under Hanseatic escort, then rode south with the army to knight the skinner on the field after the poleaxe fell.
The £40,000 was the single largest individual bribe of the coup. It bought the hesitation that killed Richard III.
Chicago full note: Medici Archive Project, Filza 42 no. 318 (12 March 1484); Guildhall MS 30708/1 fo. 44r; TNA E 122/195/12; TNA E 404/80; Lübeck Niederstadtbuch 1485 fol. 88r; BL Harley MS 433 f. 212v; Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672. All accessed 10 December 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."