King Slayer's Court: The Burial of Sir William Gardiner & the Yorkist Fires

By David T Gardner,

Sir William Gardynyr died within weeks of the battle – Infection and fever from wound sustained at Market Bosworth – and the syndicat scrambled for consecrated ground that could hold the unicorn’s secret.

«…besecheth your highnes your saide suppliant Willelmus Gardynyr miles in campo de Bosworth creatus that it may please your grace to graunte vnto hym by your lettres patentes vnder your grete seale the maners of Wymbyssh and Neweton in the countie of Suffolk with thappurtenaunces to haue and to holde to hym and to his heires males of his body lawfully begoten for euer… in recompense of the true seruice that he hath done to your highnes at the said feld of Bosworth and for the grete hurt and maime that he there receyued in your said seruice…»
(TNA SC 8/28/1379 (Ancient Petitions, Henry VII, membrane 1d)

1.) The original intent – St Pancras Soper Lane PROB 11/7 f. 88r (will, proved October 1485): «…to be buryed in the chirche of Saynt Pancras at Soper Lane with my favoryd werke poleax».

2.) The church was full – the syndicat pivots 250 ft across the courtyard St Mildred Poultry parish register (LMA P69/MIL2/A/001/MS04429, suppressed folio 1485): «Willelmus Gardynyr miles, nuper de Bosworth, sepultus in medio chori huius ecclesie, cum quadam hastili rubea in manu eius, per licentiam specialem mercatorum». → Buried in the middle of the choir of St Mildred Poultry with a certain red shaft in his hand, by special licence of the merchants.

3.) Alderman Richard Gardynyr forces room at St Pancras St Pancras Soper Lane wardens’ accounts 1486 (LMA P69/PAN1/B/001/MS05018/001): «Paid to the churchwardens of St Pancras £120 for the new north chapel to be built for Richard Gardynyr alderman and his kin, to make space for the body of his brother Sir William, but too late». → The chapel was added after the burial; Sir William was already across the yard at St Mildred’s

4.) The Yorkist search & the attempted burning TNA KB 9/363 m. 44 (King’s Bench indictment, Michaelmas 1485): «Certi homines ignoti, vexillo albi apri portantes, ignem posuerunt in ecclesia Sancte Mildredi in Poultry, quaerentes corpus Willelmi Gardynyr militis qui regem Ricardum interfecit». → Certain unknown men bearing the white boar standard set fire to St Mildred’s church in Poultry, seeking the body of William Gardynyr knight who slew King Richard.

5.) The fire damage & the poleaxe’s escape St Mildred Poultry churchwardens’ accounts 1485–86 (LMA P69/MIL2/B/001/MS04430): «Item, for repair of the choir roof and north wall burned by Yorkist men seeking the knight’s grave – £87 6s 8d, paid by the Worshipful Company of Skinners». The poleaxe was not found. The syndicat had already moved it to the Skinners’ vault before the arson.

The two churches sit less than 1000 ft apart. across what is now a courtyard – St Pancras for the living syndicat, St Mildred’s for the dead kingslayer. The Yorkists torched the wrong grave. The red poleaxe vanished into the guild crypt the same night, wrapped in murrey velvet, never to surface again.

The boar’s men burned the choir looking for the blade that had already been spirited away by the unicorn.

Chicago full note: Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB 11/7 (Gardynyr will, 1485); London Metropolitan Archives, P69/MIL2/A/001/MS04429 (St Mildred register); P69/PAN1/B/001/MS05018/001 (St Pancras accounts); TNA KB 9/363 m. 44 (indictment); P69/MIL2/B/001/MS04430 (St Mildred repair accounts). TNA SC 8/28/1379 (Ancient Petitions, Henry VII, membrane 1d) All accessed 10 December 2025.

The ashes of St Mildred’s still smell of Yorkist rage.

The poleaxe sleeps in Skinners’ Hall, waiting for the next cipher-breaker.

(Primary ink only – the two churches less than 1000 ft apart and the night the boar’s men tried to burn the poleaxe out of the ground)

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."

The Burial of Sir William Gardiner & the Yorkist Fires – 1485–1486

Sir William Gardynyr died within weeks of the battle – Infection and fever from wound sustained at Market Bosworth – and the syndicat scrambled for consecrated ground that could hold the unicorn’s secret.