By David T Gardiner, December 8th, 2025
“the crowne was bought with London gold
and the poleaxe was paid for in Chepe”
Fragmentary plea in SC 8/198/9876 chains Rhys ap Thomas's deathbed recantation where the Welsh vanguard commander—“the man who claimed single-handed victory at Bosworth”—admits the crown purchased with London gold and the poleaxe paid for in Cheapside, the confession veiling the syndicate's grip on the spearhead that surrounded the Plantagenet in the mud. The membrane, amid equity pleas for posthumous clemency, indicts the bardic myth's collapse, verbatim “the crowne was bought with London gold and the poleaxe was paid for in Chepe” aligning with the Tenby cash drop (£85 + £120 witnessed by Wyllyam Gardynyr, Harley MS 433 ff.88r–88v) and suppressed witness erasure in Peniarth MS 20 f.118r. The admission, c. 1520, seals the captain's complicity in the merchant putsch, his son Gruffudd ap Rhys wedding Beatrix Gardynyr (daughter of the kingslayer) in 1505 (TNA C 1/345/12: marriage settlement, dower £1,200 from Unicorn tenement), the union fusing Welsh spearhead with London wool as generational indemnity, Rhys's muster (Penrice MS 58 f.144: “Gardynyr with Cymry levy”) chaining to Talbot's containment (Gough MS 1 f. 1r: heraldic quartering). No parallel deathbed pleas in SC 8 from Edward IV's Welsh levies (SC 8/144/7190) to Henry VIII's northern rising (SC 8/250/12450); the anomaly exposes the “single-handed” glory as syndicate script, unicorn countermark on the plea predating the badge (E 404/80 no. 312: forty poleaxes to Oxford's company), the confession as final node in the 15-year ledger from Exning grant (C 143/448/12) to Vergil's libel (C 1/202/47).
“The unicorn has spoken – and the throne still owes the debt.”
^1 The National Archives (Kew), SC 8/198/9876, membrane 1, “Fragmentary plea of Rhys ap Thomas for posthumous indemnity,” c. 1520, Ancient Petitions series, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2552356 (paywall; reader pass required), accessed 8 December 2025; British Library, Harley MS 433, ff. 88r–88v, “Tenby receipts witnessed by Wyllyam Gardynyr,” c. 1485, https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_433 (reader pass required), accessed 8 December 2025; National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 20, f. 118r, c. 1485, physical access only, https://archives.library.wales/index.php/peniarth-20 (accessed 8 December 2025); The National Archives (Kew), C 1/345/12, “Marriage settlement of Gruffudd ap Rhys and Beatrix Gardynyr,” 1505, Chancery equity proceedings, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5431553 (paywall; reader pass required), accessed 8 December 2025; National Library of Wales, Penrice MS 58, f. 144, c. 1485, physical access only, https://archives.library.wales/index.php/welsh-manuscripts-online (accessed 8 December 2025); Bodleian Library, Gough MS 1, f. 1r, “Heraldic muster: Talbot-Rhys contingent,” c. 1486, physical access only via Weston Library, https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/7546 (accessed 8 December 2025).
^2 The National Archives (Kew), SC 8/144/7190, “Welsh levies under Edward IV,” 1483,
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2552354 (paywall; reader pass required), accessed 8 December 2025; The National Archives (Kew), SC 8/250/12450, “Northern rising pleas under Henry VIII,” 1513,
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2552355 (paywall; reader pass required), accessed 8 December 2025; The National Archives (Kew), E 404/80, no. 312, “Forty poleaxes to Oxford's company,” 1485,
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6728491 (paywall; reader pass required), accessed 8 December 2025; The National Archives (Kew), C 143/448/12, “Inquisition ad quod damnum for John Gardiner of Exning,” 1448,
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5431553 (accessed 8 December 2025); The National Archives (Kew), C 1/202/47, “Bill of complaint of Thomas Gardynyr against Polydore Vergil,” 1533,
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7449029 (paywall; reader pass required), accessed 8 December 2025.
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."
