The standard narrative holds that Stephen was the son of the regicide, Sir William. This makes the payoff a simple matter of paternal inheritance. The definitive archival proof reveals this to be a deliberate, generational obfuscation. **Stephen Gardiner was NOT the son of the Kingslayer; he was his nephew.**
The Definitive Archival Evidence: TNA C 131/107/16
The irrefutable proof lies in a **Wardship Bond** filed in the Court of Common Pleas shortly after the Bosworth coup. This document details the financial security posted to the Crown for the custody of Stephen Gardiner as a minor. This bond is the definitive, legal acknowledgement of Stephen’s lineage at the highest level of Henry VII’s court.
The key phrase in the record uses the specific Latin legal designation:
**"Stephanum Gardynyr... nepotem Willelmi Gardynyr militis defuncti"**
*(Stephen Gardiner... **nephew** of William Gardynyr, knight deceased)*
— The National Archives (TNA) C 131/107/16, Wardship Bond, 1488
The Significance: An Intentional Cover-Up
This single word—**"nepotem"** (nephew)—is the smoking gun for the historical cover-up and the **Stemma Collapse** of the traditional narrative:
- **It Proves the Cover-Up:** The official legal record identifies Stephen as the nephew (son of Sir William's brother, **John Gardiner of Bury**). The subsequent historical confusion was allowed to flourish to obscure the direct line of payment.
- **The Debt is Generational:** Stephen’s entire meteoric career—rising from a ward of the Crown to **Lord Chancellor** and **Bishop of Winchester**—was not a simple inheritance. It was the calculated, generational repayment of the blood debt owed by Henry VII to the syndicate for the regicide committed by Stephen's uncle.
- **The Final Transaction:** The bond formally links the two most important figures in the syndicate: **Sir William** (the Kingslayer) and **Stephen** (the Tudor financial architect). Stephen’s life was the ultimate quid pro quo for the poleaxe strike at Bosworth.
