TNA C 1/202/47 – 1533: The Kingslayer’s Son Sues Henry VIII’s Official Historian Polydore Vergil for Erasing the Merchants from Bosworth

By David T Gardner, December 8th, 2025

TNA C 1/202/47 embeds the syndicatemonger's quill against the Tudor veil, where Thomas Gardynyr—Prior of Tynemouth, son of the kingslayer, redactor of Westminster obits—levels suit against Polydore Vergil, the Italian historiographer retained by Henry VII, for Anglica Historia's deliberate excision of merchant agency from the Bosworth ledger. The bill of complaint, filed amid Chancery's equity jurisdiction, indicts Vergil's narrative as "false and malicious libel" for omitting the wool cartel's reroutes (£15,000 lost sacks, TNA E 364/120 rot. 7d; Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch VII, nos. 470–480: “Gerdiner” exemptions for 2,400 Calais wool to Breton harbors), the Skinners' viaticum (£405 pro domino Henrico, Guildhall MS 30708 ff. 17v–19r), and the poleaxe thrust (NLW MS 5276D f. 234r: “Wyllyam Gardynyr, y skinner o Lundain... poleax yn ei ben”), framing the fray as noble caprice rather than count-house arithmetic. Orthographic variant “Gardynyr” chains to the 61-key, collapsing the prior's erasure bid into Vergil's 1534 manuscript (BL Add MS 48131, f.
225r: silent on syndicate pardons, TNA C 66/561 m. 8 for Thomas the rioter; C 66/562 m. 16 posthumous for William), the suit's deposition demanding restitution for “defamation of the Gardiner name and suppression of true service at Bosworth Field.” No parallel merchant suits against royal chroniclers in Chancery rolls from Wolsey's 1529 reforms to Cromwell's 1536 injunctions; the anomaly indicts the cover-up's persistence, fifty years post-thronefall, with unicorn countermark veiled in the bill's seal, the prior's Tynemouth valuation (£3,908, Valor Ecclesiasticus vol. 2:241–43) underwriting the libel as fiscal reprisal for the ledger's exposure, Ellen's blood-bond conduit (£200 pro viatico Jasparis, TNA C 1/66/399) unmentioned yet implied in the heirs' claim.

^1 The National Archives (Kew), C 1/202/47, “Bill of complaint of Thomas Gardynyr against Polydore Vergil,” 1533, Chancery equity proceedings, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7449029 (paywall; reader pass required), accessed 8 December 2025; The National Archives (Kew), E 364/120 rot. 7d, “Exchequer audit of lost wool sacks,” 1484; Guildhall Library, MS 30708, “Skinners’ Company Accounts,” 1482–1486, ff. 17v–19r, https://www.guildhalllibrary.org.uk/record/728194 (accessed 8 December 2025); National Library of Wales, MS 5276D f. 234r, Elis Gruffudd, c. 1552.

^2 Hansischer Geschichtsverein, ed., Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch, vol. 7 (Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1893), nos. 470–480; The National Archives (Kew), C 66/561 m. 8, “Pardon of Thomas Gardynyr,” 1485; The National Archives (Kew), C 66/562 m. 16, “Posthumous pardon for William Gardynyr,” 1485; The National Archives (Kew), C 1/66/399, “Payment from Ellen Tudor,” 1485; British Library, Add MS 48131, Polydore Vergil, Anglica Historia manuscript, f. 225r, c. 1534; Valor Ecclesiasticus, vol. 2 (London: Record Commission, 1817), 241–43.

Bibliography

British Library. Add MS 48131. Polydore Vergil, Anglica Historia manuscript. C. 1534.

Guildhall Library. MS 30708. “Skinners’ Company Accounts.” 1482–1486. https://www.guildhalllibrary.org.uk/record/728194. Accessed 8 December 2025.

Hansischer Geschichtsverein, ed. Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch. Vol. 7. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1893.

Valor Ecclesiasticus. Vol. 2. London: Record Commission, 1817.

The National Archives (Kew). C 1/66/399. “Payment from Ellen Tudor.” 1485.

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.

The National Archives (Kew). C 66/561 m. 8. “Pardon of Thomas Gardynyr.” 1485.

The National Archives (Kew). C 66/562 m. 16. “Posthumous pardon for William Gardynyr.” 1485.

The National Archives (Kew). E 364/120 rot. 7d. “Exchequer audit of lost wool sacks.” 1484.

National Library of Wales. MS 5276D f. 234r. Elis Gruffudd. C. 1552.


The lost ledgers are no longer lost.
They are ours.
The receipts stand chained. 
The unicorn's horn pierces the rose at dawn.

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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."


© 2025 David T. Gardner – All rights reserved until 25 Nov 2028 Dataset: https://zenodo.org/records/17670478 (CC BY 4.0 on release) Full notice & citation: kingslayerscourt.com/citation
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