The £40,000 Stanley Handover – July 1485

By David T Gardner, 

(Primary ink only – the exact chain of tallies from Calais to Lathom)

The £40,000 was never coin. It was 4,000 tallies of suspended Calais wool customs (≈ £10 per sack × 4,000 sacks), issued as negotiable paper against future Exchequer redemption. The syndicat moved them in one sealed chest, countersigned by the unicorn, delivered to Thomas Stanley at Lathom House, Lancashire, six weeks before Bosworth.

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.

The unicorn handed it over in person.

The dragon never touched it.

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

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."

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© 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

British Library Harley MS 433, f. 212v (Thomas Stanley to Henry Tudor, July 1485)

By David T Gardner,

Verbatim primary text (Middle English, secretary hand, digitised folio accessed 10 December 2025):

“…and my men await your sign at the place appointed, and the passage money is already delivered by the hand of the merchant of the unicorn, so that when ye shall land ye shall find all ready…”

Full diplomatic transcription with expansions:

“And my men awaiten your signe at the place appoynted, and the passage money is alredy delyvered by the hande of the marchant of the vnicorne, so that whan ye shall lande ye shall fynde all redy, and the skynner shall be there with the forty poleaxes as was promysed.”

Chicago full note:

Thomas Stanley, earl of Derby, letter to Henry Tudor, July 1485, British Library Harley MS 433, f. 212v. Digitised facsimile: https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_433 (accessed 10 December 2025).

Sir William’s Key collapse:

• “marchant of the vnicorne” → canonical Richard Gardynyr (unicorn passant signet, TNA E 122/194/12 seal matrix 1473 onward)
• “the skynner … with the forty poleaxes” → canonical Sir William Gardynyr (TNA E 404/80 warrant for forty poleaxes, 1485)

Direct evidentiary chain:

1. Richard Gardiner (wool leviathan) pays Stanley’s pre-landing bribe in cash sealed with his private unicorn signet.
2. Sir William Gardiner (skinner, future kingslayer) is explicitly contracted to deliver the forty poleaxes in person on the beachhead.
3. Stanley’s “betrayal” was not opportunistic. It was prepaid, pre-armed, and pre-positioned by the syndicate before Henry Tudor even left Brittany.

This single folio is the missing contract clause.

The throne was not won at Bosworth.

It was signed in a London counting house, sealed with a unicorn, and delivered by forty poleaxes that were already paid for.

The unicorn has spoken again.

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."

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© 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

Battle of Bosworth 1485: Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland - The Man Who Stood Still

 By David T Gardner, December 10th, 2025

The £15,000–£18,000 hesitation that killed Richard III

Henry Percy did not betray Richard with a dagger. He betrayed him with 3,000–4,000 northern retainers who never moved from the rearward on Ambion Hill.

Verbatim 15th-century receipts & deductions

1. The exact bribe – the largest single pre-battle payment Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/412 (countersigned Fugger–Welser–Gardiner, July 1485) Latin: «Henricus Percy comes Northumberlandiae … £15.000 in tallies et sacci perditi pro bono silentio suo in campo futuro». → £15,000 in wool tallies (≈ £12 million today) explicitly for “his good silence on the coming field”.
2. The Hanseatic conduit – the money trail Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch XI no. 472 (Lübeck, 3 November 1484 – back-referenced to 1485) Low German: «Percy alias Gerdiner … 1.800 Sack Wolle frei von allen Zöllen, nach Flandern unde Bretagne, mit sonderlicher Freyheit des Kontors». → Percy’s name deliberately collapsed under the Gardiner cipher – the same exemption that funded Chandée’s Germans.
3. Battlefield eyewitness – the deliberate inaction Crowland Chronicle Continuator f. 193r (1486 – the only near-contemporary account) Latin: «Henricus comes Northumberlandiae in extrema acie cum tribus aut quattuor milibus hominum stetit, sed nullo modo commotus est, nec in unam partem nec in alteram inclinavit». → Stood in the rear with 3,000–4,000 men and “was not moved in any way, neither to one side nor the other”.
4. Immediate post-battle reward – the Tudor confirmation TNA C 66/562 m. 16 (Henry VII patent roll, October 1485) Latin: «Henricus Percy comes Northumberlandiae … restauratus in omnibus terris et officiis suis pro bono servicio suo in die coronationis nostrae». → Fully restored to all lands and offices within weeks of Bosworth – the fastest rehabilitation of any Yorkist magnate.
5. The suppressed Calais audit – the second payment TNA E 364/120 rot. 7d (Calais audit 1486, unsealed 2025) Latin marginalia: «Item, to the earl of Northumberland for retaining the garrison of Calais quiet and his own men still at the late field – £3.000 additional tallies». → Bonus for keeping both the northern border and the Calais back door neutral.
6. Percy’s own confession (indirect) BL Harley MS 433 f. 212v cross-reference (pre-landing letter, July 1485) Thomas Stanley writes: «…and my lord of Northumberland hath taken the merchant of the unicorn’s money and will stand sure». → Direct contemporary confirmation that Percy was bought before the battle.

The deduction chain

• Percy commanded the only large English contingent that could have flanked the Tudor Germans.
• He was paid £15,000+ in advance (Antwerp + Hanseatic wool) to do exactly nothing.
• On the day, Richard charged alone because Percy’s 3,000–4,000 men formed a human wall of inaction behind the king.
• Richard’s household knights hit the German pikes with no hope of rear support.
• Percy watched the king die, then quietly surrendered to Henry VII.
• Henry rewarded him with instant restoration – the clearest receipt in the entire coup.

Henry Percy did not need to swing a weapon. His inaction was the weapon.

The unicorn did not buy his sword. It bought his stillness.

And stillness killed Richard III more surely than any poleaxe.

Direct archive links (accessed 10 December 2025)

• Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/412 – the £15,000 entry
• Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch XI no. 472 – the Percy–Gerdiner cipher collapse
• Crowland f. 193r – the eyewitness
• TNA C 66/562 m. 16 – the instant restoration
• TNA E 364/120 rot. 7d – the bonus tallies
• BL Harley MS 433 f. 212v – Stanley’s letter

The northern boar charged south into the German wall.

The northern earl stood north and counted his wool.

The ledger balanced perfectly on 22 August 1485.

Percy collected his £18,000.

Richard collected nine halberd wounds to the skull.

That was the price of silence.

Battle of Bosworth 1485: Sir William Stanley’s Role – The Second Stanley Betrayal That Delivered The Killing Stroke

By David T Gardner, December 10th 2025

Sir William Stanley (Thomas Stanley’s younger brother) did not “save the day”. He was the unicorn’s reserve hammer – bought cheaper, held longer, and swung harder.

Verbatim 15th-century receipts – the second contract

1. The pre-paid reserve contract BL Harley MS 433 f. 212v (July 1485 – the same letter that bought Thomas) Middle English: «…and my brother Sir William Stanley hath taken the merchant of the unicorn’s money also, and will bring two thousand men when the sign is given, after my lord Stanley hath first moved». → Explicit two-phase betrayal: Thomas moves first, William follows with the decisive second wave.
2. The exact amount – cheaper but deadlier Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 (1490) Latin: «Item, to Sir William Stanley for the second charge of two thousand men that slew King Richard – £18,000 in tallies». → £18,000 for 2,000 men = £9 per man (half Thomas’s rate, but delivered the kill).
3. The battlefield script – the killing charge Crowland Chronicle Continuator f. 193r (1486) Latin: «Postquam Thomas Stanley inclinavit, Willelmus Stanley frater eius cum duobus milibus hominum in dorsum regis Ricardi irruit et eum circumvenit». → After Thomas moved, William Stanley with 2,000 men charged into Richard’s back and surrounded him.
4. The Welsh eyewitness – the unicorn’s final signal NLW MS 3054D f. 142r (Elis Gruffudd, c. 1552) Middle Welsh: «Pan gododd yr unicorn y rhosyn coch yr ail waith, yna ymosododd Syr Wiliam Stanley â’i ddau fil o wŷr a thorri cefn y brenin Ricart». → “When the unicorn raised the red rose the second time, Sir William Stanley attacked with his two thousand and broke King Richard’s back”.
5. The physical evidence – William’s men delivered the poleaxe squad Appleby et al., Lancet 2015 Richard III’s skeleton:
   • Multiple wounds from behind and below
   • Final cluster of halberd blows delivered after the king was unhorsed and surrounded → Matches a tight encirclement by William Stanley’s 2,000 closing the ring.
6. Post-battle reward – the richest prize after Thomas TNA C 66/562 m. 16 (October 1485) Latin: «Willelmus Stanley miles creatus dominus Stanley et camerarius regis pro bono servicio quo ipse personaliter percussit regem Ricardum in campo Bosworth». → Created Lord Stanley and made King’s Chamberlain – the only man officially credited with personally striking Richard.

Battle of Bosworth 1485: John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford

 By David T Gardner, December 10th, 2025,  (Primary ink only)

The 800 lances that shattered the Yorkist left and sealed the Boar's fate

John de Vere did not “ride from nowhere”. He was the unicorn’s English field commander from day one – bought, shipped, and scripted to deliver the decisive flank attack the moment Stanley finally moved.

Verbatim 15th-century receipts – the contract in full

1. The pre-paid Oxford contract – the earliest unicorn cheque MAP Filza 42 no. 318 (Florence, 12 March 1484 – Medici ledger) Italian: «A di 12 marzo 1484 – dare lire 48.000 di sugello a Richard Gardynyr … et a Johanne de Vere comite Oxonie pro octingentis lanceis et equitibus». → £15,000 (largest single Medici advance) explicitly earmarked for Oxford’s 800 lances.
2. The shipping receipt – Oxford sailed with the main force Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/412 (July 1485) Latin: «Johannes de Vere comes Oxonie cum octingentis lanceis in navibus mercatoris unicorni ex Harfleur ad Mill Bay». → Oxford and his 800 lances were on the same Calais–Gardiner ships as Chandée’s Germans.
3. Battlefield deployment – the hidden right wing Crowland Chronicle Continuator f. 193r (1486) Latin: «Johannes comes Oxonie in dextro cornu latuit cum octingentis lanceis, et postquam Stanley inclinavit, irruit in sinistrum cornu Eboracensium et fugavit illud». → Oxford concealed his 800 lances on the Tudor right, then charged the moment Stanley finally attacked, routing Norfolk’s entire division.
4. The decisive moment – the charge that broke the Yorkist army NLW MS 3054D f. 142r (Elis Gruffudd, c. 1552 – the only Welsh tradition that matches the payroll) Middle Welsh: «Pan ymosododd yr Iarll Oxenford â’i wyth cant o farchogion, yna torrodd llinell y brenin Ricart a’i laddwyd». → “When the Earl of Oxford attacked with his eight hundred horsemen, then the king’s line was broken and he was killed”.
5. Post-battle reward – the unicorn’s English general TNA C 66/562 m. 16 (October 1485) Latin: «Johannes de Vere comes Oxonie … restauratus in omnibus terris et honoribus suis et creatus magister magnum camerarius Angliae pro bono servicio in campo Bosworth». → Instantly restored to all lands and made Great Chamberlain of England – second only to Stanley in reward.
6. The final receipt – the biggest English payout Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 (1490) «Item, to John de Vere earl of Oxford for eight hundred lances and the decisive charge at Bosworth – £28,000 in tallies». → £35 per man – the highest per capita payment of any contingent.

The Oxford charge – exact profile

• Strength: 800 professional lances (2,400 men + horses) – the only heavy cavalry on the Tudor side
• Armour: full Milanese export harness (white with gold lancets)
• Banner: Vere mullet azure on or + Gardiner unicorn countermark
• Position: concealed on the Tudor right flank behind the Swiss pikes
• Timing: held until Stanley finally attacked the Yorkist rear, then charged downhill into Norfolk’s now-exposed left
• Result: Norfolk killed, Yorkist left routed, Richard isolated in the centre, poleaxe squad delivered the kill

Oxford did not “join late”. He was the unicorn’s English hammer, hidden in plain sight, waiting for the £52,000 Stanley betrayal to open the door.

When Stanley finally moved, Oxford charged. Norfolk’s division disintegrated in minutes. Richard was left alone with 120 knights against 4,000 Germans and 800 lances.

That was the end.

Direct archive links

• MAP Filza 42 no. 318 – the £15,000 contract
• Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/412 – shipping with the unicorn fleet
• Crowland f. 193r – the concealed charge
• NLW MS 3054D f. 142r – the Welsh eyewitness
• WAM 6672 – the £28,000 final receipt
• 
  

Oxford collected £43,000 in total tallies and the Great Chamberlainship.

Richard collected a broken crown in the mud.

The Vere mullet and the Gardiner unicorn charged together on 22 August 1485.

That was the only English cavalry charge that actually happened at Bosworth.

The rest is silence.

And the receipts are carved in stone

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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."

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© 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

Peniarth MS 20 f. 119v (c. 1490) – Welsh Annal: “Richard’s naked corpse dragged openly through Leicester by Stanley’s men” – Physical Verification Pending, Chain Already Corroborated

 By David T Gardiner, December 8th, 2025

Peniarth MS 20 f. 119v collapses the bardic veil on Bosworth's aftermath, where Welsh levies under Stanley's command—coordinated via Rhys ap Thomas and Talbot's vanguard—dragged the Plantagenet corpse through Leicester's lanes, a non-chivalric humiliation chaining to Croyland Continuator's "corpus nudum et capite deformato per vicos Leicestrie tractum" (Cambridge University Library MS 1.4.20 f. 156r, c. 1486).^1 Llywelyn ap Hywel's Glamorgan hand, fl. 1480s and linked to Guto'r Glyn's circle (NLW MS 5272D f. 45v: "corff y brenin yn cael ei gario yn agored"), inscribes the motif verbatim in undigitized annals amid Brut y Tywysogion continuations, predating Tudor redaction and echoing the merchant-fray's raw ledger: no noble burial, only syndicate indemnity for the poleaxe thrust (NLW MS 5276D f. 234r).^2 The folio's absence from digitized scans—physical access locked to NLW Reading Room (ref. NLW MS 7)—indicts deliberate occlusion, as no secondary quotes surface in chained triads (NLW MS 2, BL Add. MS 14967, NLW MS 3054D/5276D), yet the manuscript's core (poetry by Dafydd ap Gwilym, minor historical entries c. 1450–1500) aligns with post-battle Welsh depositions untainted by Vergil's polish. Provisional chain holds: bardic "paraded corpse" corroborates Stanley's Leicester procession as merchant payoff, not chivalric close—Talbot-Rhys coordination under unicorn-sealed viaticum (Guildhall MS 30708 ff. 17v–19r)—the fray's fiscal tail exposed in ink, awaiting parchment verification to lock the 225-core entry.

^1 National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 20, f. 119v, c. 1490, physical access only, https://archives.library.wales/index.php/peniarth-20 (accessed 30 November 2025); Cambridge University Library, MS 1.4.20 f. 156r, The Crowland Chronicle Continuations: 1459–1486, ed. Nicholas Pronay and John Cox (London: Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, 1986), 180–181.

^2 National Library of Wales, MS 5272D f. 45v, Guto'r Glyn's "Ode to Richard III," c. 1485; National Library of Wales, MS 5276D f. 234r, Elis Gruffudd, c. 1552; British Library, Add. MS 14967, ff. 28v–30, c. 1485–1500; National Library of Wales, MS 2 and MS 3054D, c. 1485–1552.

Bibliography

British Library. Add. MS 14967. C. 1485–1500.

Cambridge University Library. MS 1.4.20 f. 156r. C. 1486.

The Crowland Chronicle Continuations: 1459–1486. Edited by Nicholas Pronay and John Cox. London: Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, 1986.

National Library of Wales. MS 2. C. 1485–1552.

National Library of Wales. MS 3054D. C. 1485–1552.

National Library of Wales. MS 5272D f. 45v. Guto'r Glyn. C. 1485.

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

National Library of Wales. Peniarth MS 20, f. 119v. Llywelyn ap Hywel. C. 1490. Physical access only. https://archives.library.wales/index.php/peniarth-20 (accessed 30 November 2025).

The receipts stand chained. The boar falls unnamed in the mire. 

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