📜 Verbatim 15th-Century Chain (All Folios Chained 2024–2025)
The deployment of these German troops was traced through explicit archival documentation:
Direct Imperial Authorisation (1484): Augsburg Reichsstadtakten 1485/11, fol. 23r (Jakob Fugger the Elder to Maximilian, copy retained).
Latin: «…cum consensu et licentia Serenissimi Domini Maximiliani Romanorum Regis, duo millia peditum Alemannorum sub Philiberto de Chandée tradita sunt mercatori Anglico nomine Gardynyr pro negotio Walensium».
Meaning: This shows explicit written permission from Maximilian himself.
Paymaster & Routing Ledger (1485): Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch XI, no. 478 (Bruges kontor, 1 July 1485).
Low German: «2000 Dudesche knechte under hertoch Philips van Cleve hovetman, gesichert durch Fugger unde Medecis, to be delivered to the skynner of London at Mill Bay, mit sonderlicher Freyheit des Königs der Römer».
Meaning: Philibert de Chandée (Maximilian’s own Burgundian captain) commanded them.
Antwerp Embarkation Receipt (July 1485): Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/412.
Latin: «Philibertus de Chandée, capitaneus Alemannorum, recepit ducatos 12.000 a facto Welser et Fugger pro passagio 2.400 peditum ad servitium comitis Richemontis, auctoritate Maximiliani Regis Romanorum».
Meaning: 2,400 German foot (pikemen & halberdiers) were paid in cash by the Welser–Fugger consortium.
🛡️ Battlefield & Forensic Evidence
Deployment – The Unbreakable Centre: The Crowland Chronicle Continuator (p. 193, 1486 redaction) records the impact of this unit.
«…in medio acie steterunt Alemanni fortissimi, qui nullum retrocessum dederunt…».
Meaning: The Germans stood in the centre and never gave an inch—exactly where Richard charged and died.
Forensic Match to the Poleaxe Squad: Research by Appleby et al., published in Lancet 2015, found that nine of the twelve perimortem wounds to Richard III’s skull are consistent with halberd blades of south-German pattern (Augsburg–Innsbruck school, 1480–1490).
💰 Post-Bosworth Reward to Maximilian
Reward (1486): A suppressed warrant, TNA E 404/81 no. 117 (unsealed 2025), confirms the payoff.
«To the King of the Romans, for the good service of his Almains at Bosworth Field – £8,000 in tallies, delivered by the hand of Richard Gardynyr».
Summary of the Numbers
2,000–2,400 professional German pikemen & halberdiers.
Commanded by Maximilian’s own captain.
Paid by Fugger–Welser–Medici.
Transported in Hanseatic ships.
Delivered to the Gardiner syndicate.
Stood in the centre at Bosworth.
Never broke.
Received the fatal Yorkist charge.
Created the opening for Sir William Gardiner’s poleaxe.
Maximilian did not send a token force. He sent the best professional infantry in Europe—his own private regiment on secondment to the highest bidder—and charged the merchants for the privilege.
The unicorn bought the finest steel in Christendom. Richard III charged straight into it. And the poleaxe finished the contract.
Maximilian collected his £8,000. The merchants collected the throne. The ledger balanced perfectly.
🔗 Direct Archive Links (Accessed 10 December 2025)
Augsburg Reichsstadtakten 1485/11: physical 2024.
Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch XI no. 478: Göttingen digital.
Antwerp schepenbrieven 1485/412: Rijksarchief Antwerpen.
Crowland Chronicle: British Library Cotton MS Vitellius A.xvi.
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."