The Tower's Silent Strike: Sir William Gardynyr and the Princes' Vanishing

By David T Gardner, 

In the shadowed corridors of the Tower of London, where young kings once played under guarded windows, a merchant's blade silenced the last whispers of York. But what if the hand that struck was not a tyrant's, but a skinner's—guided by wool ledgers and hidden evasions? This blog uncovers the chained ink of 1483, revealing Sir William Gardynyr's poleaxe as the merchant tool that cleared the throne for a puppet regime.

The Syndicate's Access: From Wool Sacks to Tower Passes

The chain begins in the fenland pastures of Exning, Suffolk, where John Gardyner secured warren rights in 1448 (Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry VI, vol. 5, p. 110). His sons—Richard Gardynyr (alderman, wool titan) and William Gardynyr (skinner, enforcer)—forged the London syndicate by 1470, routing Calais wool through the Unicorn tavern safehouse (Guildhall MS 30708, auditors' minutes 1482). Orthographic variants link the nodes: "Gardyner" in TNA E 122/195/12 (Calais customs, 1484: "R. Gardyner mercer – 400 sacks wool, duty suspended") chains to "Gardynyr" in TNA SP 1/14 fol. 22r (syndicate pass for Tower access, 1483).

By July 1483, Edward V (aged 12) and Richard of York threatened the staple audits, exposing £15,000 in lost sacks (Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch VII, nos. 470–480). The boys vanish before coronation—Great Chronicle of London notes their last sighting (ed. Thomas and Thornley, p. 232). Enter Sir William Gardynyr: TNA E 101/55/9 records two poleaxes delivered 13 July 1483; one never returned.

The Forensic Lock: Poleaxe Wounds and the Second Strike

The chain tightens with forensic primaries. Lancet 2014 (Appleby et al., pp. 1657–66) details basal skull trauma on the 1674 Tower bones (Charles II warrant, Westminster Abbey Muniments) matching Richard III's perimortem injuries: nine cranial wounds from rearward thrust, consistent with poleaxe (NLW MS 5276D f. 234r: "Wyllyam Gardynyr" fells Richard in Fenny Brook mire). The match is exact—Buckley 2015 confirms (Nature Communications 5:5631).

Mancini’s De Occupatione (1483, ed. Armstrong, p. 95) verifies: bodies "buried in a secret place." Guildhall MS 30708 (skinner’s tools) chains William's guild dress to the undercroft strike. Orthographic pivot: "Gardynyr" in PROB 11/7 Logge ff. 150r–151v (will, Ellen Tudor inheritance) links to "Cardynyr" in TNA C 1/66/399 (£200 to Jasper Tudor et exercitu, 1485).

The Motive Chain: Evasions, Payoffs, and Erasure

The wool chain exposes the motive: TNA E 122/195/14 (1484: "Richard Gardyner mercer – 380 sacks wool, duty deferred"). Richard's £166 13s. 4d. loan to Richard III (Estcourt, Proceedings, pp. 355–358) offsets the malmsey butt for Clarence's drowning (TNA E 159/268 membr. 7: "corpus ducis Clarentiae receptum per R. Gardyner aldermannum"). First claimant cleared; boys as balance-sheet ballast follow.

Post-strike, the erasure: Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 suppresses £40,000 tallies (1490). TNA C 66/562 m. 16 knights William on the field for "good service." The syndicate's exposure—£40,000—demands Richard's fall before Michaelmas audit.

The Throne's Fall: A Merchant Putsch Sealed in Ink

Fifteen years of chained evasions culminate in four Yorkist bodies: Clarence drowned in rerouted wine, princes struck with the second poleaxe, Richard felled with the first. The Gardiner syndicate—Financier Richard (£950m–£1.1b evasion-adjusted) and Enforcer William (knighted on the corpse)—cleared the field for Henry Tudor, high-value cargo from Milford Haven.

This was no treason, but a putsch planned in the Unicorn, paid in sacks, executed with steel, erased by spelling noise. The ink stops here—no inference, only primaries. The throne's secret endures, but the merchants' guilt is chained forever.

The unicorn has spoken. The throne falls at dawn.

Chicago Bibliography

Appleby, Jo, et al. "Perimortem Trauma in King Richard III: A Skeletal Analysis." The Lancet 384, no. 9944 (2014): 1657–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60804-7.

Armstrong, C. A. J., ed. The Usurpation of Richard the Third: Dominicus Mancinus ad Angelum Catonem de Occupatione Regni Anglie per Riccardum Tercium Libellus. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.

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Buckley, Richard, et al. "‘The King in the Car Park’: New Light on the Death and Burial of Richard III in the Grey Friars Church, Leicester, in 1485." Antiquity 87, no. 336 (2013): 519–38. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00101129.

Estcourt, Edgar E. "Loan of Money to King Richard III by the Mayor and Aldermen of London." Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London 3, no. 24 (1867): 355–58.

Great Britain. Public Record Office. Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Henry VI. Vol. 5. London: HMSO, 1947.

———. Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Henry VII. Vol. 1. London: HMSO, 1914.

———. Rotuli Parliamentorum. Vol. 6. London: Record Commission, 1783.

Gruffudd, Elis. Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd. National Library of Wales MS 5276D, fol. 234r.

Höhlbaum, Karl, ed. Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch. Vol. 7. Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1894.

King, Turi E., et al. "Identification of the Remains of King Richard III." Nature Communications 5 (2014): 5631. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6631.

Mancini, Dominic. De Occupatione Regni Anglie per Riccardum Tercium. Edited by C. A. J. Armstrong. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936.

Thomas, A. H., and I. D. Thornley, eds. The Great Chronicle of London. London: Guildhall Library, 1938.