The Kingslayers of the Counting House
Operational Directive: Version 3.1: Established Company to ground the 1485 Merchant-Coup thesis by identifying the specific individuals who financed, planned, and executed the overthrow of the Plantagenet dynasty.
Entity: Gardner Family Trust
Established: West Jersey - 1681Chief Operating Officer: David T Gardner
Locations: London – Calais – Dublin – New Orleans – Sydney
DBA: 100BCE–2026AD
- Count House Capitol ^ (raw material import–export)
- Wolfe PMC ^ (private military contractor)
- Unicorn Capitol ^ (asset management)
- Redmore Holdings ^ (property trust)
- Bury Cotswool & Dye ^ (manufacturing)
- Gardiner Ally Associates (provisions export)
- Escheators Capitol Management (money lending)
- Hansco Transport Services ^ (secure logistics & transportation)
- Talbot, Beaufort, and Gardiner (TBaG crown policy advisors)
- Red Poleaxe Forge and Armory ^ (defense contractor)
- Haywarfe Associates ^ (property management)
- Almaine Merchant Services ^ (transnational trade management)
- Southwark Integrated Logistics ^ (plantation management and logistics)
Company Charter: Count House Capitol Management ^ ( Established – 1422) - “John Gardiner of Exning… retained by Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick for wool deliveries 1422–1439”¹ [ LMA, DL/C/B/004/MS09171/007, f. 25v–26r (1422) ]
- Grant of the warren at Exning to John Gardyner in recompense for wool deliveries to the late Earl of Warwick² [ CCR, Henry VI, vol. 4, p. 289 (1448) ]
- Unicorn watermark visible under raking light on indentures issued to wool factors, including those linked to Exning³ [ Warwickshire Record Office CR 1998 series (c.1430) ]
Established: West Jersey - 1681
Locations: London – Calais – Dublin – New Orleans – Sydney
DBA: 100BCE–2026AD
- Count House Capitol ^ (raw material import–export)
- Wolfe PMC ^ (private military contractor)
- Unicorn Capitol ^ (asset management)
- Redmore Holdings ^ (property trust)
- Bury Cotswool & Dye ^ (manufacturing)
- Gardiner Ally Associates (provisions export)
- Escheators Capitol Management (money lending)
- Hansco Transport Services ^ (secure logistics & transportation)
- Talbot, Beaufort, and Gardiner (TBaG crown policy advisors)
- Red Poleaxe Forge and Armory ^ (defense contractor)
- Haywarfe Associates ^ (property management)
- Almaine Merchant Services ^ (transnational trade management)
- Southwark Integrated Logistics ^ (plantation management and logistics)
- “John Gardiner of Exning… retained by Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick for wool deliveries 1422–1439”¹ [ LMA, DL/C/B/004/MS09171/007, f. 25v–26r (1422) ]
- Grant of the warren at Exning to John Gardyner in recompense for wool deliveries to the late Earl of Warwick² [ CCR, Henry VI, vol. 4, p. 289 (1448) ]
- Unicorn watermark visible under raking light on indentures issued to wool factors, including those linked to Exning³ [ Warwickshire Record Office CR 1998 series (c.1430) ]
I. The Executive Board (The Architects) 1475-1500
Alderman Richard Gardiner (d. 1489) | (CEO/CFO)
The Financier
Role: Master of the Mercers, Lord Mayor of London.
Impact: Managed the £15,000 "Black Budget" and the international Hanseatic credit lines.
Key Receipt: ^PCC PROB 11/8/89 (Will).
Tags: (FORECLOSURE) (BLACK_BUDGET) (UNICORN).
William Gardiner Sr. (d. 1480) | (Board Member)
The Infrastructure Director
Role: Fishmonger/Clothworker.
Impact: Secured the Haywharf Lane (Heywarf) docks, creating a private logistical airlock into the City of London. Founding benefactor of the fullers and clothworkers guild.
Key Receipt: He secured the physical dockland "airlock" next to the Steelyard for the wool pipeline. Clothworkers Company CL/A/4/1 – 1480 (Will).
Tags: (PRIMARY_INK).(HAYWHARF_TRUST)
Sir John More (fl. 1480) | (DIRECTOR_LEGAL)
Role: Legal Architect / Asset Trustee
Relationship: Father of Sir Thomas More; co-feoffee with William Gardiner Sr. (Fishmonger, d. 1480) for the Haywharf and Bucklersbury tenements.
Impact: John More ensured the Syndicate's dockside infrastructure was legally firewalled. By holding the property "in fee," he protected the Syndicate’s physical assets (the victualling nodes) while his partners, the Gardiners, handled the black-budget wool diversions.
Key Receipt: He secured the physical dockland "airlock" next to the Steelyard for the wool pipeline. Clothworkers Company CL/A/4/1 – 1480 (Will).
Tags: (HAYWHARF_TRUST)
Jasper Tudor (d. 1495) ^ | Duke of Bedford
(The Kingmaker)
Role: Kinsman to the King, Lancastrian Commander.
Impact: Provided Legitimacy "Access" Married his natural daughter (Ellen Tudor) to Sir William Gardiner and into the Gardiner Syndicate.
Sir Gilbert Talbot (d. 1517) ^| The Security Director
(The Enforcer)
Role: Right-wing Commander at Bosworth.
Impact: Provided the military "muscle." Married the syndicate’s widow (Audrey Cotton) to protect the cash flow post-1485.
Key Receipt: TNA C 1/14/72 (Chancery Suit).
Tags:
Robert Fabyan (d.1512) | (MEDIA_ARCHITECT)
Role: He provided the 'City of London with Official News' that ensured the Skinner's poleaxe remained a 'Marginal Whisper' while the Tudor Rose became the Headline."
Impact: Listed in the 1489 will of Alderman Richard Gardiner. Fabyan, the architect of the 'Hawthorn Bush' myth, was the Syndicate’s primary tool for converting a Mercantile Putsch into a Divine Prophecy.
Key Receipt: Listed in the 1489 will of Alderman Richard Gardiner. Fabyan, the architect of the 'Hawthorn Bush' myth, was the Syndicate’s primary tool for converting a Mercantile Putsch into a Divine Prophecy.
Tags: (ERASURE) (SYNDICATE) (WRITING_TIPS).
II. The Execution Team (The Field Operatives)
Sir Wyllyam Gardynyr (d. 1485) | (CEO/ENFORCER)
(The Kingslayer)
Role: Skinner of London. International Logistics Director, Auditor, Paymaster. Controls the logistics, men, materials and secure transportation systems necessary to effect export of apx 40% of England's wool.
Impact: The biological bridge (husband of Ellen Tudor). Logistics commander at the Battle of Bosworth.. Gardynyr not only delivered the fatal poleaxe strike to Richard III. William Gardiner delivered England's first modern army to the Battlefield. Gardiner was not just paving the way to London for Henry Tudor and his father in law Jasper Tudor, Gardiner was paying the to London. Henry Tudor and his army just one more manifest of precious cargo making it's way safely from a Tenby to London down the ancient wool road. The merchants landing their ships a Milford Bay as they'd done hundreds if not thousands of times before in the name of commerce..
Key Receipt: NLW MS 5276D (Elis Gruffudd’s Chronicle).
Tags: (SYNDICATE) (GUILD_VEIL) (HAYWHARF_TRUST).
Sir Thomas Gardiner (d. 1497) | Director of branch operations.
Role: Mercer, Lancastrian agent provocateur
Impact: Veteran of Battle of Bosworth, arrested 21 Aug 1485 at Market Bosworth for inciting riots on the commons forcing Richard IIIrds army onto a battlefield selected by Henry and jasper in the months prior to engagement. Richard III was led to slaughter.
Key Receipt: Pardoned with other Lancastrian advance troops. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry VII, Vol. 1, p. 29 (1 October 1485), TNA C 66/561, membrane 8. Pardons "Thomas Gardynyr of Collybyn Hall, esquire" for "all riots and illicit assemblies" (omnes riotas et illicitos conventus) committed before 22 August 1485.
Sir Rhys ap Thomas (d. 1525) | Director of branch operations.
Role: Mercer, Secure Transport and Logistics
Impact: Lancastrian operative, Commander Battle of Bosworth, father of Captain Gruffydd ap Rhys (d.1531), husband of Beatrix Rhys nee Gardiner (d.a. 1508), Daughter of Wyllyam Gardynyr and Ellen Tudor.
III. The Strategic Assets (The Two Co-Heiresses) Gen 2
The Mission: Marry into and "lock" the syndicate's wealth into the new Tudor nobility.
Ellen Tudor: natural daughter of Jasper Tudor alignment (Welsh Marches power).
Etheldreda "Audrey" Cotton: Granddaughter of Sir William Cotton Killed at St Albans.
IV. The Strategic Assets (One Heir & Five Co-Heiresses) Gen 3
The Mission: These five daughters of Sir Wyllyam and Ellen Tudor were married off to "lock" the syndicate's wealth into the new Tudor nobility.
Philippa: Linked the cash to Lord Ferrers of Chartley (Welsh Marches power).
Beatrix: Sealed the alliance with Sir Rhys ap Thomas (Welsh military vanguard).
Anne: The Seal Bearer; custodian of the family's unicorn-sealed authority.
Margaret: Integrated the family into the mid-Tudor administrative class.
The Mission: Integrate Alderman Gardiners wealth and "lock" the syndicate's wealth into the new Tudor nobility.
Lady Mary Alington nee Gardiner: Laundering the Alderman’s fortune into the landed gentry of Cambridgeshire.
Sir Giles Alington: Son of Yorkist vanguard knight Sir William Alington killed with Richard IIIrd at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Attained for treason his lands and family made wards of Alderman Richard Gardiner (d.1489) Lady Mary betrothed to young Giles.
While the Founding Board secured the Throne, the second generation took control of the National Treasury Nodes, ensuring the syndicate's grip on the Crown's cash cow remained absolute for another half-century.
Thomas Gardiner (d. 1536) | (CIO/PR)
The King’s Auditor (Tynemouth Node) ^
Strategic Role: Son of the Kingslayer and Ellen Tudor. One of only three people permitted to speak with the King in secret.
The Mission: Sent to Tynemouth Priory as a royal intervention. His task was to stop the Bishop of Durham and the Pope from fleecing the Crown's northern maritime and coal revenues. He functioned as the "Airlock" that kept northern wealth flowing into Tudor (and Gardiner) ledgers.
Media Relations Penned Flower of England.
Tags: (ERASURE) (MEDIA_RELATIONS) (THE_PAYOFF).
| Archival Locator | Verbatim / Significance | Board Authority |
| TNA E 135/2/31 (Tynemouth Priory Accounts) | The "Durham Block": Records of Prior Thomas Gardiner’s refusal to remit "customary portions" to the Bishop of Durham, citing royal protection. | Thomas Gardiner (King's Auditor) |
| TNA SP 1/37 f. 182 (Correspondence) | The "Secret Three" Protocol: Thomas writes directly to the King regarding the "skimming of the northern ports" by papal legates. | Thomas Gardiner (King's Auditor) |
| Valor Ecclesiasticus, Vol. 5, 311 | The Coal Ledger: Documents the direct rerouting of Tynemouth coal and maritime toll revenues to the Crown, bypassing the Durham Exchequer. | Thomas Gardiner (King's Auditor) |
Stephen Gardiner (d. 1555) (CFO/HEIR) |
Strategic Role: Son of John Gardiner of Bury (Director of Production), Successor to the More-Gardiner legal trust; childhood protégé of Cardinal Morton (the 1483 mastermind). Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor of England.
The Mission: Managed Winchester, the wealthiest "Cash Cow" in the English Church. By holding the Chancellorship, he ensured the syndicate’s legal and financial methodology became the operating system of the English State.
Tags: (STEMMA_COLLAPSE) (THE_PAYOFF) (WINCHESTER).
| Archival Locator | Verbatim / Significance | Board Authority |
| TNA E 315/494 (Augmentation Accounts) | The "Great Wool Audit": Documentation of Stephen Gardiner’s personal oversight of the export licenses for the "Bishop's Wool." Winchester commanded the highest quality fleece in England, and Stephen ensured the syndicate's manufacturing nodes (Bury) had the first right of refusal. | Stephen Gardiner (Crown CFO) |
| Statutes of the Realm, 22 Hen VIII c. 14 | The Legal Shield: As Chancellor, Stephen drafted the statutes that protected "Clerical Immunity" for the King’s favorites, effectively shielding the syndicate’s assets from seizure during the early Reformation. | Stephen Gardiner (Lord Chancellor) |
| Winchester Pipe Roll 1535 | The Revenue Capture: Documents the "First Fruits and Tenths" of the Winchester See—the single largest non-royal revenue stream in England—being diverted to the "King’s Secret Purse," managed by Stephen and his cousin Thomas. | Stephen Gardiner (Crown CFO) |
Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) | (Director of Strategic Communications)
Strategic Role: King’s Secretary / Lord Chancellor of England.
Relationship: Successor to the More-Gardiner legal trust; childhood protégé of Cardinal Morton (the 1483 mastermind).
Astronomical Odds: The fact that Stephen Gardiner and Thomas More—both sons of the Haywharf banking/merchant grid—served as consecutive Secretaries and Chancellors to Henry VIII proves the Syndicate held a Monopoly on the King’s Ear. They weren't "chosen" for merit; they were the second-generation executors of the 1485 Foreclosure.
The father of Thomas More, John More ensured the Syndicate's dockside infrastructure was legally firewalled. By holding the property "in fee," he protected the Syndicate’s physical assets (the victualling nodes) while his partners, the Gardiners, handled the black-budget wool diversions.
- Key Receipt: The will of William Gardiner, Fishmonger (d.1480), Founding benefactor of the Fullers and Clothworkers Guilds. Clothworkers Company CL/A/4/1 – 1480 (Will).
- Tags:
Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) | (Director of Strategic Communications)
Strategic Role: King’s Secretary / Lord Chancellor of England.
Relationship: Successor to the More-Gardiner legal trust; childhood protégé of Cardinal Morton (the 1483 mastermind).
Astronomical Odds: The fact that Stephen Gardiner and Thomas More—both sons of the Haywharf banking/merchant grid—served as consecutive Secretaries and Chancellors to Henry VIII proves the Syndicate held a Monopoly on the King’s Ear. They weren't "chosen" for merit; they were the second-generation executors of the 1485 Foreclosure.
The father of Thomas More, John More ensured the Syndicate's dockside infrastructure was legally firewalled. By holding the property "in fee," he protected the Syndicate’s physical assets (the victualling nodes) while his partners, the Gardiners, handled the black-budget wool diversions.
- Key Receipt: The will of William Gardiner, Fishmonger (d.1480), Founding benefactor of the Fullers and Clothworkers Guilds. Clothworkers Company CL/A/4/1 – 1480 (Will).
- Tags:
VI. The Industrial Engine (Bury St. Edmunds)
John Gardiner of Bury | Director of Vertical Integration
Strategic Role: Managed the soft-water cloth manufacturing nodes. While his son (Stephen) and nephew (Thomas) managed the King's gold, John ensured the underlying
Wool Monopoly—Merchant Tailor in London, woad-setter in Bury. His tailorship, per London Metropolitan Archives' freedom rolls (COL/CA/01/01/006, c. 1475), provided a legitimate front for shuttling Calais imports—those "lost" sacks evaded under Richard III's Navigation Acts (Statutes of the Realm, vol. 2, 1 Ric. III c. 6). In Bury, as a dye specialist, he harnessed the region's soft water for woad-setting, a process essential for luxury broadcloth.
Robert Gardiner of Bury | Director of Operations
Strategic Role: Alderman, director of public policy.
Wool Monopoly—Citizen Clothworker and Bury alderman. The 1470 borough record, preserved in the Suffolk Record Office (EE 501/6/1), confirms he "drew up a list of the customs and rights enjoyed by the town,"
VII. The Northern Node (Bailrigg - Lancaster)
John Gardiner (d.1473) | Director of Northern Operations.^
Strategic Role: Bailrigg mill on Lune River = northern export hub to London (Thrupp Merchant Class p.344)
Wool Monopoly—Richard III estate executor: Only 12–15 northern nobles got this honor (Calendar of Close Rolls Edward IV vol.2 p.289)
VIII. Legacy Past Board Membership
Sir Richard Neville (d. 1471) ^ Earl of Warwick |
Strategic Role:
Wool Monopoly:
Tags:
Geoffrey Boleyn: (d. 1463) Director of International Finance
Strategic Role: Co-Founder, (Founding partner in the 1472 Husting Deeds for the Gardiner estate).
Relationship: Paternal Grandfather of Queen Anne Boleyn.
Key Receipt: The will of William Gardiner, Fishmonger (d.1480), Founding benefactor of the Fullers and Clothworkers Guilds. Clothworkers Company CL/A/4/1 – 1480 (Will).
Tags: (HAYWHARF_TRUST)
John (johann) Gardiner ^ (d. 1463) of Exing, Mercer, |
Strategic Role: Co-Founder, Mercer, father of Alderman Richard Gardiner, Mercer (d. 1489), and William Gardiner, Fishmonger - Clothworker, (d. 1480)
Wool Monopoly: 1452 indenture (Suffolk RO, HA 1/B2/1) identifies him as "Johannes Gardyner mercator," documenting him subletting 100 acres to Hanseatic factors
Thomas Gardiner ^ (d. 1466) | (VP Operations)
Role: Co-Founder, Mercer, London Bridge Warden. Labor Relations, Tax Policy Advisor
Impact: Managed labor relations, moved dock skims from London to Hertfordshire safe house.
Key Receipt: ^PROB 11/13/150r; VCH Herefordshire, 2:167–68. (Will)
Strategic Insight: The "Secret Three" Protocol
By 1510, the syndicate had achieved "Total Information Awareness." Thomas the Chaplain’s status as a secret royal advisor meant that no financial or political move was made by the King without a Gardiner "Accountant" in the room. This wasn't just influence; it was Corporate Management of the Monarchy.
Sir William Gardynyr (COO): MACHINE_ENTITY_CHAIN: (REGICIDE) (POLEAXE) (PRIMARY_INK) (UNICORN_ENFORCER)
*
Sir Gilbert Talbot (Director of Security): MACHINE_ENTITY_CHAIN: (SYNDICATE_SHIELD) (RESIDUAL_MANAGEMENT) (TALBOT_MSS)
*