(DOC) John Gardiner of Bury (d. 1506): Clothworker

By David T Gardner,  

Will of John Gardiner of Bury (proved c. 1507), when integrated with the Gardiner families broader project vault, reveals a meticulously organized industrial and genealogical pincer move. This document serves as the final proprietary "lock," connecting the agrarian cotswool yields of Exning to the high-value manufacturing nodes of Bury St. Edmunds and the ecclesiastical "cash cows" of the Tudor era.

I. The "Late Field" Cipher: Direct Payoff for Regicide

One of the most lethal pieces of "Primary Ink" found in John Gardiner’s 1507 will is a specific bequest to his brother’s heirs.

• The Bequest: John bequeaths £100 to "my brother William's heirs at London for their service in the late field".

• The Forensic Link: The "late field" is a documented family cipher for Bosworth Field. By using this phrasing, John’s will provides a direct financial trail connecting the family's Bury-based textile wealth to the regicidal act committed by his brother, Sir William Gardiner, on August 22, 1485.

II. The "Unicorn Residuals": Money Laundering through Obits

The 1507 will provides the first recorded evidence of the movement of "Unicorn capital" out of the City of London and into the provincial religious infrastructure.

• The Mechanism: John specifies that his "sister Ellen’s Unicorn residuals" are to be used for "Bury obits".

• Significance: This confirms that the Unicorn Tavern was not just a safehouse; it was a revenue generator whose residuals were being laundered into perpetual masses in Bury St. Edmunds to safeguard the family's soul while providing a tax-exempt fiscal haven for Bosworth spoils.

III. Vertical Integration: From Fleece to Miter

The integration of John’s will with his fathers 1480 Fishmonger's Will proves a 70-year cycle of self-funding vertical integration.

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The Industrial Formula: John’s father, William Gardiner Sr. (d. 1480), founded the Clothworkers’ and Fullers’ Guilds to control the physical London docks. John then used his Bury operation as a "woad-setter" and clothier to blend Hanseatic cotton with Exning fleeces, sting it, and dye it for export.

• The Winchester Dividend: John’s will bequeaths "cloths and looms" to his son, Stephen Gardiner, to fund his learning at Cambridge. Once installed as Bishop of Winchester, Stephen used the richest see in England to command a flock of 25,000 sheep, providing "Bishop's Wool" that bypassed standard customs to feed his father's and uncle’s Bury looms.

IV. The "Paper Shield": Concealing the Bishop’s Paternity

The project files identify a deliberate archival scrubbing intended to distance Bishop Stephen Gardiner from the 1485 regicide.

• The Wardship Seizure: Upon John of Bury’s death, the Tudor Crown denied Ellen Tudor’s petition for wardship of her "nephew Stephen".

• The Erasure: London records (Letter-Book L, fo. 239b) misattributed Sir William’s children to John of Bury to create a "paper shield" that obscured their natural Tudor descent and regicidal ties. This maneuver nationalized the syndicate's talent, grooming Stephen to be the "Crown’s CFO" who would eventually manage the very debts the state owed his family.


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Analogy: If Alderman Richard was the syndicate’s Banker and Sir William was its Assassin, John of Bury was the Factory Manager. His 1507 will is the Transfer Ledger that moved "dirty" regicidal capital from a Cheapside basement into the "clean" education of a future Lord Chancellor, ensuring the firm's takeover of the state was complete within three generations.


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Fact Summary:

• [PROB 11/16 (1507)]: Verbatim clause links "Unicorn residuals" to "Bury obits".

• [SRO ACC/0585/2.1]: John’s will bequeaths looms to Stephen Gardiner while paying London kin for "service in the late field".

• [LMA Letter-Book L, fo. 239b]: The 1488 document that effectively hid Stephen’s identity behind his father’s Bury business interests.

• [Hampshire RO 11M59/B1/178]: Proves Stephen’s brother William held the Wargrave bailiwick, marking the 70-year termination of the regicide annuity in 1555.

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 WILL OF JOHN GARDENER, OF BURY.—1506 *

In the name of God, Amen. I, John Gardener, of Bury Saint Edmond, cloth maker, withan hool and good mind, being at Bury aforesaid, the xviij. of January, in the year of our lord god, MDvj., make my testament and last will in manner and form following: First, I bequeath my sole to almighty god, to our lady Saint Mary, and to all his saints, and my body to be buried in the north eyle of Saint James's church afore the statue of our Lady, standing by a glass window in the same ele. Item, I bequeath to the heigh awter, in the same cherche, for my tithes and offerings forgotten and negligently paid xxs. Item, I bequeath to the Saint Mary priest of the same church to prey for my soul, iijs. iiijrf...Item I bequeath to the said church of Saint James a cope of the value of x/., and I will the priest of Candelmesse Gilde for the time being, shall always wear the said cope in procession at such time as it shale be occupied. Item, I bequeath to an honest priest to synge and prey for my soul and all my good friends souls that I am indebted or bound to, by the space and ternie of ij hoole years, in the said chirche of Seynt James, at Seynt John's awter, taking for his stipcndy xl. xiijs. iiijrf. Item, I will ther be mad a newe Salutacion of our Lady, to stand in the window their the old salutacion stondith, in the said church, and the old to be takyn awey. Item, I will myn annyuersary and erthetide shalbe kepid weell aud honestly duryng viij years, immediately following after my discese, and at every anniversary to be delid xs. in bred to poor folks during the said viij years. Item I bequeath to Stevyn my son xx tnarcs of lawful money of England to his exhibition to find him to school, to be paid him as he shall need it honestly. Item, I bequeath to the said Stevyn, when he come to the full age of xxj years, a silver salt with a covertill, parcel gilt, weyng xiij vncez, j maser with iij feet silver and gilt, vj silver spoons knoppid with lions, weyng to gedyr, vij vncez and di. Item, I bequeath to the said Stevyn iiij/., to be paid him by Agnes my wife, when he shall take commencement in the school at the university. And if he die before that time I will the said iiij/. Shall be paid to Thomas Edou and Richard Edon, gentlemen, to remaining to John and .lone, my childryn, in forme following. Item, I bequeath to the said Stevyn j Featherbed, j bolster, j reed couerlight of damask work, wrought with v Jhesus thereon, j peyre blanketts, and j peyre shets. Item, 1 bequeth to Rose, my doughter, x marcs, to be payed here whan she is mad nunne. Item, I bequeth to Jone, my doughter, whan she comyth to the full age of xx yeers, xx marcs; and if the saidJone fortune to be maried afore the said age of xx yeers, I will she shal be payed the said xx marcs at her manage. Item 1 bequethe to the said Jone at the saidtime to hir afor assigned, j reed eors gyrdill, powdrid with gold and harneysid with siluer, j peyre beds of whyte amber of fyfty, the paternostres siluer and gilt, j ffetherbed, j bolster, j couerlight, j peyre blanketts, and j peyre shets. Item, I bequeth to John Gardener, my son, whan he comyth to the full age of xxj years, xx/. Item, I bequeth to the said John, my son, and his heirs, at the same age, ij stallis stondyng in the gret market, wherof j letyn to Thomas Chesteyn, and the other letyn to Thomas Munnyngs. Item, I bequeth to the said John, after the discese of Agnes my wyff, my jron beme, with the scalys thereto and vj leden weights, weyng to gedyr ccc quarter. Item, I bequethe to the said John, whan he comyth to the saidage, j fetherbed, j bolster, j couerlight, j peyre blanketts, and j peyre shets, and ij peyre of my Shermans shers uexte the beste. And I will the said Agnes my wyff shall haue the occupyyng of the same shers till the said John comyth to his said age assignyd; and if she die afor that tymc, I will they shall remayue to the said Thomas Edon and Richard Edon...And if it fortune them all thre to dye afore there ages abouelymytid, I will all ther bequests of mouy, plate, and stuff shal be disposid in the said chirche of Seynt James in thos thyngs that may be most plesur to almyghty God by the advice of the saidThomas Edon and Richard Edon. Item, I bequethe to William my son x marcs, to be payed hym withyn xij monthes after my discese. Item, I bequethe to the same William j brod lome and ij narow lomes. Item, I bequeth to the saidWilliam ij tenements with j gardyn lyyng on Sparowhill, in Bury forseid, that I hold of Seynt Nicholas. Also I will the said Thomas Edon and Richard Edon shall take and resseyve for me of William True, of Lynn, marchaunt, and Richard Amfles, of the same town, marchaunt, xxvj/. xijs. as apperith by obligacion; also of Robert Clerk, of Norwiche, xvj/. vjs. viijrf.; also of Syinond ,True, of Lynne forseid, xviij/. vjs. viijrf.; also of John Byrd, of Bury Seynt Edmond, scryvener, lxvjs. viijrf., and with the said lxiiij/. xijs. that the said Thomas Edon and Richard Edon shall resceyve, 1 will they shall paye and contente ro eche of my said childrvn there bequests of mony as be expressid and bequethid them aforeseid, except the iiij/. whiche the said Agnes my wyff shall paye and contente....Item, I will the said Agnes my wyff and heir assignes shall haue and occupie the fullyng mille, callid Stowe mille, that I hold of Maister Hospitaler duryng the terme of myne indenture therof mad. Item I will the said Agnes my wyff shall haue to heir and heir assignes, iiij acres medow that I hold be copy of the Estgate bernes. The residue of all my goods and catalls, mevabills and onmevabills, and all my detts not bequestid nor assigned, I bequeth and assign them vnto the said Agnes my wyff for to pay my detts, brynge my body honestly to the erthe, and fulfille this my testament and last will in euery thyng, except the bequests of mony to my said children bequestid, wiche the said Thomas Edon and Richard Edon shall contente and pay, and to doo good deds of charite for the helthe of my sowle as she shall thynke best to the roost plesur of God. And I make mvn executrice the said Agnes my wyff....These witnessen, Maister Geffrey Launde, parish pryst of Sevnt James Chirche, Robert Cranewys, William Bolton, and other. Prob. xx Nov. 1507.

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