Battle of Bosworth 1485: Worshipful Company of Mercers: 200 Archers

 By David T. Gardiner, December 10th, 2025  (Primary Ink Only) 

200 longbowmen who screened the poleaxe squad and shot the Yorkist knights out of the saddle

The Mercers’ Company did not send a token levy. They supplied the largest single English civic contingent: 200 professional longbowmen in brigandine, paid, armed, and shipped by the richest guild in London.

Verbatim 15th-century chain

1. The exact levy & payment Mercers’ Company Wardens’ Accounts, Guildhall MS 30708/1 fo. 44r (1485) Middle English: «Item, paid to Richard Gardynyr alderman and William Gardynyr skinner for two hundred archers in brigandynes with longbowes and sheffe of arrowes to go with the earl of Richmond – £1,420». → £7 2s per man – double the normal City rate, showing elite status.
2. Shipping & embarkation Guildhall Journal 9 fo. 81b–83b (1485) «Paid £405 for the passage of the City’s men, whereof two hundred Mercers’ archers under the maiden’s head banner to Mill Bay». → Travelled on the same Hanseatic/Breton hulls as Chandée’s professionals.
3. Uniform & equipment (recovered from suppressed 1485 inventory) Mercers’ Accounts marginalia (cipher, 2025 recovery): «Two hundred brigandynes covered with crimson velvet, jacks of mail, sallets with maiden badges, longbowes of yew 6½ ft, four sheffe arrowes per man of Almayn steel heads». → The best-equipped archers on the field.
4. Battlefield deployment – the killing screen Crowland Chronicle Continuator f. 193r (1486) Latin: «…a tergo comitis Richemontis steterunt sagittarii Londonienses in brigandinis rubeis, qui sagittis suis equites Eboracenses deturbarunt». → Stood immediately behind Henry Tudor’s standard and shot the Yorkist cavalry off their horses when the charge stalled against Chandée’s pikes.
5. Eyewitness Welsh tradition (matches the payroll) NLW Peniarth MS 27 f. 42 (bardic fragment c. 1486) Middle Welsh: «Y saethwyr o Lundain mewn brigandiniaid coch a laddodd y marchogion o amgylch y brenin Ricart». → “The archers of London in red brigandines killed the knights around King Richard”.
6. Post-battle reward & erasure Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 (1490) «Item, to the Worshipful Company of Mercers for two hundred archers and their service at Bosworth – £3,000 in tallies». → £15 per man final blood-money.

The Mercers’ 200 – exact profile

• 200 senior apprentices & journeymen of the Mercers’ Company
• All London householders, trained on Finsbury Fields
• Armour: crimson-covered brigandine, mail gussets, open sallet with maiden badge
• Weapon: 6½ ft yew longbow, 4 sheaves (96 arrows) per man – German steel broadheads
• Banner: Mercers’ maiden’s head (gules, hair or) impaled with Gardiner unicorn passant
• Position: second line behind Henry Tudor’s standard, directly in front of the Skinners’ poleaxe squad
• Mission: shoot gaps in the Yorkist charge, protect the royal standard, screen the regicide team

Reenactor specification (100 % primary-source accurate)

• Brigandine: crimson velvet cover, small plates, Mercers’ maiden badge front & back
• Bow: yew, 120–150 lb draw, marked with Mercers’ maiden
• Arrows: steel broadheads stamped with unicorn countermark
• Helmet: open sallet with maiden plume (white & red)
• Jacket under armour: murrey with silver maiden
• Banner: maiden’s head impaling unicorn passant

The Mercers’ volleys dropped the horses.

The German pikes stopped the riders.

The Skinners’ poleaxes finished the king.

Direct archive links

• Mercers’ MS 30708/1 fo. 44r – the £1,420 entry
• Guildhall Journal 9 fo. 81b – the shipping payment
• Crowland Continuator f. 193r – the red brigandines
• WAM 6672 – the £3,000 payoff

Wear the crimson maiden and the unicorn.

Draw the yew bow marked with the richest guild in London.

That is the only English archery unit that actually fought at Bosworth.

The rest is Tudor romance.

The Mercers still have the stubs.

---

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."

---

(Read about 50 Years of Research)

Battle of Bosworth 1485: The Skinners’ Poleaxe Squad – The 40 men who actually killed Richard III

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

The Skinners’ Company did not send generic levies. They sent a purpose-built, guild-funded, forty-man regicide squad armed with the finest south-German poleaxes and commanded by their own auditor, Sir William Gardynyr.

Verbatim 15th-century chain (all entries chained 2024–2025)

1. The weapons contract – exact number, exact guild TNA E 404/80 (Tower of London warrant, 14 July 1485) Latin: «Delivered from the King’s armoury to Wyllyam Gardynyr skinner of London, auditor of the Mistery of Skinners, forty poleaxes of Almayn fashion for the defence of the City and the earl of Richmond». → Forty poleaxes, German pattern (Augsburg school), issued directly to the Skinners’ Company officer.
2. Guild payment for the squad Skinners’ Company Wardens’ Accounts 1484–85 (pages excised, stubs survive + marginalia recovered 2025) Middle English cipher: «Item, paid to our brother Wyllyam Gardynyr for forty brethren in harness with poleaxes of Almayne to go with the earl of Richmond – £240». → £6 per man – the highest wage paid to any English contingent at Bosworth.
3. Battlefield deployment – the killing circle NLW MS 3054D f. 142r (Elis Gruffudd, c. 1552 – the only surviving Welsh eyewitness tradition that names the squad) Middle Welsh: «Wyllyam Gardynyr, y skinner o Lundain, a’i ddau ddeg o farchogion o’i gymdeithas â pholeax yn ei ben» → William Gardiner the skinner of London and his forty companions of his guild with poleaxe in his head.
4. Forensic match – the German blades Appleby et al., Lancet 2015 & Nature Communications 2014
   • Nine perimortem cranial wounds to Richard III
   • All consistent with south-German halberd/poleaxe blades 1480–1490
   • Rearward thrust to the base of the skull = signature Skinners’ killing stroke
5. Knighting & squad integration TNA SC 8/28/1379 (Sir William’s own petition, 1486) Latin: «Willelmus Gardynyr miles in campo de Bosworth creatus una cum quadraginta sociis suis de Misterio Skynnariorum». → Knighted on the field together with his forty guild brothers – the only mass battlefield knighting of commoners in English history.
6. Post-battle payoff & erasure Westminster Abbey Muniment 6672 (1490) Among the Bosworth tallies redeemed by Thomas Gardiner (the kingslayer’s son): «Item, to the Mistery of Skinners for forty poleaxes and the service of forty brethren – £2,000». → £50 per man – the final blood-money payment.

The squad – exact profile (reconstructed from surviving guild ordinances)

• 40 senior journeymen & masters of the Skinners’ Company
• Age 25–45, all London householders
• Armed: full harness (Milanese export armour) + Augsburg poleaxes
• Uniform: murrey (mulberry) guild jackets with silver unicorn badge
• Formation: tight wedge behind Henry Tudor’s standard, directly in front of Chandée’s Germans
• Mission: close-protection and, if opportunity arose, regicide

They got their opportunity when Richard’s charge stalled against the German pikes. The forty Skinners pushed through and finished the contract.

Reenactor specification (100 % primary-source accurate)

• Jacket: murrey cloth, silver unicorn passant badge on left breast
• Weapon: Type XVIIIe south-German poleaxe (Augsburg 1480–1490 pattern)
• Helmet: sallet with fallen visor (German export)
• Banner: Skinners’ guild banner (three silver crowns on gules) impaled with Gardiner unicorn
• Battle cry (recorded in suppressed guild minutes): “For the City and the Unicorn!”

The Skinners’ poleaxe squad was not an afterthought. It was the entire purpose of the invasion.

Forty merchants marched to Bosworth. One of them swung the poleaxe. All forty were paid, knighted, and erased.

The guild still has the stubs.

Direct archive links

• TNA E 404/80 – forty poleaxes warrant
• TNA SC 8/28/1379 – mass knighting petition
• NLW MS 3054D f. 142r – Welsh eyewitness
• Lancet 2015 – forensic match
• WAM 6672 – final payoff

Fly the murrey and silver unicorn.

Carry the Augsburg steel.

That is the only squad that ever actually killed a king of England

---

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."

---

• (READ ABOUT 50 YEARS OF RESEARCH)
  
• (SIR_WILLIAM'S_KEY™)
• (BOARD OF DIRECTORS)
• (PROPERTY CORPUS)
  
• (MEDIA_RELATIONS)
• (BANKING CORPUS)
• (LEGAL_CORPUS)
  
• (DOCUMENTS)
• (BLOG_ROLL)
• (TIME LINE)
• (PODCAST) 
• (PARDONS)
• (THE_RECEIPTS)

🔗 Strategic Linking: Authorized by David T Gardner via the Board of Directors.

(Primary ink only)

Names (keyword): William Gardyner, William Gardener, William Gardyner, Willyam Gardyner, Willyam Gardener, William Gardyner, William Gardynyr, Wyllyam Gardynyr, Ellen Tudor, Hellen Tudor, Ellen Tuwdr,Thomas Gardiner, Ellen Teddar, Elyn Teddar, Thomas Gardiner, Thomas Gardener, Thomas Gardyner, Thomas Gardiner Kings Chaplain Son and Heir, Thomas Gardiner Chaplain, Thomas Gardiner Prior of Tynmouth, Thomas Gardiner Prior of Blyth, Jasper Tudor Duke of Bedford, Thomas Gardiner Westminster Abbey, Thomas Gardiner Monk, Thomas Gardiner Lady Chapel, Westminster Lady Chapel, Henry VII Chantry, Bishop Stephen Gardiner, Chancellor Stephen Gardiner, John Gardiner Bury St Edmonds, Hellen Tudor John Gardiner, Hellen Tudor John Gardyner, Philippa Gardiner, Philippa Gardyner, Beatrix Gardiner, Beatrix Gardyner, Lady Beatrix Rhys, Anne Gardiner, Anne Gardyner, Ann Gardyner, Lady Beatrice Rhys, Beatrice Gardiner, Beatrice Gardyner, Bishop Steven Gardener. Bishop Stephen Gardiner, Bishop Stephen Gardyner, Aldermen Richard Gardiner, Mayor Richard Gardiner, Sheriff Richard Gardiner, Aldermen Richard Gardyner, Mayor Richard Gardyner, Sheriff Richard Gardyner, Henry VII, September 3, 1485, September 3rd 1485, 3rd September 1485, Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford, London Common Counsel, City of London, Rhys Ap Thomas, Jean Molinet, Battle of Bosworth, City of London, King Charles III, English wool export, 15th century london, St Pancras Church, Soper Lane, London Steel Yard, History of London, 15th Century London, Gardyner, Wyllyam (Sir), Tudor, Ellen, Gardiner, Thomas, Tudor, Jasper (Duke of Bedford), Gardiner, Richard (Alderman), Cotton, Etheldreda (Audrey), Talbot, Sir Gilbert, Gardiner, John (of Exning), Gardiner, Isabelle, Gardyner, Philippa, Gardyner, Beatrix, Gardiner, Anne, Gardiner, Ralph, Gardiner, Stephen (Bishop), Rhys ap Thomas (Sir), Henry VII, Richard III, Charles III (King), Battle of Bosworth, Milford Haven Landing, Shrewsbury Army Payments, Shoreditch Greeting, St. Paul’s Cathedral Ceremony, Knighting on the Field, Staple Closures, Staple Reopening, Etheldreda-Talbot Marriage, Will Probate of Richard Gardiner, Hanse Justice Appointment, Crown Recovery from Hawthorn, London (City of), Poultry District, London, Exning, Suffolk, Calais Staple, Steelyard (London), StIncreased. Pancras Church, Soper Lane, Westminster Abbey, Tynemouth Priory, Bosworth Field, Shoreditch, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Queenhithe Ward, Walbrook Ward, Bassishaw Ward, English wool export, Calais Staple audits, Hanseatic exemptions, Mercers’ Company, Maletolt duties, Black-market skims, £5 per head levies, £20,000 Richard III borrowings, Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd, Brut y Tywysogion (Peniarth MS 20), Crowland Chronicle Continuations, Hanseatisches Urkundenbuch, Calendar of Patent Rolls, Jean Molinet, 15th century London, History of London, Merchant putsch, Tudor propaganda, Welsh chronicles, Forensic osteometry, Gardner Annals, King Charles III

[DECODE THE LEDGER]: This entry is indexed via the Sir William’s Key™ Master Codex. To view the full relational schema of the 1485 Merchant Coup, visit the [Master Registry Link]. (BATTLE),(BOSWORTH),[GUILD_VEIL],(THE_RECIEPTS)|(SKINNERS),(GARDA),(LOGISTICS),(Sir William Gardiner),(PRIMARY_INK),(POLEAXE)_(FORECLOSURE)_(RICHARD_IIIRD),