Sir William Gardner (c. 1450 - c. 1495) was a mercenary, warrior and knight during the Medieval Era who was noted for killing King Richard III of England on 22 August 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
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Wyllyam Gardynyr (as his name was written in Welsh accounts) was born in 1451 at Oxfordshire, England. He was a commoner and cloth merchant before he was hired as a mercenary during the War of the Roses. Although he was sometimes recorded as a 'Welsh halberdier', he was most likely of French, Scottish, and English ancestry.
The Welsh accounts state that Sir William Gardner killed King Richard III with a pollaxe. The Welsh account reads, "Richard’s horse was trapped in the marsh where he was slain by one of Rhys Thomas’ men, a commoner named Wyllyam Gardynyr." Afterwards, Gardner was knighted for bravery.
The only dispute of this action is credited to English historians who stated that King Richard III was killed in battle with a pollaxe mistakenly by Rhys ap Thomas. Although it was Rhys ap Thomas' military prowess which led to the downfall of King Richard III's forces, it was indeed William Gardner who killed the last King of England to die on the battlefield. Both Gardner and Thomas were knighted on the battlefield by King Henry VII and Gardner eventually married the illegitimate first cousin of the King himself.
King Richard III was the last King of the Plantagenet dynasty. Gardiner's actions would lead to his son becoming Lord Chancellor of England and the rise of his wife's family, the Tudors. Without his action, the modern monarchy under Elizabeth II would never have come to be. This is due to the fact that Henry VII is the great grandfather of James I, the direct ancestor of all the Kings and Queens following himself.
William Gardner, Gardiner, or Gardynyr, later married Helen Tudor, born c. 1459, reportedly an illegitimate daughter of Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford and 1st Earl of Pembroke, by one Mevanvy or Myvanwy ferch N (born Wales, died bef. 1485), and lived at "the Bank" in Surrey, England. He lived his life as a cloth merchant. It is most likely that Gardner later died from natural causes.
He is most noted today for being the father of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester (c. 1483[1] /c. 1497 – 12 November 1555), Richard Gardiner (1486 – 1548) and William Gardiner (1488 – 1549).