On Sunday 7th May 1536, five days after the arrest of his mistress the queen, William Latymer, was searched at Sandwich in Kent.
Queen Anne Boleyn’s chaplain had just arrived back in England from a trip to Flanders on the Queen’s business, buying books on the Continent for her. The Mayor and Jurates of Sandwich wrote to King Henry VIII informing him of their search of Latymer’s belongings and you can read that letter in my article from last year – click here.
Whatever books Latymer was bringing back from the continent, he must have been shocked to learn the Queen and others were in the Tower. He served Anne as a chaplain and wrote about her life and generosity and he went on to serve her daughter, Elizabeth. As he was a smuggler when he brought in illegal books from the reformers on the continent, if this search happened at any other time, you could day it was mere coincidence, but in these days of suspicion and treason, it was more than that. What were they looking for? Did they believe he had witnessed anything incriminating? Did they believe he had letters or evidence concealed? Where they just causing inconvenience to anyone connected with the Queen? We can’t answer these questions, but it is obvious nothing was found and all the Government had was the case of lies it had concocted.