On the 8th of May 1536 the Mayor and Jurates of Sandwich, Kent, wrote to Henry VIII informing him that:-
“On Sunday, 7 May, Sir Wm. Latymer, one of the Queen’s chaplains, arrived at Sandwich, where he was told that the Queen and others were prisoners in the Tower. He said that he had come from Flanders on her business, and showed the contents of his budget and purse to the mayor and jurates, as Thos. Boys, one of the King’s servants then present, can testify. Enclose a list written by him of the books he had with him, and of others in his mail, which had not yet arrived, but which were to be conveyed to London to one Mrs. Wilkinson. Boys will convey Latymer himself to the King. Sandwich, 8 May.”1
This small note in Letters and Papers shows us that anybody who had any connection to the Queen was being investigated and poor Latymer found himself being searched when he landed on English soil, just in case he was carrying something which could be used against the Queen. Cromwell was being thorough.
Notes and Sources
1 – LP x.827 Letter from Mayor and Jurates of Sandwich to Henry VIII, dated 8th May.
