“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.”
Latymer had often brought back religious books back from the Continent for the Queen, so it was lucky for him that he did not have anything which could have been deemed as heretical in his luggage. Records were made of the books that he was carrying and of those which he was having sent directly to London, but he was allowed to carry on with his journey. He must have been shocked to learn of the imprisonment of his patron.
William Latymer went on to serve Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth I, as one of her chaplains and he wrote a treatise on Anne Boleyn, his Chronicklle of Anne Bulleyne. Latymer lived a long life, dying at around the age of 84 in 1583. He was laid to rest on 28th August 1583 in Peterborough Cathedral.
Notes and Sources
Photo: Barbican gate, Sandwich, from geograph.org.uk by Penny Mayes. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
- LP x. 827
