In Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light episode 2, we’re introduced to Cardinal Wolsey’s illegitimate daughter, Dorothea. She’s a nun at an abbey that we know is sure to fall in the coming years. However, the big question for many is whether she’s a real character or fictionalized for the story.
There are some fictionalized characters to help with the storytelling, with Thomas Cromwell’s apparent illegitimate daughter introduced in episode 3 being one of them. However, when it comes to Dorothea, she has roots in real history. The woman went by the name Dorothy in real history.
Cardinal Wolsey had two children in real history
While now, cardinals will take vows of celibacy, that wasn’t the case originally. Cardinal Wolsey was with a woman named Joan Larke, and the two had two children together. They were illegitimate children, and both went off to live with other families.
Dorothy went off to live with John Clancey, and she was sent to Shaftsbury Abbey convent, where she became a nun. Eventually, the convent dissolved, and that’s something that everyone there in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light episode 2 is worried about. They can all see what Henry VIII is planning on doing despite thinking that Catholicism would come back.
Did Thomas Cromwell really propose marriage as in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light?
During the episode, Cromwell goes to see Dorothea and proposes marriage. She turns him down, sharing that her father wrote to her about how Cromwell had turned against him in his final days. So, if Dorothea is a real person, does that mean this marriage proposal — as unromantic and awkward as it was — also was?
There is no evidence of this being the case. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t, as not everything is written in historical documents. Conversations happened behind closed doors. As Hamilton brings up, wouldn’t you love to be in the room where it happened?
It turns out that Dorothy did gain a pension from Cromwell after the convent was dissolved to help support herself in the years ahead. While this could have been due to turning down the proposal, it could have also been linked to the guilt he felt about not being able to save his friend. Cromwell’s motivations are something that we’ll never know, and it’s what makes historical fiction so fascinating.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light airs on Sundays at 9/8c on PBS.
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