Was Thomas Cromwell’s illegitimate daughter Jenneke in Wolf Hall real? History explained

She had some damning words for Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance), who was left shaken by their meeting, but perhaps he will receive some comfort from the emergence of his bastard daughter: Jenneke (played by Ellie de Lange).

The character is introduced at the very end of the third episode – titled Defiance – and will leave viewers wondering if Cromwell truly had an illegitimate child or if this is a work of Hilary Mantel's imagination.

Here's what you should know about Jenneke as depicted in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light.

Was Thomas Cromwell’s illegitimate daughter Jenneke real?

No, Jenneke in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light was not a real person.

The character is a creation of author Hilary Mantel, who appeared in the last entry of her Bring Up the Bodies trilogy, bringing news from Europe of the grisly fate of William Tyndale – an enemy of King Henry VIII.

By introducing an imagined daughter, Mantel is able to delve deeper into her complex central character, including the regret and sorrow that she depicts him as carrying from a life of scheming and servitude.

Like other elements of the Wolf Hall books drawn from Mantel's mind, there is historical evidence of Thomas Cromwell having a daughter, although her name was not Jenneke and she did not grow up in Antwerp.

A woman named Jane Cromwell was born in London in approximately 1530, around the same time that Thomas was mourning his wife and daughters (who had died from an unknown 'sweating sickness' that had swept the country).

Records suggest that, at age nine, she was living with Thomas's son, Gregory, but the Lord Privy Seal was looking out for her to some degree, including by making a payment to the household to go towards clothes for Jane.

It is not known who Jane's mother was, although historian Caroline Angus deemed it notable that a former servant of Cromwell's named Elizabeth Gregory was, strangely, left a substantial sum of money in his will with no explanation.

Jane went on to marry William Hough, whose father is thought to have been unhappy with the pairing due to her uncertain parentage and staunch Catholic faith, according to historian Kirsten Claiden-Yardley.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light airs Sundays on BBC One.

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