Cardinal Wolsey’s daughter Dorothea is a figure shrouded in mystery, yet her life offers a rare and revealing window into the private world of one of Tudor England’s most powerful men. As the illegitimate child of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Dorothea was quietly placed in Shaftesbury Abbey—one of the wealthiest convents in England—to live a respectable life away from scandal.
Her story, recently brought to wider attention through portrayals in Wolf Hall, reflects the broader tensions of clerical celibacy, religious reform, and the personal contradictions that helped fuel the English Reformation. While little is definitively known about her fate after the dissolution of the monasteries, the legacy of Cardinal Wolsey’s daughter Dorothea continues to spark historical curiosity.
Today we’re gonna talk about another Wolf Hall reaction video because Wolf Hall is finally on in the US. Episode two was last night. I did a whole series of Wolf Hall videos when Wolf Hall was on in the UK the second season, so you can watch that here.
So last day was episode two and it focused on a couple of things. The relationship that Lady Margaret Douglas Henry VIII’s niece was having with a member of the Howard family, the Duke of Norfolk’s half brother Thomas Howard the Lesser and or the Younger.
I’m going to talk about Cardinal Wolsey‘s daughter because the episode ends with Cromwell going to see Dorothea at Shaftesbury Abbey and her thinking that he had betrayed Cardinal Wolsey, her father. So we’re gonna talk about Cardinal Wolsey’s children, Cardinal Wolsey’s personal life, if Dorothea was real or not.
So when we think about Cardinal Wolsey, we picture him as this ambitious and powerful right-hand man of Henry VIII, a man who rose from very humble beginnings to become one of the most influential figures in Tudor England.
For all of these public achievements, the dramatic fall from power. Wolsey also of course, had a private life that many people might find surprising. Among his secrets were two illegitimate children, at least a daughter named Dorothea and a son named Thomas. So we’re gonna talk about Dorothea today.
While Wolsey’s influence shaped the fate of England, his daughter’s life actually followed a very different path. Today we’ll explore what we know and don’t know about Dorothea Wolsey.
So Dorothea is one of those historical figures who is still quite elusive. Despite her intriguing connections, the records show that she was in fact, the illegitimate daughter of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.
His rise, of course, was matched only by his sudden and catastrophic fall, and like many high-ranking clerics of the time, Wolsey had children, despite his vows of celibacy, a fact that he, like others, tried to keep quite discreet. Her life took a path typical for the illegitimate children of the clergy.
Of course, this wasn’t uncommon. She was placed in Shaftesbury Abbey, one of the most wealthiest and prestigious convents in England. This wasn’t just a practical choice, it was actually something that was quite common for the illegitimate children of the clerics. By securing her a place within the abbey Wolsey ensured that she would have a respectable life that was removed from the scandal of her parentage.
In a way, it was a reflection of his desire to protect his daughter despite the contradictions of his own life. Despite being the most powerful clergyman in England, Cardinal Wolsey was not immune to the common practice of high-ranking clergymen of fathering children.
In a period when vows of celibacy were often treated more as an ideal than a rule, it was not unusual at all for bishops, abbotts, even cardinals to have unofficial families.
Wolsey’s other known child, Thomas Wynter, was born out of wedlock as well, and received a university education, a privilege that few could afford. For Wolsey, placing Dorothea in Shaftesbury Abby made sense. It kept her safe, it kept her respectable, also kept her out of the public eye where scandal could harm his career.
This practice of hiding or educating clerical children was common, especially among those who wield its significant power. In many ways, it mirrored the pre-reformation church’s tendency to turn a blind eye to the personal lives of its highest-ranking members.
The Mystery of Dorothea’s Mother
So who was Dorothea’s mother? Despite Wolsey’s high status and the attention that his life attracted, there’s remarkably little recorded about the women who bore his children. And I say women plural instead of one, because it’s even unclear whether Dorothea and Wolsey’s other known illegitimate son Thomas, shared the same mother. It might have been two.
Some historians speculate that Thomas’ mother may have been Joan Larke, who was Wolsey’s very long time mistress. But there’s no definitive proof linking her to Dorothea, so it might have been two.
Joan was from Norfolk, reportedly had a relationship with Wolsey before his rise to power. After their relationship ended, Wolsey arranged a marriage for Joan, which again was another common way for powerful men to ensure the stability and reputation of their former partners. It’s, it’s what Henry VIII did with Bessie Blunt for example, after she bore him, Henry Fitzroy, his son.
So we’re pretty sure that Joan was the mother of Thomas, but we aren’t sure whether she was the the mother of Dorothea or not. Now, looking at the bigger picture of Wolsey’s private life, this wasn’t happening in a vacuum. There was a whole debate that was going on at this time about clerical celibacy, and it would continue throughout.
Clerical Celibacy and the Reformation
It was part of the Protestant Reformation. As the Protestant Reformation gained momentum, the idea that the clergy should remain celibate, came under fire. Now Martin Luther himself who started Lutheranism and wrote the Ninety-five Theses in 1517, famously got married to Katharina von Bora, who is a former nun and openly rejected the idea that priests should remain unmarried
In England, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer had a wife. It had been a secret relationship at one point, and then after the Protestant Reformation started to take off under Edward VI, Henry’s son they lived more openly. And then when Mary came to power, Mary I who was Catholic, wanted to go back to clerical celibacy. He had to keep things secret again.
In fact, there was this whole thing where priests who openly were married then under Edward, and at the tail end of Henry’s reign as the Protestant Reformation was gaining momentum. These priests who got married and were living openly. Then when Mary came back, they had to like suddenly hide it and figure out things they were going to do with their wives, jobs and ways they could like figure it out.
And this was actually something that was a very big issue at the time. This wasn’t just Wolsey’s issue going on. So this was a, a huge debate that was happening. Wolsey himself, of course, was a staunch Catholic, was loyal to the Pope. But his own disregard for celibacy, combined with this immense power showed the contradictions within the church that the Protestant reformers were so eager to challenge.
Unlike reformers who publicly embraced married life, Wolsey had to keep his relationship discreet and secret. And so there was this tension between the tradition of the Catholic Church of clerical celibacy and these emerging Protestant ideas that wanted to encourage priests to go ahead and get married.
So the historical records are very sparse, but Dorothea is becoming somebody that people are interested in. Again, because of the way she’s been shown in Wolf Hall showing this kind of tragic figure and the effect that her father’s downfall had on her. Even seeing Cromwell as somebody who had played a part in her father’s fall from grace.
There’s also even this hint at a potential romance of sorts where Cromwell wants to protect Dorothea and they show it in the TV show and in the book itself that he wants to protect Dorothea. And so he even proposes to her offering her some protection in a world that was very insecure for a woman like her.
There’s no records that show that Thomas Cromwell proposed to Dorothea or was looking out for Thomas Wynter or anything like that. That’s not in the record. Historical fiction fills in where the records leave off, so who knows? He probably would have felt a debt of gratitude to Wolsey and might have wanted to look out for his children like that.
Dorothea’s Fate Post-Reformation
Still, I don’t know. Now, what would’ve happened to Dorothea during the Reformation? Shaftesbury Abbey itself was one of the wealthiest, most prestigious abbeys in England, and it was dissolved in 1539. As part of the dissolution of the monasteries. It was one of the last monasteries to be dissolved.
Henry’s agents were moving through the country, seizing religious houses and their assets. The abbey was known for its immense wealth and its powerful connections, but even that couldn’t save it. Of course, that probably made it even more attractive to Henry who wanted that wealth. The Abbess at the time, Elizabeth Zouche surrendered the abbey peacefully and was granted a pension, as were many of the nuns.
Dorothea was probably one of those nuns who was granted a pension. There’s no definitive record of what happened to her after the dissolution. Some sources suggest that she would’ve received a small pension along with the other nuns, but it’s not confirmed.
Now after the abbeys and the monasteries were dissolved, what happened to the people who lived there? Well, if they had families, the nuns would’ve gone back to their families or relatives, something like that. They did get a small pension, so they weren’t completely reliant on the charity of their family. They would’ve had some ability to support themselves, but it wasn’t like enough to set them up in a full household on their own or anything like that.
So given the fact that Dorothea did not have a family to go back to or any kind of independent means, she probably would’ve struggled to find some stability in this brave new world, such as it was since she lived a quiet life within the abbey’s walls, it’s possible that she faded into obscurity after losing her religious home.
There just aren’t any clear records as to what happened to her. So it’s a bit of a history mystery how it turned out for Dorothea. But what we can say is that Dorothea did live, she had a half-brother as well, or even perhaps a full-brother if they had the same mother. We’re not sure on that. And Wolsey’s having these relationships was part of this bigger picture that was going on that would lead to the Reformation.
It was one of the things that was debated during the Reformation itself. So it’s kind of interesting to look at this one case and see how that was part of this bigger theme. And she went to Shaftesbury Abbey. Shaftesbury Abbey was dissolved. We’re not sure what happened to her, and there’s no proof that Cromwell proposed marriage to her. So that’s a little bit about Dorothea Wolsey.
