Jane, illegitimate daughter of Thomas Cromwell?

Question

As part of a clean-up of biographies from the early Cromwells by the England Project Managed Profiles Team, I came across Jane Cromwell, Thomas's alleged illegitimate daughter.  Usually one treats such connections with some scepticism.  However, in this case I believe it is likely to be correct.

If anyone has any additional information, either for or against, I would be grateful for their additions.

It might be worth pointing out that Hilary Mantel, who has spent some years working on her three novels about Thomas, believes her to have been a real daughter.

Stephen

Answer 1

The Wikipedia article seems to agree and gives some sourcing. With all due respect to her, I would not overemphasize Hilary Mantel as a source though, but would tend to try to go more directly to primary sources and the published interpretations of those.

Comments

The trouble with Thomas Cromwell is the opposite of the usual genealogist's problem.  Between about 1533 and 1540 he was essentially running the kingdom.  He had a work ethic that emphasised complete involvement.  As such the primary sources are like a fire hose.  There is simply too much data.  If you go to the court rolls and search on Cromwell it basically gives you every entry as he was involved in everything.  

Hilary Mantel as part of her effort to write his life in those three novels has read all of it, which is more than I have!

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There are other secondary sources though :)

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I would always take the opinion of someone who's done that much research into someone seriously, the thing is that there is no way to check the sources of someone who's written a historical novel, or to check for possible flaws in the logic of how they came to their conclusion, because all you get is their conclusion.  A good secondary source will give you references to their primary sources, and the train of logic that led them to controversial conclusions, and that gives you the opportunity to decide for yourself whether you agree or not - which is exactly what we should be trying to do on our WikiTree profiles too (though of course it's easier said than done!)  The more people who read and check through something, the more likely any weaknesses in the arguments will be spotted.

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Yes, being able to trace back to the original evidence and argumentation is important, and certainly preferable. Of course it could be that Mantel has published such a full explanation somewhere, but I am not aware of that.