Nursery Rhymes and what they mean?

The meanings behind Baa Baa Black sheep revolve around the British wool industry, there are two English kings behind the story; King Edward I and King Edward II.

King Edward I was the Plantagenet King, he would have been 'The Master' in the nursery rhyme and imposed a wool export tax in 1275 which would likely have been one third of all wool leaving England. Tax collectors were based at every port in the country. The black sheep may have been someone intending to smuggle wool out of England but once challenged he declared he had three bags of wool, one was for The Master (King Edward I).

The other theory involves King Edward II (1307-1327). England was renowned for producing top quality sheep and the finest wool in Europe. Wool was just the raw material and to convert it to cloth it was sent to more skilled workers in Flanders, Bruges and Lille. Rather than teaching the skills of those Flemish weavers and dyers to English workers King Edward is alleged to have supported the export of wool and deprived his own people work. His great black wig could have been the 'black sheep'.

My personal theory is that the absolute stench caused during the cleansing of wool in stale urine was probably enough to send it elsewhere, not on the Kings own doorstep!

George Villiers was 1st duke of Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628).

It is said that King James I and Villiers were lovers, James apparently nicknamed Villiers "Steenie" relating to St. Stephen because the Holy Bible mentions him as having the "face of an angel", clearly this is what King James thought of George Villiers.

Villier's had many affairs including one with the Queen of France who was married to the King Louis XIII this affair was featured in the novel 'The Three Musketeers' by Alexander Dumas.

He helped to arrange the marriage of King James' son to the French Catholic princess Henrietta Maria who later became King Charles I .

Because of this favor, the King overlooked many unorthodox political schemes, plots and private liaisons by 'Georgie Porgie' but Members of Parliament eventually lost their patience and demanded the King ceased his support. for "Georgie Porgie".

The Members of Parliament could have 'come out to play' whilst Georgie Porgie 'ran away' from all the controversy. The girls cried because their romantic liaison with Villiers was but brief.

Hush a Bye Baby is thought to be based on the fact that Native Americans would leave their babies nestled on a tree branch to sway in the wind and rock the baby to sleep. Sadly few were secured and many fell to their death or suffered injury.

This practice probably went on for generations without comment until the settlers started to live in close proximity and noted such dangerous methods of nursing a baby to sleep.

The Jack & Jill nursery rhyme relates to the horrors of the French Revolution 1793.

Jack is King Louis XVI and Jill is Queen Marie Antoinette.

So, Jack and Jill went up the hill - the stairs to the guillotine, he was the first of the two to be beheaded (lost his crown) and his queen's head came tumbling after.

Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum
And said "What a good boy am I!"

Jack Horner was indeed a real person, he was employed as a Steward to The Bishop of Glastonbury (Richard Whiting 1461 - 1539)

The Steward would have been an 'estates manager', a very important and extremely trusted position, managing the household, accounts and collecting taxes. This particular estate, Glastonbury was the largest and wealthiest Abbey in England.

It was a Benedictine Monastery and like all monasteries in those days it owned extensive land, property and manors in its county, this one is Somerset.

We are looking at the time between 1536 and 1540 when King Henry VIII had fallen out with the Pope and broken away from the Catholic Church. Thomas Cromwell was the Chief Minister to the King and he was busy overseeing the systematic demolition of all Monasteries throughout England.

The monasteries were rich in gold and silver as well as land, this looting brought all this catholic owned treasure and monastic lands to Henry VIII.

Up until 1539 Glastonbury had escaped seizure and was the last religious house left in Somerset. The Bishop knew his days were numbered and desperately sought a way of saving the Abbey from destruction and looting.

Henry VIII wasn't adverse to a bribe and the Bishop thought he would take advantage of this side of the King. He ordered his Steward, Jack Horner to take a gift of very large pie, to the King, but within the pie was twelve title deeds to various English manorial estates.

Why this elaborate smuggling? valuables were routinely hidden in many ways to thwart robbers, personally I would have thought a pie would have been a very tasty dish for thieves!

Jack Horner doubted that the bribe would work, twelve deeds against the entire Abbey and all its land? So he chose to steal the deeds of the manor of Mells, this being the prime land; the real 'plum' of the twelve manors.

The bribe was rejected by the King, as Horner suspected it would be and The Bishop was consequently arrested and convicted of treason, the crime was acting against the crown and remaining loyal to Rome.

Little Jack Horner himself was one of the 'twelve good men and true' on the jury and found Bishop Whiting guilty. This action resulted in the sentencing of his former employer to death, by being hung, drawn and quartered on Glastonbury Tor.

King Henry sent his men to destroy the Abbey. Horner moved into the Manor of Mells.

It is questionable as to whether Horner really did steal the deeds to the Manor of Mellsor ; did he put in his thumb and pull out a plumb? Or was he rewarded with them for helping the crown? Nobody really knows.

But the Manor of Mells did really become the property of the Horner family and they lived there right up until the 20th century

The Mary referred to in this nursery rhyme is Bloody Mary, the daughter of King Henry VIII.

Queen Mary was infamous for her bloody executions, as a staunch Catholic she executed those who continually declared their Protestant faith. The growing garden was indeed an ever expanding graveyard occupied by murdered protestant martyrs.

The flowers were grave markings - "how does your garden grow?" - We are told that silver bells and cockle shells help to grow those flowers.

They were instruments of torture; the silver bells were thumbscrews and when turned to the point of crushing the bones, a confession, admission or denial would be extracted that provided the evidence against them, leading to execution.

Cockleshells had the same effects, these were attached to protestant's private parts and squeezed, again inducing sufficient evidence against them..

What of 'maids all in a row"? - This was the original guillotine named 'The Maiden" and during mass executions many of these were placed in a row and used to dispatch the protestant martyrs.

Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.

The meaning to "Mary Had a Little Lamb" can only be based on the story of Jesus; In John 1:29 it says "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! "

Mary was his mother, the Virgin Mary, Jesus was pure 'his fleece was white as snow' the last two lines relate to the Holy Spirit always being present wherever you are;

And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.