Medieval children learned rhymes and songs from the oral repetition of adults. As many as a quarter of the 550 texts in the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes are accurately dated before the 15th Century; many were only oral rhymes and not written down until decades after they were first popularly recited. In 1978, Helen Cooper pointed to a much larger body of potential medieval nursery rhymes, which she collected and modernized in an anthology called Great Grandmother Goose. The rhymes in her collection come from a large number of manuscripts and documented records that survive from the thirteenth century forward (Thomas 42).

There is also folklore inherited from the Middle Ages regarding the personage of the "actual" Mother Goose. Some believe she may have been Queen Bertha who died in 783 AD. She was the wife of Pepin and the mother of Charlemagne. She is said to have been "goose-footed." Others argue that Mother Goose was the Queen of Sheba (Baring-Gould 16). The most plausible reason for the personage of Mother Goose is from the Medieval English "Goose Girl." The goose girl tended geese for the entire community as a shepherd tended sheep (Johnson 14). Possibly, the goose girl sang o

This last rhyme describing the state of affairs in the Middle Ages is about a man named Richard Whittington who was the Lord Mayor of London in 1397. He was a peasant that worked his way up to the mayorship by becoming wealthy. There is also a legend that says he had a black cat that helped him get his fortune from the King of the Barbary Coast by ridding it of rats. This cat chased away an epidemic of rats that were carrying the bubonic plaque and the King was said to have rewarded him greatly. While no one is quite sure how this part of the myth grew up, Richard Whittington actually made his fortune as a dealer in costly fabrics such as silk, wool merchant and royal financier (Nursery Rhymes). After he became wealthy, he was notorious for having affairs with married women (Johnson 24). The "old man who wouldn't say his prayers" was probably some husband that found Richard in his "lady's chambers."

He initiated the policy of destroying the monasteries, which was to be carried through to completion by Henry VIII. Some of the confiscated property he applied to the foundation of Christ Church College at Oxford. However, Wolsey's greed, arrogance, and insatiable lust for power outweighed his good qualities. His more than ample estate was sustained not by the revenues of his many offices alone but also by enormous pensions from foreign rulers, bribes from English applicants for justice, and the misappropriated revenues of the suppressed religious foundations. His policies and haughtiness alienated both clergy and laymen. Charles V found it prudent to see that Wolsey should not become pope (Knight 112).

The rhymes of the Middle Ages were a method of communication between people in isolated, rural communities. All over Europe, rhymes passed from village to village. It is interesting that in almost every culture you will find songs about shepherds and their sheep, kings that were dishonest and about the influence of the church. There are also an innumerable amount of rhymes that discuss the evil superstitions, pagan mysticism, and witchcraft of the Middle Ages. When most people read to their children from a "Mother Goose" book, the rhymes seem innocent enough. Nevertheless, we can be sure that some seemingly innocent rhymes still read today have their origins in the dark days of the Middle Ages.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Middle Ages, Cardinal Wolsey, Mason Johnson, Children's Resources, Nursery Rhymes, Oxford Wolsey's, Mother Goose, Ring Rosies, Dock Hickory, Rye Sing, middle ages, mother goose, little boy, cardinal wolsey, nursery rhymes, dickory dock, knight 112, jack horner, hickory dickory dock, hickory dickory, baa black sheep, pocket rye, according mason johnson, baa baa black, ding dong bell,
Approximate Word count = 2962
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)