Mother Goose: A History

Have you ever wondered what a goose had to do with nursery rhymes? I explore the history behind this childhood icon and find that there is more than meets the eye.

I never understood what mother goose had to do with Nursery Rhymes. Why were they called "Mother Goose's" And for that mother what did a goose have to do with them? There are no poems about a goose. Since I was covering the topic this week I thought I would look into it.

The History of Mother Goose is very ancient and is a bit hazy. The Mother Goose figure can be traced back to the 8th century to a noble woman by the name of Bertada II of Laon. Bertada married Pepin the Short King of the Franks. They had a son together. His name was Charles but to historians he is known as Charlemagne founder of the Holy Roman Empire. For those of you unfamiliar with this piece of history, Charlemagne created a large empire that covered most of Europe in the middle ages. His goal was to have a new roman empire. Bertada was Charlemagne's only teacher as a child. Interestingly Bertada was also known as Queen Goosefoot.

The title of Mother Goose reemerged again in the late 1600's. A man by the name of Charles Perrault published a book entitled "Tales from the past with morales". The subtitle was "Tales from my Mother Goose" The cover had a little old woman reading a book. This book was translated in 1729 to English for the first time. The title it was then given "Mother Goose's Fairy Tales".

Through out this time the Mother Goose Rhymes did not hold that much popularity in book sales. Quite possibly because since these Rhymes were from the European area passed down from parent to child orally there was no need to buy the book. The book did not gain popularity until it hit American shores in 1789 (the same year the constitution was signed). It was published in America as "Mother Goose's Melody: or Sonnets for the cradle". It then became the set of more than 700 rhymes that we know today.

Looking at this history of these childhood rhymes amazes me. These stories go so far back into our history. They carry with them so much of our ancestry that is cloaked in childhood play. For example, Jack and Jill, the most common nursery rhyme that everyone knows was one of the original nursery rhymes that was in each book through out the translations. It makes me want to hold on to the rhymes more dearly and make sure that they are continued to be passed on to our next generation.