Medieval Nursery Songs

Although topography, lifestyles and language have evolved over the last five hundred years, some nursery rhymes have survived the centuries. Mothers and children chanted through children's songs then that toddlers and preschoolers still sing today. While the original lyrics look antiquated and nonsensical to the modern reader, they hold the germ of the words that still echo through today's homes and preschools.

  1. Songs about Royalty

    • The upbeat marching song "Grand Old Duke of York" remains a favorite in classrooms, but it originated as a social and historical commentary. In the Plantagenet dynasty of the 15th century, the original lyrics were penned to poke fun at the defeat of Richard during the War of Roses. This 30-year Civil War between the house of Lancaster and the house of York is hidden in the repetitive lines "He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again." Another nursery rhyme rooted in history, "Old King Cole" began as an ancient Welsh rhyme. Although historians argue over which of three Celtic Kings inspired the song, they agree that it was written about someone in the third century.

    Songs About Animals

    • In 1548, the first version of "A Frog Went Courtin'" appeared in Wedderburn's "Complaynt of Scotland" under the title "The Frog Came to the Myl Dur." Thomas Ravenscroft's "Melismata" records that the lyrics were set to music by 1611. Toddlers and preschoolers still sing through the story of the frog who courted a mouse and needed her Uncle Rat's consent to wed. A less familiar animal ditty, "Fowles in the Frith," describes the birds in the woods and fishes in the pond with its Middle English lyrics "fowles in the frith, the fisshes in the flood."

    Songs About Nature

    • Countless bedtime books are devoted to the "Man in the Moon" poem, but few readers realize that the song originated as "Mon in the Mone." The translated version tells of the "Man in the moon [who] stands and strides on his boatfork, his burden he beareth." The curiosity of a child is captured in the ending line: "It is a great wonder that he down does not slide. ..he is the slowest man that ever was born." As one of the few Medieval songs that stays close to its original language, "The Cuckoo Song" celebrates the warm days of summer with "Sumer is icumen in; loude sing cuckou! Groweth seed and bloweth meed, and springth the wode now. Sing cuckou!"

    Lullabies

    • Mothers in medieval villages rocked their children to sleep with the soporific nonsense chant, "Lullay lullow, lullay lully, Beway bewy, lullay lullow, Lullay lully, Baw me bairne, sleep softly now." The Middle Ages song "Gjendine's Lullaby" translates into lyrics beginning with "The child is laid in its cradle, sometimes crying, sometimes smiling," and ending with the message, "Dance then, dance with your children, dance, and your child will dance."

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