The Possible Origin of Humpty Dumpty
Was the Nursery Rhyme Character Based on a Person or a Cannon?
Sep 1, 2008
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
The rhyme itself is several centuries old with similar versions appearing in France as Boulle Boulle and in Sweden as Lille Trille.
The term “Humpty Dumpty” had at least two original meanings. One was a 16th century term that referred to a drink made with brandy and ale. The other came the following century and was used as a British slang term for a short, well-rounded, and clumsy person -- the type who might just fall off a wall!
However, in its first printed form in 1810, the rhyme was posed as a riddle with the answer being an egg. This idea of “Humpty Dumpty as Hen Fruit” was strengthened in Lewis Carroll’s 1871 Alice Through the Looking Glass where the character is portrayed as a philosophical, but curt, anthropomorphic egg.
So, was Humpty meant to be a clumsy person, an egg, or something else? Folklorists and historians believe it was "something else" and have several theories.
Humpty Dumpty and the English Civil War (1642-1649)
Perhaps the most popular theory today is that Humpty Dumpty was a large cannon used by Royalist forces to defend Colchester in 1648. The weapon, mounted on the church tower of St. Mary-at-the-Wall and expertly fired by a Royalist gunner named “One-eyed” Jack Thompson, successfully held off the Parliamentarians (or Roundheads) for eleven weeks before succumbing to a direct hit that resulted in “a great fall” from the tower.
Parts of the rhyme fit the story. The cannon sat on the “wall,“ the resulting crash (or fall) from it broke the gun into many pieces, and the king’s horses (cavalry) and king’s men (infantry) could not put it together again.
Another theory, not as popular and less likely to be true, is that Humpty was a siege tower or testudo used by the Royalists during the war. According to this idea, it was poorly designed and toppled over when it was full of men and broke.
Humpty Dumpty and Richard III
Several historical English figures have been suggested as being the source of Humpty Dumpty. One is Charles I (1600-1649) who was king during the English civil war, tried for treason, and beheaded. Another is Cardinal Wolsey (1473-1530), a favorite adviser of Henry VIII who later ran afoul of him and was also accused of treason. A third and most likely real person is King Richard III (1452-1485) who is best remembered today because of the quote from Shakespeare, “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”
Richard was slain at the Battle of Bosworth during the Wars of the Roses. Unlike Cardinal Wolsey and, to some extent Charles I, Richard fits most parts of the rhyme. According to tradition, his body was hacked to pieces and thus “could not be put back together again.” The word “wall” has been suggested by some folklorists as the name of Richard’s horse. Others believe it to be a pun describing the foreign help that Richard expected, but failed, to get.
So, which theory is correct? In Through the Looking Glass, Humpty says to Alice, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.” In a slight variation, Humpty might also say: “What am I? Whatever you choose me to be, neither more nor less.”
Source: “Ben Macintyre on the Gory Reality Behind Nursery Rhymes,” The London Times, 30 August 2008.
Related articles: Possible Origins of Jack and Jill, Origins of Two Nursery Rhymes, The Woman Known as Mother Goose.
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