Little Jack Horner

 

Little Jack Horner

Illustration by American illustrator W W Denslow (1856-1915) 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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.’

I always thought this was a strange rhyme and wondered whether it had any relevance to Christmas. The rhyme dates from the 18^th century but appears to have its origins in the dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII in the 16^th century.

Jack Horner was steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Whiting. His responsibilities were to manage the church property and finances and to help the Abbot in administering the diocese.

 Glastonbury was the second richest monastery in England after Westminster by the end of the Middle Ages and was still affluent when Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509. In 1536 there were over 800 monasteries.

 Following the King’s separation from the Roman Catholic Church and the foundation of the Protestant Church of England, Henry ordered the dissolution of monasteries and other religious houses in England, Ireland and Wales, and appropriated their wealth. The dissolution was conducted for five years, from 1536 to 1541. The majority of the religious communities accepted their fate and the money and pensions they were given, but others, like the Abbot of Glastonbury, would not comply and were executed and their monasteries destroyed. Richard Whiting was hanged, drawn and quartered on Glastonbury Tor for his refusal to cooperate.

It is said that the Abbot of Glastonbury, in a bid to appease the King for his non-compliance, sent Jack Horner to London with a Christmas gift of a plum pie. Hidden under the pastry crust were the deeds to twelve manors. Jack opened the pie and removed the deeds to the village of Mells in Somerset.

Thus, the ‘plum’ of the pie was the manor of Mells. The rhyme was about greed and opportunism and has been used by satirists to illustrate the nefarious activities of politicians and others interested in improving their lot in life by devious means.

 

Illustration by American illustrator Blanche Fisher Wright (1887-1938) 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The melody for the rhyme was first recorded by James William Elliott in  'National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs