Humpty Dumpty: What's All the Hoopla About This Egghead?

Humpty Dumpty

What's all the hoopla about this egghead?

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.

Humpty Dumpty is believed to have come from Colchester England during the Parliamentarian stronghold of Colchester, which at the time was in the control of the Royalist during the English Civil war from 1642 to 1649. The Royalists failed and Colchester fell to the Parliamentarians after the siege that lasted 11 weeks from June 13 1648 to August 27 1648.

Now let's look at what Humpty Dumpty actually means. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Humpty Dumpty is described as a drink of Brandy boiled with Ale. Humpty Dumpty though was also used as a slang term, which described someone who was fat or obese. Humpty Dumpty also was defined as a short and clumsy person.

Did that clear up the issue of what the words, Humpty Dumpty mean? A short clumsy obese person who likes to drink Brandy boiled with Ale. Well if you put them all together they do make a sentence.

Now lets see if we can figure out who Humpty Dumpty was. There is a story that Cardinal Wolsey's downfall is depicted in the nursery rhyme. He let the village of Calwod in Yorkshire fall into disrepair and was sent away.

Ok, I can see the 'had a great fall' but there is no mention of men or horses or trying to help the Cardinal get back on his throne.

Maybe this is it, a Royalist sniper known as One-Eyed Thompson, also nicknamed Humpty Dumpty, sat in the belfry of the church of St Mary-at- the-walls (Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall) he was most likely given this second nickname because of his corpulence. I would like to interject here for those who do not know what the word corpulence means, ourcivilisation.com has a wonderful definition: A description of the common but fallacious notion that people get overweight because they consume too many calories. Now back to the story. Thompson was shot down (had a great fall) and shortly after, the town was lost to the Parliamentarians (all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again)