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Where is Mother Goose from? Is she from France? From Germany?

Who was Mother Goose?

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Where is Mother Goose from? Is she from France? From Germany?

Saturday, October 1st, 2005

As mentioned in my previous blog entry…

“Some people believe Berthe de Laon (726 to 783), the Mother of Charlemagne, was Mother Goose. She became queen of the Francs when she married Pépin le Bref . One of her feet was bigger than the other, and so she was known by her subjects as ‘Berthe au grand pied’ (in English ‘big-footed Bertha’). Berthe may also be the original model for la ‘Reine Pédauque’ (in English ‘Queen Goosefoot’), a figure of French legend, whose statue is found in front of some churches in France.”

As I read more, I have found that some people believe Mother Goose was another Berthe. This Berthe married King Robert II of France (Robert the Pious 970-1013), despite the fact that they were cousins. Pope Gregory V excommunicated Robert II for this. I keep coming across references in French about the couple giving birth to a goose. Perhaps they gave birth to a deformed child that people thought looked a little like a goose?

Meanwhile, if we switch to mythology, we find other instances of Bertha, often associated with children. Bertha is the Norse goddess of spinning. In German mythology, Bertha, is also known as Berchta. I found different references to Berchta as being: the goddess of growing things, the guardian of the souls of unborn babies, a fertility goddess. Sometimes she has a goosefoot and other times she has a golden spindle. At times she’s called Berta, dressed in white, who soothes babies while their caretakers sleep.

To confuse matters ever further, the goddess Bertha is also sometimes called Fru Gode and, it’s possible that she’s connected with Fru Gosen, which might be the German name for Mother Goose. *

Could the truth be that Mother Goose is a combination of one of the Queen Bertha’s of France, combined with the borrowed mythology of the goddess Bertha?

This could explain the origin of the legendary French figure, Goose-footed Bertha, who is usually portrayed as having children surrounding her, listening to her stories while she’s at the spinning wheel. Her foot got flattened from working the treadle for years.

*I originally read this in several places. Since then I’ve read that “Fru Gosen” may have been a mistranslation into English. Or it’s possible that it’s an old figure who didn’t make into into current folklore. If any knows more about Fru Gosen, please write me. Thanks! Lisa – UPDATE: Since then I’ve checked with several people from Germany, none of them were familiar with a German Mother Goose figure.

Many thanks to Monique for helping with the French connections. Monique is my partner in Mother Goosedom at Mama Lisa’s World en français.

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, English, English Nursery Rhymes, France, Germany, Great Britain, History of Nursery Rhymes, History of Nursery Rhymes, Languages, Mother Goose, Nursery Rhymes, The History of Mother Goose | 2 Comments »

Who was Mother Goose?

Friday, September 30th, 2005

Everyone knows Mother Goose, the jolly woman of legend who represents the beloved collection of English nursery rhymes. But who was Mother Goose really? Where did the name originate? Here are three of the best known theories…

The French Connection – Was Mother Goose Really French?

Some people believe Berthe de Laon (726 to 783), the Mother of Charlemagne, was Mother Goose. She became queen of the Francs when she married Pépin le Bref . One of her feet was bigger than the other, and so she was known by her subjects as “Berthe au grand pied” (in English “big-footed Bertha”). Berthe may also be the original model for la “Reine Pédauque” (in English “Queen Goosefoot”), a figure of French legend, whose statue is found in front of some churches in France.

This could be the origin of the legendary French figure, Goose-footed Bertha, who always has children around her listening to her stories.

In 1650, the first published mention of the name Mother Goose, is in French, in Loret’s La Muse Historique. The book contains the line “comme un conte de la Mère Oye” (in English “like a Mother Goose story”).

In 1697, Charles Perrault published Les Contes de ma Mère l’Oye, (in English “The Stories of Mother Goose”). Unlike later English language usage, here Mother Goose was a teller of stories, not a reciter of nursery rhymes. The book contains 8 fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood.

The American Connection – Could Mother Goose Have Been American?

Eliza Goose of Boston (probably short for Vertigoose or Vergoose) was the mother-in-law of a printer named Thomas Fleet. The story says that she often told nursery rhymes to her grandchildren. Supposedly, her son-in-law printed a book entitled Songs of the Nursery; or, Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children in 1719. There’s no proof that this book actually existed, except for the word of 3 people in the 19th century.

Did Mother Goose Actually Come from England?

Martha Gooch was a nursemaid who lived in Sussex in the early 1700’s. When people overheard her singing rhymes to the children in her care, she struck them as a bit odd. They began to tease her by calling her Mother Goose after Queen Goosefoot, the mother of Charlemagne.

Supposedly, one of Gooch’s employers overheard her reciting rhymes. He wrote them down and made a book of them in 1712 called Ye Melodious Rhymes of Mother Goose. This book however has never been proven to have existed.

The first printed edition of nursery rhymes collected under the name Mother Goose (as opposed to the fairy tales of Perrault, collected under the same name in 1697) was called Mother Goose’s Melody and was printed around 1765 in England.

I guess we’ll never know for sure who Mother Goose really was, but it’s fun to try to find out!

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, English, English Nursery Rhymes, Great Britain, History of Nursery Rhymes, History of Nursery Rhymes, Languages, Mother Goose, Nursery Rhymes, The History of Mother Goose | 1 Comment »

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