The History Behind the Famous “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” Nursery Rhyme

‘Baa, Baa, Black Sheep’ is an English nursery rhyme that is sung to a variation of a

French song. The melody of the song, titled, ‘Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman,’ was utilized for

the nursery rhyme starting around 1760. ‘Baa, Baa, Black Sheep’ is one of the oldest

English rhymes. It dates to 1731. Since its conception, the song has not changed much.

It was first printed in 1744 in the oldest surviving collection of English rhymes, Tommy

Thumb’s Pretty Song Book. One of the Literary lens that fits this famous nursery rhyme

is the historical lens. The origins of the nursery rhyme date back to 18th-century Britain,

at a time when Britain was in fact trading slaves to its colonies. But they were not

necessarily using these slaves to work farmland in the way we traditionally associate with

slavery in the US. Also, it would be uncommon for slaves in the UK to be handling wool

at that time. So most scholars believe that ‘Baa, Baa, Black Sheep’ is not a reference to

slavery. As nursery rhymes go, ‘Baa, Baa, Black Sheep’ is one of the more controversial.

Scholars have come to believe that the song dates back to Medieval times and that it is

related to the “Great Custom”. This was, at the time, a new wool tax that was introduced

by Edward I after he returned from the Crusades. It was conceptualized in order to supply

the monarch with the extra money he needed for further military expenditures. At the time

of the new tax, the wool trade was booming in England. It was in very high demand for

cloth making. The tax was in place from 1275 until the 15th century. The historical

approach of this nursery rhyme helps the readers to understand and comprehend the

message of the nursery rhyme by remembering the moment/historic moment a long with

the literary work written. The historical background behind the nursery rhyme helps reader

to look beyond at the broader historical and cultural events occurring during the time the
piece was written. At last, given the historical background and evidences we can now

understand the history behind this famous nursery rhyme that talks about that Baa Baa

Black Sheep is about the medieval wool tax, imposed in the 13th Century by King Edward

I and relates to the Middle's Ages wool industry and festivity.

Real Meaning behind Baa Baa Black Sheep

Nursery rhymes are a tool used by education institutions to teach language, stories,

composition, and imaginations. Little children are often found crooning these little verses

at random occasions. At first glance, these rhymes certainly appear quite random, but

there is a rather dark history to their origin.

Baa, baa, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

Three bags full.

One for the master,

One for the dame,

And one for the little boy

Who lives down the lane.

Apparently, this nursery rhyme may seem a simple children’s song teaching the kids the

sound that sheep make. In reality, however, this verse speaks about taxation.

The rhyme is quite old, dating back to the 12th century AD. At the end of this century

England had countless rebellions and minor wars in Wales and in Scotland, and in 1272

the last Crusade had ended with defeat. All this required vast sums of money and resulted
in financial hardships.King Edward I (1239-1307), just as today’s governments, saw the

solution to these financial problems in raising the taxes. Even the Church, who until then

was free of paying any taxes to lay authorities, now had to pay half of it's revenues to the

King.

Farmers had to pay the tax in wool: one third to the King (the master), one third to the

local nobleman (the Dame). The remaining third was left to the farmer himself who is that

little boy in the rhyme. An interesting thing to mention is that the wool of a black sheep

was worth considerably less than that of a white sheep which could be dyed to any color.

The literary lens we can apply in this nursery rhyme is the Marxism. It is clear that this

nursery rhyme have something related to the economic strucure of the people in 12th

Century AD that involves with employment, income and trade. Farmers were having a

hard time to selling a wool because of the tax. Other than that, most scholars agree that

it has a little to do with slave trade that deals about the capitalism. The most common

conclusion is that it’s actually about the Great Custom, which was a tax on wool in the

13th century. Under the new taxes the price of a sack of wool was split between the

farmer, king and church. It takes on sinister connotations if you consider that the original

last line was ‘And none for the little boy who cries down the lane’, indicating that the poor

shepherd boys were left with no profits due to the heavy tax.

Baa Baa Black Sheep lyrics have raised questions about the history of the rhyme. Amidst

the strong various existing of the opinions regarding the existence the strongest theory is

suggested by Katherine Elwes Thomas in the Real Personages of Mother Goose (1930)

that the rhyme was produced in protesting of the heavy taxation on wool. More references

of this can be found to the medieval English "Great" or "Old Custom" wool tax of 1275,
which continued up to the fifteenth century. Recently some researcher scholars have

suggested that the poem is actually a document on slave-trade. Which was further

provided importance in 1980's during debates of the over political correctness of the

nursery poems. However, it does not hold any historical evidence, on the contrary it can

be said that the wool of the black sheep does not contain any racist notion, instead it have

been prized so dark clothes can be made out of dark wool without any need of dyeing.

Princess Ethel A. Baylon

ABM 12-2
Nursery Rhyme Critique Paper