|
16th Century History origin
of the Little Jack Horner
story?
Little Jack Horner was
reputed to have been the
Steward to Richard Whiting
(1461 - 1539) the Bishop of
Glastonbury. The Steward had
an important role and was
responsible for managing the
household, collecting taxes
and keeping accounts.
The Church, the King and
the Gold
Glastonbury was the largest
and wealthiest Abbey in
England and this Benedictine
Monastery owned extensive
lands and manors in the
county of Somerset. Between
1536 and 1540, after
breaking away from the
Catholic Church, King Henry
VIII and his chief minister
Thomas Cromwell set about
the systematic Dissolution
of all of the Monasteries in
England. The reason for was
to loot the monasteries of
their gold and silver and
seize the monastic lands. By
1539 Glastonbury was the
only religious house left in
Somerset and it was only at
matter of time before
Glastonbury Abbey was also
seized.
The Bribe
It is rumoured that the
Bishop tried to bribe the
King. He sent his Steward,
Richard Whiting, with a gift
of twelve title deeds to
various English manorial
estates. The deeds were said
to have been secreted in a
pie (valuables were often
hidden in this bizarre
fashion to thwart thieves).
Whiting (Little Jack Horner)
realised that the bribe
would do no good and was
said to have stolen the
deeds to the manor of Mells
(it being the real 'plum' of
the twelve manors).
The Traitor and the
Execution
The remaining eleven manors
were given to the crown but
to no avail. The old Bishop
was convicted of treason for
remaining loyal to Rome. The
jury included his
treacherous steward Horner
who found Bishop Whiting
guilty and sent the old man
to a terrible death of being
hung, drawn and quartered on
Glastonbury Tor. The Abbey
was destroyed. Following the
destruction of the abbey the
steward, Horner moved into
the Manor of Mells. Whether
Horner actually stole the
deeds to the Manor or was
rewarded with them for
helping to convict the
Bishop of Glastonbury is not
known but the Manor of Mells
became the property of the
Horner family who lived
there until the 20th
century.
The first publication date
for the lyrics to the Little
Jack Horner rhyme is 1725. |
