Mary, Mary Quite Contrary *the history behind the rhyme*

[nrocks090]

Mary couldn't have children because she had cervical or stomach cancer which killed her

[autumnjrain]

The blood-bather is supposed to be Countess Bathory of Transylvania; & that up for speculation, but makes for interesting stories. She's also said to be a maid torturer.

[Nueroactive]

Cock and shells and all in a row! I'd say she's ready to kill.

[AshKetchumRawkz]

O_O' i can't believe i actually liked this song?!

[BottlePopBabyy124]

not true mary was bloody mary she had a death chamber ... she killed all her maids with silver bells and cockle shells *death tools* ... when she was done with them she would use their blood for her skin to look younger ...

[TheSpazySquirrel]

English nursery rhymes are really scary if you think about it . . . O_o

[lololollipopx3]

Its pretty much only cuckolding when its the man cheating on the woman I believe

[SHERIPERRI]

why was she killed?

[worcesterjonny]

@SHERIPERRI She wasn't killed, but she had a lot of people killed because of their religion:(

[bountyhunt72]

@worcesterjonny she was killed... she was beheaded by her half sister Queen Elizabeth I because she was a conspirator in the Babington plot to kill Queen Elizabeth

[bountyhunt72]

@worcesterjonny she was killed... she was beheaded by her half sister Queen Elizabeth I of England because she conspired with King Philip II to kill Queen Elizabeth in order for Mary to take the English throne and restore England back to Catholicism like it was before Queen Elizabeth made England Anglican - Protestant.

[Killjoy98R]

@bountyhunt72

no she died of stomach cancer and thats why she never had any children

[SHERIPERRI]

what mary is it?

[worcesterjonny]

@SHERIPERRI  It was Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary)

[singasongful1]

Clever, but I don't think it is correct.

You didn't even say what Mary we are talking about!!

[worcesterjonny]

@singasongful1 - It was Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary)

[singasongful1]

@worcesterjonny

Okay.

Thanks!

It makes more sense now.

[MrBlurtit]

Do you know the reason Mary thought she had a baby growing in her stomach? Its because she had a tumour growing in it. Wooo education!!!

[Rosieplzz]

i thought the silver bells were thumbscrews

[josparkes]

I will never look on this rhyme in the same way again. Of course rhymes usually do have a deep meaning behind them,ie Ring a Ring of Roses is about the Plague etc. Fascinating, though melancholy.

Norfolk UK

F 59

[Griml0cks]

we were learning about this in history, we searched on the web and in loads of history books... this interpritation is correct.

[basshunterfaneleanor]

liked it in the begging . hated it at the end

[SilverHairedAngels]

I thought that the line "how does your garden grow?" referred to the fact that there were rumors or something about how Mary I was barren so the asking about her garden was meant to be like some kind of mockery about how her body can't grow a child in her. Maybe lol.

[HuggyMackay]

Pardon me but you are all misinformed

Silver bells refers to the bells of consecration used in the Mass (the true religion of the United Kingdom before that whore Elizabeth stopped it)

Cockle shells was the device that Catholics put on their houses to show priests that they could say mass there. It comes from the shrine of S. James of Compostela

[11Cammie11]

this isnt right. im doin a project on this at university! it is about bloody mary, and the gardens emulate the graveyards of all the people she sentenced to be killed cuz they stayed protestant n she wanted them to be catholics. silver bells n cockle shells were colloquial terms for instruments of tourture, like other people have said. and 'maids' is the name of a beheading device, like the guilotine. i think this reflects what a lot of other people have said. x

[worcesterjonny]

Thanks for the comment. I now have a different interpretation of the rhyme I can use!

[levybrown]

that is correct

[xhsmxjbx4evax]

the nursery rhyme refers to bloody mary... i have proof but i dont have it here at this very moment so i willl leave another comment soon with proof or i will make a vid and you will all see what the nursery rhyme really means....

[kimberleyannemaywood]

ukchristian was totally right. :)

[kimberleyannemaywood]

hang on, thats wrong..

Mary Mary quite contrary..

how does ur garden grow?

that line ment she killed alot of people,so her grave yard is like her garden.

with silver bells, back in tho's days a silverbells was a nail put thru ur thumbs when ur getting burnt on the steak.

and cockleshells was when the men got turned backwards faceing the poll that they were burnt in and had nails thru there dick.

wif pretty maids, was the people controlling the gilateens, it's french. See? search it up.

[ukchristian28]

Other theories: Silver bells and cockle shells could refere to instruments of torture. The 'silver bells' may refer to thumbscrews, while the 'cockleshells' are thought to have been instruments of torture which were attached to the genitals. "Pretty maids all in a row" might be a reference to 'maidens' which were early guillotine-like devices used to cut off heads.

Some have suggested it could be about both Marys

[ukchristian28]

If it is about Mary Tudor, "pretty maids all in a row" could be a reference to her execution of Lady Jane Grey at the beginning or her reign and also her infamous executions of Protestants by burning at the stake.

[ukchristian28]

This explanation for the orign of this popular nursery rhyme is disputed. It could refere to Mary Tudor, but others have speculated that it referes to Mary Queen of Scotts. "how does your garden grow" referring to her reign, "silver bells" referring to (Catholic) cathedral bells, "cockleshells" insinuating that her husband cheated on her, and "pretty maids all in a row" referring to her babies that died (as with Mary Tudor).

[peziak]

No wonder she was such an angry maniac.