Mary Mary, quite contrary how does your garden grow ? with silver bells and cockleshells?

Question

and pretty maidens in a row.

What does this rhyme mean.

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mary_Q...

Answer 2

The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is reputed to be Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestant faith - Protestant martyrs.

The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'silver bells' were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a s***w. The 'cockleshells' were believed to be instruments of torture which were attached to the genitals!

The 'maids' were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever the head, the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold. Margaret Pole (1473 - 1541), Countess of Salisbury did not go willingly to her death and had to be chased and hacked at by the Executioner. These problems led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine) called the Maiden - shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme. The Maiden had long been in use in England before Lord Morton, regent of Scotland during the minority of James VI, had a copy constructed from the Maiden which had been used in Halifax in Yorkshire. Ironically, Lord Morton fell from favour and was the first to experience the Maiden in Scotland!

Another form of execution during Mary's reign was being burnt at the stake - a terrible punishment much used during the Spanish Inquisition. The English hated the Spanish and dreaded the idea of an English Inquisition. The executions during the reign of Bloody Mary were therefore viewed with a greater fear of the Spanish than the executions themselves - it is interesting to note that executions during her reign totalled less than 300 an insignificant amount compared to the executions ordered by her father King Henry VIII  which are believed to have numbered tens of thousands!

Answer 3

Like many nursery rhymes, it has acquired various historical explanations. One is that it refers to Mary I of Scotland, with "how does your garden grow" referring to her reign, "silver bells" referring to (Catholic) cathedral bells, "cockle shells" insinuating that her husband cheated on her, and "pretty maids all in a row" referring to her babies that died.

Another claims that it refers to Mary I of England and her attempts to restore England to Roman Catholicism. In this version, the "cockle shells" are identified with the symbol of pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James in Spain (Santiago de Compostela) and the "pretty maids all in a row" with nuns.

These explanations vary; it is identified with Mary I of England for roughly the same reasons as with her Scottish counterpart. The "How does your garden grow?" may make mocking reference to her womb and its inability to produce heirs, or to the common idea that England had become a Catholic vassal or "branch" of Spain and the Habsburgs, or may even be a punning reference to her chief minister, Stephen Gardiner ("gardener"). "Quite contrary" could be a reference to her unsuccessful attempt to reverse ecclesiastical changes effected by her father Henry VIII and her brother Edward VI. The "pretty maids all in a row" could be a reference to miscarriages as with the other Mary or her execution of Lady Jane Grey after coming to the throne. "Rows and rows" may refer to her infamous burnings and executions of Protestants.

Answer 4

Mary Mary , quit contrary-referred to Queen Mary, daughter of Henry V111.

How does your garden grow? refers to the grave sites which were for those of the Protestant Faith.

With silver bells -objects of torture-thumbscrews which were used to crush thumbs and finger between hard surface's.

And cockleshells-again an object of torture which were attached to the genitalia

Maidens all in a row-Maids used to behead people at that time.

Very interesting-English version, of course their are many versions and folklore of any nursery rhyme.