Who is this big guy who’s always taking the fall? Sure, you know the answer. You’ve seen pictures of this egghead since you were old enough to fall out of your crib. But long ago this riddle stumped many a medieval minstrel. “Humpty Dumpty” was street talk for a short, clumsy person with scrambled brains. Today we’d call Mr. Dumpty a nerd, a dork, a geek, an egghead or something equally unflattering. It’s not easy being oval.

On September 5, 1997, Scott Begg wrote:

A good number of years ago, I ran across another interpretation for the Nursery Rhyme “Humpty Dumpty”, and I wonder what is thought of it... “Humpty Dumpty” referred to King Richard III, the hunchbacked monarch. At the Battle of Bosworth Field, he fell from his steed, a horse he had named “Wall” (as dramatically rendered in Shakespeare’s play “Richard III”: “A horse! A horse! My Kingdom for a Horse!”) Richard was surrounded by enemy troops in the battle, and was butchered right there, his body being hacked to pieces. Hence the final part of the rhyme: “All the King’s Horses and All the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again!”

On June 18, 1998, Paul Williams wrote:

Humpty Dumpty was a large war machine situated on a castle wall. It fell off into marshland and could not be pulled. It is rumoured to be still buried there!

On January 3, 1999, Scott Jamieson wrote:

Hello.
I’m very glad to have found your site interpreting Mother Goose rhymes. It has been an interest of mine for some time. Let me share with you yet another interpretation of Humpty Dumpty: I have always heard that it referred to Charles I, who was beheaded.

On October 25, 2000, Sam Fieldman wrote:

I’ve heard Paul William’s account of the Humpty Dumpty story before. According to a teacher of mine, professor Carmichael of Cornell University, Humpty Dumpty refers to the British use of a machine called a Testudo (an ancient Roman engine of war). The Romans often used this predecessor to the modern tank to cross moats and climb over castle walls. As the story goes, the British army was trying to conquer a castle with a moat, but they had no way to get over the wall, so decide to construct a Testudo. During the night, while the British army was working, the opposing army widened the moat. The next morning when the British attacked, their valuable machine plummeted from the wall into the moat. This failure is why the Testudo was the only Roman warfare technology not widely used by the British Empire. Humpty Dumpty refers to both the look of the machine (it gets its name because it looks like a tortoise) and also to the noise the wheels make as the machine moves forward. This Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, All the King’s Horses and All the King’s men, Couldn’t put Humpty together again. The rhyme works perfectly. There is an older version of the rhyme that fits even better, but I can’t remember it. The whole egg reference only dates back as far as Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland.

On January 29, 2001, Jerry Bell wrote:

May as well put my 2 cents in. Humpty Dumpty was explained to me as the fall of the Roman Empire. Of course I heard this in my Latin class :)

On June 27, 2001, Kevin Stryker wrote:

Most scholars believe that Humpty Dumpty refers to Richard III and his fall in the last battle of Bosworth. The “wall” Humpty was sitting on though was probably not his horse but a pun, often used in riddles. The “wall” is a play on words with the word meaning “welsh” or “foreigner.” This is the same “wal” that in “walnut” (a welsh or foreign nut) and “Cornwallis.” Richard III was counting on (hence sitting on) Sir William Stanley and other foreigners in the battle but was deserted, and his troops couldn’t protect him from death

On March 18, 2002, Angela Patanio wrote:

I can tell you what Humpty Dumpty really means. It was the fall of King Louis of France right before Napoleon took over.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall: This was when he was in rule of France. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall: When the peasants revolted, they had a civil war, making him give up his throne, and killing him and his family. All kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put humpty dumpty back together again: This is when the peasants cut off his head and buried his body in lime so that they knew he was never coming back to life to rule again.

On August 30, 2002, Paul Taylor wrote:

The seige engine explanation is correct. After all, the nursery rhyme makes no mention of eggs.

However, it had nothing to do with a British army. It predates Britain. It is specifically English, and comes from the English Civil War. Humpty Dumpty was a seige engine used by the Cavaliers (Royalists), attempting to seige a Roundhead (Parliament) stronghold. The top of the wooden tower on wheels rested (sat) against the town wall. However, it was badly built, and all the Roundheads had to do was push it over; hence the fall. it broke. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn't put it together again. It would not be long before the Royalists were defeated and the English republic proclaimed.

The only thing that gets me, is why did we ever restore the Royal Family back to throne again?

On April 27, 2004, David Duncan wrote:

I think it’s about an alcoholic who everyone is trying to change. But all the King’s horses and all the King’s men refers to his friends and family.

On December 15, 2004, Ang H wrote:

I've just been looking at your website, and at the interpretations of the Humpty Dumpty rhyme.

Humpty Dumpty doesn't have any deep connotations attached to it. It is simply a riddle. The answer to it is “An egg.” (e.g. ‘all the kings horse and all the kings men’ — is refering to ‘soldiers’ — cut up pieces of toast) But as every child knows the answer to the riddle nowadays, the last line: “what is Humpty Dumpty?” has been dropped. Simple.

On August 8, 2005, Michael Weatherhead wrote:

Salut,

My brother has just drawn my attention to your website, particularly the section on the origins of nursery rhymes.

If I may, I’d like to add to your Humpty Dumpty section:

Humpty Dumpty was the nickname of a siege cannon used at the Royalist Siege of Bristol in 1642, in the English Civil War. As the land to the immediate south of Bristol is quite marshy, a large platform was constructed for the gun the fire from. The gun misfired and repercussion blasted it off the platform into the marsh. Despite the King’s men’s best efforts, the gun could not be retrieved. Bristol fell to the Royalists in July 1643.

On January 27, 2006, Alice Prescott wrote:

Humpty Dumpty is about the civil war and the cannon falling of the wall during the seige, everyone’s been right about that, but the town was Colchester, Britain’s oldest recorded town. Google it or something. I know because I had to do a whole project on it for history and found many websites on it.