This is the first known time that this personage of Mother Goose appeared in print (Thomas 15). .

             Majorities of the rhymes were political satires or commentaries on the way of life and the nobility in the Middle Ages. Most were written, sang, or spoken for political purposes or as a way of communicating a problem within the society they lived. The rhymes were recited from memory and varied somewhat as they were passed down (Johnson 9). Also, many of the rhymes were interpreted and changed to fit into the different countries of Medieval Europe (Ward 2).

             Illiterate peasants created many of the rhymes and they were indeed fitting criticisms of the time. Only a small number of the peasants were capable of composing the rhymes, but everyone could repeat them. The opinions expressed in the rhymes were understood, appreciated, and passed down orally from generation to generation (Baring-Gould 12). Church officials were mainly the only people that could write during the Middle ages; therefore, since many of the rhymes about church corruption were not written down until long after the Middle Ages (Opie xxi).

             Some of the rhymes dealt with the unfairness of the feudal system as the King received or took more and more power, land, and goods from the peasants. However, the rhymes were not only critical of kings and the nobility, but also church officials; for example, many rhymes dealt with the corrupt Cardinal Wolsey. The common people could see the corruptness of the Church; they resented the fact that the church officials were very wealthy while the peasants were struggling to survive (Johnson 13). The people judged the kings as tyrants who became wealthy at the expense of the common people (Johnson 9). .

             This first group of rhymes shows some of the contempt, circumstances, and feelings the peasants felt about their living conditions with a brief overview explaining the cause or circumstance behind the rhyme.