Sign-In
Cart
The Green Children of Woolpit: Chronicles, Fairies and Facts in Medieval England
Hardcover
Series: Exeter New Approaches to Legend, Folklore and Popular Belief
AnthropologyMythology & FolkloreGeneral Sociology
ISBN13: 9781804131367
Publisher: University of Exeter Press
Published: Aug 13 2024
Pages: 274
Weight: 1.33
Height: 0.75 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Shortlisted by The Folklore Society for The Katharine Briggs Award 2025.
Two medieval chroniclers, William of Newburgh and Ralph of Coggeshall, reported the mysterious appearance of a pair of 'Green Children'-with green skins and speaking an unknown language-in the Suffolk village of Woolpit in the mid-twelfth century. The story is well known today, usually as a Suffolk folktale about fairies and a fairy otherworld. Retold many times, it continues to inspire novels, poetry, songs, plays, and even operas.
This book analyses the story in its historical and geographical context, and considers the numerous ways in which it has been interpreted, recounted, and reimagined by historians, folklorists, philosophers, and writers. Folklorists have mined it for 'folktale motifs' without considering whether it is truly a folktale. Historians have used it as a key to understanding the motives of one or other of the two chroniclers who recorded it. 'Fortean' researchers have tried to find a convoluted core of historical fact.
Returning to the two original Latin accounts, this book translates them afresh and analyses them side by side for the first time, allowing us to conclude that both writers were drawing on the same source. Such an interdisciplinary study is necessary when considering the many modern 'explanations' of the events that have been offered, from mundane to extraterrestrial. The volume presents an example of how extraordinary events reported by medieval chroniclers can be studied analytically, and will interest not only medievalists but anyone interested in folklore and fairylore-and perhaps inspire others to fresh reworkings of this perpetually intriguing story.
1 different editions
Also available
The Green Children of Woolpit: Chronicles, Fairies and Facts in Medieval England
Clark, John
Paperback
Also from
Clark, John
Scenic Driving South Carolina: Including Caesars Head, Coastal Islands, Charleston, and Congaree National Park
Pierce, Patricia
Clark, John
Paperback
Chair Pilates Unlocked: Your Journey to Strength, Flexibility, and Balance for Beginners
Clark, John
Paperback
The Green Children of Woolpit: Chronicles, Fairies and Facts in Medieval England
Clark, John
Paperback
Tree Houses: How To Build A Tree House For Cheap And Fulfill Your Childhood Dreams
Clark, John
Paperback
Tiny Houses: How To Build A Tiny House For Cheap And Live Mortgage-Free For Life [Booklet]
Clark, John
Paperback
Betrayed Without a Kiss: Defending Marriage After Years of Failed Leadership in the Church
Clark, John
Hardcover
Emotional Intelligence, Body Language and Manipulation: Learn the Secrets of the Art of Persuasion, Dark Psychology, NLP, Hypnosis, Master your Emotio
Clark, John
Goleman, Edward Dale
Carnagie, Brandon Travis
Paperback
The Importance of Value in Art: Drawing and Shading Exercises Featuring Scenes of the Cayman Islands
Clark, John
Paperback
Shipping Container Homes: How To Build A Shipping Container Home For Cheap And Live Mortgage-Free For Life
Clark, John
Paperback
Tiny Houses: How To NEVER Pay A Tiny House Utility Bill Again And Have More Freedom
Clark, John
Paperback
Advanced Topics in Linear Algebra: Weaving Matrix Problems Through the Weyr Form
Clark, John
O'Meara, Kevin
Vinsonhaler, Charles
Hardcover
The Works Of The Rev. William Jay, Of Argyle Chapel, Bath
Winter, Cornelius
Clark, John
Jay, William
Paperback
The Works Of The Rev. William Jay, Of Argyle Chapel, Bath
Winter, Cornelius
Clark, John
Jay, William
Hardcover
The Voice of Jubilee: A Narrative of the Baptist Mission, Jamaica, by J. Clark, W. Dendy, and J.M. Phillippo
Clark, John
Dendy, Walter
Hardcover
The Voice of Jubilee: A Narrative of the Baptist Mission, Jamaica, by J. Clark, W. Dendy, and J.M. Phillippo
Clark, John
Dendy, Walter
Paperback
Revitalize Your Pregnancy: Energize Your Mornings with Safe and Effective Workouts
Clark, John
Paperback
A Faulty Foundation: How Lordship Salvation Negatively Impacts the Christian Life
Clark, John
Paperback
Elements of Drawing, in Two Parts: Embracing Exercises for the Slate and Blackboard
Clark, John
Paperback
Medical Leadership: From the Dark Side to Centre Stage
Clark, John
Ham, Chris
Spurgeon, Peter
Paperback
Also in
Anthropology
The Language of the Face: Stories of Its Uniquely Expressive Features
Gonzalez-Crussi, Frank
Hardcover
China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power
Wudunn, Sheryl
Kristof, Nicholas D.
Paperback
Family, Fields, and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China's Social and Economic History, 1550-1949
Eastman, Lloyd E.
Paperback
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017
Khalidi, Rashid
Paperback
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Paperback
How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words
Galer, Sophia Smith
Hardcover
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt
Paperback
How to Build a Haunted House: The History of a Cultural Obsession
Blackwell Baines, Caitlin
Hardcover
This Book May Cause Side Effects: The Curious and Dangerous Power of the Nocebo Effect, Placebo's Evil Twin
Pilcher, Helen
Hardcover
Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: Tight and Loose Cultures and the Secret Signals That Direct Our Lives
Gelfand, Michele
Paperback
Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive
Stein, Eliot
Hardcover
Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream
McGowan, David
Paperback
Unproven, Unlikely, and Firmly Believed: Why We Fall for History's Most Seductive Conspiracy Theories, and How We Rediscover Reality
Elledge, Jonn
Phillips, Tom
Paperback
The Rules That Make Us: How Culture Shapes the Way We Act, Think, Believe, and Buy
Sweet, Oliver
Hardcover
The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-Of-The-Century America
Baron, David
Hardcover
Mothering the Mother: African American Postpartum Traditions, Recipes and Healing
Monroe, Shafia
Paperback
Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are
Boyle, Rebecca
Paperback
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
McDougall, Christopher
Paperback
Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology (Second Edition)
Aguilera, Kelsie
Paperback
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
Lukianoff, Greg
Haidt, Jonathan
Paperback
Magic from the Hilltops and Hollers: Folk Witchery, Superstitions, and Healing Practices from Appalachia
Middleton, Leah
Paperback
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Hardcover
Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge a Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution
McKenna, Terence
Paperback
Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being
Berman, Marc
Hardcover
All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work
Campbell, Hayley
Paperback
The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy
Graeber, David
Paperback
A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun
Clements, Jonathan
Paperback
Wilmington's Lie (Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize): The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
Zucchino, David
Paperback
Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation
Mead, Margaret
Paperback
Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of
Tedlock, Dennis
Paperback
Japanese Stories for Language Learners: Bilingual Stories in Japanese and English (Online Audio Included)
Sato, Eriko
McNulty, Anne
Paperback
Humanish: What Talking to Your Cat or Naming Your Car Reveals about the Uniquely Human Need to Humanize
Gregg, Justin
Hardcover
The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding Life Purpose Through Nature, Ritual, and Community
Some, Malidoma Patrice
Paperback
True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradis
McKenna, Terence
Paperback
The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
Henrich, Joseph
Paperback
Combating Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults
Hassan, Steven
Paperback
Playing Well with Others: Your Field Guide to Discovering, Exploring and Navigating the Kink, Leather and Bdsm Communities
Harrington, Lee
Williams, Mollena
Paperback
Stone Lands: A Journey of Darkness and Light Through Britain's Ancient Places
Robertson, Fiona
Hardcover
In Praise of Addiction: Or How We Can Learn to Love Dependency in a Damaged World
Roberts, Elizabeth F. S.
Hardcover
The Essential Questions: Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations
Keating, Elizabeth, PH. D.
Hardcover
Language and Life on Ocracoke: The Living History of the Brogue
Wolfram, Walt
Gaskill, Candy
Reaser, Jeffrey
Paperback
Ra Y El Camino de la Unidad: Un Viaje Hacia La Unicidad, La Luz Y El Despertar de la Conciencia
Gonzalez, Dalia Margarita Aldana
Aldana, Margarita
Paperback
Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being
Berman, Marc
Paperback
The Body Digital: A Brief History of Humans and Machines from Cuckoo Clocks to ChatGPT
Chang, Vanessa
Paperback
NKJV Study Bible, Leathersoft, Brown, Comfort Print: The Complete Resource for Studying God's Word
Thomas Nelson
Hardcover
Apaga El Celular Y Enciende Tu Cerebro: Manipulación, Control Y Destrucción del Ser Humano
Muñoz Iturrieta, Pablo
Paperback
Lost on Planet China: One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation
Troost, J. Maarten
Paperback
The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
Henrich, Joseph
Paperback
Reír en el Callejón del Cuajo: Sátira, cultura popular y memoria en La familia Burrón
Fabián Acevedo, Lidia
Paperback
Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way)
Kyte, Richard
Paperback
Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping--Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond
Underhill, Paco
Paperback
Everything Evolves: Why Evolution Explains More Than We Think, from Proteins to Politics
Vellend, Mark
Hardcover