The Green Children of Woolpit
Chronicles, Fairies and Facts in Medieval England
Seiten
2026
University of Exeter Press (Verlag)
9781804132395 (ISBN)
University of Exeter Press (Verlag)
9781804132395 (ISBN)
- Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Februar 2026)
- Versandkostenfrei
- Auch auf Rechnung
- Artikel merken
This book introduces the story of the ‘Green Children’ and how it has been interpreted, retold, and reworked. Analysing the two accounts, and offering fresh translations from the Latin originals, it considers what the historians tell us happened, and then the children’s own story of their homeland.
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.
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.
John Clark was for many years curator of the medieval collections at the Museum of London. Since retiring in 2009, he has continued research, lecturing and writing on topics including the history and archaeology of medieval London, medieval folklore and legends and their relationship to ‘real’ history, and medieval horses and horse equipment.
List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
1. An Introduction
2. The Story and its Legacy
3. Transmission
4. Interpretations
5. The Chroniclers and the Texts
6. The Framing Narrative
7. The Children’s Story
8. Excursions
9. Strangers in a Strange Land
Appendix: The Sources
William of Newburgh
Ralph of Coggeshall
Notes
Bibliography
Retellings, Reworkings and Reimaginings: A Chronological Listing
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 17.2.2026 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Exeter New Approaches to Legend, Folklore and Popular Belief |
| Verlagsort | Exeter |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 234 mm |
| Gewicht | 470 g |
| Themenwelt | Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Regional- / Landesgeschichte |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie | |
| ISBN-13 | 9781804132395 / 9781804132395 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
von der osmanischen Eroberung bis zur Gründung des Staates Israel
Buch | Softcover (2023)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 26,50
