The Green Children of Woolpit: An Enduring Medieval Mystery

Unexplained — ABikram Mondal

A Strange Arrival in Suffolk

The harvest season was underway in the village of Woolpit, Suffolk, sometime in the mid-12th century. The fields would have been busy, the air thick with the scent of earth and ripening grain. It was against this backdrop of ordinary rural life that an extraordinary event unfolded, one that has puzzled historians and folklorists for centuries. Two children, a boy and a girl, emerged from one of the wolf-pits (the deep trenches used to trap wolves that gave the village its name), their skin a distinct shade of green.

This account comes primarily from two contemporary chroniclers: Ralph of Coggeshall, Abbot of Coggeshall Abbey, and William of Newburgh, a canon at Newburgh Priory. Both men were writing decades after the supposed event, but they claimed to have gathered their information from reliable sources, some of whom were apparently direct witnesses. Ralph of Coggeshall, in his Chronicon Anglicanum (English Chronicle), states he heard the story from Richard de Calne, a knight from the nearby village of Wikes (Wixoe), who reportedly took the children into his care.

The children, appearing to be around five or six years old, were disoriented and spoke a language that no one in Woolpit understood. Their clothing was also unfamiliar, made from a material and style unknown to the villagers. They refused all food offered to them, including bread and meat, showing no interest until some green beans were brought. It was these beans they ate exclusively for a significant period.

Life in a New World

The initial shock and curiosity in Woolpit eventually gave way to a degree of integration, at least for the girl. The boy, weaker and seemingly more resistant to his new surroundings, fell ill and died within a few months of their arrival. The girl, however, gradually adapted. Her green skin slowly faded, eventually becoming a normal complexion. She learned English, and through her halting explanations, provided some insight into their origins.

According to her translated accounts, she and her brother came from a place she called 'St. Martin's Land' (or 'the Land of St. Martin'), a subterranean world where the sun never shone, and everything was bathed in a perpetual twilight. The inhabitants were, like them, green-skinned. They had been tending their father's flocks when they heard a great noise, described as the ringing of bells. Following this sound, they wandered through a cavern or passage until they suddenly found themselves in the bright light of Woolpit, disoriented and bewildered.

The girl (whose name, if she ever had one in her new tongue, is not recorded) eventually became a servant in Richard de Calne's household. She was later said to have married a man from King's Lynn (though some accounts suggest she married a man from Lynn, which could be King's Lynn or another place) and lived a seemingly normal life. William of Newburgh mentions her as being 'rather loose and wanton in her conduct,' a detail that some interpret as a moral judgment common in medieval chronicles, or perhaps a reflection of cultural differences.

Theories and Explanations

The story of the Green Children of Woolpit has captivated imaginations for centuries, prompting numerous attempts to explain the phenomenon. The most common rational explanations tend to focus on diet and circumstance.

One prevalent theory suggests the children were suffering from hypochromic anemia, also known as 'chlorosis' or 'green sickness'. This condition, caused by a severe iron deficiency, can lead to a greenish tint in the skin, fatigue, and other symptoms. If the children had been living in an impoverished, possibly isolated, community and subsisting on a diet severely lacking in iron, their green complexion could be explained. Their eventual return to a normal skin tone after adopting a more varied diet in Woolpit would support this. The 'St. Martin's Land' could then be interpreted as a child's confused memory of a dark, mining-related environment or a metaphor for their deprivation.

Another theory, proposed by Paul Harris in 1998, suggests the children were Flemings, immigrants who were persecuted in England during the reign of King Henry II. Many Flemings had settled in Norfolk and Suffolk, but faced hostility. Harris posited that the children might have been separated from their family during a period of persecution and taken refuge in a pit or ditch. Their 'unknown tongue' could have been an archaic form of Flemish, and their disoriented state a result of trauma and hunger. Their green clothing might have been a distinctive Flemish dye, misinterpreted as their skin colour. The 'Land of St. Martin' could refer to a Flemish settlement, possibly near the village of Fornham St. Martin, where Flemish immigrants had been massacred in 1173.

Skeptics point out the lack of independent corroboration and the significant time gap between the alleged event and its recording. Medieval chroniclers sometimes blended fact with folklore, and the miraculous or unusual often found its way into their histories. The story could be an allegorical tale, a local legend embellished over time, or even a misunderstanding of a real event.

Less conventional explanations range from the children being extraterrestrials who somehow landed or emerged from a spacecraft, to inhabitants of a parallel dimension who accidentally slipped into our own. These theories, while intriguing, lack any empirical evidence to support them beyond the narrative itself.

The Enduring Enigma

The Green Children of Woolpit remain a captivating historical mystery. Was it a medical condition, a historical event misinterpreted, or something truly inexplicable? The accounts we have are filtered through the perceptions and beliefs of 12th-century England, a world where the line between the natural and the supernatural was often blurred. We have the reports of two credible chroniclers, detailing an event that was clearly considered significant enough to record.

The story serves as a fascinating example of how strange occurrences are recorded and interpreted across different eras. Even with modern understanding, the precise nature of their arrival, their green skin, and their strange language leaves us to ponder what really happened that harvest season in Woolpit.

Fact check. The existence of the Green Children of Woolpit is documented in 12th-century chronicles by Ralph of Coggeshall and William of Newburgh. These accounts describe the children's green skin, unknown language, and refusal of food. Their exact origin and the scientific explanation for their appearance remain unproven and are subject to various theories.

Sources and further reading

A factual retelling drawn from public reporting on a real case. Where a claim is unproven, it is flagged. Please verify with the linked sources.