The Green Children of Woolpit | A True Medieval Mystery

In the twelfth century, at harvest time, two green-skinned children were found beside the wolf pits of Woolpit in Suffolk. They spoke no known language, refused all food but raw beans, and the girl said they came from St Martin's Land. A true medieval mystery, told from the two primary sources: Ralph of Coggeshall's Chronicum Anglicanum and William of Newburgh's Historia rerum Anglicarum. We also look at the modern theories: Flemish orphans after the battle of Fornham (1173), green sickness, a folk tale, a hoax, or something stranger. Credit to the chroniclers William of Newburgh (c. 1189) and Ralph of Coggeshall (1220s). The two accounts differ on the reign, the boy's baptism and how the children arrived; where they disagree, this video says so. None of the theories is proven. 0:00 The wolf pits 1:41 Title 1:44 Two chroniclers 3:38 The boy and the girl 5:33 St Martin's Land 7:16 Orphans, fever or folk tale 9:46 Something stranger 10:59 Your Turn This is a retelling of a medieval mystery. The only near-contemporary accounts are by William of Newburgh and Ralph of Coggeshall, and they differ in places. The theories described here are not proven. #GreenChildren #MedievalMystery #UnsolvedMysteries #Storytime