, modern Iraq, 2nd century In terms of
formalism, art historians see a connection with the masks in
Iron Age Celtic art, where faces emerge from stylized vegetal ornament in the
"Plastic style" metalwork of
La Tène art. Since there are so few survivals, and almost none in wood, the lack of a continuous series of examples is not a fatal objection to such a continuity. The
Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore suggests that they ultimately have their origins in late
Roman art from leaf masks used to represent gods and mythological figures. In his lectures at Gresham College, historian and professor
Ronald Hutton traces the green man to India, stating "the component parts of Lady Raglan's construct of the Green Man were dismantled. The medieval foliate heads were studied by Kathleen Basford in 1978 and Mercia MacDermott in 2003. They were revealed to have been a motif originally developed in India, which travelled through the medieval Arab empire to Christian Europe. There it became a decoration for monks’ manuscripts, from which it spread to churches." A late 4th-century example of a Green Man disgorging vegetation from his mouth is at St. Abre, in
St. Hilaire-le-grand, France. 11th century Romanesque
Templar churches in
Jerusalem have Romanesque foliate heads.
Mike Harding tentatively suggested that the symbol may have originated in
Asia Minor and been brought to Europe by travelling stone carvers. The tradition of the Green Man carved into Christian churches is found across Europe, including examples such as the Seven Green Men of
Nicosia carved into the facade of the thirteenth century
St Nicholas Church in Cyprus. The motif fitted very easily into the developing use of vegetal
architectural sculpture in
Romanesque and
Gothic architecture in Europe. Later foliate heads in churches may have reflected the legends around
Seth, the son of
Adam, according to which he plants seeds in his dead father's mouth as he lies in his grave. The tree that grew from them became the tree of the
True Cross of the crucifixion. This tale was in
The Golden Legend of
Jacobus de Voragine, a very popular thirteenth century compilation of Christian religious stories, from which the subjects of church sermons were often taken, especially after 1483, when
William Caxton printed an English translation of the
Golden Legend. According to the Christian author Stephen Miller, author of "The Green Man in Medieval England: Christian Shoots from Pagan Roots" (2022), "It is a Christian/Judaic-derived motif relating to the legends and medieval hagiographies of the
Quest of Seth – the three twigs/seeds/kernels planted below the tongue of post-fall Adam by his son Seth (provided by the angel of mercy responsible for guarding Eden) shoot forth, bringing new life to humankind". This notion was first proposed by James Coulter (2006). From the
Renaissance onward, elaborate variations on the Green Man theme, often with animal heads rather than human faces, appear in many media other than carvings (including
manuscripts,
metalwork,
bookplates, and
stained glass). They seem to have been used for purely decorative effect rather than reflecting any deeply held belief. File:Pennal Gwynedd B 31.JPG|
Pennal,
Gwynedd: one of the few examples on stained glass church windows File:Kilpeck Green Man.jpg|
Romanesque carving, doorway of Norman church at
Kilpeck,
Herefordshire, mid 12th century File:Green Man - St. Magnus Cathedral - Kirkwall.jpg|Green Man in the presbytery of
St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, ca. twelfth-thirteenth centuries,
Norman and
Romanesque. File:Green Man, Kilkenny.jpg|
St Canice's Cathedral,
Kilkenny,
Ireland: 13th century File:Garway Church - Green Man.jpg|
Romanesque sandstone carving, archway in church at
Garway, Herefordshire c.13th century File:Green Man carving.jpg|A medieval Green Man on the
capital of a column in an English church in
Lincolnshire File:'Green man' in Southwell Minster's Chapter House.jpg|Green Man at
Southwell Minster chapter house c. 1300 File:Ludlow Green Man misericord.jpg|Detail of a "disgorging" medieval
misericord in
Ludlow parish church,
Shropshire. File:Abbey Dore painted Green Man.jpg|Stone carving at
Dore Abbey, Herefordshire, England File:Etching of Vendome Green Man misericord.jpg|Medieval misericord; abbey-church of
Vendôme, France File:RochesterCathedral Boss1.JPG|Painted wooden roof boss from
Rochester Cathedral,
Kent (medieval) File:Dore Abbey carving Foliate Head.jpg|Wood carving of a "foliate head" type on Renaissance
screen at Dore Abbey. File:BoltonAbbeyAnglikanischeKircheDeckeH2c.jpg|
Ceiling boss in
Bolton Abbey,
North Yorkshire File:Maria Laach Südportal.jpg|Carved capital, south door of
Maria Laach Abbey, Germany File:Mysterious-FoliateMask Chapel-Ligerz-Gleresse-Switzerland RomanDeckert08032021.jpg|Keystone of the cross vault in the tower chapel of
Ligerz,
Switzerland File:2019 SMM-Omaha copper Green man exterior under north rose window.jpg|Copper Green Man at
St Margaret Mary Church,
Omaha Modern times In Britain, the image of the Green Man enjoyed a revival in the 19th century, becoming popular with architects during the
Gothic Revival and the
Arts and Crafts era, when it appeared as a decorative motif in and on many buildings, both religious and secular. American architects took up the motif around the same time. Many variations can be found in Neo-Gothic
Victorian architecture. He was popular amongst Australian stonemasons and can be found on many secular and sacred buildings, including an example on
Broadway, Sydney. In 1887 a Swiss engraver, Numa Guyot, created a bookplate depicting a Green Man in exquisite detail. In April 2023, a Green Man's head was depicted on the invitation for the
Coronation of Charles III and Camilla, designed by
heraldic artist and
manuscript illuminator Andrew Jamieson. According to the official royal website: "Central to the design is the motif of the Green Man, an ancient figure from British folklore, symbolic of spring and rebirth, to celebrate the new reign. The shape of the Green Man, crowned in natural foliage, is formed of leaves of oak, ivy, and hawthorn, and the emblematic flowers of the United Kingdom." which alluded to "the nature worshipper in King Charles" but polarized the public. Indeed, as the medieval art historian Cassandra Harrington pointed out, although vegetal figures were abundant throughout the medieval and early modern period, the foliate head motif is not ‘an ancient figure from British folklore’, as the Royal Household has proclaimed, but a European import.' ==In folklore==