The term “Green Man” which describes the disembodied heads with foliage coming out of their mouths, noses, eyes and ears found inside and outside many British Churches was actually only coined in 1939 – so declared author and lecturer Imogen Corrigan in her highly knowledgeable, humorous and intriguing lecture. Before that they were only known as “foliate heads” visible in Anglo-Saxon and medieval churches and cathedrals all over Britain and Europe in the catholic west before 1500.
Amply illustrating her talk with photos of an extraordinary variety of foliate heads from 1100-1500, Imogen described the different types known as “disgorgers, spewers and transformers” showing the Viking and Scandinavian influences on church decoration and baptismal fonts with serpents, dolphins and other animals to be seen among the heads and foliage. Very little is known about the artists and carvers of these heads, but some 10,700 can be found in British Churches built before the Reformation
Contrary to the post WWII idea that the “Green Man” was linked to fertility rites and May Day frolicking, foliate heads may have been a subtle way to bring Paganism into Christianity, by adding images with a sacred meaning to the carvings, linking them to the resurrection and so influencing the belief of the populace as Christianity embedded itself. The “foliate” was always a living and vibrant plant, whether vines or leaves. The images of fish were a Christian symbol, dolphins and peacocks were symbols of the afterlife as was the serpent which sheds its skin to relive. Imogen showed how these symbols are also to be found in the decorative drop capitals of the written word as in the Book of Kells c 800, or the Luttrell Psalter 1330-1345. This was the period of the Black Death and Bubonic plague which decimated Europe. Was the Catholic Church also attempting to bring counsel and hope to the populace through these images? As St Benedict wrote in his Monastic Rule “Endurance shall bring forth life” or perhaps they had no meaning at all and were just decorative – who knows? But Imogen gave a forceful argument for the former.
Liz Beecheno