Gervase of Tilbury's Account?
I have run across a small number of authors who have claimed that a third ancient account of the green children exists, written by Gervase of Tilbury, a well-known author of historical texts. Since Gervase lived from around 1152 to 1220 CE, an account from him would be as valuable as Ralph of Coggeshall’s or William of Newburgh’s; unfortunately, I haven’t found any real indication that Gervase actually wrote such an account.
The claim that Gervase gave an account of the Green Children of Woolpit was first put forward by Harold T. Wilkins in his book Strange Mysteries of Time and Space, published in 1958, and it is from his book that all other authors repeat this claim. But the quotes that are presented by Wilkins’ in his book from the so-called Gervase account not only add nothing new to the story, they are also clearly a simple blending of the details previously recounted in both Ralph of Coggeshall’s and William of Newburgh’s accounts. For example, Wilkins’ gives a quotation from the green girl that he claims is from Gervase’s account, but it is nothing more than an unskillful paraphrasing of Stevenson’s translation of William’s same quote from the green girl⁵.
There are other suspicious similarities between Wilkins’ “Gervase account” and those of Ralph and William. Wilkins says that Gervase’s account states that the girl married at man at Lynn, and Wilkins then quotes, “where she was said to be living, a few years since.” When compared to William of Newburgh’s account: “...she was married at Lynne, and was living a few years since, at least, so they say...”, it becomes clear that Wilkins is giving a simple paraphrase of William’s line as a supposed quote from Gervase. Wilkins’ alledged account from Gervase of Tilbury offers only one detail different from both Ralph’s and William’s accounts of the green children; it claims the beans were given to the children while they were still sitting in one of the wolf-pits.
So Harold Wilkins is the only actual source I’ve found for a claim that Gervase of Tilbury wrote anything about the green children, and the evidence leans heavily towards the conclusion that Wilkins created the alleged account himself. Though he implies that the story may have come from Gervase’s famous historic text, the ‘Otia Imperialia’, Wilkins never clearly states this as a fact; and I have found no other indication that the green children story is in said text. For this reason, and the others already mentioned, I will need to see more evidence before I’ll believe that a third ancient source for the story exists.