Wodwos occurs in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. The normal Middle English term, also used to the present day, was woodwose or wodewose (also spelled woodehouse, wudwas etc., understood perhaps as variously singular or plural). Late 15th century tapestry from Basel, showing a woodwose being tamed by a virtuous lady Renaissance engravers in Germany and Italy were particularly fond of wild men, wild women, and wild families, with examples from Martin Schongauer (died 1491) and Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) among others. The image of the wild man survived to appear as supporter for heraldic coats-of-arms, especially in Germany, well into the 16th century. Images of wild men appear in the carved and painted roof bosses where intersecting ogee vaults meet in Canterbury Cathedral, in positions where one is also likely to encounter the vegetal Green Man.
The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness" from the 12th century, they were consistently depicted as being covered with hair. The wild man, wild man of the woods, or woodwose/wodewose is a mythical figure that appears in the art and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands. Wild men support coats of arms in the side panels of a portrait by Albrecht Dürer, 1499 (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).