Pope Joan

Origin
The woman history refers to as Pope Joan was believed by some to have been a female pontiff who reigned over the Roman Catholic Church for a short time in the mid-800s. However, her existence has been dismissed by the church as purely a myth. Still others point to evidence in documents and artwork that indicates a woman once held the highest position in the church.

It is thought that she grew up in Mainz, Germany, and studied Greek and Latin at a monastery founded by English missionaries. At the time, girls were not educated so Pope Joan may have disguised herself as a boy in order to pursue her studies. She allegedly fell in love with a monk and went with him to Athens disguised as a fellow monk. Assuming the name John Anglicus, she later moved to Rome. A talented scribe, she worked as a papal notary and rose up the ranks within the Vatican, eventually becoming a cardinal.

Elected pontiff around 855, Pope Joan supposedly reigned as Pope John VIII. Sources vary on the length of her time at the helm of the church from a few weeks to more than two years. Some theorized that her term came between Pope Leo IV and Benedict III. Unfortunately, according to the stories, her secret was uncovered during a papal procession. Pregnant at the time, Pope Joan was on her way to the Church of the Lateran in Rome when she began having contractions. Learning that the pope was having a baby, the people reacted in horror. Most reports indicate that she was killed that day, either by stoning or by being dragged behind a horse. Later popes avoided the crossroads where Pope Joan was supposedly killed, which was called the Vicus Papissa, or street of the female pope.

Another ending of the story gives an alternative fate for the female pope. According to this, she did not die immediately after her exposure, but was confined and deposed, after which she did many years of penance. Her son from the affair eventually became Bishop of Ostia, and ordered her entombment in his cathedral when she died.

Public Domain Appearances
Stage:
 * Päpstin Johanna (1813)

Book:
 * The Papess Joanne (1866)