True or False; It remains a persistent rumor: there has been a female pope. She must have been Pope in the Vatican from 804 to 806. Quite a stretch ago. Find that out again. She was Pope John (VIII?); or – in later times – Pope Johanna. You will not read in the article below whether there really was a Pope Johanna. We do lift a glimpse of the (papal) veil.
Popeess Johanna
According to the story, Johanna comes from England or Ingelheim. In her youth she dressed up as a boy so that, as evil tongues claim, she could be with her boyfriend who stayed in a monastery. Other sources mention that, after a raid by Normans, she took over the identity of her brother, who was killed during the raid. During her journey through Europe, she entered a monastery as a brother. She stayed there for several years. She stood out for her great intelligence. She then traveled, with or without her boyfriend and still dressed as a man, to Athens. From there the road led to Rome. Here she drew attention to herself through her great wisdom and erudition. She becomes a Curic cardinal and the confidant of Pope Leo IV.
After the death of Leo IV she was elected pope; Pope John Anglicus. She would have been that from 804 to 806, a papacy of two years, five months and three days.
During the procession of the third day before the Assumption , on the way from the Vatican to the Church of Saint John Lateran – to be very precise: between the Church of Saint Clement and the Amphitheater of Domitian – Pope John Anglicus gives birth to a child. The French edition of Van Spanheim’s book ,Histoire de la Papesse Jeanne, states this very nicely: elle enfanta en pleine rue.
Pope John Anglicus / John the VIII / Popeess Johanna dies, together with her child.
There are also other versions of this event. One of them mentions that the Pope, when it turned out that he was actually a she, was stoned by the angry inhabitants of Rome and that her child was strangled. Another version shows Pope Joanna living on, of course after being deposed. She is said to have entered a monastery in Ostia. Her son is even said to have become bishop of Ostia.
The story bears all the hallmarks of a legend. But: ,Part out of the journey, through the experience, and all the way through the fondness of the story, through the history., ,Wherever you come across a legend, you can be sure that if you get to the bottom of things, you will find history., (Vallet de Viriville)
What is truth?
Few or no written sources are known from the time in which Pope Joanna lived. It was a chaotic period, during which the Norse raids also took place. Politically it was also chaos. Charlemagne’s great empire had fallen apart into three parts, which were claimed by his successors in recurring wars. Chaos and disorder everywhere.
Not all was peace and quiet in Rome either. The ecclesiastical offices were sold or acquired through corruption; wealthy mistresses provided fancy church functions for their protégés; murder and manslaughter, poisoning and fornication were rampant.
One of the few written sources from this time, the Liber pontificalis by Anastasius Bibliothecarius, who himself was anti-pope for a while, does not mention the pontificate of Pope Johanna. However, that does not make much clear, because her successor, Benedict III, is also not mentioned in the same Liber pontificalis. However, she is mentioned in a later version of the Liber pontificalis. However, that is a clear addition from later times. That in itself does not necessarily have to be cheating. It is quite possible that a truthful copyist assumed that she belonged.
Another contemporary of Pope Joanna, Hincmar, regularly omits information in his chronicles that could harm the church . There is no doubt that the pontificate of Pope Joanna was very damaging to the church.
The great theologian Alcuinus has admitted that he destroyed an important report on fornication and simony by Pope Leo III; harmful to the church.
This is how it could have happened later: all data that existed about Pope Johanna was destroyed to erase this period. Oral tradition, however, is indelible. It is not
surprising that a woman could pretend to be a man for so long . There are plenty of examples of this in history. In the third century, a woman disguised as a man became abbot of a monastery. In the twelfth century, a woman disguised as a man also became a monk in the abbey of Schonau. Only after her death, when she was deposed, did her true identity become known. In the eighteenth century, Mary Reade lived as a pirate. James Barry, a nineteenth century woman (maiden name unknown), rose from sailor to inspector general of British hospitals. Teresinha Gomez pretended to be a man for eighteen years. As a much decorated soldier, she rose to become a general in the Portuguese army. This came to an end in 1994(!) during a police investigation.
Pros
Over the years, many strong and less strong ,pro, arguments have been put forward. We mention a few:
Tarot card
If there was no Popeess Johanna, why has she appeared on the tarot card as the high priestess since 1150?
Statue
Until 1592, a bust of Pope Joanna stood in the cathedral of Siena, next to those of other popes. By order of Pope Clement VIII it was ,converted, into a bust of Pope Zacharias.
Reformation
Only after the Reformation did the Roman Catholic Church deny the existence of Pope Joanna. Probably not to give the apostates additional weapons against the papacy.
Dedicatory chair
The so-called ,chair exam, was held at the papal inauguration for more than six hundred years in the Middle Ages. An edict had been issued aimed at determining the gender of each new pope immediately after election. After there had been a female pope, the church did not want to make that mistake again and subjected the newly elected pope to an embarrassing investigation. He had to sit on a chair with a large hole in the seat, the stella stercoraria or manure chair. A senior clergyman had the task of crawling under the seat at the back to conduct the investigation. A medieval French poet tells us this delicately (loosely translated):
,The established law that will apply from now on is that no pope is appointed no matter how well read and seen he is until he counts all his fingers and reaches more than ten.,
When the examiner had determined that everything was in order, he shouted in a loud voice: ,Mas nobis nominus est., (Our candidate is a man). Then those present burst out in relief: ,Deo gratias!, Every newly elected pope had to submit to this examination. Even Pope Alexander IV, who already had four sons and a daughter!
The Roman Catholic Church has never denied that this chair was used at the papal inauguration. Currently, the chair can still be found in the Vatican. There is also a copy in the Louvre.
There is even an eyewitness account of this ,Chair Exam,. The Englishman Adam of Usk describes the consecration of Pope Innocent VII in 1404. The chair exam is missing from that description and not!
After the Reformation, the bizarre custom was abolished.
Detour
After the birth of Pope Johanna, the annual procession takes a different route. The place of shame will henceforth be avoided. In 1486 this custom was abandoned and the procession again passed through the ,Via Sacra,, past the place where Johanna had her child. Johannes Burkhardt, the Pope’s master of ceremonies, mentions this in his report as follows:
,Both on the way there and back, the Pope passed the Colosseum and through that street where John Angelicus gave birth to a child. The Pope was reprimanded for this by the Archbishop of Florence….”
Medieval sources
Jean de Mailly describes the papal birth in the mid-thirteenth century in his ,Chronica universalis Mettensis,. Later, the Polish Dominican Martinus Opava recorded the event in his ,Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum.,
Johannes Hus
The well-known precursor of the reform, Johannes Hus, denied the infallibility of the pope. When he was put on trial for this, his accusers had a response to all his accusations. Only his allegation regarding the female pope was not refuted by anyone present.
Famous writers
Boccacio and Petrarca also mention Pope Joanna and the history of childbirth.
Pope John XXI
After thorough research, Pope John XX changed his number to XXI in 1276. He thereby recognized Joanna’s papacy as Pope John VIII.
Researchers
In 1658, Prof. Desmarets, professor at the University of Groningen, demonstrated the truth of the Johanna legend.
The Leiden professor Van Spanheim came to the same conclusion in 1694 in his book ,Histoire de la papesse Jean,. He quotes from more than five hundred medieval sources.
Leiden professor N. Kist (1843) also assumes the truth of the Pope Johanna legend.
Contras
Years
There has been no other pope between Pope Leo VI (pope until 855) and Pope Benedict III (pope from 855).
Passing beautiful posts to each other
At the time in which the legend takes place, ecclesiastical Rome was in chaos. The curia generally led a dissolute life; important positions were for the highest bidder or for the best friends. All the more remarkable that someone who did not belong to the ,clique, would have been elected pope on the basis of ability!
Blondel
In 1647, the French-Dutch Protestant (!) professor Blondel referred the story to the realm of fables.
Protestants
The followers of the Reformation are said to have invented the story to discredit the Roman Catholic Church.
Written evidence
There is not one written evidence from the pontificate of Johannes Angelicus (Johanna); no letter, no encyclical, no privilege granted.
Liber pontificalis
She is not mentioned in the original Liber pontificalis by Anastasius Bibliothecarius.
Satire
The story is said to be a satirical attack on Pope John VIII. He would have been a ,wimp,, an effeminate type. Johanna’s story was then intended to discredit him even further.
Coin
There is a coin showing Pope Benedict III on one side and Emperor Lothaire on the other. Since Lothair died on September 28, 855, it is clear that Benedict III was already pope at that time. In the period attributed to Pope Joanna.
Privileges
In connection with the foregoing: on October 7, 855, Pope Benedict III granted certain privileges to the monastery in Corby. This also indicates that he was then in possession of the papal crown.
So
let’s leave the story for what it is.
Food for novelists
It is obvious that such a story would provide wonderful material for a book or a film. Several writers have taken pity on Johannes Angelicus. Some titles of books and films:
- Emmanuel Rhoidis (1835-1904): ,Papissa Joanna,.
- Cees van der Pluijm: play (1996)
- Donna Woolfolk Cross: ,Popeess Johanna,.
- 1972, movie ,Pope Jean,.
- 2009, German film ,Die Päpstin,.