Popess?

The next step in the series is going to take some considerable research, so while I'm doing that, I'll be doing posts on various other random topics. Once I'm done with my research, I'll go back to the series.

Anyways, today, we're going to take a look at a very popular Catholic urban legend. Well, when I say Catholic... It's a popular legend about Catholics. It's been around since the 1300s and for some reason it just won't go away... In fact, ABC ran a special about it in 2005, around the time Pope Benedict XVI was elected. For the sake of clarity, I'll use the timeline that ABC presented.

So what is this legend? Well, it's the story of a woman who became pope. 

NOTE: The following is the legend and is not actually substantiated by facts of any kind.

Around 800 AD, in the German town of Mainz, a girl was born. The English had been building monasteries in the region to educate the boys of the town, but there was absolutely no chance of a girl getting any sort of education. Near Mainz, the monastery of Fulda was built, to educate the boys of the town.

It was to Fulda where Joan first went, wearing the robes of the monks and able to disguise her feminine figure. There, she proved to be a naturally gifted student, excelling in her studies of Greek and Latin, among all the other subjects.

From there, she lived in the monastery for several years, making lovers of some of the more important monks and eventually being moved to Athens. From Athens, she began to acquire a reputation as a learned scholar and an intelligent monk. She became a secretary in a curia (a system of governance), then an archbishop, and eventually, she was made a Cardinal.

In 855, after the death of Pope Leo IV, she was almost unanimously elected to be pope, under the name "John Anglicus," or "John the Englishman." Upon her election, she reigned for about two and a half years, until, one fateful day, during a Papal procession.

During the procession, Joan went into labor. She gave birth on a street that became known as the "Via Vicus Papissa," the street of the woman pope. Here, accounts differ. They all agree on one point, though, that it was that day, after giving birth, that Joan died. 

After the great scandal of having a female pope, the Church officials did everything in their power to cover up the event. The records of Pope Joan were officially destroyed. She'd had a bust made and put in the Sienna Cathedral that was eventually erased and the bust of Zacharias II replaced. Pope John XXI actually changed his numbering from XX to XXI in recognition of the female pope in 1276, after thoroughly checking the records of the popes.

This is where the legend ends

What a wonderful story. Thursday, we'll take a look at some of the details and examine just how much (if any) of this story is actually true.