Pope Joan – Medieval Myth or Martyr?

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Cathy A

Ioannes Anglicus, (Joan Angelicus or sometimes referred to as Agnes or Gilberta) was a legendary woman who supposedly dressed as a man to become pontiff in 855. There are multiple versions of Joan’s story, some demonising and rubbishing her existence and others, raising her up to the status of martyr. So, who was Joan, and did she exist?

Joan’s story was widely spread during the later 13th century, mostly by friars and primarily by means of interpolations made in many manuscripts of the Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum (Chronicle of the Popes and Emperors) by the 13th-century Polish Dominican, Martin of Troppau.

Reportedly an Englishwoman, her birthplace is recorded as the city of Mainz, an apparent inconsistency that some sources quantify by stating that her parents had migrated to Germany.

Whilst still quite young (some suggest perhaps before her eleventh birthday) she met and fell in love with an English monk, with whom she travelled to Athens. Not wanting to attract undue attention, she dressed as a boy.

It is perhaps through her relationship with the unnamed monk, that she gained her education, learning to both read and write. The two then moved on to Rome, where Joan (now called John) became a scribe, then cardinal and eventually, Pope Joan (John VIII).

*Statue (supposedly) of Pope Joan (John VIII). Some scholars argue that it is the Virgin Mary, even though ‘she’ is wearing a mitre, the traditional headdress of a Bishop, Cardinal or Pope.*

And herein begins the numerous and bloody variations, or her demise.

The most infamous of the four versions I have located involve her attendance at a very untimely procession. Secretly heavily pregnant with her first child (to her lover/monk) she gave birth whilst on horseback. With her ruse revealed, Joan was pulled from her mount, dragged around the streets, and then stoned to death by the crowd.

Jean de Mailly, Chronica Universalis Mettensis wrote –

One day, while mounting a horse, she gave birth to a child. Immediately, by Roman justice she was bound by the feet to a horse’s tail and dragged and stoned by the people for half a league, and, where she died, there she was buried, and at the place is written: “Petre, Pater Patrum, Papisse Prodito Partum” [Oh Peter, Father of Fathers, Betray the childbearing of the woman Pope]. At the same time, the four-day fast called the “fast of the female Pope” was first established.

A variation of the above included the same description of the procession, but with the child surviving, and yet another states that both Joan and the child survived.

Through ignorance of the exact time when the birth was expected, she was delivered of a child while in procession from St. Peter’s to the Lateran, in a lane once named Via Sacra (the sacred way) but now known as the “shunned street” between the Colosseum and St Clement’s church. After her death, it is said she was buried in that same place. The Lord Pope always turns aside from the street, and it is believed by many that this is done because of abhorrence of the event. Nor is she placed on the list of the Holy Pontiffs, both because of her female sex and on account of the foulness of the matter.

— Martin of Opava, Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatoru

The final account gives a far more palatable outcome –

Joan did not die immediately after her exposure, but instead was confined and deposed, after which she did many years of penance before reuniting with her lover. Her son from the affair eventually became Bishop of Ostia, and ordered her entombment in his cathedral when she died.

But what evidence do we have of such events? Could there be any truth to the story of a female Pope?

It certainly is recorded that medieval popes, from the 13th century onward, did indeed avoid the direct route between the Lateran and St Peter’s, as Martin of Opava claimed. However, there is no evidence that this practice dated back any earlier. The origin of the practice is uncertain, but it is quite likely that it was maintained because of widespread belief in the Joan legend, and it was thought genuinely to date back to that period.

And then there is the supposed sedia stercoraria or ‘dung chair’ containing a large, central hole where future popes were subjected to an examination to establish that they were, in fact male (the Catholic Church did not want to make that mistake again!)

Certainly, there are many images of such a chair and depictions of the examination, which was also featured in the series “The Borgias” (season 1, episode 1).

In 2018, Michael E. Habicht, an archaeologist at Flinders University, published new evidence in support of an historical Pope Joan. Habicht and grapho-analyst Marguerite Spycher analysed papal monograms on medieval coins and found that there were two significantly different monograms attributed to Pope John VIII. Habicht argues that the earlier monogram, which he dates from 856 to 858, belongs to Pope Joan, while the latter monogram, which he dates to after 875, belongs to Pope John VII.

(NOTE – The numbering of “popes John” does not occur in strict numerical order. Although there have been twenty-one legitimate popes named John, the numbering became confused and multiple errors occurred during the Middle Ages).

In the 16th century, Siena Cathedral featured a bust of Joan among other pontiffs, however it was later removed.

The 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia elaborated on the historical timeline problem:

Between Leo IV and Benedict III, where Martinus Polonus places her, she cannot be inserted, because Leo IV died 17 July 855, and immediately after his death Benedict III was elected by the clergy and people of Rome; but, owing to the setting up of an Antipope, in the person of the deposed Cardinal Anastasius, he was not consecrated until 29 September. Coins exist which bear both the image of Benedict III and of Emperor Lothair, who died 28 September 855; therefore Benedict must have been recognized as pope before the last-mentioned date. On 7 October 855, Benedict III issued a charter for the Abbey of Corvey. Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, informed Nicholas I that a messenger whom he had sent to Leo IV learned on his way of the death of this Pope, and therefore handed his petition to Benedict III, who decided it (Hincmar, ep. xl in P.L., CXXXVI, 85). All these witnesses prove the correctness of the dates given in the lives of Leo IV and Benedict III, and there was no interregnum between these two Popes, so that at this place there is no room for the alleged Popess.

Most modern scholars dismiss the story of Joan, claiming it is absolute fantasy. In fact, one commentator, Thomas Noble, has described Pope Joan as ‘a woman who never lived but who nevertheless refuses to die’.

There are multiple works on the subject, notably ‘Pope Joan’ by Donna Woolfolk Cross, ‘The Legend of Pope Joan – In search of the Truth’ by Peter Stanford and ‘Pope Joan – the Indestructible Legend of the Catholic Churches First and Only Female Pope’ Charles River Editors.

Incidentally, Peter Stanford was the former editor of The Catholic Herald, and concluded that in ‘Weighing all the evidence, I am convinced that Pope Joan was an historical figure, though perhaps not all the details about her that have been passed on down the centuries are true.’

There are also two notable movie versions.

Pope Joan (2009) staring Johanna Wokalek, David Wenham, John Goodman, Iain Glen

Pope Joan (1972) staring Liv Ullmann, Olivia de Havilland, Lesley-Anne Down, Franco Nero and Maximilian Schell.

I particularly found the story intriguing and given the length the Catholic Church has gone to in the past, to expunge, dilute and generally cover-up matters they find unsavoury, I would not be at all surprised if this was the case for Pope Joan, the martyr.

Catherine A Wilson co-writes with Catherine T Wilson (no relation). Their first book, The Lily and the Lion, was based upon their true-life accidental meeting and resulting friendship. All four books in their ‘Lions and Lilies’ series have won first place prizes in the Chatelaine/Chaucer Awards in the US and in 2019, The Traitor’s Noose won the Grand Prize Chaucer Award.

The Lily and the Lion – 1st Place Chanticleer Chatelaine Award – 2014

The Order of the Lily – 1st Place Chanticleer Chatelaine Award – 2015

The Gilded Crown – 1st Place Chanticleer Chaucer Award – 2016

The Traitor’s Noose – Grand Prize WINNER Chanticleer Chaucer Award – 2017

Tracking the Templars through Paris

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Lions and Lilies

By Cathy T Wilson

In late October/early November of 2019 Cathy A and I took a research trip together to Paris and London. On the afternoon of Nov 4^th, we went for a stroll around Paris on a Templars tour. We were to meet our guide at the statue of Henri IV on the Pont Neuf bridge so took lunch at the Henry IV tavern opposite.

The table the waiter is setting up in this picture is exactly where we sat!

After lunch we ventured over to the statue, a huge bronze likeness of King Henry IV overlooking the small park below called the ‘Square du Vert-Galant’ named in his honour as he was nicknamed the ‘Green Gallant.’

I felt a Lions and Lilies connection with this effigy as Henry was the ‘Albret blood’ that sat on the French throne. His mother was Jeanne d’Albret and yes, the line traces back to the (non-fictional) Albrets in Lions and Lilies.

The statue you see today was built in 1818 by Francois-Frederic Lemot to replace an original statue built in 1614 by order of his widowed queen, Marie de Medici. The original King Henry IV statue was destroyed in 1792 during the French Revolution.

The Pont Neuf Bridge is also well worth a mention. It’s now the oldest bridge in Paris whilst ironically its name means ‘new bridge.’ Completed in 1607 under Henry IV’s reign, it was the first stone bridge to not support houses making it the ‘new kid on the block.’ Serving as a dedicated thoroughfare, it was the first to herald pavement.

The bridge is decorated with 384 mascarons (grotesque faces meant to scare away evil spirits), representing the heads of forest and field divinities from mythology like satyrs etc. They display pointed ears, beards with grapes and sea-shell crowns.

But the reason we were shown to this area had a much darker past. We descended the stairs to find a plaque on the side of the bridge dedicated to Jacques de Molay. Translated, it read ‘At this location Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned on 18 March 1314.’

Plaque dedicated to De Molay with close-up insert.

Behind us, the pretty Square du Vert-Galant, took on a whole new, sinister meaning.

We left the square and walked along the bank of the Seine, past the Palace of Justice and Saint Chapelle Cathedral to cross the Pont au Change.

In the 14^th/15^th centuries this bridge held the establishments and shops of the money changers, goldsmiths and jewellers. In those days shops, with living quarters above, were built right on the bridge. Originally called the ‘Grand Pont,’ it was given the name of Pont au Change by Louis VII around 1141 following an ordinance that money-lenders, jewellers and goldsmiths (changeurs) were to exercise their trade only on the bridge.

Crossing over to the right bank we stopped at the Square de la Tour Saint-Jacques. The Saint Jacques tower is the only remaining part of an earlier church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, destroyed in one of the city’s worst fires during the French Revolution.

Then we rounded a corner to Rue du Cloitre Saint-Merri, and the Saint Merri Church. This church began as a Parisian sanctuary by the monk/priest Saint Merri in the 7th century.

The current 16thC version sits upon the same ground as its worthy earlier counterpart. A section of the original church still looks out onto the Rue Saint Martin. The bell tower contains the oldest bell, cast in 1331, which thankfully, did survive the French Revolution.

Our next stop at 49 – 51 Rue de Montmorency came as a wonderful surprise – ‘Maison du Nicolas Flamel,’ – the house of Nicolas Flamel, a well-known 14thC scribe. He ran two shops as a scribe and manuscript seller, beneath his living quarters. He is a character in Lions and Lilies book two, ‘The Order of the Lily.’

The façade is covered in wonderful pictures, letters, script and rune-style symbols.

Today it houses a restaurant (2019). Sadly, it was not open during our visit.

Nicolas Flamel lived into his 70s, and in 1410 designed his own tombstone which was carved with the images of Christ, St. Peter, and St. Paul. He was buried in the Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie church (mentioned above) but Flamel’s tombstone survived and is preserved at the Musée de Cluny in Paris.

Our route took us past the 12^th Century founded Gothic Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs, in former times part of the ancient and powerful Abbey of Saint Martin des Champs. The Abbey was founded as a daughter house of the Benedictine monastery of Cluny, the most powerful centre of monastic life in the Middle Ages.

These monks were skilled in drying out the surrounding marshes and turning it into arable land. The Templars emulated this at their own headquarters.

We headed on to the Eglise Sainte-Elisabeth de Hongrie (St. Elisabeth of Hungary Church)

and although built in 1646, it became home to the ‘Order of the Knights of Malta,’ originating from the Order of Saint John, more commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller.

This monastic order of knights dates back to 1048, when merchants from the Republic of Amalfi were granted permission to build a church, convent and hospital in Jerusalem to care for pilgrims of any race or faith. Military defence was added to their duties during the reign of the leprosy-plagued, Christian King Baldwin. After the siege of Acre, the order moved to Cyprus but by 1310, regrouped in Rhodes. In 1523, this now powerful force was laid to siege by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. After six months the knights were compelled to surrender and departed Rhodes. By 1530, they had been granted their own territory in Malta by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, his mother, Queen of Castile with the approval of Pope Clement VII.

Inside the church was a model of the Knights Templar headquarters in Paris.

Leaving the Knights Hospitaller’s church, we made our way to the Square du Temple, the sacred ground where the Knights Templar headquarters once stood.

In 1099 when Christian armies captured Jerusalem from the Muslims, European pilgrims began flooding to the Holy Land. Because such pious travellers made easy pickings, many were robbed and killed along the way. A military order was created, the ‘Poor Knights of Christ of the Temple of Solomon,’ to protect them on their journey. They became known as the Knights Templar and set up their headquarters on Temple Mount.

Pope Innocent II issued a Papal Bull granting the Templars exemptions from taxes and tithes, and permissions to keep all gifts bestowed upon and in the same year, King Louis VII donated land in Paris for their headquarters. To the north-east of the Templar Towers lay stretches of marshland which they set about drying out and turning into market gardens. Today this Arrondissment is known as the ‘Marais’ district, meaning the ‘marsh.’

The huge oak doors on the main entrance of the enclosure still exist today and may be seen at the Château des Vincennes. We visited this chateau on Nov 1 (see our website for this trip) and suitably impressed by these huge doors, had taken photos not knowing then, they were once hinged to the walls of the Templar Tower!

All that is left of the mighty Templar structure are the odd foundation stone or two, this one forming the side to a tranquil pool with a waterfall in the park, but there are other remnants if you know where to look.

On that side of the park, the path and road are marked with silver plates showing where the walls once stood.

On the adjacent Rue de Picardie, there now sits a restaurant-bar called ‘Les Chouettes,’ where it is believed the remnants of a corner tower can be seen in the basement. This inspired the deeply-curved shape of the bar in the restaurant, supposedly following the outline of where one of the towers once stood.

In 1307 King Phillip IV and Pope Clement V, deeply resenting the Templars for their money and power, conceived a plan to bring them down. On 13^th October scores of Knights Templars were arrested on charges of heresy, blasphemy, sodomy and devil worship. Severely tortured, they were forced to make false confessions with many burned at the stake whilst others were subjected to perpetual imprisonment.

As the Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was tied to the stake, he invoked a curse calling to Christ to prove the Order’s innocence.

‘Let evil swiftly befall those who have wrongly condemned us – God will avenge.’

Within a year of Molay’s death, both King Philip IV and Pope Clement V died.

*Here stood the keep of the Temple where Louis XVI and the royal family were imprisoned from August 13, 1792*

The property of the Templars passed to the Knights Hospitaller but during the French Revolution the enclosure was seized. The royal family was locked in the keep in August 1792 until their execution. The church was razed to the ground. The Tower of the Temple was later demolished by Napoleon.

Bordering the Square du Temple today there is still an enclosed market called the Carreau du Temple

and while the structure was undergoing renovations in 2007, remains of the Templar existence were unearthed

including a cemetery with skeletons of the knights.

Though the Order of the Knights Templar was disbanded after King Philip’s persecution, it is thought many brothers did escape to the Iberian Peninsula, some hiding in Spain, others to Portugal where the ‘Order of Christ’ was created by King Dinis in 1319 – Templars by another name?

The Templars had numerous vessels and many members were never apprehended by the French authorities. Their fate is still a subject of debate to this day. Jean de Châlon, a brother of the Order, testified that eighteen galleys set sail under the command of Templar officers, laden with a ‘whole treasury.’ Worth noting is that no documents or records were found in the Templars’ strongholds indicating they did have some prior notice and instruction.

Today they are still a subject of much speculation, and whether or not they appear as villainous or valiant, one must remember the times in which they lived, good or bad may have come down to the individual but overall, the Order of the Knights Templar still inspires and invokes admiration.