Pope Joan

Pope Joan, Johannas, Iohannas or Joanna, was a legendary female Pope. Said to have ruled for two years during 855–857, her story first appeared in 13th century chronicles, then spread throughout Europe through the writings of preachers and story tellers. For centuries she was widely believed to be real; however, today religious scholars think her story is legend. Whether she is real or made up is subject to debate.

The Pope Joan story states that she was German and arrived in Rome dressed in men's clothes, managing to convince people that she was in fact a man. Her alleged male name was John Anglicus. She started out in the clergy as a curiae notary; next she became a cardinal, and then finally she became the Pope. She served as pope for about two and a half years but her true gender was exposed when she became pregnant. The birth of her child was thought to have taken place either on the road that separated the Colosseum and St. Clement's or in the church. Her death and punishment are unknown.

Pope Joan Media

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  Illustrated manuscript depicting Pope Joan with the papal tiara. Bibliothèque nationale de France, c. 1560.

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  Depiction of "Pope John VII" in Hartmann Schedel's religious Nuremberg Chronicle, published in 1493

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  An untitled popess on the Rosenwald Sheet of uncut Tarot woodcuts. Early 16th-century. Now in National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

• Pope Joan giving birth. Woodcut from a German translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel of Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris, printed by Johannes Zainer at Ulm ca. 1474 (British Museum)

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  The Popess tarot card from the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck, c. 1450

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  New Orleans: Mardi Gras revelers in Jackson Square, the French Quarter. A pregnant woman costumes as "Pope Joan."