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Passing as the Pope - the Story of Joan English
by Alison Phipps

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Passing as the Pope - the Story of Joan English
by Alison Phipps

(continued, page 2)

However, there remains enough evidence to authenticate the existence of the female Pope, although the details of her life may be a little sketchy. The first chronicles mentioning Pope Joan were written by Benedictine, Dominican and Franciscan monks, who were, as historian Joan Morris points out, unlikely to have been storytellers.

"They were erudite historians, members of religious orders, believing Christians, persons of integrity recording faithfully as far as possible what they considered to be the truth." (Joan Morris, Pope John VIII: An English Woman (1985), p. 40)

Morris has also pointed out that these men would have been scandalised by the existence of a female Pope - this would make it irrational for them to fabricate the existence of Pope Joan, although later historians have accused them of doing so.

Joan Morris argues that the acceptance of Pope Joan as a genuine historical figure can clear up many difficulties that have emerged in ecclesiastical history surrounding the dating of documents. She highlights the coronation of Louis II as Emperor, which is recorded as being performed by Pope John VIII in 856. The second John VIII could not possibly have officiated at this ceremony since his reign began in 872. This leads to the conclusion that the Pope in question was Joan. Some historians have attempted to insist that the coronation took place in 872 in order to place it in the reign of the later Pope John VIII - however, this is absurd due to the fact that Louis actually inherited the throne in 855. A number of letters have also been attributed to the later Pope John VIII which would make better historical sense in the context of the reign of Pope Joan. Among these is a letter written to King Burgred of Mercia asking him to protect nuns and dedicated women from men wrongfully taking them into marriage. (Joan Morris, Pope John VIII: An English Woman (1985), p. 27-31).

Joan was born in Moguntia (now known as Mainz) in about 818 AD, the daughter of English missionaries who were involved in the drive to convert the Germanic-Saxon natives of the area. It is reported that her parents encouraged her to adopt male attire in order to study at the Benedictine Monastery in Fulda, near her home. She began to "pass" at the age of 12, and succeeded completely in this enterprise until her 35th year.

In the course of Joan's education, a young teacher took her to Athens, where she became extremely well versed in the Liberal Arts: upon the death of her companion, she travelled to Rome to take an appointment at the Trivium (the central institution of the mediaeval educational system). In the 14th century historian Theodoric de Niem highlighted the existence of a lecturer at the 9th century Roman Trivium named John English, a woman from Moguntia who had lived as a man throughout the course of her career. He states that Joan's extensive knowledge encouraged the most eminent people to habitually frequent her classes, and points out that at the time of her lectureship her real sexual identity was completely unsuspected. (Theodoric de Niem, De Iuris, ch. XVII)

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