The Legend of Pope Joan: In Search of the Truth - Hardcover

Stanford, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805039104 ISBN 13: 9780805039108

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co., 1999

Synopsis

A quest for the truth behind one of history's most perplexing mysteries. The story of Pope Joan, an English woman who disguised herself as a man and became pope in the middle of the ninth century, has seized people's imagination for over a thousand years. Despite dismissals of the tale as an improbable--indeed, impossible--historical fantasy, the leg persists. Is the tale nothing more than folklore invented by Protestant propagandists determined to undermine the authority of the papacy? Or did Joan really exist, deceiving the authorities and becoming pope? As the controversy over women in the Catholic priesthood continues and the Church--which, until the Reformation, took the story of Pope Joan as gospel--dispels rumors that will not be quashed, it is time to look beyond the fantasy for facts. In this wide-ranging investigative account, which reaches from secret histories to conspiracy theories, medieval carvings to tarot cards, transvestite saints to a tale about a pope giving birth in the street, Peter Stanford delivers a major piece of historical detective work that may convince even the staunchest of skeptics.

About this title

About the Author

Former editor of London's Catholic Herald, Peter Stanford appears regularly in the Guardian and the Indepent. The author of The Devil (Holt, 0-8050-3082-4) ("A vivid, impish and tantalizing work on the dark side."-Melvin Bragg), he lives in London.

From Kirkus Reviews

A flimsy argument for the existence of a female pope in the ninth century. Stanford, former editor of London's Catholic Herald and author of The Devil: A Biography (1996), has resurrected a wonderful legend: that a young medieval Catholic woman d isguised herself as a man, became educated, climbed the ecclesiastical ladder and served as pope for more than two years, only to be unmasked when she gave birth during a public processional. But Stanford too doggedly persists in his determination to see historical evidence for Joan's papacy where almost none exists. His case is built upon circumstances, and he rashly jumps from possibility to fact. No mention of Joan is made in any extant source until the mid-13nth century (though Stanford gamely tries t o persuade us that an 11th-century text that does not mention Joan by name is, in fact, referring to her). Stanford treats the 1265 Polonus chronicle as gospel truthfor example, in the second chapter, he notes that Polonus claimed the son Joan bore in the street later went on to become bishop of Ostia. Eighty pages later, Stanford writes that because we ``know'' that Joan's son became bishop of Ostia, it makes sense that Joan was buried there. This kind of shoddy detective work only builds a house of card s. Some of this is excusable by Stanford's own obvious enthusiasm for his subject matter; he so clearly wants the reader to believe what he has come to accept as historical truth. This eagerness blinds him to the far more provocative questions he neglects to raise until the conclusion of the book: why is Joan still revered by so many, including proponents of women's ordination, transvestites, and anti-clericalists? What is at stake here for the Catholic Church? Why, despite the weak historical evidence, d oes the legend of Pope Joan persist? Tenuous, inadequate history that overlooks the more salient issues surrounding Joan's legend. (8 pages b&w photos) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0805039104
• ISBN 13: 9780805039108
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 207