Legend holds that an Englishman John of Mainz (Johannes Anglicus) occupied the papal chair for two years, seven months and four days around 855. He was, it is alleged, a woman. When a young girl, she was taken to Athens in male clothes for her formal education (only available to men). An exceptional student, she returned to Rome and taught science as a man. Her brilliance and demeanor brought her to the attention of the intelligentsia and eventually to the papacy. Later she gave birth to a child and was murdered by an outraged crowd.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the popess legend was held out as fact by some church historians. Her carved bust stood with those of the other popes in Seina Cathedral for 200 years. But Pope Joan is entirely the figment of the imagination of writers at that time and 20th century movie makers (see The Life of Pope Joan). Yet the legend lives on and is still believed by many.
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