Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1895 — No Pope Joan. [ARTICLE]

No Pope Joan.

Though the story has been refuted over and over again, there is still a widespread belief that there existed in the middle ages a female pope. Pope Joan, as she is called, has even given her name to a game of cards which is mentioned in Sheridan’s “School for Scandal.” The tradition with regard to the female pope has been traced back to the eleventh century, but she is said to have lived much earlier, her pontificate having taken place in the ninth century and having lasted for more than two years. The name she is alleged to have assumed is John VII. At the last meeting of the Academy of Inscriptions, in Paris, M. Muntz dealt another blow at the story, which he characterizes as a vulgar fable invented in the middle ages. Never, he declares, after a careful study of the question, has a woman worn the tiara; and, moreover, there was no interregnum at the period when the pretended John VII. governed the church.