What are your thoughts on Johanna papissa?
I will be the first one to agree that certain men would have been eager to erase such a woman from history, there simply isn't enough compelling evidence.
First of all the first account of Pope Joan is made 400 years after her death. We don't have a firsthand source for it. Moreover we pretty much know who was pope at the time, it's not like there was a mysterious gap or something, although of course there could have been mistakes throughout the years.
They said it was discovered when she gave birth while hopping onto a horse, which is just supsicious to me but it's a cool story. She was immediately tied to the horse, dragged and died. We have no idea what happened to the baby.
David Blondel, who did extensive investigation and deemed it not true, suggested it may be satire about Pope John XI (whose mother was Marozia, remember her?) . Another historian in the 16th century thought it was perhaps based on Pope John XII (yes still that same family, grandson of Marozia) who had a lover named Joan.
I think it speaks to the imagination because a female pope is still unthinkable and wouldn't it be amazing if there was a female pope? Who managed to fool all those people?
I feel a similar thing happens with Golden Age female pirates (another hyperfocus gone too far I'll admit) because there are so many tales about them but when you actually look at the evidence there is so very little on them, though they did actually exist, but we are unsure about so much of it (also pirates in general. they did not tend to consistently write things down themselves because they're...pirates)
