One of the most controversial women of history is brought to life in Donna Woolfolk Cross's tale of Pope Joan, a girl whose origins should have kept her in squalid domesticity. Instead, thru intelligence, indomitability & courage, she ascended to the Roman throne as Pope John Anglicus. The time is 814, the place is Ingelheim, a Frankland village. It's the harshest winter in living memory when Joan is born to an English father & Saxon mother. Her father is a canon, filled with holy zeal, capable of unconscionable cruelty. His piety doesn't extend to his family, especially females. His wife, Gudrun, is a young beauty to whom he's attracted beyond his will. He hates her for showing him his weakness. Gudrun teaches Joan about her gods & is repeatedly punished for it by the canon. Joan grows to young womanhood with the combined knowledge of the warlike Saxon gods & Church teachings as her heritage. When her brother John, not a scholarly type, is sent away to school, Joan, who was supposed to be the one sent to school, runs away & joins him in Dorstadt, at Villaris, the home of Gerold. She falls in love with him. Their lives interesect repeatedly even thru her Papacy. She's looked upon by all who know that she's a woman as a "lusus naturae," a freak of nature. "She was... male in intellect, female in body, she fit in nowhere; it was as if she belonged to a 3rd amorphous sex." The status of women in the Dark Ages was little better than cattle. They were judged inferior in every way & necessary evils in the bargain. After John is killed in a Viking raid, Joan sees opportunity to escape the fate of her gender. She cuts her hair, dons her dead brother's clothes & goes into the world as a young boy. Gerold is away from Villaris at the time of the attack & comes home to find his home in ruins, his family killed & Joan missing. After the attack, Joan goes to a Benedictine monastery, is accepted as a man of great learning & eventually makes her way to Rome.Cross tells in an Epilogue that she wrote the story as fiction because it's impossible to document Joan's papal accession. The Catholic Church has done everything possible to deny this embarrassment. Whether or not one believes in Joan as Pope, this is a compelling story, filled with all kinds of the brutishness of the Dark Ages, Vatican intrigue, politics, favoritism & the place of women.--Valerie Ryan (edited)
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One of the most controversial women of history is brought to life in Donna Woolfolk Cross's tale of Pope Joan, a girl whose origins should have kept her in squalid domesticity. Instead, thru intelligence, indomitability & courage, she ascended to the Roman throne as Pope John Anglicus. The time is 814, the place is Ingelheim, a Frankland village. It's the harshest winter in living memory when Joan is born to an English father & Saxon mother. Her father is a canon, filled with holy zeal, capable of unconscionable cruelty. His piety doesn't extend to his family, especially females. His wife, Gudrun, is a young beauty to whom he's attracted beyond his will. He hates her for showing him his weakness. Gudrun teaches Joan about her gods & is repeatedly punished for it by the canon. Joan grows to young womanhood with the combined knowledge of the warlike Saxon gods & Church teachings as her heritage. When her brother John, not a scholarly type, is sent away to school, Joan, who was supposed to be the one sent to school, runs away & joins him in Dorstadt, at Villaris, the home of Gerold. She falls in love with him. Their lives interesect repeatedly even thru her Papacy. She's looked upon by all who know that she's a woman as a "lusus naturae," a freak of nature. "She was... male in intellect, female in body, she fit in nowhere; it was as if she belonged to a 3rd amorphous sex." The status of women in the Dark Ages was little better than cattle. They were judged inferior in every way & necessary evils in the bargain. After John is killed in a Viking raid, Joan sees opportunity to escape the fate of her gender. She cuts her hair, dons her dead brother's clothes & goes into the world as a young boy. Gerold is away from Villaris at the time of the attack & comes home to find his home in ruins, his family killed & Joan missing. After the attack, Joan goes to a Benedictine monastery, is accepted as a man of great learning & eventually makes her way to Rome.Cross tells in an Epilogue that she wrote the story as fiction because it's impossible to document Joan's papal accession. The Catholic Church has done everything possible to deny this embarrassment. Whether or not one believes in Joan as Pope, this is a compelling story, filled with all kinds of the brutishness of the Dark Ages, Vatican intrigue, politics, favoritism & the place of women.--Valerie Ryan (edited)
Aktuelle Rezensionen(7)
Rezension von JojoEinfach nur gesuchtet. Mag die Geschichte super gerne und auch der Schreibstil ist toll. Die Situationen sind so ausgeschmückt dass man sie sich bildlich vorstellen kann, ohne dass es zu sehr ins Detail geht. Auch die Charaktere sind gut dargestellt. Nur Johanna bleibt etwas eindimensional und eine Heldin ohne Fell und Tadel. Aber davon lebt fairerweise der Mythos aus. Das Nachwort fand ich nicht überzeugend und unwissenschaftlich, tut aber der Geschichte als solcher keinen Abbruch :)
Rezension von A. Sch.Eines meiner Lieblingsbücher. Es zieht einen beim Lesen in den Bann, habe es bereits mehrfach gelesen. Immer wieder spannend.
Rezension von BilleBolle13Ich habe das Buch geliebt hat mich in das Lesen hineingebracht. Ich kannte Johanna auch garnicht und erfuhr erst von ihr als ich das Buch lass und ich war fasziniert von ihr. Das Buch ist gut geschrieben trotz den 566 Seiten konnte ich sie richtig schnell durchlesen ohne zu stoppen, man könnte sagen ich wurde in die Welt von Johanna reingezogen und habe garnicht mehr gemerkt das ich ein Buch lese. Richtig Tolles Buch!
Rezension von FranziEin tolles Buch! Spannend geschrieben.
Rezension von YasminTrotz der Tatsache, dass ich kein Fan von historischen Romanen bin, hat mich dieses Buch gefesselt. Die Geschichte um die (angebliche) Päpstin Johanna wurde wirklich gut ausgeschmückt. Sie ist ein starker, weiblicher Charakter, der sich von ihrem Verstand und ihrem Herzen leiten lässt, und nicht von der Liebe.