Some scholars believe that not only men, but also a woman, who skillfully concealed her gender, sat on the throne of St. Peter in the Vatican. It is believed that in the ninth century this woman performed the duties of the Pope for about two and a half years. According to the sketches of some authors of the Middle Ages, the girl was elected to this post under the name John VIII after the death of Leo IV - in 855.

Although the Vatican denies in every possible way that a female Pope Joan ever existed, the controversy about her continues to this day.

The father of the future Pope was a missionary monk from England. Once Emperor Charlemagne invited him to Germany to convert his subjects to the Christian faith. Despite the fact that the monk was not once beaten, tried to drown, and even brutally knocked out his eye and cut off his ears, he still did not cease to carry the teachings of Christ to the masses.

In 818, the preacher and his wife (in those years in the British Isles church officials could marry) had a daughter, Agnes, whom the father himself baptized in the river Main. Soon his wife died, and the monk was left alone with the little girl. It was difficult for him to bring up and teach his daughter, for he began to weaken: the sight of his surviving eye was deteriorating, his hands were shaking, and his voice was weakened. But Agnes was smart beyond her years, she matured quickly and had an amazing memory.

Already at the age of eight she had learned all her father's sermons by heart and could easily quote the Gospel. For this, many listeners gave her and her father small coins. When the girl was orphaned, having lost her father, she had to decide what to do next. She had little choice: either find a patron instead of her father, which was not an easy task, or sell herself to men looking for caresses for money.

But the girl found another way: she cut off her luxurious curls, dressed up in men's clothes, and under the guise of a young novice John appeared in one of the monasteries. Only by pretending to be a man could the girl avoid an unenviable fate, continue her education and gain complete freedom of action and thought.

The readability of the young novice John was appreciated by the monks. They entrusted him to work in the library, which contained many valuable and rare books. Agnes enjoyed her work, reading the lives of the saints and copying books. But then the unexpected happened - the girl fell in love with a young monk with whom she worked in the library. Despite the risk, the girl decided to tell her secret to her lover, who reciprocated.

But their secret connection was soon discovered, and the lovers had to flee. Young people, afraid of the chase and tracking, wandered literally all over the European continent. Having reached Athens, the escaped lovers, presenting themselves as Benedictine brothers, began to attend schools of theology, took part in theological disputes. Everything was fine, but suddenly Agnes' lover died, leaving her alone again.

The grief-stricken girl, dressed as a man, traveled to Rome, where she had good fortune. The educated and intelligent “young man” was given a chair in a theological school, and word of him spread throughout the city, reaching Leo IV, who was then Pope. He made an appointment to see the young theologian from Athens. The Pope was delighted with this acquaintance and offered him the position of his secretary.

Now the girl knew about the topics of correspondence with European monarchs, was engaged in secret archives, accepted petitions, prepared decrees and so on. Good service, modesty and the absence of mistresses, the new secretary favored many cardinals, and then he himself was endowed with this dignity.

As time passed, Leo IV grew old and weak, and then he died. After his burial, the clergy gathered in the square to elect a new pope. After a long discussion, the candidate of the deceased Pope's assistant was nominated. Moreover, Leo IV himself wrote in his will that of all those he knew, only his secretary was worthy of the sacred tiara. Thus in 855 the throne of St. Peter was solemnly occupied by John VIII, the deceased Pope's successor.

The festivities of the enthronement of the new Pope lasted almost a month. Some sources said that on the day after the enthronement of the newly elected ruler of the Christian world, snow suddenly fell in usually warm Italy, an earthquake struck Germany, and swarms of locusts attacked Normandy. It has also been reported that crows have been cawing on the roofs of the Vatican for three nights in a row. Although there is no exact confirmation of these events.

John VIII in his post has deployed an active activity: erected several churches, made fourteen people in the rank of bishop, wrote several books, contributed to the overthrow of Emperor Lothar, then crowned Louis. And everything was going well, the Pope even seemed to forget that by nature she was a woman, but then the unexpected happened - Agnes fell in love again. At that time she was about 40 years old, and her chosen one, the nephew of Leo IV, half as old.

She tried to control her feelings, but they clouded her mind. The lovers forgot about everything, and soon Papessa realized that she was pregnant. The fear and terror the woman experienced shook her health, and she went to bed. Then she decided that this was the way out: announcing her health problems, the woman went to a secluded monastery, where she was going to secretly give birth to a child and then return to service.

Admittedly, her plan was not bad, but then intervened the outbreak of an epidemic, which killed hundreds of Romans. Popular unrest was growing, and people begged the Pope to hold a prayer service to help the city get rid of the terrible disease. Joanna had to agree, although she was pregnant at the time.

One summer morning in 857, Mass began, followed by a procession to Lateran led by John VIII. Not only was it already difficult for the Pope to walk because of her position, which she skillfully concealed under her clothes, but the heat outside was unbearable. As John VIII approached the Church of St. Clement, he suddenly cried out and collapsed to the ground. He was surrounded by a crowd that did not understand what was wrong with the Pope. But soon, unexpectedly, from under the Pope's robes came the cry of a baby.

Each source described the further events differently. Some said that Papessa and the baby were tied to a horse, dragged through the streets of the city, stoned, and then executed, while others mentioned that the woman died during childbearing and her son was sent to a monastery where he eventually became a bishop.

There were some who said that the Pope and her child died at once, and their bodies were committed to the ground at the place where they passed away. In the future, a chapel was erected there, near which there was a statue of a woman in a sacred tiara with a baby in her arms, but in the XVI century this structure was demolished at the command of Pope Sixtus V.

To this day, the controversy about whether there was a Pope does not subside, but we should not forget that in more than fifty chronicles of the Middle Ages this amazing story was told. By the way, earlier in one of the cathedrals of the Italian city of Siena there were busts of all the Popes, including Joanna, but with the arrival in 1592 to the post of Pope Clement VIII, the image of the woman was replaced by another Pope.

This woman was mentioned by chroniclers Jean de Meyi and Stephan de Bourbon, monk Martin of Opava and others. The biography of the Pope was also told by her contemporary, the historian and translator Anastasius the Librarian.