“Pope Joan has all the elements one wants in a historical drama—love, sex, violence, duplicity, and long-buried secrets. Cross has written an engaging book.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review In this international bestseller and basis for the 2009 movie of the same name, Donna Woolfolk Cross brings the Dark Ages to life in all their brutal splendor and shares the dramatic story of a woman whose strength of vision led her to defy the social restrictions of her day. For a thousand years her existence has been denied. She is the legend that will not die—Pope Joan, the ninth-century woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to become the only female ever to sit on the throne of St. Peter. Now in this riveting novel, Cross paints a sweeping portrait of an unforgettable heroine who struggles against restrictions her soul cannot accept. Brilliant and talented, young Joan rebels against medieval social strictures forbidding women to learn. When her brother is brutally killed during a Viking attack, Joan takes up his cloak—and his identity—and enters the monastery of Fulda. As Brother John Anglicus, Joan distinguishes herself as a great scholar and healer. Eventually, she is drawn to Rome, where she becomes enmeshed in a dangerous web of love, passion, and politics. Triumphing over appalling odds, she finally attains the highest office in Christendom—wielding a power greater than any woman before or since. But such power always comes at a price . . . “Brings the savage ninth century vividly to life in all its alien richness. An enthralling, scholarly historical novel.”—Rebecca Fraser, author of The Brontës

The controversial legend of Pope Joan--an Englishwoman who disguised herself as a man and became a pope in the ninth century--is the subject of this in-depth investigation into the truth behind one of the Catholic Church's most intriguing mysteries.

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE ENGLISH WOMAN WHO FOOLED THE VATICAN. The legend of Pope Joan - the woman who, dressed as a man, headed the Catholic church in the early ninth century - has always been a subject of fascinated speculation but rarely, until now, the subject of serious research. As the future over women in the catholic priesthood continues, and the Church, which once took her story as gospel, now tries to play down the rumours, it is time for a reappraisal. Here Peter Stanford, author of The Devil- A Biography, reveals what can, and cannot, be known of this incredible story, and of the extraordinary woman behind it. In this fascinating account, ranging from secret histories to conspiracy theories, medieval carvings to tarot cards, women priests to cross-dressing clerics, and from romantic fiction to hard facts, he delivers a major study of historical detective work.

Just Joan took me ten days to write. Just Joan was written after the death of my husband Dale Herndon in December 2009. Just Joan named the title after I called myself Just Joan to a lady and she was appalled at me calling myself Just Joan. This person was 1 of my old boyfriend sister, way back in 1980. Just Joan has history, humor, love and truth. Just Joan was written in Sacramento CA. Joan started in Hollis Queens NYC in the late 1950’s. During that time White Americans were leaving the neighborhood because Black Americans were moving in the neighborhood. Joan’s parents were one of the first to move in the neighborhood as black american people. This neighborhood was all white at one time in history. Soon Hollis, Queens were inhabited by native Black Americans. This book starts talking about the times before Joan’s school days. It also talks about her Elementary experience in Hollis Queens NYC until she was the first class to be bused out of the district for Jr. High School into a white neighborhood, Flushing, Queens NYC, then back to her neighborhood for her High School experience. Parents moved Joan and the remaining adolescence in the household out of Hollis Queens NYC when Joan was in her 12th grade experience. Parents moved the remaining 4 siblings still in school to another State. Just Joan talks about her experience in another State, while finishing the 12th grade. After the 12th grade Joan goes back to Hollis Queens and starts her adult life at the young age of 18. Absolutely no parents supervision. This begins Joan’s adult life and all the challenges it takes to be an adult. Just Joan is geared to a younger audience, mainly teenagers. In hopes of the morale message can help some adolescence persons.

No ano de 814, Idade Média, que ficou conhecida como a Idade das Trevas, as mulheres eram impedidas de estudar, podiam ser estupradas e até mortas pelos maridos. O conhecimento estava sufocado, os países hoje conhecidos na Europa não existiam, nem os idiomas modernos. Cada região tinha o seu dialeto e a lingua culta era o latim, herdada do Império Romano, que já havia sido derrubado pelas invasões bárbaras. Foi neste período que uma mulher passou a maior parte de sua vida vestida de homem, estudou medicina, foi médica do papa e tornou-se ela mesma papisa - durante dois anos. Neste livro, Dona Woolfolk Cross pesquisou, descobriu os arquivos e achou a história transformando-a num romance, em que aventura, sexo e poder cruzam-se com maldições, guerras e heresias.