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Medieval legend claim that Pope Joan was the first and only female Roman Catholic Pope . And now , an analysis of ancient silver coin suggest that the ordained woman may have actually lived .
According to legends from the Middle Ages , a pope named John , or Johannes Anglicus , who reigned during the midriff of the 9th century , was actually a adult female , Pope Joan . For instance , a story from the thirteenth C write by a Dominican monastic from Poland named Martin claim that Pope Joan became significant and cave in birth during a church procession . [ story ’s 10 Most Intriguing pope ]
This miniature artwork shows Pope Joan, who has just given birth to an infant during a Church procession.
However , there is much debate over whether a pope named Johannes Anglicus existed , much less whether this Bishop of Rome was a human being or adult female . The doubt stanch in part from the great deal of confusion over the identities of popes during the middle of the ninth C . For example , in the oldest surviving copy of the " Liber Pontificalis , " the official playscript of life history of Pope during the other Middle Ages , " Pope Benedict III is missing entirely,“study author Michael Habicht , an archeologist at Flinders University in Adelaide , Australia , severalize Live Science .
get wind whether Pope Joan existed may not only solve a spiritual andhistorical mystery , but also factor in to modern argumentation over the role of cleaning lady in the church . " The debate on female ordinance in the church is still on-going , " Habicht say .
Now , Habicht has suggested that symbols on gothic coins show that Pope Johannes Anglicus may have existed , and so , Pope Joan may have been actual as well . " The coins really turn the tables in favor of a covered - up but truthful chronicle , " Habicht said .
The coins had the monogram of the pope, possibly Pope Joan, one on side and the name of the emperor of the Franks on the other.
The research began when Habicht was conducting unrelated employment enquire burying of popes in Rome . " In the commencement , I also believed that the story of Joan was bare fiction , but when I did more - extensive research , more and more , the hypothesis emerged that there was more behind the floor , " he tell .
Habicht study atomic number 47 coins get laid as denier that were used in Western Europe during the Middle Ages . Their name comes from the ancient Romanist silver coin known as the denarius . " They are quite modest , perhaps the size of a U.S. dime or quarter , " he say .
The deniers Habicht analyze were minted with the name of the emperor of the Franks on one side and the Vicar of Christ ’s monogram — a symbolization made using a someone ’s initials — on the other side . Habicht focused on coins previously impute to Pope John VIII , who reigned from 872 to 882 .
The archeologist said that while some denier possess a monogram belonging to Pope John VIII , earlier single had a significantly different monogram . " The monogram that can be impute to the later John VIII has distinct difference in the placing of letters and the overall pattern , " Habicht said .
These other coin may have belong to a unlike Pope John — Johannes Anglicus , the potential Pope Joan , Habicht said . He noted several historical sources that suggest a Pope John reigned from 856 to 858 . For example , the chronicler Conrad Botho report that a Pope Johannes crowned Louis II of Italy as Holy Roman Emperor in 856 , Habicht say .
" The monogram was the precursor of today ’s signature , " Habicht said . " Thus , we probably might even have a variety of signature of Pope Joan . "
Habicht indicate that the sequence of Vicar of Christ in the midriff of the ninth hundred should let in Leo IV from about 846 to 853 , followed by Benedict III from 853 to 855 , Johannes Anglicus from 856 to 858 and Nicholas I from 858 to 867 .
Previous scientific lit suggested that these coin are not fakes , Habicht state . In gain , " there is almost no accumulator marketplace for such knightly coin , " Habicht said . As such , " forger are not really concerned in faking them . Some year ago , some apostolical coins of the ninth century A.D. were tender at an auction sale in New York . Most of the coin were unsold and recall to the owner . "
All in all , " some will embrace my study and encounter other grounds for distaff priests in the early centuries ofChristianity , " Habicht aver . " Others will altogether disapprove the theme and make a big media racket against such claims . A self-aggrandising mud - pie battle may follow . It might go on forever . "
Habicht detailed his finding ina book , " Pope Joan , " via epubli Aug. 28 .
Original article on Live Science .
