Joan

Mythical Englishwoman, reputed to have become pope in 855, as John VIII, and to have died giving birth to a child during a papal procession. The myth was exposed in 1647 by Blondel in his ‘Eclaircissement de la question/Clarification of the question’.

According to legend, she was the daughter of a missionary and educated at Cologne, Germany. She fell in love with a monk with whom she went to Athens in male attire, but on his death opened a school in Rome and entered the priesthood, eventually being elected pope.