"Whenever you see a legend, you can be sure, if you go to
the very bottom of things, that you will find history." (Vallet de Viriville)


Pope Joan is one of the most fascinating, extraordinary characters in Western history -- and one of the least well known. Most people have never heard of Joan the Pope, and those who have regard her story as legend.

Yet for hundreds of years -- up to the middle of the seventeenth century -- Joan's papacy was universally known and accepted as truth. In the seventeenth century, the Catholic Church, under increasing attack from rising Protestantism, began a concerted effort to destroy the embarrassing historical records on Joan. Hundreds of manuscripts and books were seized by the Vatican. Joan's virtual disappearance from modern consciousness attests to the effectiveness of these measures.

Evaluation Summary

Site


http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/popejoan.htm

1. Author's Expertise
   No author listed, although I suspect she or he may be named Morgan or Morgana. There is an e mail morgana@dreamscape.com morgana@dreamscape.com and I did send an e mail indicating who I was and what assignment I was engaged in. I have yet to receive a reply.
2. Reliability of site Ok, the dreamscape site is a commercial one and, to paraphrase Seinfeld, while there is nothing wrong with that there is no way to determine the bona fides of Morgan or Morgana. Although there is ad space at the bottom of the Pope Joan space for Amazon and the features books are: Full Frontal Feminism, Learning to Drive and A Room of One’s Own. Not that there is anything wrong with Virginia Woolf. Other links from this site lead to the planets in our solar system so the site is eclectic. Not that there is anything wrong with eclectic sites, I just do not see anything about the site that relates to historical credibility or, in fact, any credibility since I cannot determine who is supporting the site.
3. Reliability of linked pages Well, the links go to Amazon (reliable) and other planets (of questionable reliability as they are all hosted my Morgan or Morgana on the dreamscape commercial site and to repeat, not that there is anything wrong with that, I do not have a great deal of confidence in Amazon to confirm that Pope Joan existed. (As a digression I did read the novel – very, very good and it occurs to me, perhaps this is not a hoax site, merely a poorly constructed tribute to the novel . . . No, because, as you read on the site, Morgan or Morgana writes: “Another striking piece of historical evidence” and “There is also circumstantial evidence difficult to explain if there was never a female Pope.” Ok, so perhaps this is not a hoax site but a well intentioned . . . umm . . . uneducated person site.
4. Other pages linked to this page
   none
5. Information from traditional sources
   none
6. Last update of this page?
   no date of posted site or updated information
7. Document Accuracy – well, on site no way to determine, however Wikipedia and the Catholic Church question the accuracy of the contentions . . . wait . . . perhaps I need to reevaluate my evaluation. No, I would even take Wikipedia over this site.
8. Relative bias of this page
   See citations above. Could it be that there is a feminist perspective that is informing this site?
9. Supporting evidence?
   no proven authorites on subjects
10. Availability of second opinion?
    not on site, but one can find a great deal of second opinion on this contention very quickly online.

Note: there is a link to post comments, thoughts or replies. But this link requires a registration and log in and, you guessed it, some of my information. I did not of course register so failed to see the comments and thoughts.