Pope Joan: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle): Amazon.de: Donna Woolfolk Cross: Englische Bücher

Amazon.com

One of the most controversial women of history is brought to brilliant life in Donn Woolfolk Cross's tale of Pope Joan, a girl whose origins should have kept her in squalid domesticity. Instead, through her intelligence, indomitability and courage, she ascended to the throne of Rome as Pope John Anglicus.

The time is 814, the place is Ingelheim, a Frankland village. It is the harshest winter in living memory when Joan is born to an English father and a Saxon mother. Her father is a canon, filled with holy zeal and capable of unconscionable cruelty. His piety does not extend to his family members, especially the females. His wife, Gudrun, is a young beauty to whom he was attracted beyond his will--and he hates her for showing him his weakness. Gudrun teaches Joan about her gods, and is repeatedly punished for it by the canon. Joan grows to young womanhood with the combined knowledge of the warlike Saxon gods and the teachings of the Church as her heritage. Both realities inform her life forever.

When her brother John, not a scholarly type, is sent away to school, Joan, who was supposed to be the one sent to school, runs away and joins him in Dorstadt, at Villaris, the home of Gerold, who is central to Joan's story. She falls in love with Gerold and their lives interesect repeatedly even through her Papacy. She is looked upon by all who know that she is a woman as a "lusus naturae," a freak of nature. "She was... male in intellect, female in body, she fit in nowhere; it was as if she belonged to a third amorphous sex." Cross makes the case over and over again that the status of women in the Dark Ages was little better than cattle. They were judged inferior in every way, and necessary evils in the bargain.

After John is killed in a Viking attack, Joan sees her opportunity to escape the fate of all her gender. She cuts her hair, dons her dead brother's clothes and goes into the world as a young boy. Gerold is away from Villaris at the time of the attack and comes home to find his home in ruins, his family killed and Joan among the missing. After the attack, Joan goes to a Benedictine monastery, is accepted as a young man of great learning, and eventually makes her way to Rome.

The author is at pains to tell the reader in an Epilogue that she has written the story as fiction because it is impossible to document Joan's accesion to the Papacy. The Catholic Church has done everything possible to deny this embarrassment. Whether or not one believes in Joan as Pope, this is a compelling story, filled with all kinds of lore: the brutishness of the Dark Ages, Vatican intrigue, politics and favoritism and most of all, the place of women in the Church and in the world. --Valerie Ryan

From Booklist

Cross combines legend with historical fact in a novel about Joan of Ingelheim, the female pope. Born in 814 to an English missionary father and a Saxon mother, Joan is frustrated by the limitations imposed on her life because she is a girl. Her brother Matthew teaches her to read and write; after his death, Joan has to use wiles and deceit to pursue her love of learning. Later, Joan runs away from home to follow her brother John to the cathedral school in Dorstadt, where she becomes the sole yet tolerated female student. Joan borrows John's clothing and identity and makes her way to the monastery at Fulda, where she becomes known as John Anglicus. At the monastery, Joan becomes a monk and then a priest, and she develops great skill as a healer. She eventually makes her way to Rome, where her gifts as a healer enable her to become the confidante of two popes. In the midst of vicious papal politics, Joan becomes pope herself. A vivid and compelling re-creation of the Dark Ages. Mary Ellen Quinn -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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A PHONE TABLE DISCUSSION OF POPE JOAN 22. Juli 2000

Von Dorothy L. Irwin

Format:Taschenbuch

Pope Joan, on par with "Pillars of Salt", "Clan of the Cave Bear" and "Astec" is marvelous reading. So marvelous, I read it for the second time. The author, Donna Woolfolk Cross tells the story of a young girl in pursuit of education and the only option available to her - disguishing herself as a man; entering the monestary; excelling in learning and becoming Pope. Her life will make you laugh; it will make you cry. It will definitely make you question! Was Joan a Pope? Did the Church bury her history with her bones; or, a was she just a figment of someone's imagination? Personally, I for one believe she was a Pope. I did get a lot more insight when our reading club learned that Ms. Cross is personally available to groups via speakerphone chats to discuss our questions, our thinking and the many mysteries of Pope Joan. She promptly replies. After the discussion, your group will have something to talk about for a long time - and - you too will walk away with a little more knowledge.

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WOMAN AND HISTORY 15. Juli 2000

Von Tanya Parsons

Donna Cross' novel, "Pope Joan" immediately conjured the image of the valiant young Joan whose all consuming thirst for knowledge propels her from a subservient existence to the highest power of the church. Forsaking her youth and identity, Joan lives her life barren of female companionship and without maternal guidance; Joan likewise sacrafices her womanhood, all in the quest for knowledge. It leaves one questioning: Would Joan's life would be any different today?

A Non-Catholic Loves Pope Joan 29. Juni 2000

Von Carrie King

I must admit as a non-catholic this was a book I would have never picked myself but was chosen by my book club. However, I loved it. This book is a history book, a love story, a non-fiction and fiction religious book, and a feminist book all rolled into one. As a reader you are truly engrossed in Joan's point of view and become completely wrapped up in her unplanned journey to the papal throne. A tragic ending that suprisingly leaves you in total awe. A must read!

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Ja, ich weiß, historische Romane müssen lang sein, aber dabei sollte der... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 15. Juli 2008 von Martina Sommer

Einfach Toll

Dieses Buch ist mein persönliches Lieblingsbuch! Es liest sich sehr flüssig durch und schildert gut die zustände der damaligen Zeit! Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 1. Januar 2007 von Nosey

Packend

Ein sehr spannendes Buch, gründlich recherchiert und tiefgründig geschrieben. Eine packende Geschichte, auch wenn es einem manchmal etwas schwer fällt zu glauben,... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 17. Juni 2003 von Fuchs Joan

A thrilling Dark Ages fiction....

Pope Joan is a fantastic tale of medieval church corruption and girl power taken from bits and pieces of surviving legends about the Pope that gave birth. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 17. Juli 2000 von S. L. Duncan

POPE JOAN - COMPELLING DISCUSSION NOVEL

I started reading Pope Joan in self-defense because all my friends had read it. I ended reading Pope Joan in awe. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 7. Juli 2000 von Leita Murray

A HEROINE - NOT A SAINT!

We all need heroines and Pope Joan, although existing centuries prior, qualifies as a modern day heroine. She embodies the desire of woman for education; recognition and love. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 27. Juni 2000 von Marily Posenauer

WAS JOAN REALLY POPE?

The only way to find out is to read this marvelous book and make your own determination. The facts are presented; the issues addressed. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 27. Juni 2000 von Jackie Bort

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE - POLITICS & RELIGION

Pope Joan eloquently portrays a period in history where merely existing as a woman was a hardship. Existing as a young girl yearning for education in the same period of time was... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 21. Juni 2000 von Linda Bedford

POPE JOAN - HISTORICAL FICTION OR JUST "HISTORICAL?"

Bravo and applause for Pope Joan; a novel steeped in the mysteries of the church and its attempt to annul from existence the heroine who would leave the struggles of a tormented... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 20. Juni 2000 von Linda Basile

Take a Trip in Another Time and Meet a Mystery of History

Pope Joan provides an interesting picture of the world in the 800s. It was a bleak exsistence controlled by both superstition and the Catholic Church. Into this world enters Joan. Lesen Sie weiter...

Am 9. Juni 2000 ver�ffentlicht

Pope Joan: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

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