The Popess
The Pope (original title: Pope Joan ) is a historical novel by the American writer Donna Woolfolk Cross from 1996. In it, the author processes the literary material of the story of the legendary Pope Joan . Sometimes it sticks to the framework data of the heterogeneously transmitted legend . Most of the novel, however, consists of a fictional story about a modern-looking young woman, whose urge to educate in a patriarchal society forces her to pretend for her life because she has to dress up as a man. A chain of coincidences ultimately leads to her finding herself on the papal throne.
The appendix contains a popular scientific discussion of the legend with numerous references. The German translation, by Wolfgang Neuhaus , was first published in 1996 by Verlag Rütten & Loening . This transmission has since been used for the other editions of the bestseller .
In 2004, the Popess came in 10th place in a ZDF survey about the Germans' favorite books for the series Our Best .
content
Johanna was born in the year 814 in a small, poor place Ingelheim am Rhein as the daughter of the village priest and his pagan Saxon wife Gudrun. Her brother Matthias teaches Johanna to read , but shortly before her father discovers this, Matthias dies of a fever. This is one of the worst blows for the father, as he now only has one younger son, who, however, is by far not as educated as Matthias and his, as he thinks, child of the devil Johanna. When Matthias dies, the father shouts: "Why, God, are you taking the wrong child from me and letting these satan children live?"
A Greek scholar by the name of Aeskulapius expands the mindset of the inquisitive Johanna and - forced by the father - of the reluctant brother Johannes. Classes are in Latin and Greek as well as ancient philosophy . When Aeskulapius had to return to Greece, he gave Johanna a book in Greek and a Latin translation as a farewell gift.
At night Johanna reads the forbidden book and is discovered by her father. As a punishment for her offense, she should clean the pages of the book from the letters with a knife so that the parchment can continue to be used. She refuses this punishment and is beaten almost to death by her father for it. But through the care of the mother she comes to again. Here, the first limits of life as a woman become clear.
Weeks later a messenger comes from the Scola near Dorstadt ( Dorestad ) and is supposed to take Johanna with him so that she can start her studies there. The father is horrified and wants to send Johannes; her mother, protecting Johanna, is of the same opinion. Johanna's desperate attempts to make it clear to the messenger that she was meant fail. So the messenger takes John with him. That same night Johanna flees and never sees her beloved mother again later. Johanna catches up with Johannes because the messenger was robbed and killed, and together they get to Dorstadt.
The bishop is delighted with their knowledge, and since John cannot return home, both enjoy excellent training. Since Johanna is not allowed to live in the cathedral school as a girl, she is housed on the estate of Margrave Gerold. He lives on the estate with his wife Richild and two daughters. Johanna and Gerold develop a wonderful friendship that goes deeper and deeper until Johanna's first kiss. Richild becomes aware of this and, in Gerold's absence, orders a forced marriage between Johanna and the son of the village blacksmith. During a raid by the Normans during the wedding, when almost all people, including her brother, killed, Johanna can again escape and goes into the clothes of her brother as a brother Johannes Anglicus in the monastery of Fulda .
Johanna stayed in the monastery for many years, becoming familiar with medicine, in which she showed great interest, and was later ordained a priest because of her great knowledge .
While visiting her father, she learns that her mother died giving birth to her fourth child, who did not survive either. In the course of the conversation, she is recognized by her father, who was convinced that Johanna was actually her deceased brother Johannes, whereupon he has a fit and dies shortly before he can reveal her secret. When the plague reaches Fulda, she also falls ill and flees in order not to be recognized as a woman during treatment. After recovering from old friends, she went to Rome as a pilgrim .
Thanks to her broad specialist knowledge, she soon became a respected doctor in Rome. Shortly after her arrival she is called to see Pope Sergius and, since she heals him, is appointed the Pope's personal physician . Sergius suffers from frequent attacks of gout and one day dies from it.
The new Pope becomes Leo , a young man who is full of energy for the city and has the Roman wall expanded to protect the Petrikirche . His arch enemy, Cardinal Anastasius , has Leo poisoned after a short term in office. Johanna surprisingly becomes his successor.
Johanna becomes pregnant on a romantic night that she and Gerold spend in an insula. She tries to abort the child, but fails. During the Easter procession , Gerold is fatally injured in a knife fight and finally dies in Johanna's arms. She suddenly went into labor and gave birth to a premature baby . Johanna is killed in the process.
Historical inaccuracies
According to the history of the city of Ingelheim , this place was at that time a political center of the Franconian Empire and not a wasteland on the edge of the wilderness.
filming
In 2009 Sönke Wortmann filmed the novel by Cross as a German-British production under the title Die Päpstin (Pope Joan) with Johanna Wokalek as "Johanna" in the lead role.
musical
The German-language stage rights to the novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross were secured by spotlight Musicalproduktion GmbH. The Pope - The Musical premiered on June 3, 2011 as a musical with Sabrina Weckerlin as the leading actress in Fulda .
Spoken theater / dramatization
The German-language stage rights for the dramatization of the novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross have been exclusively with Thomas Sessler Verlag and its author Susanne Felicitas Wolf since spring 2012. On June 21, 2012, in the presence of Donna W. Cross, the world premiere of the play by SF Wolf at the Melk Summer Games with Katharina Stemberger in the title role (director: Alexander Hauer) took place.
ballet
The Würzburg ballet director Anna Vita staged and choreographed based on motifs from the novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross "The Popess: The Ballet" at the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg. The world premiere took place on October 29, 2016 in the Great House of the Theater.
expenditure
- Pope Joan: a novel. Crown, New York, 1996, ISBN 0-517-59365-3
- German
- The Popess. Novel. From the American. by Wolfgang Neuhaus. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-352-00527-3 ; Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-7466-1400-7
Settings
- Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk : The Popess. Radio play. Radio play adaptation by Friedrich Bestereiner; Directed by Walter Niklaus. 2 CDs. The audio publishing house, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89813-069-X
- The Popess. Reading. With Barbara Rudnik . Adaptation and direction Albert Fetzer. 4 CDs. Der Audio-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89813-299-4
literature
- Christer Petersen: Place 10. Donna W. Cross: The Popess. In: Christoph Jürgensen (Ed.): The Germans' Favorite Books. Verlag Ludwig, Kiel 2006, ISBN 3-937719-34-2 , pp. 126-147
Footnotes
- ↑ Peter Arens: Our best - The great reading . In: ZDF yearbook. 2004
- ↑ Hessischer Rundfunk : Musical premiere: “Die Päpstin” celebrated in Fulda ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . June 4, 2011
- ↑ Program 2012: The Popess. (No longer available online.) Melk Summer Games, archived from the original on December 21, 2013 ; Retrieved October 4, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
