Pope Joan (2009) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Johanna disguises herself as a man because the 9th century society denies women access to education, religious leadership, and medical practice. After her father prevents her from attending the cathedral school by sending her brother instead, she flees and adopts the male identity "Brother Johannes Anglicus" to continue her studies and pursue her calling as a scholar and healer. The disguise becomes necessary not just for education but for survival in a patriarchal system that would otherwise suppress her intellect.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, her father rules the household with iron discipline while her mother secretly worships Wotan, showing that Johanna grows up in a world of hidden truths and forbidden paths.

• disguise
• male identity
• gender
• education
• repression

Johanna travels to Rome as a pilgrim and medicus, where she earns a reputation for her herbal remedies. She cures Pope Sergius II of gout using her medical knowledge, impressing him so greatly that he appoints her as his personal physician. The Pope later elevates her to the position of Nomenclator, a trusted role that places her at the center of papal power and sets the stage for her unprecedented political ascent.

Foreshadowing: Her early training under the physician Aesculapius and her intense study of scripture and literature prepared her for intellectual pursuits that would exceed typical feminine roles of her era.

• physician
• papal court
• Sergius II
• herbal remedies
• medicus

Johanna becomes Pope during a period of intense political turmoil. Anastasius plots to murder Pope Sergius II to seize the papacy for himself, while Lothair I's army marches on Rome. In the chaos, the Roman people instead choose Johanna by acclamation, recognizing her compassion, intelligence, and the authority she commands as the Pope's trusted physician. This unprecedented selection makes her the only woman in history to hold the papacy.

Foreshadowing: Johanna's reputation as a healer and her growing influence among the Roman people had already positioned her as a figure of significant public trust and admiration.

• papal election
• acclamation
• Anastasius
• Lothair
• people's choice

Johanna dies in childbirth during the Easter procession. She had become pregnant while serving as Pope and tried to delay the birth until after Easter, but during the procession, Anastasius's conspirators attack. Gerold is killed trying to protect her, and Johanna collapses, delivering a child before she herself dies. This tragic end comes as a direct result of the conspiracy against her papacy.

Foreshadowing: Her pregnancy had been hidden throughout her pontificate, and the political enemies who sought to remove her from power saw this as their opportunity to strike.

• childbirth
• Easter
• conspiracy
• Anastasius
• death

Gerold is killed during the Easter procession attack orchestrated by Anastasius's conspirators. He had been appointed by Johanna as head of the papal army, cementing their bond both personally and politically. His death occurs as he tries to protect her from the assassination attempt, making his sacrifice a tragic endpoint to their forbidden love story that began when he first welcomed her into his home as a student.

Foreshadowing: Their relationship had always been fraught with danger, Richilde had attempted to separate them through marriage schemes, and their positions at the heart of papal power made them targets.

• Gerold death
• Easter procession
• conspiracy
• love
• papal army

After Johanna dies in childbirth, Anastasius briefly ascends to the papacy before being deposed and exiled to a monastery. In a final act of revenge and historical erasure, he authors the Liber Pontificalis, the official record of popes, and deliberately omits Johanna's name from the list. This deliberate omission effectively erases her pontificate from official church history, though the legend of Pope Joan would persist in folklore for centuries.

Foreshadowing: Anastasius had been a constant schemer throughout Johanna's rise, always seeking to elevate himself by removing those in his way.

• Liber Pontificalis
• historical erasure
• Anastasius
• church history
• revenge

Decades after Johanna's death, Bishop Arnaldo reveals himself to be Arnalda, the daughter of Arn, a woman Johanna had tutored after fleeing the Fulda monastery. Arn had provided shelter to Johanna when she was in danger, and his daughter grew up to become a bishop who eventually uncovers and reveals the truth of Johanna's extraordinary life, ensuring her story would not be lost to history.

Foreshadowing: When Johanna escaped the Fulda monastery, she found refuge with Arn, whose mother she had helped years earlier, a connection that would prove pivotal generations later.

• Arnalda
• Arn
• bishop
• revelation
• legacy

When the bishop's messenger arrives to take Johanna to the cathedral school, her father lies and claims there was a mistake, allowing the messenger to take his other son Johannes instead. He does this because he refuses to allow a daughter, especially one with her unconventional intellect, to pursue formal education that he deems inappropriate for women. This decision directly triggers Johanna's nighttime escape with her brother, setting her on the path toward her destiny.

Foreshadowing: Her father had always ruled the household with iron discipline, suppressing the intellectual curiosity that set Johanna apart from other girls of her time.

• father
• cathedral school
• escape
• repression
• education

Vikings crash a wedding ceremony where Johanna is being married off by Richilde and massacre the attendees. Her brother Johannes is killed in the attack, and the violence forces Johanna to flee once again. This traumatic event shatters whatever remaining safety she had and propels her toward adopting her male disguise permanently and undertaking the pilgrimage to Rome that will ultimately lead to her papal destiny.

Foreshadowing: The massacre occurs during Richilde's machinations to separate Johanna from Gerold, showing how violence and political intrigue constantly interrupt Johanna's journey.

• Viking attack
• massacre
• wedding
• Johannes death
• flight

Anastasius schemes to murder Pope Sergius II because he seeks to elevate himself to the papacy. He aligns with Lothair I's political ambitions to pressure Rome, believing that removing Sergius will create an opportunity for him to claim the papal throne. His ambition represents the ruthless political maneuvering that permeates the Vatican during this period of church-state conflict.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the narrative, Anastasius is portrayed as a constant schemer working behind the scenes to advance his own position.

• Anastasius
• Sergius II
• conspiracy
• ambition
• church politics