398 JO 
dowmer.ts foon railed her into notice, and her modefty, 
add refs, and engaging behaviour, gained her general ef- 
teem and affection. To difplay.her talents, Ihe com¬ 
menced public profelTor, and difcovered fo much know¬ 
ledge and learning in her lectures and deputations, that 
perfons of the firit rank and diftinftion, and the molt 
learned men at that time in Rome, enlilted in the num¬ 
ber of her difciples. She thus continued daily to gain 
frelh reputation and credit, not by her knowledge and 
learning alone, but by her exempiarinefs of conduct, and 
all the outward appearances of extraordinary fan&ity. 
Upon the death of pope Leo IV. in 855, fo univerfal was 
the opinion entertained of her pre-eminent merit, that Ihe 
was unanimoufiy raided by the people and clergy to the 
pontifical throne. So ably and prudently did Ihe for 
tome time difcharge the functions of her high ftation, that 
the Romans had every reafon to congratulate themfelves 
on her election ; till, poffeffing no longer any refolution 
to withftand that inclination to unchalfity which (he had 
formerly indulged, lire difclofed her fex to one of her do- 
sneftics in whom due could confide, and took him to fup- 
ply the place of her former lover. The confequence was, 
that Ihe proved with child ; and when advanced in her 
pregnancy, not thinking herfelf fo near her time as llie 
really was,' die ventured to alfilt in the fatiguing ceremo¬ 
nies attending rite annual proceflion of the rogation-week. 
Having fet out on foot from the Vatican towards the La- 
teran, according to cuftom, attended by the body of the 
clergy, the fenate, and immenfe crowds of people, die 
proceeded without difficulty till die came into the Ifreet 
between the Colodfeum and the church of St. Clement. 
Being there fuddenly leized with the pains of labour, die 
fell on the ground overcome by their violence, and, while 
her attendants were endeavouring to raife her up, was de¬ 
livered of a child in the prefence of the furrounding mul¬ 
titude, and died upon the fpot. The writers, who con¬ 
cur in relating the circumftances above-mentioned, date 
that Joan held the pontifical dignity two years and 
more than five months. Some of them add, that, to per¬ 
petuate the memory of fuch an extraordinary adventure, 
a datue was erefted on the place where it happened; and 
that, in abhorrence of her crime, the pope and clergy, in 
their fupfequent annual proceffions from the Vatican to 
the Lateran, have turned od’ from that dreet. Others tell 
us, that, to prevent the poffibility of a fimilar impofition, 
an indelicate cudom was then introduced of placing the 
newly-elefled pope, before his confecration, in a perfo¬ 
rated chair, where he was obliged to fubmit to an exami¬ 
nation, in order to afcertain whether the perfon cliofen 
was a man or woman. 
Such as we have related are the principal circumdances 
of a dory, which was publiflied to the world by the prieds 
and monks of the catholic church, and for fonie centu¬ 
ries generally believed by its members. We do not find 
that the truth of it was doubted by any catholics till af¬ 
ter the commencement of the reformation undertaken by 
Luther, when the protedants reproached them with it, as 
reflecting great dilhonour on the fee of St. Peter. ./Eneas 
Sylvius, afterwards pope under the name of Pius II. was 
the firit who queftioned the truth of it, about the middle 
of the fifteenth century 5 but he “ palled it over very 
dightly, and as it were with fear,” lays Bayle, only ob- 
lerving, “ that the dory was not certain.” In the early 
part of the fixteenth century, Aventine, who was a Lu¬ 
theran in his heart, refolutely denied it ; and he was foon 
followed, on the fame fide of the queftion, by Onufrius 
Panvinius, and other catholic writers. But the dory 
was more particularly canvaffed in the feventeenth cen¬ 
tury, when the elevation, and indeed the exiitence, of this 
female pontiff, became the fubjeft of a keen and learned 
controverfy. Several zealous protedants, confidering it 
to be an indelible reproach on the caule of their adver- 
faries, imagined themlelves bound to maintain its truth. 
Their arguments were collected in a ftrikin<j point of 
view, with great learning and indudry, by Fred. Span- 
A N. 
heim, in his Exercitatio de Papa Famine ; which was tranf- 
lated into French by the celebrated l’Enfant, who digefted 
it into a better method, and enriched it with feveral ad¬ 
ditions. On the other hand, feveral men of didinguilhed 
abilities and learning, not only among the Roman-catho¬ 
lics, but alfo among the Protedants, employed all the 
force of their genius and erudition to dedroy the cre- 
dit of this dory, by invalidating, on the one hand, the 
weight of the tedimonies on which it is founded, and 
by (bowing, on the other, that it was inconfident with 
the mod accurate chronological computations. Their 
arguments were collected, and ably fupported, by David 
Blondel, a Protedant minider; and after him with dill 
more ingenuity and erudition by Bayle, in his Dictionary, 
under the article Papesse. Some learned writers .have 
deered a middle courfe between the contending parties. 
They grant that many fictitious and fabulous circum¬ 
dances have been interwoven with this dory; but they 
deny that it is entirely deditute of all foundation. Dr. 
Molheim, without affuming the character of a judge in. 
this controverfy, concludes his account of it with ob- 
ferving, that the matter in debate is as yet dubious, and 
has not, on either dde, been reprefented in fuch a light 
as to bring conviction. 
JOAN,' queen of Naples. See the article Naples. 
JOAN of ARC, or the Maid of Orleans. See Arc, 
vol. ii. p. 42, 
JOAN d’AL'BRET, queen of Navarre, daughter of 
Henry d’Albret and Margaret of Valois, was born in 1528. 
At the age of eleven die was efpoufed, contrary to her 
own will and that of her parents, to the duke of Cleves, 
by the authority of Francis I. but the marriage was after¬ 
wards declared null. She married, in 1548, Antony of 
Bourbon, duke of Vendome. In her third pregnancy die 
was fent for by her father to Pau, where die brought into 
the world a fon, who was afterwards Henry IV. of France. 
Her father promifed that he would put his will into her 
hands as foon as file was delivered, provided file would 
fing him a fong during her labour; and Ihe gave this 
proof of her fortitude by Tinging an old ditty to the vir¬ 
gin in the dialed of Bearn. By her father’s deceafe, in 
1555, file became queen of Navarre, and her hufband took 
the title of king. They fliowed themfelves favourable to 
the reformed religion, and would probably have openly 
profefled it, had they not feared the refentment of the 
king of France, Henry II. After his death they declared 
their converfion to Calvanifm, of which Joan was ever 
after the zealous protector. Antony, on the other hand, 
a weak and fickle man, renounced his new faith, and was 
a principal commander againft the proteftants in the civil 
war, in which he loft his life at the liege of Rouen, A. D. 
1562. Joan, who was ill-treated by him after his change, 
left the French court, and returned to Bearn, notwith- 
ftanding the efforts of Monluc to ftop her. She not only 
eftabliflied the proteftant religion in her ftates, but abo- 
liflied popery, and feized the property of the ecclefiaftics, 
which (lie applied to the maintenance of the reformed 
clergy and the fchools. Her catholic fubjeds feveral 
times rebelled, and it is faid that a plot was formed to de¬ 
liver her and her children into the hands of the king of 
Spain; but by her vigilance (lie was able to defeat all 
confpiracies, and maintain her royal authority. In 1568 
(he quitted her ftates to join the chiefs.of the French pro¬ 
teftants ; and at Cognac had an interview with the prince 
of Conde, to whom (he prefented her fon, then of the age 
of fifteen, with her jewels, as devoted to the fervice of the 
caufe. She withdrew to Rochelle, whence (he wrote a 
pathetic letter to queen Elizabeth of England, defcribing 
the calamities and opprefiions which had induced^ the 
proteftants to take up arms. During her abfence, the ca¬ 
tholics of Bearn again revolted, and took pofieffion of al- 
moft the whole country ; but her general, the count of 
Montgomery, recovered it, and re-eftabliflied her autho¬ 
rity. It is to her difcredit that (lie obliged him to violate 
the capitulations he had granted, and put to death fome 
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