If today, being informed to the second and even directly contemplating the events that occur, there are several versions of the same reality, what to say about what happened centuries ago. It is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff (the reality of the myth or legend) when the sources are scarce, confused or of doubtful credibility. This is what happened with the legend of Popess Juana, the only woman who is said to have been Pope, and the subsequent hoaxes that were created around her.
There are several versions of the legend and in different decades, but all place Juana on the throne of Saint Peter in the 9th century. At first, she had no problem keeping up the deception, but everything went up in smoke when, on a horseback ride, her waters broke… The Pope was giving birth! She went from astonishment to indignation, and from indignation... to stoning.
Some believe they see in this legend -because it is an urban legend- a criticism of the degradation and corruption of the Church of the time that could have come to appoint a High Priestess to the throne of Saint Peter. And from this legend, the hoax was born:the Church, so that this situation would not happen again, established a test that all the Popes had to pass:
Duos habet et bene pendentes
When they were appointed they had to occupy a seat with a hole through which, if they were men, they had to hang their genitals and a cardinal had to visually prove his manhood -other versions say that it was proven by feeling- while shouting Duos habet et bene pending (he has two and they hang well). That seat with a hole exists, but it has nothing to do with this story... it's the sedia stercoraria , (excrement chair, where the Popes sat to… read the newspaper). Works of art contributed to the dissemination of this hoax, and of the previous legend, such as the one that represents the test to which Pope Innocent X was subjected in which a young monk palpates, through a lateral hole, the existence of genitalia or several that immortalized the birth of Papisa Juana.
Another thing, very different, is what happened in the period between the appointment of Sergio III in 904 and the death of John XII in 964, known as Saeculum Obscurum (Dark Ages) or Pornocracy as recorded in his Ecclesiastical Annals by the 16th century cardinal and historian Cesare Baronio . During this period the Popes were under the influence of two prostitutes:Teodora and Mazoria , mother and daughter.
After the death of Leo V, supported by the Spoleto family and his cousin Theophylact, senator and magister militum of Rome, Sergius III was elected the new pope in 904. As a reward, Theophylact was named vestararius (the one who controlled the finances) and later consul. His wife Teodora, named senatrix from Rome, she also supported the new Pope… but from her bed, where she helped him make the most important decisions. At the age of 15, and following in the footsteps of her mother, Mazoria also passed through the same Pope's bed with whom she even had a son, Juan. After the death of Sergio III, Theodora would appoint the following three Popes:Anastatius III (911-913), Lando (died after 6 months) and John X in 914. Two years later Theodora died and Mazoria took over.
In addition to John, Mazoria had another son, Alberic II, with her first husband Alberic I of the Spoletos. Her disagreements with John X came soon after and using the power of her second husband, Guy of Tuscany, she imprisoned him and died under mysterious circumstances while in prison. Like her mother did, she chose the next three popes:Leo VI (for seven months in 928), Stephen VII (928-931), and John XI (931-935), her own son. This, granting her absolute power, named her senatrix Patricia Romanorum . After the death of her second husband, Mazoria tried to continue gaining power by marrying Hugo, King of Italy, but there was a problem... her son Alberic II led the opposition to that wedding.
Alberic II assumed the title of prince and senator of the Romans and ruled Rome. On the day of his mother's betrothal to King Hugo, he had her arrested and locked up until his death in 936. The son assumed the role of the mother and continued to elect Popes until in 955 he appointed his own son, and therefore grandson of Mazoria and great-grandson of Teodora, Juan XII who will occupy the throne of San Pedro until 964.
Regarding these years, Liutprand , bishop of Cremona, wrote:
Hunting on horses in gold trappings, they feasted richly with the dancers when the hunt was over, and retired with these shameless whores to beds with silk sheets and gold covers and embroidery. All Roman bishops were married, and their wives made silk garments from the sacred vestments.