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After the Dark Age and Medieval chroniclers, various Protestant writers took up the Pope Joan legend in their anti-Catholic writings.
In 1675, a book appeared in English entitled A Present for a Papist: Or the Life and Death of Pope Joan, Plainly Proving Out of the Printed Copies, and Manscriptes of Popish Writers and Others, That a Woman called JOAN, Was Really POPE of ROME, and Was There Deliver'd of a Bastard Son in the Open Street as She Went in Solemn Procession.
The book describes, among other stories, an account of the purported Pope Joan giving birth to a son in plain view of all those around, accompanied by a detailed engraving showing a rather surprised looking baby peeking out from under the Pope's robes.
The book was penned " By a LOVER of TRUTH, Denying Human Infallibility.
" According to the preface the author had been " many years since deceased " and was " highly preferred in the Church of Rome.
" Furthermore, the preface indicates that the book was first printed in 1602.
Even in the 19th century, authors such as Ewaldus Kist and Karl Hase discussed the story as a real occurrence.
However, other Protestant writers, such as David Blondel and Gottfried Leibniz, rejected the story.

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