Much has been written on Pope Joan. Max Kerner and Klaus Herbers use the filming of Donna W. Cross's novel Pope Joan as an opportunity to summarise the state of research on the legend. The target audience is the ‘interested public’ (p. 10). This rich and attractively illustrated volume is very readable, refraining from extensive scholarly apparatus. However not all Latin sentences have been translated and the background to the positions taken by scholars is not always self-explanatory. Kerner and Herbers mostly dwell upon the novel's afterword, where Cross fervently pleads for the historicity of Pope Joan. There is no denying that Kerner and Herbers aim to refute contemporary legend-building. Both object to the historiography of Pope Joan but acknowledge that they could not eradicate an established myth. Their main motivation is to reject Cross's assertions as historical utopia (p. 20) and historical fiction (p. 17). They also introduce other supporters of the historicity of Joan whose arguments they link to feminist tradition. The rejection of historicity is the thread running through the book, rendering some passages slightly redundant. Kerner and Herbers analyse the history and development of Joan's legend and they offer alternative hypotheses for its emergence. However none of these are proven, although it is accepted that the legend was established around 1300 with Martin of Troppau's version (p. 84). In their final chapter Kerner and Herbers illustrate the history of the legend's reception and the influence that these texts have exerted over the centuries. Setting aside the question of historicity they demonstrate that the myth of Joan is still meaningful today. A painstakingly annotated bibliography, a list of sources and an index of names open up avenues for further research.