Maifreda da Pirovano

Overview

Maifreda da Pirovano was an abbess and follower of Guglielma of Milan whom the movement expected to become pope in a coming female age of the Spirit.

Current Profile

In 403. The Mystery of the Pregnant Pope, Maifreda belongs to a real movement that imagined women holding the offices of pope and cardinal. Inquisitors arrested her during the destruction of Guglielma’s cult in 1300, and she was later burned at the stake.

Key Characteristics

• Abbess and prominent follower of Guglielma.
• Expected to become pope in a transformed female ecclesiastical order.
• Associated with belief in Guglielma’s resurrection.
• Executed after inquisitorial suppression of the movement.

Evidence

• Institutional program: 403. The Mystery of the Pregnant Pope says the group anticipated women serving as pope and cardinals, with Maifreda as pope.
• Suppression: 403. The Mystery of the Pregnant Pope reports her arrest and later burning.

Qualifications

The profile depends on fragmentary records produced through hostile investigation. The source does not fully distinguish Maifreda’s statements from beliefs attributed to the wider group.

What Changed

• Created a source-bounded profile of Maifreda’s place in a female ecclesiastical future and its suppression.

Relationships

• Guglielma of Milan - spiritual figure around whom Maifreda’s movement formed.
• Female Sacred Authority Constraint - boundary directly challenged by the expectation that Maifreda would become pope.
• Pope Joan - legendary counterpart to Maifreda’s historically attested movement.