Annals (Latin annālis, yearly from annus, a year) are a concise form of historical representation which record events chronologically, year by year. The Oxford English Dictionary defines annals as "a narrative of events written year by year".^[1] In The Content of Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation, Hayden White discusses annals in contrast to chronicles and history, two other forms of historical representation. He claims that annals lack a "social center".^[2]:11 A social center locates the list of events in time to a point of view, which would imply the moral importance of the events.^[2]:11 In contrast to the chronicle, annals do not organize events by topics, such as the reigns of kings.^[2]:16 Unlike history, the annal does not conclude and tie up all the loose ends, but simply terminates.^[2]:16 The annalist leaves the recorded events unexplained and often one event has as equal weight as another.^[2]:7 Furthermore, annalists represent events as happening to humankind, rather than human beings causing events.^[2]:16

History[link]

Ancient Rome[link]

The chief sources of information in regard to the annals of ancient Rome are two passages in Cicero (De Oratore, ii. 12. 52) and in Servius (ad Aen. i. 373) which have been the subject of much discussion. Cicero states that from the earliest period down to the pontificate of Publius Mucius Scaevola (c. 132 BCE), it was usual for the pontifex maximus to record on a white tablet (album), which was exhibited in an open place at his house, so that the people might read it, first, the name of the consuls and other magistrates, and then the noteworthy events that had occurred during the year (per singulos dies, as Servius says). These records were called in Cicero's time the Annales maximi. After the pontificate of Publius, the practice of compiling annals was carried on by various unofficial writers, of whom Cicero names Cato, Pictor and Piso. The Annales have been generally regarded as the same with the Commentarii Pontificum cited by Livy, but there seems reason to believe that the two were distinct, the Commentarii being fuller and more circumstantial. The nature of the distinction between annals and history is a subject that has received more attention from critics than its intrinsic importance deserves. The basis of discussion is furnished chiefly by the above-quoted passage from Cicero, and by the common division of the work of Tacitus into Annales and Historiae. Aulus Gellius, in the Noctes Atticae (v. 18), quotes the grammarian Verrius Flaccus, to the effect that history, according to its etymology (ιστορειν, inspicere, to inquire in person), is a record of events that have come under the author's own observation, while annals are a record of the events of earlier times arranged according to years. This view of the distinction seems to be borne out by the division of the work of Cornelius Tacitus into the Historeia, relating the events of his own time, and the Annales, containing the history of earlier periods. It is more than questionable, however, whether Tacitus himself divided his work under these titles. The probability is either that he called the whole Annals, or that he used neither designation.

Medieval[link]

In Middle Ages, when the order of the liturgical feasts was partly determined by the date of Easter, the custom was early established in the Western Church of drawing up tables to indicate that date for a certain number of years or even centuries. These Paschal tables were thin books in which each annual date was separated from the next by a more or less considerable blank space. In these spaces certain monks briefly noted the important events of the year. It was at the end of the 7th century and among the Irish that the compiling of these Annals was first begun – see the Annals of the Four Masters, the Annals of Ulster, the Annals of Innisfallen and the Annales Cambriae or Annals of Wales, one of the earliest sources for King Arthur. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is also in annalistic, year-by-year form.

Introduced by missionaries on the continent, they were re-copied, augmented and continued, especially in the kingdom of Austrasia. In the 9th century, during the great movement termed the Carolingian Renaissance, these Annals became the usual form of contemporary history; it suffices to mention the Royal Frankish Annals, the Annales Fuldenses, the Annales Bertiniani, the Annales Laureshamenses (or "of Lorsch"), officially compiled in order to preserve the memory of the more interesting acts of Charlemagne, his ancestors and his successors. Arrived at this stage of development, the Annals now began to lose their primitive character, and henceforward became more and more indistinguishable from the Chronicles, though the term was still used for many documents, such as the Annals of Waverley.

18th century to present[link]

In modern literature, the title annals has been given to a large number of standard works which adhere more or less strictly to the order of years. The best known are the Annales Ecclesiastici, written by Cardinal Baronius as a rejoinder to and refutation of the Historia eccesiastica or "Centuries" of the Protestant theologians of Magdeburg (12 volumes, published in Rome from 1788 to 1793; Baronius's work stops at the year 1197). In the 19th century, the annalistic form was once more employed, either to preserve year by year the memory of passing events (Annual Register, Annuaire de la Revue des deux mondes, etc.) or in writing the history of obscure medieval periods (Jahrbücher der deutschen Geschichte, Jahrbücher des deutschen Reiches, Richter's Reichsannalen, etc.). Today, the most cited law journal in the Balkans is called the Annals of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade

Other works[link]

Other historical works known by the title Annals include:

• European
  • The Annals of the Old Testament by Archbishop James Ussher
  • Medieval German annals: The *Other
• Chinese Annals, such as the Spring and Autumn Annals, attributed to Confucius; the Annals of Three Kingdoms; the Annals of the Warring States
• The Annals of Joseon Dynasty, a work of Korean history
• The Annals of Tabari, a 10th century Iranian historian
• The Sejarah Melayu or Malay Annals

Magazines and journals include:

• The Annals of Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
• The Annals of Improbable Research, a science humor magazine
• The IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, a computer science research journal on the history of computer science and history of computer hardware
• The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, a policy and scientific journal in political and social science
• The Annals of Human Genetics, a scientific journal
• The Annals of Mathematics, a mathematics research journal
• The Annals of Family Medicine, a peer-reviewed research journal on family medicine
• The Annals of Internal Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal published by the American College of Physicians
• The Annals of Probability, a peer-reviewed mathematics journal published by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

Pope Joan publicly giving birth during a street-procession. Note the jester behind the column mocking the event. Woodcut engraving by Giovanni Boccaccio. Now in British Museum. circa 1353.

Pope Joan was a legendary female Pope who allegedly reigned for a few years some time during the Middle Ages. The story first appeared in 13th-century chronicles, and subsequently spread and embellished throughout Europe. It was widely believed for centuries, though modern religious scholars consider it fictitious, perhaps deriving from historicized folklore regarding Roman monuments or from anti-papal satire.

The first mention of the female pope appears in the chronicle of Jean Pierier de Mailly, but the most popular and influential version was that interpolated into Martin of Troppau's Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum, later in the 13th century. Most versions of her story describe her as a talented and learned woman who disguises herself as a man, often at the behest of a lover. In the most common accounts, due to her abilities, she rises through the church hierarchy, eventually being elected pope. However, while riding on horseback she gives birth, thus exposing her gender. In most versions, she dies shortly after, either being killed by an angry mob or from natural causes. Her memory is then shunned by her successors.

Legend[link]

A medieval artistic rendition of Pope Joan with a papal tiara. Illustrated Manuscript. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, circa 1560's.

The earliest mention of the female pope appears in the Dominican Jean de Mailly's chronicle of Metz, Chronica Universalis Mettensis, written in the early 13th century. In his telling, the female pope is not named, and the events are set in 1099. According to Jean:

Query: Concerning a certain Pope or rather female Pope, who is not set down in the list of Popes or Bishops of Rome, because she was a woman who disguised herself as a man and became, by her character and talents, a curial secretary, then a Cardinal and finally Pope. One day, while mounting a horse, she gave birth to a child. Immediately, by Roman justice, she was bound by the feet to a horse's tail and dragged and stoned by the people for half a league, and, where she died, there she was buried, and at the place is written: 'Petre, Pater Patrum, Papisse Prodito Partum' [Oh Peter, Father of Fathers, Betray the childbearing of the woman Pope]. At the same time, the four-day fast called the "fast of the female Pope" was first established"

—Jean de Mailly, Chronica Universalis Mettensis

Jean de Mailly's story was picked up by his fellow Dominican Etienne de Bourbon, who adapted it for his work on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost. However, the legend gained its greatest prominence when it appeared in the third recension (edited revision) of Martin of Opava's Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum later in the 13th century. This version, which may have been by Martin himself, is the first to attach a name to the figure, indicating that she was known as "John Anglicus" or "John of Mainz." It also changes the date from the 11th to the 9th century, indicating that Joan reigned between Leo IV and Benedict III in the 850s. According to the Chronicon:

John Anglicus, born at Mainz, was Pope for two years, seven months and four days, and died in Rome, after which there was a vacancy in the Papacy of one month. It is claimed that this John was a woman, who as a girl had been led to Athens dressed in the clothes of a man by a certain lover of hers. There she became proficient in a diversity of branches of knowledge, until she had no equal, and, afterward in Rome, she taught the liberal arts and had great masters among her students and audience. A high opinion of her life and learning arose in the city; and she was chosen for Pope. While Pope, however, she became pregnant by her companion. Through ignorance of the exact time when the birth was expected, she was delivered of a child while in procession from St Peter's to the Lateran, in a lane once named Via Sacra (the sacred way) but now known as the "shunned street" between the Colisseum and St Clement's church. After her death, it is said she was buried in that same place. The Lord Pope always turns aside from the street, and it is believed by many that this is done because of abhorrence of the event. Nor is she placed on the list of the Holy Pontiffs, both because of her female sex and on account of the foulness of the matter.

—Martin of Opava, Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum

One version of the Chronicon gives an alternate fate for the female pope. According to this, she did not die immediately after her exposure, but was confined and deposed, after which she did many years of penance. Her son from the affair eventually became Bishop of Ostia, and ordered her entombement in his cathedral when she died.

Other references to the female pope are attributed to earlier writers, though none appears in manuscripts that predate the Chronicon. The one most commonly cited is Anastasius Bibliothecarius (d. 886), a compiler of Liber Pontificalis, who was a contemporary of the female Pope by the Chronicon's dating. However, the story is found in only one unreliable manuscript of Anastasius. This manuscript, in the Vatican Library, bears the relevant passage inserted as a footnote at the bottom of a page. It is out of sequence, and in a different hand, one that dates from after the time of Martin of Opava. This "witness" to the female Pope is likely to be based upon Martin's account, and not a possible source for it. The same is true of Marianus Scotus's Chronicle of the Popes, a text written in the 11th century. Some manuscripts of it contain a brief mention of a female Pope named Joanna (the earliest source to attach to her the female form of the name), but all these manuscripts are later than Martin's work. Earlier manuscripts do not contain the legend.

Some versions of the legend suggest that subsequent popes were subjected to an examination whereby, having sat on a dung chair containing a hole called sedia stercoraria, a cardinal had to reach up and establish that the new pope had testicles, before announcing "Duos habet et bene pendentes" ("He has two, and they dangle nicely"),^[1] or "habet" ("he has 'em") for short.^[2]

Later development[link]

An untitled Popess on the Rosenwald Sheet of uncut Tarot woodcuts. Early 16th-century. Now in National Gallery in Washington D.C.

From the mid-13th century onward, the legend was widely disseminated and believed. Joan was used as an exemplum in Dominican preaching. Bartolomeo Platina, the scholar who was prefect of the Vatican Library, wrote his Vitæ Pontificum Platinæ historici liber de vita Christi ac omnium pontificum qui hactenus ducenti fuere et XX in 1479 at the behest of his patron, Pope Sixtus IV. The book contains the following account of the female Pope:

Pope John VIII: John, of English extraction, was born at Mentz (Mainz) and is said to have arrived at Popedom by evil art; for disguising herself like a man, whereas she was a woman, she went when young with her paramour, a learned man, to Athens, and made such progress in learning under the professors there that, coming to Rome, she met with few that could equal, much less go beyond her, even in the knowledge of the scriptures; and by her learned and ingenious readings and disputations, she acquired so great respect and authority that upon the death of Pope Leo IV (as Martin says) by common consent she was chosen Pope in his room. As she was going to the Lateran Church between the Colossean Theatre (so called from Nero's Colossus) and St. Clement's her travail came upon her, and she died upon the place, having sat two years, one month, and four days, and was buried there without any pomp. This story is vulgarly told, but by very uncertain and obscure authors, and therefore I have related it barely and in short, lest I should seem obstinate and pertinacious if I had admitted what is so generally talked. I had better mistake with the rest of the world, though it be certain, that what I have related may be thought not altogether incredible.

References to the female Pope abound in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance. Giovanni Boccaccio wrote about her in De Mulieribus Claris (1353).^[3] The Chronicon of Adam of Usk (1404) gives her a name, Agnes, and furthermore mentions a statue in Rome that is said to be of her. This statue had never been mentioned by any earlier writer anywhere; presumably it was an actual statue that came to be taken to be of the female Pope. A late-14th-century edition of the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, a guidebook for pilgrims to Rome, tells readers that the female Pope's remains are buried at St. Peter's. It was around this time when a long series of busts of past Popes was made for the Duomo of Siena, which included one of the female Pope, named as "Johannes VIII, Foemina de Anglia" and included between Leo IV and Benedict III.

At his trial in 1415, Jan Hus argued that the Church does not necessarily need a Pope, because, during the Pontificate of "Pope Agnes" (as he also called her), it got on quite well. Hus's opponents at this trial insisted that his argument proved no such thing about the independence of the Church, but they did not dispute that there had been a female Pope at all.

There were associated legends as well. In the 1290s, the Dominican Robert of Uzès recounted a vision in which he saw the seat "where, it is said, the Pope is proved to be a man." Pope Joan has been associated with marvelous happenings. Giacomo Penzio (fl. 1495-1527), in a work falsely attributed to Petrarch (1304–74), wrote in his Chronica de le Vite de Pontefici et Imperadori Romani that after Pope Joan had been revealed as a woman:

...in Brescia it rained blood for three days and nights. In France there appeared marvelous locusts, which had six wings and very powerful teeth. They flew miraculously through the air, and all drowned in the British Sea. The golden bodies were rejected by the waves of the sea and corrupted the air, so that a great many people died (Francesco Petrarch Chronica de le Vite de Pontefici et Imperadori Romani).

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.

Analysis and critique[link]

Most modern scholars dismiss Pope Joan as a Medieval legend.^[4] The Oxford Dictionary of Popes ^[5] acknowledges that this legend was widely believed for centuries, even among Catholic circles, but declares that there is "no contemporary evidence for a female Pope at any of the dates suggested for her reign," and goes on to say that "the known facts of the respective periods make it impossible to fit [a female Pope] in".

In 1587, Florimond de Raemond, a magistrate in the parlement de Bordeaux and an antiquary, published his first attempt to deconstruct the legend, Erreur Populaire de la Papesse Jeanne (also subsequently published under the title L'Anti-Papesse). The tract applied humanist techniques of textual criticism to the Pope Joan legend, with the broader intent of supplying sound historical principles to ecclesiastical history, and the legend began to come apart, detail by detail. Raemond's Erreur Populaire went through fifteen editions, as late as 1691.^[6]

In 1601, Pope Clement VIII declared the legend of the female Pope to be untrue. The famous bust of her, inscribed Johannes VIII, Femina ex Anglia, which had been carved for the series of Papal figures in the Duomo di Siena about 1400 and was noted by travelers, was either destroyed or recarved and relabeled, replaced by a male figure, of Pope Zachary.^[7]

The legend of Pope Joan was "effectively demolished" by David Blondel, a mid-17th century Protestant historian, who suggested that Pope Joan's tale may have originated in a satire against Pope John XI, who died in his early 20s.^[5] Blondel, through detailed analysis of the claims and suggested timings, argued that no such events could have happened.^[5]

The 16th-century Italian historian Onofrio Panvinio, commenting on one of Bartolomeo Platina's works that refer to Pope Joan, theorized that the story of Pope Joan may have originated from tales of Pope John XII; John reportedly had many mistresses, including one called Joan, who was very influential in Rome during his pontificate.^[8][9]

The Catholic Encyclopedia elaborates on the historical timeline problem:

Between Leo IV and Benedict III, where Martinus Polonus places her, she cannot be inserted, because Leo IV died 17 July 855, and immediately after his death Benedict III was elected by the clergy and people of Rome; but, owing to the setting up of an Antipope, in the person of the deposed Cardinal Anastasius, he was not consecrated until 29 September. Coins exist which bear both the image of Benedict III and of Emperor Lothair, who died 28 September, 855; therefore Benedict must have been recognized as pope before the last-mentioned date. On 7 October 855, Benedict III issued a charter for the Abbey of Corvey. Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, informed Nicholas I that a messenger whom he had sent to Leo IV learned on his way of the death of this Pope, and therefore handed his petition to Benedict III, who decided it (Hincmar, ep. xl in P.L., CXXXVI, 85). All these witnesses prove the correctness of the dates given in the lives of Leo IV and Benedict III, and there was no interregnum between these two Popes, so that at this place there is no room for the alleged Popess.^[10]

It is also notable that enemies of the Papacy in the 9th century make no mention of a female Pope. For example, Photius I of Constantinople, who became Patriarch in 858 and was deposed by Pope Nicholas I in 863, was an enemy of the Pope. He vehemently asserted his own authority as Patriarch over that of the Pope in Rome, and would have made the most of any scandal of that time regarding the Papacy; but he never mentions the story once in any of his voluminous writings. Indeed, at one point he mentions "Leo and Benedict, successively great priests of the Roman Church".^[11]

Rosemary and Darroll Pardoe, authors of The Female Pope: The Mystery of Pope Joan, theorize that if a female pope did exist, a more plausible time frame is 1086 and 1108, when there were several Antipopes; during this time the reign of the legitimate Popes Victor III, Urban II, and Paschal II was not always established in Rome, since the city was occupied by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and later sacked by the Normans.^[11] This also agrees with the earliest known version of the legend, by Jean de Mailly, as he places the story in the year 1099. De Mailly's 'account' was acknowledged by his companion Stephen of Bourbon.

Against the weight of historical evidence to the contrary, the question remains as to why the Pope Joan story has been popular and widely believed. Philip Jenkins in The New Anti-Catholicism suggests that the periodic revival of what he calls this "anti-papal legend" has more to do with feminist and anti-Catholic wishful thinking than historical accuracy.^[12]

The sede stercoraria, the throne with a hole in the seat, now at St. John Lateran (the formal residence of the popes and center of Catholicism), is to be considered. This and other toilet-like chairs were used in the consecration of Pope Pascal II in 1099 (Boureau 1988). In fact, one is still in the Vatican Museums, another at the Musée du Louvre. The reason for the configuration of the chair is disputed. It has been speculated that they originally were Roman bidets or imperial birthing stools, which because of their age and imperial links were used in ceremonies by Popes intent on highlighting their own imperial claims (as they did also with their Latin title, Pontifex Maximus).[2]

Alain Boureau (Boureau 1988:23) quotes the humanist Jacopo d'Angelo de Scarparia, who visited Rome in 1406 for the enthronement of Gregory XII. The pope sat briefly on two "pierced chairs" at the Lateran: "...the vulgar tell the insane fable that he is touched to verify that he is indeed a man" a sign that this corollary of the Pope Joan legend was still current in the Roman street.

Medieval Popes, from the 13th century onward, did indeed avoid the direct route between the Lateran and St Peter's, as Martin of Opava claimed. However, there is no evidence that this practice dated back any earlier. The origin of the practice is uncertain, but it is quite likely that it was maintained because of widespread belief in the Joan legend, and it was thought genuinely to date back to that period.

Although some Medieval writers referred to the female Pope as "John VIII," a genuine Pope John VIII reigned between 872 and 882. Due to the Dark Ages lack of records, confusion often reigns in the evaluation of events.

A problem sometimes connected to the Pope Joan legend is the fact that there is no Pope John XX in any list. It is said this reflects a renumbering of the Popes to exclude Joan from history. Historians have known since Louis Duchesne's critical edition of the Liber Pontificalis that the 'renumbering' was actually due to a misunderstanding in the textual transmission of the official Papal lists. In the course of the 11th century, in the time after John XIX, the entry for John XIV had been misread as referring to two different popes of this name. These two popes then came to be distinguished as Iohannes XIV and Iohannes XIV bis ("John XIV the second").

The existence of a second Pope John XIV was widely accepted in the 13th century, hence the numbering of Popes John XV through XIX was regarded as being erroneous. When Petrus Hispanus was elected pope in 1276 and chose the papal name John, he decided to correct this error by skipping the number XX. He numbered himself John XXI, thus acknowledging the presumed existence of John XIV "bis" in the 10th century.

Cultural references[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Pope Joan story has been reworked in a number of modern works. The story is retold in the Greek author Emmanuel Rhoides' 1866 novel The Papess Joanne. Pope Joan is a character in the opening scene of Caryl Churchill's feminist play Top Girls (1982). The story is reworked in American writer Donna Woolfolk Cross's 1996 novel. Pope Joan. There have been two film versions, a 1972 film directed by Michael Anderson and a 2009 film adapted from Cross' novel.

See also[link]

• Legends surrounding the Papacy
• Theodora (senatrix)
• Saeculum obscurum
• Marozia
• List of Popes

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

Bibliography[link]

Primary sources[link]

• Jean de Mailly Chronica Universalis Mettensis (1254)
• Martin of Opava Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum (1278)

Secondary sources[link]

• Clement Wood, The Woman Who Was Pope, Wm. Faro, Inc., NYC 1931
• Arturo Ortega Blake, Joanna Kobieta która zostala Papiezem", Edit. Philip Wilson, 2006 Published in Warszawa, ISBN 83-7236-208-4.
• Alain Boureau, The Myth of Pope Joan, University Of Chicago Press, 2000 Published in Paris as La Papesse Jeanne. The standard account among historians.
• Lawrence Durrell, The Curious History of Pope Joan. London: Derek Verschoyle, 1954. Freely translated from the Greek Papissa Joanna, 1886, by Emmanuel Rhoides.
• Peter Stanford, The She-Pope. A Quest for the truth behind the Mystery of Pope Joan, Heineman, London 1998 ISBN 0-434-02458-9 Published in the US as The Legend of Pope Joan : In Search of the Truth, Henry Holt & Company, 1999. A popularized journalistic account.
• 'Top 5 Myths About the Papacy' [1]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ioanna (papa)

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope Joan
• The Female Pope: The Mystery of Pope Joan by Rosemary and Darroll Pardoe
• ABC Prime time Looking for Pope Joan
• Article from The Straight Dope
• Pope Joan as fable
• MacGregor Historic Games makes their own version of the Victorian Pope Joan card game.
• Sedes Stercorari explanation Sedes Stercoraria was to check male 'intactness' not gender.
• [2] by Dennis Barton gives timeline esp. of stories appearance in written histories.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2008)

Patrick Kevin Francis Michael "Pat" Nevin (born 6 September 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland)^[2] is a retired Scottish footballer. In a 20-year career, he played for Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Kilmarnock and Motherwell as a winger.^[3] Nevin was a fans' favourite at Chelsea during the 1980s. He also won 28 caps for Scotland, scattered across a 10 year international career, and he was selected for the UEFA Euro 1992 finals squad.^[3] Since retiring as a player, Nevin has worked as a chief executive of Motherwell and as a football writer and broadcaster.

Professional career[link]

Clyde[link]

Nevin trained with Celtic as a youngster, but was rejected for being too small.^[4] He was signed by Clyde in 1981. In his first season, the club were promoted as Scottish Second Division champions; Nevin scored twelve goals and was voted young player of the year for the division.

In 2011 he was inducted to the Clyde hall of fame.

Chelsea[link]

'Wee Pat' as the Chelsea fans still affectionately call him, arrived at Stamford Bridge in mid-1983 for £95,000, joining fellow new recruits Kerry Dixon, Nigel Spackman, David Speedie and Eddie Niedzwiecki in manager John Neal's new-look Chelsea side. Nevin's skill and pace made him a pivotal player at Chelsea and he very soon became firm favourite with the fans.

In 1983–84, he scored 14 goals, created numerous others for the likes of Dixon and Speedie and put in some dazzling performances – during a 4–0 win over Newcastle United, he tormented the opposition defence, leaving five defenders trailing in his wake – as Chelsea won promotion as Second Division champions. In the same season he was voted Chelsea's player of the year. Chelsea finished a respectable sixth in the First Division the following year and reached the Milk Cup semi-finals, where Nevin was once again the star turn, setting up three goals in the quarter-final against Sheffield Wednesday as Chelsea came back from 3–0 down to draw 4–4; he also set up the winner for Speedie in the replay. The club were in the title race for much of the next season, with Nevin scoring a late equaliser against Liverpool at Anfield and a crucial header against West Ham United to seal a 2–1 win, though a late collapse saw Chelsea finish sixth after being in the title race for most of the 1985-86 season. A year later, the club's performances dropped and they finished 14th, though Nevin was again voted Chelsea player of the year. They were relegated a year later.

Everton[link]

Chelsea were relegated in 1988 and Nevin was sold to Everton for £925,000. He scored 20 goals in 138 appearances for the club, but struggled to re-capture his previous form with manager Colin Harvey adopting a far more rigid system. He helped the side reach the FA Cup final in 1989, scoring the winner against Norwich City in the semi-final, but they lost 3–2 in the final to arch-rivals Liverpool.

Howard Kendall returned to the club as manager in November 1990; he and Nevin openly disagreed with each other, which reduced Nevin's playing opportunities, as did the arrival of new wingers Robert Warzycha and Mark Ward.

Nevin was unfortunate to arrive at Everton just after one of the finest spells in their history, when they had collected two league titles, an FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. In contrast, Nevin's four seasons at the club saw a runners-up medal in the FA Cup (1989) being the closest he came to being part of a trophy winning side, and they never finished higher than sixth in the league (1990).

Tranmere Rovers[link]

Nevin spent time on loan with fellow Merseyside club Tranmere Rovers, then in the second tier of English football, before signing permanently in 1992. The club competed in the Division One play-offs in three consecutive seasons (1992–1993, 1993–1994 and 1994–1995) but on each occasion they were eliminated in the semi-final.

Return to Scotland[link]

In 1997, Nevin returned to Scotland and played for Kilmarnock and later Motherwell before retiring in 2000.

International career[link]

In 1981 while playing for Clyde, he travelled to Finland to play for the Scotland under-19 team at the European Youth Championships and was named player of the tournament after helping Scotland win it.

Nevin won 28 caps for the Scottish national side, making his debut against Romania in 1986. He scored five goals in a ten-year international career and played at Euro 92, but was not selected in the final squads for the 1986 or 1990 World Cups. He made his final appearance for Scotland in 1996.

Retirement[link]

After retiring as a player, Nevin had a stint as chief executive of Motherwell. He resigned from the position in April 2002 after chairman John Boyle decided to place the club in administration due to serious financial problems.^[5]

He now works as a football pundit for BBC Scotland's Sportscene, Channel Five and BBC Radio Five Live.^[3] Nevin co-wrote a book, In Ma Head, Son, with psychologist Dr George Sik that was published in 1997. The book covers his experiences at Tranmere Rovers during the 1996–97 season and eschews the typical footballer's autobiography being a dialogue with Sik which explores his worries, motivation and troubles as he comes to the end of his playing career.

He has an arts degree from Glasgow Caledonian University. He was noted during his playing days for being somewhat different from the stereotypical footballer, especially through his interest in literature and the arts, and in his musical tastes, preferring The Fall and Joy Division to Phil Collins or Lionel Richie. As such, he was interviewed by the NME and was a guest presenter on Radio City during his Everton and Tranmere career. Nevin now lives in Duns,^[6] with his wife and two children. At the second Bowlie Weekender, hosted by ATP he played a DJ set,^[7] playing Belle & Sebastian, Orange Juice and "My New House" by The Fall while wearing a The Pains of Being Pure at Heart t-shirt. The following day he slipped an indiepop reference onto 5 Live while talking about the Man Utd vs Arsenal match.^[8] He has also appeared as a guest DJ at How Does It Feel To Be Loved?, a London indiepop and motown club night.^[9]

In 2010 Nevin signed as a non-playing substitute for new club Chester FC after Colin Murray of BBC Radio 5 live offered the new club £2,000 if they named Nevin and Perry Groves as unused substitutes at every game in the 2010-11 season.This was live on 'Kicking off with Colin Murray', a show Nevin has appeared on every week since the start of the 2009/10 season. Nevin is usually beaten by ex-Arsenal player Perry Groves in the weekly quiz.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Nevin grew up supporting Celtic,^[4] but now supports SPL rivals Hibernian, watching games at Easter Road when he is not otherwise engaged for football commentary.^[11] He has been reported to have switched allegiances for, among other things, feeling that his boyhood heroes had become a large corporate organisation and that Celtic Park no longer felt like home.^[11] Another reason for his switch was reported to be the IRA chanting from Celtic fans in front of his son.^[12] He also supports his former club Chelsea, and writes a weekly column for the Chelsea website.^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile from BBC Press Office
• Pat Nevin on the Chelsea in America Celebrity Podcast (2009).

v t e Scotland squad – UEFA Euro 1992 1 Goram 2 Gough (c) 3 McStay 4 Malpas 5 McCoist 6 McClair 7 Durie 8 McPherson 9 McKimmie 10 McCall 11 McAllister 12 Smith 13 Nevin 14 Gallacher 15 Boyd 16 McInally 17 Whyte 18 Bowman 19 McLaren 20 Ferguson Coach: Roxburgh