The Cadaver Synod, when a pope put his dead predecessor's corpse on trial
In 897 a pope had the exhumed body of a former pope dressed in robes, propped on a throne, and formally tried — then mutilated and thrown into the Tiber, in one of the strangest episodes in Church history.
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Pope Stephen the Sixth exhumed his predecessor's corpse to stand trial for violating canon law.
The trial aimed to void every official act and ordination performed by Formosus during his papacy.
An earthquake struck the Basilica of Saint John Lateran while the decomposing body sat on the throne.
Executioners hacked off the corpse's three blessing fingers before dragging it through the streets of Rome.
Public outrage over the trial led to the imprisonment and strangulation of Pope Stephen the Sixth.
Pope John the Ninth eventually banned the practice of putting dead people on trial.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Iron Century and the Rise of Formosus2 min
- 03The Synodus Horrenda3 min
- 04Mutilation and the Tiber2 min
- 05The Backlash and Rehabilitation2 min
- 06Outro1 min
- Cadaver Synod: Trial of a Dead Pope - Gone Medieval | Acast
- The Cadaver Synod: Putting a Dead Pope on Trial - JSTOR Daily
- The Cadaver Synod: A Dead Pope on Trial | Podcast Episode on RSS.com
- The Cadaver Synod: When a Dead…–FACTS – Apple Podcasts
- The Pope Who Put a Corpse on Trial (Stephen VI) - The Popecast: A History of the Papacy | iHeart
- The Cadaver Synod: The Trial of a Dead Pope - Medievalists.net
- The Cadaver Synod – History Uncovered Podcast
- Cadaver Synod - Wikipedia
- Podcast - The Cadaver Synod - Listen now
- Corpse on Trial - Messy Minded Podcast | Listen Notes
- Formosus | Biography, Papacy, Trial, & Cadaver Synod | Britannica
- https://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Medievaltrials/The_Body_of_Pope_Formosus.pdf
- Pope Formosus’ Trial in the Cadaver Synod – Medieval History
- Pope Formosus
- Pope Formosus - Wikipedia
- The Trials of Pope Formosus (PhD dissertation defended at Columbia University, March 2021).
- Formosus and the ‘Synod of the Corpse’
- More on Pope Formosus and the Cadaver Synod | wsmonroe
- CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Formosus
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