The Cadaver Synod: A Pope, A Dead Pope, and the Trial of the Century

Our first story is probably one of the more bizarre stories in history that I’ve ever heard. It’s the trial of Pope Formosus in 897 also known as the Cadaver Synod. Why is it called that? Well, because at the time of the synod Formosus was dead, so Pope Stephen VI put his body on trial. This all took place during a time period believed to be the most corrupt in papal history.

Background

Formosus was born around 816. He became cardinal bishop of Portus, Italy in 864 and was dispatched by Pope Nicolas I on missions to Bulgaria and France. His mission to Bulgaria was so successful and produced so many converts, that the Bulgarians requested him as their Bishop. However due to canon rules, he was not allowed to become Bishop of Blugaria.

Formosus’ first involvement in politics seems to of come in 875 during the aftermath of the death of Louis II, King of Rome and Holy Roman Emperor. The nobles elected Louis’s uncle, Charles the Bald who was initially supported by Pope John VIII. However, the election was opposed by Louis’s other uncle, Louis the German, and Louis’s widow. John VIII dispatched Formosus to invite Charles to Rome to be crowned. What followed was political upheaval that led to Louis the German and his supporters to flee Rome and begin rebelling against Charles. John blamed Formotus for the upheaval and Formosus also fled Rome to avoid political retribution. John held a synod where he declared that Formosus had “corrupted the minds of the Bulgarians” and attempted to usurp the papacy from John. He was excommunicated and forced into exile.

(Side note: Charles the Bald was succeeded by Louis the German’s son, Charles III, known as Charles the Fat. Charles was the last descendent of Charlemagne to be Holy Roman Emperor. He was generally regarded as being lazy, lethargic, and inept)

When John died in 882, Formosus was allowed to return to Rome and restored as bishop of Portus. In 891, he was unanimously elected as Pope. Formosus once again was forced into political dispute over the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. John VIII had crowned Guy III of Spoleto as emperor after he deposed Charles III. However, Formosus and the rest of the clergy in Rome became nervous about Guy’s aggression. Formosus was coerced by the Spoletos to crown Guy’s son Lambert as co-ruler beside his father in 892. Formosus sent ambassadors to Arnuf of Carinthia, Charles III’s nephew, in 894 to take the crown. Arnulf marched to Rome and defeated Guy and Lambert who were forced to flee Rome and Arnulf was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in February of 896.

Formosus died on April 3, 896 and was laid in a tomb in Rome and Arnulf suffered a stroke and was stricken with paralysis not long after. This led to more political upheaval as Formosus’s and Arnulf’s supporters struggled to keep power from the Spoletos. The Spoleto’s supporters incited riots in Rome and caused much confusion and distrust among the clergy. Bonifice IV was elected as pope and was backed by Formosus’s supporters. However, his papal reign only lasted fifteen days before his supposed death. Some said he died of gout while others say he was assassinated by the Spoletos. Some sources at the time said he was forcibly removed and sent to live in a monastery.

Pope Stephen VI succeeded Bonifice in May 896. Not much is known about his pre-papacy life other than he was born in Rome and his father was a priest named John. He was made Bishop of Anagni by Formosus (a detail which will become important later on). He was a fierce critic of Formosus and his election was believed to of been manipulated by Spoletos. He is also believed to of been completely insane.

The Trial

In the fall of 896, Guy III had died, and his son Lambert was able to retake parts of Itally from Arnulf’s forces. He and his cousin Guy IV retook and entered Rome in January of 897. Lambert wanted to re-assert his claim to the imperial crown while Guy IV wanted to destroy Fomosus’s legacy. Guy IV demanded that Stephen renounce Arnulf’s claim and void all of Formosus’s actions. For reasons unknown, Stephen came up with a truly morbid idea: dig up Formosus’s body and put it on trial before all of Rome.

Stephen ordered Formosus’s body exhumed from his tomb and brought to the Basilica San Giovanni Laterano sometime in January 897. The cardinals and most of the Rome nobility were opposed to this morbid display and several cardinals were coerced into becoming co-judges out of fear. Formosus’s body was vested in ecclesiastic robes, the papal ring placed on his finger, was propped up against a chair, and a teenage deacon was forced to stand behind the body and provide Formosus’s 'voice'.

The charges Stephen accused Formosus of were perjury, coveting the papacy, and violating church canons when he was elected pope. What followed was described by sources as a “gross spectacle”. No transcription of the trial exists, but many of the attendees wrote about what had happened, perhaps to use against Stephen. The clergy is described as silently standing shocked and disturbed while Stephen paced in front of Formosus ranting and raving. He hurled insults and would mock the body.

Seeking more ways to discredit Formosus, he brought up his conflicts with Pope John VIII and his excomunication. At one point Stephen asked "When you were bishop of Porto, why did you usurp the universal Roman See in such a spirit of ambition?”

Occasionally he would demand Formosus answer the charges, and the clergy would watch in horror as attendants were forced to move Formosus’s body and the frightened deacon would stammer a few words denying the charges.

Predictably, Stephen and the horrified co-judges found Formousus guilty of all charges. Stephen declared all of Formosus’s actions nulled and voided and all ordinations performed by Formosus’s invalidated. Interestingly, this made Stephen’s own ordination invalidated and made him guilty of the same charges. This action was quickly seized upon by Stephen’s rivals.

Stephen had the vestments pulled off him and the three fingers Formosus used to bless were chopped off. He then had the body buried in a graveyard where foreigners were buried.

The Aftermath

When word of the trial spread through Rome and the rest of the Roman empire, the people were greatly disturbed and angered by Stephen’s actions. Even Lambert and the other Spoletos’s were disturbed and became concerned about Stephen’s sanity. Guy VI was the only one known to be in favor of the trial.

As public opinion turned against him, Stephen tried to cover up the trial by having Formosus’s body dug up and thrown into the Tiber River. The body floated down the river where it allegedly performed miracles and healed many people. A fisherman removed the body from the river and claimed to of had visions of the Saints surrounding the body.

But those were not the only supposed divine actions. Soon after, an earthquake destroyed the Basilica San Giovanni Laterano’s roof causing it to crumble from the alter to the doors. As Rome is not prone to earthquakes, this was quickly seen as God expressing displeasure over the trial. One contemporary described the earthquake as: “For the stones themselves, execrating such a monstrosity, then cried out with their own voice by knocking against each other, that they would more willingly suffer spontaneous ruin, than that the Roman Church should remain depressed by so great a scandal.”

Soon after the earthquake, a public uprising occurred. Fearing the mob would turn against him too, Lambert had Stephen deposed and imprisoned in a monastery in the outskirts of Rome. Stephen was strangled to death in the monastery by an unknown assailant in either July or August of 897. Some rumored that the murderer was Pope Bonifice IV who they said was confined to the same monastery the year before. Guy IV was also murdered soon after and his body was thrown into the Tiber river.

The fisherman who found Formosus’s body returned it to Rome and brought it to St. Peter’s Basilica where it was entombed. The fisherman said that when he placed the body in the coffin, “certain images of the Saints appeared before him and saluted him”.

After Stephen’s disposal, a power struggle reigned amongst various factions of the clergy. He was succeeded by Pope Romanus in August 897 who annulled all of Stephen’s decrees. However, he too was deposed in November and confined to a monastery. He was succeeded by Pope Theodore II in December who was pro-Formosus. He formally annulled the Cadaver Synod and oversaw the reburial. However, his reign was also short lived and died twenty days after becoming pope. His cause of death is unknown but attributed to foul play (of course). He was succeeded by Pope John IX who banned the trial of people after death.

NEXT TIME: We take a look at the 1904 Olympic marathon, which is regarded as the worst race ever run.