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The Most Bizarre Trial In History
The disgusting tale of the Cadaver Synod
One of the lowest points in church history was a 150-year period lasting from roughly AD 850 until AD 1000. During this period, seven separate popes were assassinated. Four of them were suffocated or strangled to death. One was poisoned and then beaten to death in their weakened state. One pope was murdered by a jealous husband with whose wife they were having an affair. It was a dark time for the church and one in which the future of the papacy and the legitimacy of the Western Church came into question.
Nestled in the midst of this dark time was one of the most disgusting and bizarre events in all of history. In January of AD 897, Pope Stephen VI exhumed the body of a previous pope in order to have him stand trial for perjury.
Pope Stephen VI had succeeded Pope Boniface VI, who only commanded the papacy for a mere fifteen days. Boniface VI’s death was supposedly for gout, but there are some who believe he could have been assassinated. This was not uncommon during this period, and his short reign as pope underlines how treacherous the office was during this time.
The trial of the deceased Pope Formosus was not some sham political statement. The body was actually placed on the stand, and a full trial was conducted in which the corpse was asked…
