Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Cadaver Synod

Starting point is 00:00:00 In January 897, something unprecedented took place in Rome. Pope Formosus, the leader of the Catholic Church, was put on trial. What made this unprecedented wasn't that the Pope was on trial, although that was unprecedented. The remarkable thing was that Pope Formosus had died nine months earlier, and it was his exhumed corpse that was in the courtroom. Learn more about the cadaver Synod, perhaps the oddest trial in history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Starting point is 00:00:42 I'm into bed ready to sleep, only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow. Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day or jumping ahead to tomorrow? That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens. Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension. Nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest.

Starting point is 00:01:12 and millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen to Nothing Much Happens wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. The papacy is an institution that's been around for a very long time. And during that time, it's gone through different phases, and it's seen some highs and lows. The events I'm going to be describing in this episode are arguably the lowest point in papal history. It might even seem like this story is apocryphal, but the events were well documented and there's no reason to believe that it didn't happen. To understand what led up to this bizarre

Starting point is 00:01:57 episode, it's necessary to understand the political climate in Europe in the 9th century and the role the papacy played. In the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish King Charlemagne as the Roman Emperor. Today, we would call him the Holy Roman Emperor, but at the time the term was yet to be invented. He was simply the Roman Emperor, an attempt to revive the position which had existed centuries earlier. The fact that the Pope was the one who crowned the Emperor put the papacy in an explicitly political role. Moreover, as part of the deal Charlemagne cut to get crowned the Roman Emperor, he codified lands that were given to the Pope by his father, Pepin the Short. These lands became the foundation of the Pable States, which were the lands in Italy ruled directly

Starting point is 00:02:41 by the Pope until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. In the wake of Charlemagne, there were various factions that vied for power, as is pretty much the case everywhere throughout history. Which brings me to the man who would become Pope, Formosus. Formos was believed to have been born in the city of Rome in the year 816. He entered the clergy and had a very successful career. In 864, he was named a couple of. Cardinal and Bishop of the Diocese of Porto, which is located just outside of Rome.

Starting point is 00:03:09 He received several papal appointments, including leading a delegation to Bulgaria, as well as leading several diplomatic missions to France. While in Bulgaria, King Boris I requested that Formosus be named the Archbishop of Bulgaria, but the request was denied as he was already the Bishop of Porto, and it wasn't allowed to be bishop of two different places. By 1872, Formosus was already being mentioned in discussions for becoming Pope. In 1875, Charles the Bald was elected the new emperor of Rome. However, supporters of the other claimant of the throne, Louis the German, fled Rome upon hearing the news, which included Formosis.

Starting point is 00:03:48 Pope John VIII ordered all the members of the clergy who fled Rome to return, and when they didn't, he declared them to be defrocked and excommunicated. This included Formosis. John the 8th died in 878, and his successor, Marinas I first, fully restored Formosus, as Bishop of Porto. After several more short papacies, Formosis was elected Pope unanimously on October 6th, 891. Formosis was immediately thrust into the middle of several political controversies. He had to insert himself into a controversy with the Eastern Church

Starting point is 00:04:22 as to who was the rightful patriarch of Constantinople. He had to deal with Islamic Saracen invaders who were gaining ground in southern Italy. And most importantly for this story, he was very much an opponent of the reigning Roman Emperor Guy the third of Spoletto. Formosus supported one of his rivals, Arnulf of Carinthia. In fact, he encouraged Arnulf to come and invade Italy to remove Guy from power, and if Arnulf did so, he promised to crown him emperor in Rome. In 895, Arnolf did just that, and Port Formosus crowned him emperor in old St. Peter's Basilica on February 22, 896. And just a month and a half later, on April 4th, 896, Pope Formos

Starting point is 00:05:05 died. His immediate successor was Bonifus the 6th, who was Pope for all of 16 days. Boniface, by the way, was a priest who was defrocked not once but twice for, quote, immoral conduct. Boniface's successor was Pope Stephen the 6th. Stephen, for reasons that aren't historically clear, really had it out for Formosis. Normally, even if a former Pope was a rival, once you become Pope, you could just overturn any former policies you didn't like and go about your business. There may have been some unrecorded slight that Stephen perceived or some other rivalry between the two men. Whatever was the reason, Stephen had developed an intense hatred for Formosus.

Starting point is 00:05:49 This was probably also fueled by the fact that Stephen's sponsor was the current Roman emperor Lambert of Spoletto, the son of Gie the third of Spoletto, the man that Formos has turned on by supporting Arnolf of Corinthia. In January 897, seven full months after becoming Pope and almost nine months after the death of Formosis, Stephen still couldn't let go of the whole Formosis thing. So he decided that he was going to put Pope Formosus on trial. Now, you might be wondering how you can put someone on trial who is dead. Well, Stephen had that all figured out.

Starting point is 00:06:25 He exhumed the body of Pope Formosus from its tomb, dressed it up in papal regalia, and sat it on a throne in the basilica of St. John's last. Lateran in Rome for trial. A deacon was appointed to give answers on behalf of the deceased. This became known as the Cadamber Synod, or the Cadavre trial, and in Latin it was known as the Synodas Horrenda. In Pope Stephen's mind, this was going to be a brilliant move as he would tarnish the reputation of his predecessor while boosting his own at the same time. According to most historians, it was most probably a very public and over-the-top way of displaying his loyalty to Lambert of Spiletto. Most of the charges brought up against zombie Formosus were the charges originally

Starting point is 00:07:09 brought up against him by John the 8th when he was excommunicated. He was accused of holding two bishoprics at once. He was accused of serving as a bishop wall a layman. He was also accused of seeking the papacy out of ambition. Stephen served as both the prosecutor and the judge, because, of course. In a surprise to absolutely no one, the former Pope Formosus was found guilty and unworthy of the All of his acts as Pope were nullified, and all of the bishops he created were considered invalid. Ironically, Stephen was installed as a bishop by Pope Formosus. A Damnatio Memori was also instituted on Pope Formosus. If you remember back to my episode on Damnatio Memori, this was an ancient practice that made

Starting point is 00:07:53 any mention of the person, verbally or in writing, illegal. To top it all off, the three fingers Formos used to bless people were cut off, and his body was thrown into the Tiber River. Pope Stephen the 6th one, Pope Formosis lost, and everything Stephen hoped to get out of the trial came true. Everyone loves Stephen and now hated Formosis. No, that did not happen at all. It turns out the one thing people in the 9th century have in common with people in the 21st century is that they think it's really creepy and weird to dig up dead bodies for the purpose of a show trial. Public opinion in Rome turned decisively against Pope Stephen. After the body of Pope Formosis was thrown into the river, it was recovered by a monk.

Starting point is 00:08:38 The monk took the body out of the river and reburied it with honors. Rumors began to spread that the body of Pope Formosis was responsible for miracles. This led to an uprising in the city where Pope Stephen was captured and imprisoned. A few months later, while in captivity, Pope Stephen the 6th was strangled to death in his cell. I think you could say his plan backfired. The death of Pope Formosus, a sure in a period of extreme instability in the papacy for the next several years, with the new Pope being installed on average every year. After Stephen was killed, Pope Romanus reigned for 92 days, and after that Pope Theodore II reigned for 19 days. The one thing that Theodore II did do during his brief 19-day reign was nullify everything Stephen did during the cadaver trial.

Starting point is 00:09:27 He also had the body of Port Formosus reburied with honor in St. Peter's Basilica, where he still lies somewhere today. Just a few years later in 904, a new era of the papacy began with the election of Sergius III. This too is considered one of the low points of the papacy. This began the era known as the Pornocracy. And I kid you not, that is the actual name you can look it up. Pornocracy comes from the Greek word for rule by harlots or rule by prostitutes. It refers to the 60-year period when the Hapacy was extremely corrupt and heavily influenced by one Roman family, the theop Philacte. Pope Sergius III reversed the reversal of the cadaver trial made by Theodore II, including the ordination of all the bishops and priests made by Formosis,

Starting point is 00:10:17 which caused enormous confusion, causing many priests and bishops to have to get reordained. Not surprisingly, Sergius had taken part in the trial and was a supporter of Pope Stephen. Later, Sergius's reversal of the reversal was its sense. reversed, and Pope Formosis was formerly restored. Needless to say, the cadaver trial is considered a low point of the papacy, and it's really the only thing that Stephen the Sixth is known for. It ushered in a period of instability and paved the way for the pornography of the early 10th century. Most of all, it was just bizarre. The entire incident backfired on Pope Stephen the 6th, who in his last moments must have realized that the entire trial was a grave,

Starting point is 00:11:02 mistake. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. Today's review comes from listener Dean Landkamer over on Apple podcasts in the United States. He writes, Hi, my name is Dean. I live in Minnesota. I listen to two episodes a day before school starts. I love this podcast. Thanks for making my day better. I would love a shout out, please. Thanks, Dean. Here is your formal shout out. I think it's great that you can listen to two episodes before going to school. That's almost like going to school before you go to school. That's double school. And feel free to put listening to this podcast on any future resumes, as amongst the right people, it will carry a lot of weight. Remember, if you leave a review

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Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Cadaver Synod

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