In January 897, the newly elected Pope Stephen VI decided that his political rival, Pope Formosus, had committed high treason against the Catholic Church.
There was just one minor issue. Formosus had already been dead and buried for over nine months.
Refusing to let mortality stand in the way of a grudge, Pope Stephen ordered grave diggers to break into the papal crypts, exhume the decaying remains of his predecessor, and drag the body to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.
The decomposing corpse was dressed in full, ceremonial papal vestments, propped upright onto a golden throne, and surrounded by cardinals, bishops, and Roman nobles for what became known as the Cadaver Synod.
Pope Stephen appointed a terrified young deacon to stand beside the rotting body as Formosus's defense attorney.
Throughout the bizarre court session, Pope Stephen paced back and forth, screaming accusations, insults, and questions directly into the dead man’s decaying face. After every furious accusation, the trembling defense lawyer had to speak on behalf of the corpse, timidly mumbling excuses and pleading guilty.
Unsurprisingly, the dead pope lost the case.
Pope Stephen declared Formosus's entire papacy invalid, canceled all his official decrees, and ordered executioners to strip the corpse naked. They severed the three fingers Formosus had used to deliver papal blessings, dragged his rotting body through the cobblestone streets of Rome, and tossed it straight into the Tiber River.
The Roman public was so horrified by the macabre spectacle that riots erupted across the city just months later. Pope Stephen was captured by an angry mob, thrown into a dungeon, and strangled to death in his cell.
Digging up your dead rival, dressing him in robes, and screaming at his rotting skull in front of the entire aristocracy is taking office politics to an unprecedented level. That wraps up Day 10 of Crazy History Facts!
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