The Cadaver Synod — the trial of a dead pope, and the chaos that followed

In January 897, Pope Stephen VI had the body of Pope Formosus, dead for about nine months, taken from its tomb, dressed in papal robes and put on trial in Rome. This is the full story of the Cadaver Synod: a thirty-year feud, two rival emperors, a verdict against a corpse, and the popes who spent years undoing it. #history #cadaversynod #medievalhistory #popes #weirdhistory Chapters 0:00 A trial for a dead man 1:02 The bishop of Porto 2:54 A pope between two emperors 4:32 Stephen the Sixth 5:39 The Cadaver Synod 7:13 The fall of a judge 8:22 The trial that would not stay buried Image credits: "Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin Roma 2012" by Felix König, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ba... "Basilica di san piero a grado, storie di san pietro, san paolo, costantino e pap" by sailko, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ba... "Map of the Great Church of Christ (Orthodox Catholic Church) circa 1045" by KalebOfAtlanta, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ma... "Scuola romana, affreschi del sancta sanctorum, 1280 ca., Niccolò III dona la chi" by Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sc...