In 897 a pope put his predecessor's corpse on trial.

897

Formosus was dug up nine months after his death, robed and propped on a throne, with a deacon answering for him. The verdict: guilty.

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The event

• Cadaver Synod897 · Lateran, Rome. Pope Stephen VI had the body of Pope Formosus, dead for nine months, exhumed, propped on a throne and tried, with a deacon answering for him. The corpse was found guilty, its blessing fingers were cut off and it was thrown into the Tiber; within months outraged Romans deposed Stephen himself.

9th century

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