Jean-Paul Laurens’ (1838-1921) “Pope Formosus and Stephen VII.” Note that the Stephen in the painting is presently known as Stephen VI, but changes in papal titles and the definition of “legitimacy” has changed the naming of certain pontiffs, Stephen being one example.
Looks like he’s not feeling talkative.
What kind of individuals were insane, bizarre, and impervious-to-stinkiness enough to carry out such a trial? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand the nature of the papacy during this time of the early Middle Ages. Specifically, the period from the middle of the 9th to about the middle of the 10th centuries is sometimes referred to the “iron age” of the papacy. During this time, the Church’s highest office was dominated by the ruling families in Rome (most notably the Counts of Tusculum) and the Germanic kings of the Holy Roman Empire, both using the papal thrown as a mechanism for increasing their own power.
Extent of the Holy Roman Empire, whose borders ended just north of Rome. Even though the pope actually crowned the emperors of this realm, its power and influence necessitated treating it with some measure of delicacy. You know, to prevent invasions.
Between 872 and 965, there were 24 popes and in the eight years between 894 and 904, there were nine. Here are some reasons why:
-John VIII (r. 872-882) – Considered one of the last competent and morally worthwhile pontiffs until St. Leo IX became pope in 1049. As a result, he was poisoned by his entourage and his skull was crushed by a hammer when said poison did not work fast enough.
-Leo V (r. July-September of 903) – Deposed, imprisoned, then strangled. Hilariously, his assassins were employed by Antipope (pretender to the thrown) Christopher, who was in turn assassinated by Pope Sergius III.
-John X (r. 914-928) – Deposed, imprisoned, then smothered in his sleep.
-Stephen VII (r. 928-931) – Deposed, imprisoned, then strangled.
-John XII – (r. 937-964) A notoriously licentious man, he died either of a stroke suffered while in bed with a married woman or was beaten to death by that woman’s husband.
More fun facts!
-Boniface VI (r. 896) – Only pope to have been twice degraded from holy orders as punishment for immoral acts prior to his election.
-Sergius III (r. 904-911) - Becomes the first and only pope to order the assassination of another pope, as he had Leo V (see above) strangled after the latter was deposed.
-John XI (r. 931-935) – Only pope to be the illegitimate son of a former pope… that being Sergius III.
-John XII (r. 955-964) – Due to political craziness in Rome, this immoral, vulgar, and incompetent man became the youngest person elected pope. He was eighteen.
Anyway, the unfortunate Formosus had a promising career before his body was desecrated by the supposed holiest men on the planet. He was the bishop of Portus, a town just south of Rome, who was considered a legitimate candidate for the papacy as early as 872, but was not elected due to the complex political machinations of the Eternal City. During his time as bishop, he carried out missionary work in Bulgaria that was incredibly successful, this was especially impressive because anything successful in Bulgaria is a rarity.* So successful was he that the Bulgarians requested him to be their own bishop, but since Catholic doctrine forbids the “transmigration of sees,” Pope Nicolas I refused the request.
Shortly before the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Bald (and for reasons now unknown), Formosus fled Rome in 875 to escape the clutches of then-pope and future victim of assassination, John VIII. At a synod in 876, John accused Formosus of “corrupting” the minds of the Bulgarians so that they would not accept any bishop’s rule other than his, for attempting to usurp the papacy from John, and for deserting his see and thereby weakening the Church and the reign of Charles the Bald. This resulted in the excommunication of Formosus. Then, as mentioned above, John VIII was assassinated and Formosus was able to return to Rome and resume his duties as bishop, his excommunication rescinded for the time being. However, the troubles with John VIII would form the basis for his posthumous trial and various defilements.
It should be noted that Formosus did not have any involvement with John VIII’s assassination. Though it did help his career, there were many more powerful interests much closer to John who wanted his skull crushed.
Overcoming the insignificant obstacle of formerly being excommunicated, Formosus was elected as pope in 891. The significant events leading to the synod are as follows:
-In 892, Formosus crowns Lambert of Spoleto as the co-ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. This is funny because there already was a ruler of the Holy Roman Empire (at least in name, the throne was kind of up for grabs at this time)… the Holy Roman Emperor, and father of Lambert, Guy III of Spoleto… who was crowned by Pope John VIII.
-Formosus fears Guy III getting angry (I wonder why), so in 893, he invites the Frankish nobleman/king Arnulf of Carinthia to invade Italy.
-The invasion fails, but Guy III dies, seemingly freeing Formosus of his wrath.
-In 895, Formosus invites Arnulf back to Italy anyway and then crowns him Holy Roman Emperor.
-Arnulf dies a few months later from paralysis.
-Formosus dies in 896 and is succeeded by Pope Boniface VI (see above).
-Boniface VI dies after two weeks.
-Boniface VI is succeeded by Stephen VI, who would conduct the Cadaver Synod.
Though there is some debate about the motivations of the various parties, Lambert probably encouraged the synod as a way for him to re-establish his authority after the horribly convoluted series of deaths and political maneuvers that occurred during the preceding few years. However, he was present at the subsequent councils that retracted the decisions of the Cadaver Synod, showing that he perhaps did not intend for such a macabre display or did not harbor personal ill will to Formosus. More on that stuff later.
By most accounts, Formosus was an extremely capable and intelligent man, but that did not stop him from making very powerful enemies. Stephen VI’s hatred for Formosus was almost psychotic in nature and he made it his mission to destroy the name and reputation of his most-loathed adversary. Stephen had the body of Formosus, dead several months, disinterred, dressed in papal vestments, and put on display in front of an assemblage of clergy who were coerced into attending the Synod or were present merely out of fear. Stephen dominated the trial, hurling vicious tirades at the putrid body, and accusing it/him of perjury, coveting the papal throne (of John VIII), and practicing duties as a bishop while a layman (presumably while he was excommunicated).
Surprise surprise, Formosus was convicted on all charges and all his decrees as pope were nullified. In addition, the three fingers on his right hand, those used to give papal blessings, were hacked off. He was then stripped of his vestments, draped in a monk’s robe, and buried in a common grave. Some accounts have the body being instead thrown into the Tiber river or disinterred and then thrown into the Tiber where it was rescued by a monk.
The trial would lead to Stephen’s downfall as its grisly, sick nature and the desecration of the corpse of a former (and non-licentious) pontiff enraged the populace of Rome to the point of near-revolution. Stephen was then deposed, imprisoned, and, you guessed it, strangled while in prison. But the fun doesn’t end there.
Stephen’s successor, Theodore II, held his own synod where he reversed the rulings of the Cadaver Synod and re-instated the officials terminated by Stephen. He also had the body of Formosus re-interred in St. Peter’s.
However, Theodore II’s rule as pontiff only lasted twenty days. In an attempt to legitimize the most recent rulings, his successor, John IX (r. 898-900), re-affirmed the decisions of Theodore’s synod at two separate synods of his own. John IX also outlawed the practice of putting dead people on trial. Nice one.
Then came Sergius III. Remember him? The guy who ordered the assassination of a pervious pope and illegitimately fathered a future pope? Well, he was one of the clergy who convicted Formosus in the first place and had copious amounts of hatred for the dead man. He held his own synod that reversed the rulings of Theodore II’s and John IX’s synods and re-affirmed the rulings of the Cadaver Synod. He even went so far as to add an inscription on Formosus’ tomb lambasting the deceased pontiff and praising Stephen VI. My head hurts.
Incidentally, there has never been a Formosus II.
Sergius III: cartoonishly evil or just a gigantic prick?
Sergius III ushered in what would come to be known as the “pornocracy” (rule of harlots) in the papacy that would last for another sixty years. This period not only saw a succession of particularly lecherous, incompetent, and immoral pontiffs, but the unprecedented domination of the holiest office in the Church by a select group of Roman families. Most notable of these were two prominent women of the Counts of Tusculum: Theodora and her daughter Marozia. Marozia was the lover of Sergius III, the probably mother of the bastard Pope John XI, the grandmother of the eighteen-year-old frat boy Pope John XII, and played an integral role in the assassination of Pope John X.
Information gleaned from:
http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/his31_cadaver.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver_Synod
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Formosus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Stephen_VI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sergius_III
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornocracy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_VIII
*I mean, they couldn’t even beat Ireland in the Quidditch World Cup. Losers.
