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The Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial; Latin: Synodus Horrenda) is the name commonly given to the ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus, who had been dead for about nine months, in the Basilica of St.

The trial was conducted by Pope Stephen VI, the successor to Formosus's successor, Pope Boniface VI. Stephen had Formosus's corpse exhumed and brought to the papal court for judgment. He accused Formosus of perjury, of having acceded to the papacy illegally, and illegally presiding over more than one diocese at the same time. At the end of the trial, Formosus was pronounced guilty, and his papacy retroactively declared null.

The Cadaver Synod and related events took place during a period of political instability in Italy. A few months later in 876, at a synod in Santa Maria Rotunda, John VIII issued a series of accusations against Formosus and some of his associates. Yet this earlier quarrel with John VIII formed the basis of the accusations made at the Cadaver Synod. According to the tenth-century historian Liutprand of Cremona, Stephen VI asked Formosus's corpse why he "usurped the universal Roman See in such a spirit of ambition" after the death of John VIII, echoing John VIII's own assertion that Formosus had tried to seize the papal throne while he was alive. Two further accusations were also made against Formosus at the Cadaver Synod: that he had committed perjury and that he had attempted to exercise the office of bishop as a layman.

The Cadaver Synod is generally presumed to have been politically motivated. Formosus crowned Lambert of Spoleto co-ruler of the Holy Roman Empire in 892; Lambert's father, Guy III of Spoleto, had earlier been crowned by John VIII. Yet Formosus renewed his invitation to Arnulf in 895, and early the next year Arnulf crossed the Alps and entered Rome, where Formosus crowned him as Holy Roman Emperor. Lambert and his mother, the empress Angiltrude, entered Rome around the time that Stephen VI became pope, and the Cadaver Synod was conducted directly afterwards, at the beginning of 897. After the death of Arnulf and the collapse of Carolingian authority in Rome, Lambert entered the city and forced Stephen to convene the Cadaver Synod, both to re-assert his claim to the imperial crown and perhaps also to exact posthumous revenge upon Formosus. It was at this proceeding that the decrees of the Cadaver Synod were revoked. If Lambert and Angiltrude had been the architects of Formosus's degradation, Duhr asked, "how was John IX able to submit to the canons which condemned the odious synod for approbation of the emperor and his bishops? Arnaldi argues that it was Guy IV, who had entered Rome along with Lambert and his mother Angiltrude in January 897, who provided the impetus for the synod.

According to Liutprand, Stephen VI said: "When you were bishop of Porto, why did you usurp the universal Roman See in such a spirit of ambition?"

In December 897 Pope Theodore II (897) convened a synod that annulled the Cadaver Synod, rehabilitated Formosus, and ordered that his body, which had been recovered from the Tiber, be reburied in Saint Peter's Basilica in pontifical vestments. In 898, John IX (898–900) also nullified the Cadaver Synod, convening one synod in Rome, and another in Ravenna. The two synods, which affirmed the findings of Theodore II's synod, ordered the acta of the Cadaver Synod destroyed, excommunicated seven cardinals involved in the Cadaver Synod, and prohibited any trial of a corpse in the future.

Llewellyn discusses both Formosus and the Cadaver Synod. Monroe, "The Cadaver Synod and the End of the Carolingian Empire", Paper given at the Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting on 27 February 2016

Invective Against Rome On Behalf of Pope Formosus A complete (albeit AI-assisted) translation of an anonymous tenth century text concerning the Cadaver Synod.

Quick Facts

• The two synods, which affirmed the findings of Theodore II's synod, ordered the acta of the Cadaver Synod destroyed, excommunicated seven cardinals involved in the Cadaver Synod, and prohibited any trial of a corpse in the future.
• In 898, John IX (898–900) also nullified the Cadaver Synod, convening one synod in Rome, and another in Ravenna.
• In December 897 Pope Theodore II (897) convened a synod that annulled the Cadaver Synod, rehabilitated Formosus, and ordered that his body, which had been recovered from the Tiber, be reburied in Saint Peter's Basilica in pontifical vestments.
• The trial was conducted by Pope Stephen VI, the successor to Formosus's successor, Pope Boniface VI.
• Lambert and his mother, the empress Angiltrude, entered Rome around the time that Stephen VI became pope, and the Cadaver Synod was conducted directly afterwards, at the beginning of 897.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Cadaver Synod". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.