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The Cadaver Synod: A Dead Pope on Trial
If you love history, true crime, or storytelling — or if you're looking for something to listen to on a long drive or help you wind down at the end of the day — this one is for you.
In the year 897, the body of Pope Formosus was dug up, dressed in papal robes, propped on a throne, and put on trial before a room full of bishops in Rome. A deacon was appointed to speak on the corpse's behalf. The verdict was decided before the first word was spoken.
Host Shawn Spainhour takes you into the unstable world of the ninth-century papacy — the collapse of Carolingian power, the Roman noble families pulling strings behind the throne, and the bitter rivalry that drove Pope Stephen VI to put a dead man on trial. This wasn't madness for its own sake. It was a calculated act of political erasure, an attempt to unmake a pope's entire legacy and rewrite the authority of the Church itself.
The episode also covers the aftermath: the outrage that swept Rome, Stephen's own violent downfall, and the question of what bodies, relics, and legitimacy truly meant in the medieval world.
Strange Epochs tells true stories from history's stranger corners. Each episode is written for deep listening — slow, atmospheric, and immersive. Whether you're behind the wheel, unwinding after a long day, or settling in for sleep, this show is built to pull you in and carry you somewhere else.
Sources are listed below and in the show notes:
- Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. Yale University Press, 1997.
- Liutprand of Cremona. Antapodosis (Retribution), circa 958–962. Translated by Paolo Squatriti, Catholic University of America Press, 2007.
- Mann, Horace K. The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages. Kegan Paul, 1902.
- Moore, Michael Edward. The Attack on Pope Formosus: Papal History in an Age of Resentment, 875 to 897. In Ecclesia et Violentia, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014.
- Monroe, William S. The Trials of Pope Formosus. PhD dissertation, Columbia University, 2021.
- Annales Alamannici. Contemporary chronicle entry for the year 897. Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
- Kelly, J. N. D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford University Press, 1986.
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By Shawn SpainhourIf you love history, true crime, or storytelling — or if you're looking for something to listen to on a long drive or help you wind down at the end of the day — this one is for you.
In the year 897, the body of Pope Formosus was dug up, dressed in papal robes, propped on a throne, and put on trial before a room full of bishops in Rome. A deacon was appointed to speak on the corpse's behalf. The verdict was decided before the first word was spoken.
Host Shawn Spainhour takes you into the unstable world of the ninth-century papacy — the collapse of Carolingian power, the Roman noble families pulling strings behind the throne, and the bitter rivalry that drove Pope Stephen VI to put a dead man on trial. This wasn't madness for its own sake. It was a calculated act of political erasure, an attempt to unmake a pope's entire legacy and rewrite the authority of the Church itself.
The episode also covers the aftermath: the outrage that swept Rome, Stephen's own violent downfall, and the question of what bodies, relics, and legitimacy truly meant in the medieval world.
Strange Epochs tells true stories from history's stranger corners. Each episode is written for deep listening — slow, atmospheric, and immersive. Whether you're behind the wheel, unwinding after a long day, or settling in for sleep, this show is built to pull you in and carry you somewhere else.
Sources are listed below and in the show notes:
- Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. Yale University Press, 1997.
- Liutprand of Cremona. Antapodosis (Retribution), circa 958–962. Translated by Paolo Squatriti, Catholic University of America Press, 2007.
- Mann, Horace K. The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages. Kegan Paul, 1902.
- Moore, Michael Edward. The Attack on Pope Formosus: Papal History in an Age of Resentment, 875 to 897. In Ecclesia et Violentia, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014.
- Monroe, William S. The Trials of Pope Formosus. PhD dissertation, Columbia University, 2021.
- Annales Alamannici. Contemporary chronicle entry for the year 897. Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
- Kelly, J. N. D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford University Press, 1986.