other predecessor successor death_date death_place image_size name term_start image article_title term_end birth_name type
stephen boniface vi romanus august 897 ??? 220px stephen vi 22 may 896 stephen vi.jpg pope stephen vi
 august 897 ??? pope
pope stephen vi

pope stephen vi -lrb- ; died august 897 -rrb- was pope from 22 may 896 to his death in 897 .
he had been made bishop of anagni by pope formosus .
the circumstances of his election are unclear , but he was sponsored by one of the powerful roman families , the house of spoleto , that contested the papacy at the time .
stephen is chiefly remembered in connection with his conduct towards the remains of pope formosus , his last predecessor but one .
the rotting corpse of formosus was exhumed and put on trial in the so-called cadaver synod -lrb- or `` synodus horrenda '' -rrb- in january 897 .
pressure from the spoleto contingent and stephen 's fury with his predecessor probably precipitated this extraordinary event .
with the corpse propped up on a throne , a deacon was appointed to answer for the deceased pontiff .
during the trial , formosus 's corpse was condemned for performing the functions of a bishop when he had been deposed and for receiving the pontificate while he was the bishop of porto , among other revived charges that had been levelled against him in the strife during the pontificate of john viii .
the corpse was found guilty , stripped of its sacred vestments , deprived of three fingers of its right hand -lrb- the blessing fingers -rrb- , clad in the garb of a layman , and quickly buried ; it was then re-exhumed and thrown in the tiber .
all ordinations performed by formosus were annulled .
the trial excited a tumult .
though the instigators of the deed may actually have been formosus ' enemies of the house of spoleto -lrb- notably guy iv of spoleto -rrb- , who had recovered their authority in rome at the beginning of 897 by renouncing their broader claims in central italy , the scandal ended in stephen 's imprisonment and his death by strangling that summer .
