Erfurt latrine disaster

An accident in Erfurt, Duchy of Thuringia, caused the deaths of at least 60 people in 1184. A number of nobles from across the Holy Roman Empire were meeting in a room at the Church of St. Peter, when their combined weight caused the floor to collapse into the latrine beneath the cellar and led to dozens of nobles drowning in liquid excrement.[1]

Background

A feud between Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia and Archbishop Conrad of Mainz which had existed since the defeat of Henry the Lion intensified to the point that King Henry VI was forced to intervene while he was traveling through the region during a military campaign against Poland. Henry decided to call a diet in Erfurt where he was staying to mediate the situation between the two and invited a number of other figures to the negotiations.[2]

Event

Nobles across the Holy Roman Empire were invited to the meeting, and many arrived on 25 July to attend.[3] Just as the assembly began, the wooden floor of the provost of St. Mary, on which the nobles were sitting, broke under the stress, and people fell down through the first floor into the latrine in the cellar. About 60 people died, including Count Frederick of Abinberc, Count Henry of Thuringia, Count Gozmar (de) of Hesse, Count Frederick of Kirchberg, and Burchard of Wartburg.[4] King Henry was said to have survived only because he sat in an alcove with a stone floor.[3]

Original texts

References
  1. "Curio #1: The Erfurter Latrinensturz". The Fortweekly. April 2008. Archived from the original on 2019-09-03.
  2. "26. Juli 1184 : Erfurter Latrinensturz". Bayerischer Rundfunk (in German). 2011-07-26.
  3. "RI IV,2,4 n. 2778, Friedrich I., 1184 Juli 25–26, Erfurt : Regesta Imperii". www.regesta-imperii.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  4. "Chronik von St. Peter zu Erfurt" (in German). Archived from the original on 2010-10-04.
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