In early 897, Pope Stephen VI had the body of his predecessor Formosus exhumed, dressed in its priestly attire, and propped up in the council chamber to face trial for trumped-up charges of perjury and usurping the bishopric of Rome. During what came to be known as the Synodus Horrenda (Cadaver Synod), Stephen hurled abuse at the corpse and tauntingly challenged it to reply to his accusations. When he was inevitably found guilty, Formosus was stripped, mutilated, and thrown to mobs who obligingly consigned him to the River Tiber.