New Delhi: There are many ways to die, but to fall in the latrine and then drown in human excrement is possibly the worst way to leave this life. That is exactly what happened in the Erfurt latrine disaster which, as the name suggests, was indeed a foul tragedy. In the incident, about 60 nobles drowned in liquid excrement. Who would have thought that the elites of the society would die like that? It remains one of the most bizarre incidents in the history of the world. In this article, we will take a look at how the disaster took place.
The prelude to the Erfurt latrine disaster
A feud between Archbishop Conrad of Mainz and Landgrave Louis III of Thuringia had existed since the defeat of Henry the Lion and it intensified during the reign of King Henry VI. In July 1184, the Hohenstaufen dynasty’s King Henry VI who was ruler of Erfurt and the future Holy Roman Emperor, called an informal assembly. It is thought to have been within the Petersberg Citadel at Erfurt in today’s Germany. At that time, the king was staying at Erfurt while traveling through the region during a military campaign against Poland.
The reason of dispute between the two parties remain unknown but it could have been land disputes which were common at that time. Also, political tensions prevailed at that time among the empire’s patchwork of princedoms, bishoprics, and myriad city-states. King Henry VI was determined to resolve the issue and hence summoned dozens of aristocrats and high-ranking officials to the meeting.
The Erfurt latrine disaster: When elites drowned in human poop
On the morning of July 26, 1184, the meeting started with the room filled with high-profile nobles of the empire. The meeting took place on the Petersberg Citadel’s second floor, below which was the latrine. Due to the combined weight of the nobles, the ancient wooden floor collapsed and 60 to 100 nobles fell into the latrine below, a cesspit filled with human waste.
The disaster killed around 60 to 100 nobles who were either crushed by the falling woodwork, drowned in the latrine, or were asphyxiated by the rotting sewage’s fumes. While many elites of the empire died, King Henry VI, Archbishop Conrad, and Landgrave Ludwig III survived the horrible accident. The king was reportedly sitting in an alcove with a stone floor due to which he survived and was later saved using ladders.
The disaster led to a change in the medieval sanitation practices with focus on public health and hygiene standards. In Europe, sewage systems improved and also led to a change in medieval architecture. It also changed the placements of latrines within the buildings as they were not placed directly beneath meeting rooms.
The Erfurt Latrine Disaster of 1184 saw the deaths of 60 to 100 nobles after a meeting room floor collapsed into a latrine. A feud between Archbishop Conrad and Landgrave Louis III, mediated by King Henry VI, led to a large gathering. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
