Col on Nostr: Nobles from across the Holy Roman Empire met for crisis talks on a summer’s day in ...

Nobles from across the Holy Roman Empire met for crisis talks on a summer’s day in 1184, but they literally ended up in the toilet. Between 60 and 100 members succumbed to a spectacularly foul demise in an ancient church in Erfurt. The ageing floor beneath their feet suddenly gave way, sending them plunging into the building’s noxious cesspit below. Many drowned in liquid excrement, others were fatally wounded in the fall, while several were asphyxiated by the evil-smelling odour.