Global InformationErfurt latrine disaster information
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| Native name | Erfurter Latrinensturz |
|---|---|
| Date | 26 July 1184 |
| Venue | cathedral provostry |
| Location | Erfurt, Mainz Electorate, Holy Roman Empire |
| Cause | Drowning in excrement, suffocation, blunt force trauma from falling objects |
| Perpetrator | Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (accidental) |
| Casualties | |
| Gozmar III of Ziegenhain Count Friedrich I of Abenberg Burgrave Friedrich I of Kirchberg Count Heinrich I of Schwarzburg Count Burgrave Burchard of Wartburg Burgmeister Breuer of Wartschitt Beringer of Meldingen | |
| Deaths | ~60 |
| Property damage | Destruction of the provostry |
The Erfurt latrine disaster occurred on 26 July 1184, when Henry VI, King of Germany (later Holy Roman Emperor), held a Hoftag (informal assembly) in the cathedral provostry (in Erfurt). On the morning of 26 July, the combined weight of the assembled nobles caused the wooden second story floor of the building to collapse and most of them fell through into the latrine cesspit below the ground floor, where about 60 of them drowned in liquid excrement. This event is called the Erfurter Latrinensturz (lit. 'Erfurt latrine fall') in several German sources.[1][2][3]
- ^ "Curio #1: The Erfurter Latrinensturz". The Fortweekly. April 2008. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019.
- ^ Magnusson, Roberta J. (1 April 2003). Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire. JHU Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8018-7283-9.
- ^ Arnold, Benjamin (29 January 2004). Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany. Cambridge University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-521-52148-2.