This day in history: The Erfurt latrine disaster happened on this day in 1184.
The Erfurt latrine disaster occurred when Henry VI, King of Germany (later Holy Roman Emperor), held a Hoftag (informal assembly) in the Petersberg Citadel in Erfurt. On the morning of July 26, 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.
All of the nobles across the Holy Roman Empire were invited to the meeting, and many arrived on July 25 to attend. Just as the assembly began, the wooden floor of the deanery, in 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 are said to have died, including Count Gozmar III of Ziegenhain, Count Friedrich I of Abenberg, Burgrave Friedrich I of Kirchberg, Count Heinrich I of Schwarzburg, Count Burgrave Burchard of Wartburg [de], Burgmeister Breuer of Wartschitt and Beringer of Meldingen. King Henry was said to have survived only because he sat in an alcove with a stone floor and was later saved using ladders. He departed as soon as possible. Landgrave Louis III of Thuringia survived as well.
Of those who died, many drowned in human excrement or suffocated from the fumes emitted by the decomposing waste, while others were crushed by falling debris.
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