The Erfurt Latrine Disaster

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]In 1184, a great meeting was held in the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire.

[00:00:06]Noblemen, bishops, and knights gathered in the town of Erfurt to meet King Henry the Sixth and discuss important matters.

[00:00:14]The meeting took place in a strong fortress called the Petersberg Citadel.

[00:00:19]People wore heavy clothes, armor, swords, and fine robes.

[00:00:24]So many powerful guests came to the same room that the wooden floor below them could not hold the weight.

[00:00:30]Suddenly, the floor broke.

[00:00:33]The nobles fell through into the room below, which was a latrine pit.

[00:00:39]A latrine was a medieval toilet, and this one was connected to a filthy sewage chamber.

[00:00:45]It was a terrifying and disgusting disaster.

[00:00:49]Many people were trapped in the waste and could not escape.

[00:00:54]Medieval writers said that about 60 noblemen died there.

[00:00:58]Some others survived by grabbing windows, beams, or pieces of the broken building.

[00:01:04]King Henry the Sixth survived, too, because he was standing near a window.

[00:01:10]This event became known as the Erfurt latrine disaster.

[00:01:15]It was shocking not only because of the terrible accident, but because many important leaders died at the same time.

[00:01:22]Their sudden deaths changed politics in the empire and affected how power was shared among the German nobles.