Pope Formosus (896) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as pope was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Kingdom of West Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire. Because he sided with Arnulf of Carinthia against Lambert of Spoleto, Formosus's remains were exhumed and put on trial in the Cadaver Synod. Several of his immediate successors were primarily preoccupied by the controversial legacy of his pontificate. Early career Probably a native of Rome, Formosus was born around 816. He became cardinal bishop of Porto in 864. Two years later, Pope Nicholas I appointed him a legate to Bulgaria (866). He also undertook diplomatic missions to France (869 and 872). Upon the death of Louis II of Italy in 875, the nobles elected his uncle Charles the Bald to be the new emperor. Formosus conveyed Pope John VIII's invitation for Charles to come to Rome to be crowned. Charles took the crown at Pavia and received the imperial insignia in Rome on 29 December. The supporters of Louis' other uncle, Louis the German, or Louis's widow, Engelberga, opposed the coronation. Fearing political retribution, many of them left Rome surreptitiously. Formosus fled to Tours after despoiling the cloisters in Rome. On April 19, John VIII called a synod which ordered Formosus and other papal officials to return to Rome. When Formosus did not comply, he was removed from the ranks of the clergy and excommunicated on the grounds that he had deserted his diocese without papal permission, and had aspired to the position of archbishop of Bulgaria. Additional charges included the accusations that he had opposed the emperor; "conspired with certain iniquitous men and women for the destruction of the Papal See"; and had despoiled the cloisters in Rome. The condemnation of Formosus and others was announced in July 876. In 878 the sentence of excommunication was withdrawn after he promised never to return to Rome or exercise his priestly functions. In 867, while Formosus was serving as legate to the Bulgarian court, Boris I requested that he be named archbishop of Bulgaria. Since the canons forbade a bishop to change sees, the request was denied. As early as 872 he was a candidate for the papacy; Johann Peter Kirsch suggests that the pope may have viewed the