Page "Cadaver Synod" Paragraph 10

This view is now considered obsolete, following the arguments put forth by Joseph Duhr in 1932.

Duhr pointed out that Lambert was in attendance at the Ravenna Council of 898, convened under John IX.

It was at this proceeding that the decrees of the Cadaver Synod were revoked.

According to the written acta of the council, Lambert actively approved of the nullification.

If Lambert and Angiltrude had been the architects of Formosus ’ degradation, Duhr asked, “ how [...] was John IX able to submit to the canons which condemned the odious synod for approbation of the emperor Lambert and his bishops?

How could John IX have dared to broach the matter [...] before the guilty parties, without even making the least allusion to the emperor ’ s participation ?” This position has been accepted by another scholar: Girolamo Arnaldi argued Formosus did not pursue an exclusively pro-Carolingian policy, and that he even had friendly relations with Lambert as late as 895.

Their relations only soured when Lambert's cousin, Guy IV, marched on Benevento and expelled the Byzantines there.

Formosus panicked at the aggression and sent emissaries into Bavaria seeking Arnulf's help.

Arnaldi argues that it was Guy IV, who had entered Rome along with Lambert and his mother Angiltrude in January 897, who provided the impetus for the synod.