"about 60 of them drowned in liquid excrement"

I am so sorry to do this, but: What a shitty way to go.

Seriously, though, the though of drowning is terrifying to me when it's clear, fresh water, but drowning in a literal cesspool sounds much worse. I don't know if the poor souls who died in this incident noticed the difference. But it sounds really terrifying. Also, the poor people who had to recover the bodies for a proper burial.

With 900+ years of distance it's easy to chuckle at it, but if you try to put yourself into these people's shoes, it's not funny. OTOH, there were so many awful things going on back then, I wonder if this one really stuck out to anyone but the victims' relatives.