The skull-cup motif in Gerbert de Metz between intertextuality and ethnography

The present study examines the so-called Fromont’s skull episode as contained in Gerbert de Metz (c. 1180-1210). The analysis focuses on the literary and historical accounts attesting the practice of making a cup out of a human skull, to determine if they might have acted as sources for the poem. Taking into consideration archaeological data, anthropological finds and neglected Christian cultual practices, the study sheds a new light on the episode.