The threefold movement of St. Adalbert’s head

Throughout the Middle Ages the head of St. Adalbert - bishop of Prague, martyr, and patron saint of Poland, Bohemia, Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire - was set in motion in three ways. Firstly, no less than three actual human skulls were maneuvered in threedimensional - and, at the same time, in sacred and political - space. Secondly, St. Adalbert’s hagiographers occasionally dabbled in the topos of cephalophoria - miraculous portage of the head by its decollated owner. The third level is the portability of this body part in visual representation. The purpose of this paper is to discuss convergences between these medium-specific practices, which prove far less general and obvious than one might assume.