History Branches Out: Narrative and Chronology in Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147
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Giulia Boitani
Abstract
This chapter centers on a late thirteenth-century compilation of Arthurian prose narratives in French. The particularity of Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147 is that it interpolates biblical, historical, and pastoral material within texts from the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and that it mostly does so by presenting interpolations as spoken by characters in the story. In addition to arguing that the presentation of historical knowledge as speech helps to showcase how this knowledge can be used and misused by characters depending on how they pay attention to the lessons imparted to them, this chapter argues that these interpolations-as-speech-acts present a non-linear conception of history that the Lancelot-Grail echoes. Bodmer 147 thus makes history by problematizing how history is narrativized and by questioning the usefulness of chronology.
Abstract
This chapter centers on a late thirteenth-century compilation of Arthurian prose narratives in French. The particularity of Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147 is that it interpolates biblical, historical, and pastoral material within texts from the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and that it mostly does so by presenting interpolations as spoken by characters in the story. In addition to arguing that the presentation of historical knowledge as speech helps to showcase how this knowledge can be used and misused by characters depending on how they pay attention to the lessons imparted to them, this chapter argues that these interpolations-as-speech-acts present a non-linear conception of history that the Lancelot-Grail echoes. Bodmer 147 thus makes history by problematizing how history is narrativized and by questioning the usefulness of chronology.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Abbreviations IX
- List of Figures XI
- Notes on Contributors XVII
- Introduction: History, Manuscripts, Making 1
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I Strategies of Production
- Assemblages and History in a Medieval French Manuscript from Corbie, ca. 1295: Copenhagen, Kongelige Biblioteket, GKS 487 f° 23
- Writing with the Book: History through the Codex and the Materiality of Autography 47
- Miscellanies of Histories: Perception of the Past and Historiographical Agency of Late Medieval Compilers 71
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II The Stakes of Adaptation
- Writing History with Bede’s Martyrology, 800–1200 95
- Adaptation and Affect in Orderic Vitalis’s Historia ecclesiastica 117
- From Little Egypt to Zurich: Chronicling Romani Immigrants with Late Medieval Manuscripts 141
- Making History in the Renaissance with Medieval Manuscripts: Jean Le Féron and the Grandes chroniques de France 171
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III Configuring History
- Medieval Monastic Manuscripts after the Middle Ages: The Case of St. Nikolaus in undis at Strasbourg 199
- History Branches Out: Narrative and Chronology in Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147 225
- Fabulous History: Painting History in Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 5069 253
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IV Response
- Making History with Manuscripts: Response 287
- General Index 303
- Manuscripts Cited 315
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Abbreviations IX
- List of Figures XI
- Notes on Contributors XVII
- Introduction: History, Manuscripts, Making 1
-
I Strategies of Production
- Assemblages and History in a Medieval French Manuscript from Corbie, ca. 1295: Copenhagen, Kongelige Biblioteket, GKS 487 f° 23
- Writing with the Book: History through the Codex and the Materiality of Autography 47
- Miscellanies of Histories: Perception of the Past and Historiographical Agency of Late Medieval Compilers 71
-
II The Stakes of Adaptation
- Writing History with Bede’s Martyrology, 800–1200 95
- Adaptation and Affect in Orderic Vitalis’s Historia ecclesiastica 117
- From Little Egypt to Zurich: Chronicling Romani Immigrants with Late Medieval Manuscripts 141
- Making History in the Renaissance with Medieval Manuscripts: Jean Le Féron and the Grandes chroniques de France 171
-
III Configuring History
- Medieval Monastic Manuscripts after the Middle Ages: The Case of St. Nikolaus in undis at Strasbourg 199
- History Branches Out: Narrative and Chronology in Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147 225
- Fabulous History: Painting History in Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 5069 253
-
IV Response
- Making History with Manuscripts: Response 287
- General Index 303
- Manuscripts Cited 315
