Fraught Histories

Abstract This article argues that incongruence, a dissonance of theme, tone, or logic between two or more elements copresent in a manuscript, played the constitutive role of involving readers in the interpretation of history. Through a case study of a Northern Italian manuscript in French made in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, Paris, BnF, fr. 821, the article shows how in a multi-text compilation with an overall narrative arc and thematic coherence, incongruence is foregrounded textually and visually to highlight divergences between elements. It fleshes out incongruence as a critical category and examines three types of incongruence occurring in fr. 821: incongruities of facts, incongruities of form—notably the co-occurrence of prose and verse—and incongruities of assessment with regard to important historical figures. This article complements the historical argument that incongruence was part of medieval history-writing through compilation with the substantive argument that incongruence elicits a participative and collaborative reading that may have been particularly relevant in the Northern Italian context where fr. 821 was read.