The Codex Borbonicus is an

Aztec codex Aztec codices ( , sing. ''codex'') are Mesoamerican Codices, Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztecs, Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the New Spain, colonial period in Mexico. Most of their content is ...

written by Aztec priests shortly before or after the

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...

. It is named after the

Palais Bourbon The Palais Bourbon () is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the Rive Gauche of the Seine across from the Place de la Concorde. The offi ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and kept at the Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée Nationale in Paris. The codex is an outstanding example of how Aztec manuscript painting is crucial for the understanding of

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island ...

calendric constructions,

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

, and ritual actions.Keber, Eloise Quiñones. "Borbonicus, Codex." In Davíd Carrasco (ed).
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures [vol 1
/nowiki>">ol 1">The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures [vol 1
/nowiki>' . : Oxford University Press, 2001

History

The Codex Borbonicus is one of a very few Aztec codices that survived the colonial Spanish inquisition. When the Spanish conquistadors (led by Hernán Cortés) entered Aztec cities, they would often find libraries filled with thousands of native works. However, most of the works were destroyed during the conquest. The Codex Borbonicus was acquired in 1826 for 1,300 golds francs at auction by a French Benedictine monk, deputy-curator of the library of the National Assembly, Pierre-Paul Druon. At the time, he sought out and entrusted many rare and valuable works to the French Parliament. The Codex is considered a French national treasure and has not been allowed to leave the country since the 1960s.

Production

The early printed word of the early Mexica Civilization is quite interesting, as it contains only pictographs. It was not until the colonial era that Aztec scribes, after learning the Roman alphabet, began to incorporate text into their codices, both in Nahuatl (the native language) and Spanish. As a result, it is unknown whether Aztec codices were created by a native method or created with the help of imported methods after the arrival of the Spanish. The Codex Borbonicus is a single long sheet of

amatl Amate ( from ) is a type of bark paper that has been manufactured in Mexico since the Mesoamerican chronology, precontact times. It was used primarily to create Maya codices, codices. Amate paper was extensively produced and used for both comm ...

paper. Although there were originally 40 accordion-folded pages, the first two and the last two pages are missing. It was originally pictorial and

logographic In a written language, a logogram (from Ancient Greek 'word', and 'that which is drawn or written'), also logograph or lexigraph, is a written character that represents a semantic component of a language, such as a word or morpheme. Chinese c ...

as was usual for pre-Columbian Aztec codicies, although some Spanish descriptions have been added. There is dispute as to whether the Codex Borbonicus is pre-Columbian, as the calendar pictures all contain room above them for Spanish descriptions.

Sections

The first section is one of the most intricate surviving divinatory calendars (or '' tonalamatl''). Each page represents one of the 20

trecena A trecena (From Spanish: trece) is a 13-day period used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican calendars. The 260-day Mayan calendar (the '' tonalpohualli'') was divided into 20 trecenas. Trecena is derived from the Spanish chroniclers and translates to ...

(or 13-day periods), in the '' tonalpohualli'' (or 260-day year). Most of the page is taken up with a painting of the ruling deity or deities, with the remainder taken up with the 13 day-signs of the trecena and 13 other glyphs and deities. With these 26 symbols, the priests were able to create horoscopes and divine the future. The first 18 pages of the codex (all that remain of the original 20) show considerably more wear than the last sections, very likely indicating that these pages were consulted more often. The second section of the codex documents the

Mesoamerican Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

52-year cycle, showing in order the dates of the first days of each of these 52 solar years. These days are correlated with the nine Lords of the Night. The third section is focused on rituals and ceremonies, particularly those that end the 52-year cycle, when the " new fire" must be lit. This section is unfinished.

Notes

References

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Famsi.org: Links to each of the 36 pages of Codex BorbonicusThe Guardian "Aztec manuscript under the microscope"
{{Aztec mythology Borbonicus 1510s books 1520s books 1510s in the Aztec civilization 1520s in the Aztec civilization 16th-century illuminated manuscripts Astrological texts 1510s in Mexico 1520s in Mexico 1520s in New Spain Aztec philosophy

History

Production

Sections

See also

Notes

References