The Codex Mendoza 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 ...

, believed to have been created around the year 1541. It contains a history of both the Aztec rulers and their conquests as well as a description of the daily life of pre-conquest

Aztec society Aztec society was a highly complex and stratified society that developed among the Aztecs of central Mexico in the centuries prior to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and which was built on the cultural foundations of the larger region ...

. The codex is written using traditional Aztec pictograms with a translation and explanation of the text provided in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. It is named after Don

Antonio de Mendoza Antonio de Mendoza (1495 – 21 July 1552) was a Spanish colonial administrator who was the first viceroy of New Spain, serving from 14 November 1535 to 25 November 1550, and the second viceroy of Peru, from 23 September 1551, until his d ...

(1495-1552), the

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

, who supervised its creation and who was a leading patron of native artists. Mendoza knew that the ravages of the conquest had destroyed multiple native artifacts, and that the craft traditions that generated them had been effaced. When the Spanish crown ordered Mendoza to provide evidence of the Aztec political and tribute system, he invited skilled artists and scribes who were being schooled at the Franciscan college in Tlatelolco to gather in a workshop under the supervision of Spanish priests where they could recreate the document for him and the

King of Spain The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...

. The pictorial document that they produced became known as the Codex Mendoza: it consists of seventy-one folios made of Spanish paper measuring 20.6 × 30.6 centimeters (8.25 × 12.25 inches). The document is crafted in the native style, but it now is bound at a spine in the manner of European books. The codex is also known as the Codex Mendocino and ''La colección Mendoza'', and has been held at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

since 1659. It was on display as part of the Bodleian's ''Gifts and Books'' exhibition from 16 June to 29 October 2023. The Bodleian Library holds four other

Mesoamerican codices Mesoamerican codices are manuscripts that present traits of the Mesoamerican indigenous pictoric tradition, either in content, style, or in regards to their symbolic conventions. The unambiguous presence of Mesoamerican writing systems in some of ...

: Codex Bodley, Codex Laud, Codex Selden, and the Selden Roll.

History

The manuscript must date from after 6 July 1529, since

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

is referred to on folio 15r as 'marques del Valle'. It must have been produced before 1553, when it was in the possession of the French cosmographer

André Thevet André Thevet (; ; 1516 – 23 November 1590) was a French Franciscan priest, explorer, cosmographer and writer who travelled to the Near East and South America. His most significant book was ''The New Found World, or Antarctike'', which comp ...

, who wrote his name on folios 1r, 2r, 70v, 71v. The final page of the manuscript explains some of the circumstances in which it was produced. The manuscript was therefore finished in haste and designed to be sent to Spain. More precise information regarding the exact date of the manuscript and the reasons it was produced is controversial. The testimony of the conquistador Jerónimo López, probably dating from 1547, may be relevant. Silvio Zavala argued that the book referred to was the Codex Mendoza, and his arguments were restated by Federico Gómez de Orozco. If this is the case, then the Codex was written ('six years ago more or less' from López's recollection) and was commissioned by Mendoza. As H. B. Nicolson has pointed out, however, the description is not an exact fit for the Codex, and the identification is not certain. According to a later account by

Samuel Purchas Samuel Purchas ( – 1626) was an England, English Anglican cleric who published several volumes of reports by travellers to foreign countries. Career Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex, England, Essex, son of a yeoman. He graduated from St J ...

, a later owner of the Codex, writing in 1625, the Spanish fleet was attacked by French

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

s and all of the booty, including the codex, was taken to France. It was certainly in the possession of André Thévet, cosmographer to King

Henry II of France Henry II (; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was List of French monarchs#House of Valois-Angoulême (1515–1589), King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I of France, Francis I and Claude of France, Claude, Du ...

. Thévet wrote his name in five places on the codex, twice with the date 1553. It was later owned by the Englishman

Richard Hakluyt Richard Hakluyt (; 1553 – 23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is known for promoting the British colonization of the Americas, English colonization of North America through his works, notably ''Divers Voyages Touching the Discov ...

. According again to Samuel Purchas, Hakluyt bought the Codex for 20

French francs The franc (; , ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It ...

. Some time after 1616 it was passed to Samuel Purchas, then to his son, and then to

John Selden John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned m ...

. The codex was deposited into the

in 1659, five years after Selden's death, where it remained in obscurity until 1831, when it was rediscovered by Viscount Kingsborough and brought to the attention of scholars.

Content

Written on European paper, it contains 71 pages, divided into three sections: *Section I, folios 1r to 17r or 18r, is a history of the Aztec people from 1325 through 1521 — from the founding of

Tenochtitlan , also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...

through the Spanish conquest. It lists the reign of each ruler and the towns conquered by them. It is uncertain whether folios 17v and 18r belong to Section I or Section II. *Section II, folios 17v or 18v to 54v, provides a list of the towns conquered by the Triple Alliance and the tributes paid by each. This section is closely related to, and probably copied from, the Matrícula de Tributos, but the Codex Mendoza contains five provinces not included in the Matrícula. This probably represents material now missing from the Matrícula, but present when the Codex Mendoza was copied. *Section III, folios 56v to 71v, is a pictorial depiction of the daily life of the Aztecs. Folios 73 to 85 of MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1, as currently foliated, do not form part of the Codex Mendoza. These folios comprise an originally separate manuscript, apparently written in England in the first half of the seventeenth century. This manuscript contains tables of the comparative value of Roman, Greek, English, and French money. The two manuscripts were bound together in England in the early seventeenth century.

Section I

Gallery

Image:Codex Mendoza folio 2r.jpg, Folio 2 recto
Founding of

Image:Codex Mendoza folio 4v.jpg, Folio 4 verso
Conquests of

Chimalpopoca Chimalpopoca ( for "smoking shield," ) or Chīmalpopōcatzin (1397–1427) was the third Emperor of Tenochtitlan (1417–1427). Biography Chimalpopoca was born to the Emperor Huitzilihuitl and Queen Ayauhcihuatl. Rule Chimalpopoca was cro ...

Image:Codex Mendoza folio 5v.jpg, Folio 5 verso
Conquests of

Itzcoatl Itzcoatl ( , "Obsidian Serpent", ) (c. 1380–1440) was the fourth king of Tenochtitlan, and the founder of the Aztec Empire, ruling from 1427 to 1440. Under Itzcoatl the Mexica of Tenochtitlan threw off the domination of the Tepanecs and esta ...

Image:Codex Mendoza folio 10r.jpg, Folio 10 recto
Conquests of

Axayacatl Axayacatl (; ; ; meaning "face of water"; –1481) was the sixth of the of Tenochtitlan and Emperor of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Biography Early life and background Axayacatl was a son of the princess Atotoztli II and her cousin, prince ...

Image:Codex Mendoza folio 13r.jpg, Folio 13 recto
Conquests of

Ahuitzotl Ahuitzotl (, ) was the eighth Aztec ruler, the '' Huey Tlatoani'' of the city of Tenochtitlan, son of princess Atotoztli II. His name literally means "Water Thorny" and was also applied to the otter. It is also theorized that more likely, the ...

Section II

Gallery

Image:Codex Mendoza folio 17v.jpg, Folio 17 verso Image:Codex Mendoza folio 20r.jpg, Folio 20 recto Image:Codex Mendoza folio 37r.jpg, Folio 37 recto Image:Codex Mendoza folio 43r.jpg, Folio 43 recto Image:Codex Mendoza folio 46r.jpg, Folio 46 recto Image:Codex Mendoza folio 47r.jpg, Folio 47 recto Image:Codex Mendoza folio 52r.jpg, Folio 52 recto

Section III

Gallery

File:Codex Mendoza folio 57r.jpg, Folio 57 recto, A birth of a baby File:Codex Mendoza folio 58r.jpg, Folio 58 recto File:Codex Mendoza folio 60r.jpg, Folio 60 recto, Punishments and chores of children, ages 11 to 14 File:Codex Mendoza folio 61r.jpg, Folio 61 recto
''(top)'' 15-year-old boys beginning training in the military or the priesthood
''(bottom)'' A 15-year-old girl gets married File:Codex Mendoza folio 62r.jpg, Folio 62 recto, ''(top rest)'' Participation of students and punishments for misbehavior ''(bottom)'' Preparation to warriorhood File:Codex Mendoza folio 64r.jpg, Folio 64 recto
''(top)'' Duties of novice priests
''(bottom)'' Ranks awarded to warriors File:Codex Mendoza folio 65r.png, Folio 65 recto
''(top)'' Ranks award to priest-warriors
''(bottom)'' Imperial officers File:Codex Mendoza folio 67r.jpg, Folio 67 recto
''(top)'' Warriors scout a town at night in preparation for an attack
''(middle)'' Negotiations after surrender.
''(bottom)'' High-ranking commanders File:Codex Mendoza folio 69r.jpg, Folio 69 recto

Moctezuma II Moctezuma Xocoyotzin . ( – 29 June 1520), retroactively referred to in European sources as Moctezuma II, and often simply called Montezuma,Other variant spellings include Moctezuma, Motewksomah, Motecuhzomatzin, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma, Motē ...

's palace

References

* * * *

External links

A description of the CodexReview of ''The Essential Codex Mendoza''Details of public exhibitionFull digital facsimile with transcriptions, translations and commentaryMS. Arch. Selden. A. 1
In the Bodleian Libraries catalogue of Medieval Manuscripts
Full digital facsimile
available on Digital Bodleian
Full digital facsimile
available on INAH {{Authority control Mendoza, Codex 1540s books 16th-century illuminated manuscripts Aztec society 1540s in Mexico 1540s in New Spain Bodleian Library collection Tourist attractions in Oxford 1540s in North America 16th century in the Aztec civilization Aztec philosophy

History

Content

Section I

Gallery

Section II

Gallery

Section III

Gallery

See also

References

External links