The ''Ramírez Codex'' (''Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia'', MNA 35-100), not to be confused with the

Tovar Codex Tovar may refer to: People *Tovar (surname) * List of characters in The Strangerhood#Tovar, Tovar, a fictional character from ''The Strangerhood'' * Tovar Perri Places * Tobar or Tovar, a Spanish village ruled by the Tovar family in the Middle-Age ...

, is a post-

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

codex from the late 16th century entitled ''Relación del origen de los indios que hábitan esta Nueva España según sus Historias'' ("An Account of the Origin of the Indians who Inhabit this New Spain according to their Histories"). The manuscript is named after the Mexican scholar

José Fernando Ramírez José Fernando Ramírez (5 May 1804 – 4 March 1871) was a distinguished Mexican historian in the 19th century. He was a mentor of Alfredo Chavero, who considered him "the foremost of our historians." Ramírez was born in Parral, Chihuahua b ...

, who discovered it in 1856 in the convent of San Francisco in Mexico City.

Creation and contents

The manuscript was presumably created by the jesuit Juan de Tovar ca. 1583-1587 under the auspices of the historian

José de Acosta José de Acosta (1539 or 1540 in Medina del Campo, Spain – February 15, 1600 in Salamanca, Spain) was a sixteenth-century Spanish Jesuit missionary and naturalist in Latin America. His deductions regarding the ill effects of crossing over the ...

. The manuscript deals with the history of the Aztec since their origins at the legendary location of Aztlan until the Spanish

. Besides the text of the ''Relación'', the manuscript contains 32 line drawings which are parallel to those found in the work of

Diego Durán Diego Durán (c. 1537 – 1588) was a Dominican friar best known for his authorship of one of the earliest Western books on the history and culture of the Aztecs, ''The History of the Indies of New Spain'', a book that was much criticised in hi ...

, in which the text is probably partly inspired, although diverging in significant ways. It is considered as a draft or earlier version of what would be the

, a later, full color version of the same account prepared by Tovar and send to Spain to Acosta, which is now kept in the

John Carter Brown Library The John Carter Brown Library is an independently funded research library of history and the humanities on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The library's rare book, manuscript, and map collections encompass a variety of ...

in Providence. The ''Codex Ramirez'' comprises three sections or treatises: An Aztec imperial history; a book about deities and their festivals; and a brief account of the native calendar. The most detailed and important section is the first treatise, which chronicles the rise of the Aztec empire and the Spanish conquest. Tovar asserts that his works were prepared with the original information of Aztec informants from Tula; however, historians argue that he also extensively utilized the works of Diego Durán, given the undeniable parallels between both. Many scholars believe that, while Tovar may have drawn from Durán, both of them, along with Tezozomoc, based their works on an earlier Nahuatl source (now lost), that is presumed to have been compiled by one or more

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

historians sometime shortly after the conquest. This earlier document (or documents) is often referred to as "''

Crónica X ''"Crónica X"'' () is the name given by Mesoamerican researchers to a postulated primary-source early 16th century historical work on the traditional history of the Aztec and other central Mexican peoples, which some researchers theorize formed t ...

''" ("Chronicle X") and is proposed to be the original or influential source of a number of early manuscripts (such as the Ramírez, Durán and Acosta codices), based on similarities in their content, which coincide in the exaltation of the Cihuacoatl

Tlacaelel Tlacaelel I (1397 – 1487) ( nci, Tlācaēllel , "Man of Strong Emotions," from "tlācatl," person and "ēllelli," strong emotion) was the principal architect of the Aztec Triple Alliance and hence the Mexica (Aztec) empire. He was the son ...

as the crucial figure in the consolidation and expansion of the Aztec empire. The illustrations that accompany the manuscript were created using traditional indigenous techniques by an Aztec book painter or ''tlacuiloque''. They are uncoloured, and written indications for illumination are still left in some plates, as in number 26 and 28. The first eighteen drawings are parallel to those in Durán's ''Historia de las Indias de Nueva España e Islas de Tierra Firme''; numbers 29 and 30 are calendar wheels, while the final two drawings are entirely original, depicting the Spanish Conquest.

Discovery and publication

The ''Ramírez Codex'' was discovered in 1856 by

in the library of the convent of San Francisco in Mexico City. Ramírez prepared its publication but sadly didn't live to see its first publication, which was finally done by

Manuel Orozco y Berra Manuel Orozco y Berra (8 June 1816 – 27 January 1881; He was born and died in Mexico City) was a Mexican historian and a member of the Mexican Academy of Language. He was a disciple of José Fernando Ramírez and Joaquín García Icazbalceta and ...

in his 1847 edition of the work Crónica Mexicana by

Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

. To honour Ramírez, Orozco y Berra gave his name to the codex itself; in his edition, he published both the Codex and the work of Tezozomoc together along with Ramírez preface, and intercalated the plates from ''Codex Ramírez'' along the whole volume. It was only later, with the edition of Editorial Inovación in 1979, that the Codex Ramírez was published in standalone form. The work has been subsequently translated to French, and English.

The Illustrations of the Ramírez Codex

File:Códice Ramírez 1 and 2.jpg, Plates 1 and 2. Chicomoztoc and Tollan File:Códice Ramírez 3 and 4.jpg, Plates 3 and 4. The founding of Tenochtitlan and Battle at Chapultepec File:Códice Ramírez 5 and 6.jpg, Plates 5 and 6. Acamapichtli and Huitzilihuitl File:Códice Ramírez 7 and 8.jpg, Plates 7 and 8. Chimalpopoca and Itzcoatl File:Códice Ramírez 9 and 10.jpg, Plates 9 and 10. Battles at Azcapotzalco and Coyoacan File:Códice Ramírez 11 and 12.jpg, Plates 11 and 12. Sacrifice of a warrior. Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. File:Códice Ramírez 13 and 14.jpg, Plates 13 and 14: Tizoc and Axayacatl File:Códice Ramírez 15 and 16.jpg, Plates 15 and 16. The sorcerers receive the water of Cuextecatl, Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. File:Códice Ramírez 17 and 18.jpg, Plates 17 and 18. Dancing. Huitzilopochtli File:Códice Ramírez 19 and 20.jpg, Plates 19 and 20. Aztec temples, human sacrifices File:Códice Ramírez 21 and 22.jpg, Plates 20 and 21. Aztec gods. File:Códice Ramírez 22 and 23.jpg, Plates 22 and 23. Priests and funerals. File:Códice Ramírez 25 and 26.jpg, Plates 25 and 26. Quetzalcoatl. The feast of Tlacaxipehualiztli File:Códice Ramírez 25 and 28.jpg, Plates 27 and 28. Xipe Totec. Funeral File:Códice Ramírez 29 and 30.jpg, Plates 29 and 30. Calendric Wheels File:Códice Ramírez 31 and 32.jpg, Plates 31 and 32. The Spanish Conquest

Creation and contents

Discovery and publication

The Illustrations of the Ramírez Codex

References

See also