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Codex Mendoza

1541-1650

Held by Duke Humfrey's Library, Bodleian, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1read here

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The Codex Mendoza is an Aztec pictorial manuscript of 71 folios made in Mexico around 1541 by native artists, with Spanish glosses added by priests. It has three sections: a history of the Aztec rulers from the founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325 to the Spanish conquest, with the towns each ruler took; a list of the towns of the empire and the tribute each paid; and a picture of Aztec life from birth to death. It is painted in native style but bound like a European book.

Where it happens

  1. Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) The Aztec capital whose founding opens the history in the first section.1
  2. Tlatelolco The Franciscan college here trained the native artists and scribes who made the codex.1
  3. Paris The codex reached France and was owned by the cosmographer to Henry II, André Thévet.1
  4. Oxford The Bodleian Library has held the codex since 1659 at the latest.12

Through time

  1. 1325Start of the history in the first section, the founding of Tenochtitlan.12
  2. 1529Earliest possible date, since Cortés is named marques del Valle on folio 15r.1
  3. 1541Approximate date the codex was made in Mexico under Viceroy Mendoza.1
  4. 1553Thévet owns the codex and writes his name in it with this date.1
  5. 1659Codex is deposited in the Bodleian Library.1
  6. 1831Viscount Kingsborough rediscovers it and brings it to scholars.1
  7. 2023Shown in the Bodleian exhibition Gifts and Books.1

Who is in it, and behind it

Antonio de Mendoza patron

Viceroy of New Spain who supervised the making of the codex and gives it its name.1

André Thévet subject

French royal cosmographer who owned the codex by 1553 and signed his name on several folios.12

Richard Hakluyt subject

English geographer who later owned the codex, reportedly buying it for 20 French francs.12

Samuel Purchas subject

Later owner who in 1625 told how French privateers took the codex and brought it to France.12

John Selden subject

Collector who held the codex before its deposit in the Bodleian Library.12

Hernán Cortés subject

Named on folio 15r as marques del Valle, which dates the manuscript after July 1529.1

What it is about

History as a list of conquests

Each Aztec ruler is shown with the towns he conquered, from Tenochtitlan's founding to the Spanish conquest in 1521.12

Tribute as political record

Section two lists the towns of the empire and what each paid, and seems copied from the Matricula de Tributos.12

Daily life from birth to death

The last section shows Aztec life cycles, from a newborn to the punishments and chores of children aged 11 to 14.12

Native hand, Spanish glosses

Painted in the traditional pictographic style, with Spanish text added to explain it, in a European binding.1

Pages worth stopping at

  1. fol. 1vFolio 2r shows the founding of Tenochtitlan, the start of the Aztec history.1
  2. fol. 4rFolio 4v shows the conquests of the ruler Chimalpopoca.1
  3. fol. 9vFolio 10r shows the conquests of Axayacatl.1
  4. fol. 12vFolio 13r shows the conquests of Ahuitzotl.1
  5. fol. 56vFolio 57r shows the birth of a baby, in the section on Aztec daily life.1
  6. fol. 59vFolio 60r shows punishments and chores of children aged 11 to 14.1
  7. fol. 71rFolio 71v bears one of André Thévet's signatures of ownership.1

How it came to be here

It was made in the 1540s, named for Antonio de Mendoza, first viceroy of New Spain, who supervised the work. Artists and scribes schooled at the Franciscan college in Tlatelolco worked in a workshop under Spanish priests. The manuscript was meant for the Spanish king but was seized by French privateers, and by 1553 it belonged to the French cosmographer André Thévet. It then passed through Hakluyt, Purchas and Selden to the Bodleian Library, where it has been since the 1650s and was rediscovered by scholars in 1831.

Sources

  1. Codex Mendoza (Wikipedia)
  2. Bodleian Library MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1, IIIF manifest and catalogue summary

Images: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. CC BY-NC 4.0.

Holder's record · IIIF manifest

Also from Duke Humfrey's Library, Bodleian