Aztec codices

Aztec codices
Name	Aztec codices
Caption	Folio from the Codex Mendoza
Period	Postclassic to early Colonial
Culture	Mexica people, Nahua
Location	Collections worldwide

Aztec codices are pictorial manuscripts produced by Nahua scribes and painters that record dynastic lineages, tribute lists, calendrical information, ritual cycles, and legal transactions produced in central Mexico before and after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. They combine pre-Columbian pictography with alphabetic glosses introduced during the early Viceroyalty of New Spain and were created in workshops linked to altepetl elites such as Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. Surviving manuscripts like the Codex Mendoza, Codex Borbonicus, and Florentine Codex are dispersed among institutions including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the British Museum, the Library of Congress, and the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

Overview and Definition

The term refers to painted and written books produced by Nahua authors associated with the Triple Alliance, Mexica rulers such as Itzcoatl and Moctezuma II, and colonial-era scribes including Antonio de Ciudad Real and Bernardino de Sahagún. Formats include accordion-fold amatl sheets used by communities in Tlatelolco and tribute record codices commissioned by viceroyal administrators like Antonio de Mendoza. These works document contacts with conquistadors such as Hernán Cortés and institutions like the Real Audiencia of Mexico, often juxtaposing pictorial glyphs with glosses in Classical Nahuatl transcribed using the Latin alphabet introduced by Franciscan and Dominican friars.

Historical Context and Production

Production arose in the late Postclassic period and continued under colonial patronage as part of Native responses to events like the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and policies implemented by the Council of the Indies. Workshops in urban centers including Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and provincial towns such as Tlaxcala and Oaxaca produced manuscripts for rulers, merchants, and ecclesiastical authorities including the Franciscan Order and the Dominican Order. Notable patrons included Moctezuma II and colonial officials such as Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, while scribes sometimes testified before bodies like the Real Audiencia of New Spain to assert land rights recorded in pictorial deeds.

Materials and Techniques

Codices were painted on bark paper called amatl, deerskin, cotton cloth, and European rag paper introduced via trade networks connecting ports such as Veracruz and Acapulco. Pigments included cochineal from Nahua cochineal producers, indigo from Anil trade routes, and mineral pigments procured near sites like Pachuca and Tula. Production involved specialist roles comparable to guilds recognized by colonial authorities, with tlacuiloque (scribes/painters) trained in workshops analogous to artisan houses in Tenochtitlan and educated under systems influenced by missionary schools run by figures such as Toribio de Benavente Motolinia.

Content and Themes

Themes encompass dynastic histories of altepetl such as Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Coyoacán; tribute censuses tied to tribute districts like Huexotzinco; calendrical systems including the xiuhpohualli and tonalpohualli; ritual cycles dedicated to deities such as Huitzilopochtli, Tlaloc, and Quetzalcoatl; and legal acts like land tenure maps (tlaxilotl) and tribute lists used in litigations before the Real Audiencia of New Spain. Codices also depict interactions with Europeans, referencing events like the arrival of Hernán Cortés and campaigns against polities such as Culhuacan and Texcoco.

Surviving Codices and Provenance

Survivals include pre-conquest and colonial-era manuscripts: the Codex Mendoza (tribute and history), the Codex Borbonicus (ritual and calendar), the Florentine Codex (compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún), the Codex Aubin, the Codex Boturini, and the Codex Borgia (ritual cosmology). Collections holding these works include the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Vatican Library, the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, and the Biblioteca Nacional de España. Provenance pathways trace from central Mexican workshops to Spanish collectors like Martín de la Cruz and colonial officials, later entering European collections via agents such as José de Acosta and institutions including the Escorial Library.

Decipherment and Scholarship

Scholarly work on these manuscripts has involved linguistic analysis of Classical Nahuatl glosses, iconographic comparison with archaeological material from sites like Tenochtitlan and Tula, and codicological study employing techniques used by museums such as the British Museum and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Key scholars include Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Miguel León-Portilla, Elizabeth Hill Boone, James Lockhart, and Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl. Research addresses issues raised in legal cases before the Real Audiencia of New Spain and colonial archives like the Archivo General de Indias, employing comparative methods with Mesoamerican sources such as Mixtec codices like the Codex Zouche-Nuttall.

Influence and Legacy

Aztec pictorial manuscripts influenced colonial administrative practices, informed modern ethnohistorical reconstructions by scholars associated with institutions like the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Smithsonian Institution, and inspired visual artists and movements including Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo. They remain central to contemporary indigenous land claims, cultural revitalization projects in communities such as San Juan Teotihuacán, and exhibitions at museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museo Nacional de Antropología. Modern digital initiatives by archives including the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica and collaborations between the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and international libraries continue to expand access and scholarship.

Category:Mesoamerican codices