Mexican Codices

Mexican Codices
Name	Mexican codices
Caption	Detail from the Codex Borgia
Country	Mexico
Period	Pre-Columbian era–Colonial Mexico
Language	Nahuatl language, Mixtec language, Yucatec Maya language, Spanish language
Material	:Category:Codices

Mexican Codices Mexican codices are manuscript books produced by indigenous Mesoamerican peoples and their colonial-era collaborators, serving as legal, ritual, historical, and calendrical records. They bridge traditions of Aztec Empire, Mixtec civilization, Maya civilization, and other societies with the interventions of colonial institutions like the Spanish Empire, Council of the Indies, and Catholic Church. Surviving codices are held in repositories such as the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the British Library, the Vatican Library, the Museo Nacional de Antropología (Mexico City), and private collections tied to families like the Borgia family.

Definition and Types

Codices from central and southern Mexico and the Yucatán include pictorial and hieroglyphic manuscripts classified as ritual-calendrical, historical-legal, tribute-and-taxation, and genealogical-heroic works. Examples of categories are the ritual-calendrical tradition exemplified by the Codex Borgia and the pictorial-chronicle tradition found in the Codex Mendoza and the Codex Aubin. Legal-testimonial formats include testament-like pictorial wills preserved alongside documents in the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico). Genealogical codices document lineages connected to houses such as the Mixtec ruling dynasties and the Aztec Triple Alliance.

Historical Origins and Cultural Context

The codex tradition developed within city-states and polities like Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlaxcala, Cempoala, and the Mixtec city-states of Tutupec and Tilantongo. Influences trace to earlier Mesoamerican cultures including the Teotihuacan polity and the Classic Maya collapse context that shaped scribal schools linked to priesthoods, noble lineages, and administrative elites. Contacts during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and missions by figures such as Bernardino de Sahagún and orders like the Franciscans altered production, patronage, and the circulation of pictorial manuscripts.

Materials, Formats, and Production Techniques

Indigenous scribes employed materials such as deerskin, amatl paper made from Ficus bark (commonly called amate), and cotton-based paper, folded as screenfolds or bound in accordion format. Pigments derived from minerals like cinnabar and organic sources like cochineal harvested from Dactylopius coccus, applied with brushes made from agave or animal hair. Production involved trained tlacuilo or tlacuiloque painters affiliated with schools centered in capitals like Coyoacán and workshops patronized by noble houses and colonial officials. Writing systems combined pictographs, logograms, and rebus elements parallel to approaches used in Mesoamerican calendrical systems.

Major Surviving Codices and Collections

Prominent pre-Columbian and early colonial codices include the Codex Borgia, Codex Borbonicus, Codex Mendoza, Codex Nuttall, Codex Selden, Codex Vaticanus B (Vaticanus B), Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, Florentine Codex, Codex Aubin, and the Codex Mendoza. Institutions holding collections include the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, the Library of Congress, the Real Academia de la Historia, Museo de América (Madrid), and the Newberry Library. Private collectors and antiquarian markets historically involved figures like Alexander von Humboldt and Lord Kingsborough in dispersal and study.

Content and Iconography

Codices encode ritual cycles such as the 260-day ritual calendar (tonalpohualli) and the 365-day xiuhpohualli, genealogies of noble lineages, tribute rolls recording payments to the Triple Alliance, and maps marking places like Texcoco and Cholula. Iconography features deities including Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, and Tlaloc alongside colonial-era saints such as Saint Peter and Saint Francis of Assisi in syncretic compositions. Scenes depict ceremonies, warfare associated with campaigns like the Flower Wars, landholdings tied to altepetl units, and legal transactions presented in pictorial-syllabic registers comparable to documents submitted to the Audiencia of New Spain.

Colonial Transformation and European Influence

After 1521, Spanish bureaucratic requirements and missionary activity led to bilingual bilingualization and alphabetic glosses in Nahuatl language and Spanish language written by indigenous and mestizo scribes. Projects like the ethnographic compilation by Bernardino de Sahagún and the production of colonial cartographic codices for the Real Hacienda illustrate adaptation to institutions such as the Casa de Contratación and the Viceroyalty of New Spain. European materials like rag paper, inks, and binding techniques were incorporated, while colonial legal frameworks such as Laws of the Indies affected provenance and ownership.

Preservation, Repatriation, and Legal Issues

Preservation challenges include deterioration of amatl, fading pigments, and losses due to collectors and missionaries; conservation projects are led by institutions like the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and collaborations with the Getty Conservation Institute. Repatriation debates involve national claims by the United Mexican States, provenance research addressing removals connected to collectors like Eugène Goupil and institutions such as the British Museum, and legal instruments including bilateral cultural property agreements. Ongoing controversies touch on ethical access, digitization initiatives with partners like the Digital Library of the Caribbean and disputes adjudicated in forums including the International Council of Museums.

Category:Codices Category:History of Mexico Category:Mesoamerican literature