
The Codex Azcatitlan 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 ...
detailing the history of the
Mexica
The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island ...
and their migration journey from
Aztlán to the
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...
. The exact date when the codex was produced is unknown, but scholars speculate it was crafted some time between the mid-16th and 17th centuries. The name of this important Mexica pictorial manuscript was suggested by its first editor,
Robert H. Barlow, who erroneously interpreted the anthill on page 2 as the glyph for “Aztlán.” In the
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
, where it is housed, it is known as ''Histoire mexicaine,
anuscritMexicain 59–64''.
Characteristics
The style of the codex combines traditional Mesoamerican artisanry with European Renaissance technique. Mexican historian noted the use of European methods to depict the codex's content such as the use of three-dimensional objects. The master ''tlacuilo'' also uses overlapping images to create depth, as in European art. Figures in the codex also have a greater degree of movement than in prior manuscripts.
Manufacture
The codex's construction combines the pre-Columbian Aztec method of
accordion-folding, but is bound in the two-page European style. Each of the 25
leaves
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
, made of European paper, is about high and wide. The images within the codex flow across the surface of the pages until it runs out of space. In that event, the last image of the set is recreated exactly for the first image of the succeeding set. Inconsistencies in that flow seem to indicate that some of the pages are missing. The manuscript is also incomplete; color is sporadically used, and there are still draft lines and empty spaces.
This codex has two authors, or ', a master and an apprentice. The master laid out the entire narrative and then painted the more difficult and more important portions of the codex. The master observes Mesoamerican custom, most identifiable in his human figures, nearly always shown in profile, with angular faces looking to the right. The apprentice's figures, by contrast, use more curved lines and shadowing to better define the human body. He draws faces in profile until
folio
The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...
9r, where a character looks directly at the observer. The master used bold and complete lines and coloration for his figures and glyphs.
One or both of the ''tlaquiloque'' may have known
Antonio Valeriano, the pro-Tlateloco Governor of Tenochtitlan from 1573 to 1599. They may have also studied at the
Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco.
It appears that the master ''tlacuilo'' drew each set of specific year glyphs (
Reed, Flint, House, Rabbit) in one session. This is alluded to by consistencies in form and inconsistencies in color by set. Once these were painted, he added the corresponding years in the
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...
, which in their forms resemble the
glosses added to the codex later.
The first instances of work by the apprentice ''tlacuilo'' are found on folio 6v, as there appear houses shaded as per his method. He takes over completely until folio 12r, when the Mexica arrive at Tenochtitlan.
History
It is not known when the manuscript was created, or whether it was first painted and then bound, or vice versa. Historian María Castañeda de la Paz has proposed the second half of the 16th century as the window of time in which Codex Azcatitlan was authored. The writing of the glosses in Nahuatl suggests a date in the last third of the sixteenth century, but the glosses may not be contemporary with the drawings, since the glossarist did not always understand them correctly.
At some point it belonged to the Milanese nobleman
Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci (1702–1755), who mentions it in his ''Idea de una nueva historia general de la América septentrional''. Later it was part of the collections of and of
Eugène Goupil in France. At the latter's death in 1898, it was donated to the Bibliothèque Nationale. Of the twenty-eight original leaves (21 by 28 centimeters), in European paper, three are lost (between pp. 8–9, 44–45, and 46–47).
[Graulich, Michel. "Azcatitlán, Codex." In David Carrasco ed. ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures vol 1''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 66- 68] In 1995, the FNL collaborated with the
Society of the Americas to provide a publicly available color copy of the codex.
The first historian to write a detailed study of the Azcatitlan Codex was
Robert H. Barlow in the mid-20th century. Barlow proposed the idea that the manuscript was produced by two authors and that the senior among them produced its beginning and then the Imperial and post-Conquest history. A decade later, Donald Robertson challenged the proposition that the senior ''tlacuiloque'' produced the colonial history segments by himself.
Content
Codex Azcatitlan is divided into four sections, but records in one narrative the history of the
Mexica
The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island ...
people from their migration from
Aztlán to about 1527, just after the death of
Cuauhtémoc. The first portion of the codex is an
annal of the Mexica migration from
Aztlán that asserts the role of the
Tlatelolca Mexica, putting them in parity to the
Tenochca Mexica. As the reigning Tenocha Mexica suppressed the identity of the Tlatelolca Mexica from 1473, this would not have been possible under the
Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahuas, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states rul ...
. The second segment recounts the history of the
Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahuas, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states rul ...
, depicting the reigns of each of its ''
tlatoani'' in two-page spreads. The third segment details the Conquest and breaks with the traditional format of displaying the time and place of important events and only depicts the events themselves. This segment is thought to have once numbered, with the fourth, four two-page spreads. The final segment displays earlier colonial Mexican history and is broken into vertical columns that run from left to right.
The glosses, in alphabetic
Nahuatl
Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...
, appear mostly in the migration segment to describe places and characters, though they occasionally help translate the year glyphs for readers not familiar with pre-Conquest
Aztec writing. These glosses appear in small number in the Imperial segment, and then never again.
Migration segment

This segment has, unlike earlier manuscripts such as the
Boturini Codex, depictions of the migration, such as their stops at sources of fresh water, getting lost, building temples, and attacks by wild animals. The ''tlacuiloque'' record every year of the migration, grouping year blocks to designate the amount of time spent at a location. Aztlán, as it is depicted in Codex Azcatitlan, strongly asserts the role of the Tlatelolca in the history of the Mexica. The island city is shown divided in two parts, like Tenochtitlan and Tlateloco. It is also shown with four "house" glyphs, referencing Tenochtitlan's four neighborhoods. The hill upon the island may also be a reference to Tlateloca; Aztlán's crest (a reed above some flowing water) is not present on the hill itself but rather atop a temple, and the words that make up Tlateloco's name (, land; , hill; ''-co'',
locative suffix) best describe this view of Aztlán.
The first page of the codex, folio 1
''recto'' (1r), shows the three rulers of the
Triple Alliance, sitting upon European-style thrones in native dress and holding
staves of office. Unlike earlier Aztec codices, areas of shadow are used to better define the faces on the page. The migration begins on the next page, folio 1 ''vecto'' (1v), with the departure of the
Azteca from their island homeland Aztlán, as commanded by their god,
Huitzilopochtli, who appears nearby as a warrior in a hummingbird headdress. Also present on folio 1v is a glyph of an ant surrounded by dots and, above it, the gloss from which the codex derives its name, which reads "Ascatitla". Emerging from this glyph is a horn, yet another reference to Tlateloco, whose first ruler was the son of the ''tlatoani'' of
Azcapotzalco
Azcapotzalco ( ; ; from ''wikt:azcapotzalli, āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + ''wikt:-co, -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcap ...
("Place of the Anthill"). Guided by a dark-skinned priest, they cross from Aztlán into the domain of the ''
altepetl'' of
Colhuacan. There the Azteca speak amongst themselves and with Huitzilopochtli. They also meet eight tribes, the
Huexotzinca,
Chalca,
Xochimilca,
Cuitlihuaca,
Malinalca,
Chichimeca,
Tepaneca, and the
Matlatzinca, who wish to accompany the Azteca on their migration. The latter agree and the nine tribes depart, led by four 'god-bearers' named
Chimalma, Apanecatl, Cuauhcoatl, and Tezcacoatl, each carrying a ''
tlaquimilolli''.
On folio 4v are depicted the first
human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...
s made by the Azteca to
Huitzilopochtli, who names them the
Mexica
The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island ...
and gives them a bow, arrow,
bow drill
A bow drill is a simple hand-operated type of tool, consisting of a rod (the ''spindle'' or ''drill shaft'') that is set in rapid rotary motion by means of a cord wrapped around it, kept taut by a bow and arrow, bow which is pushed back and forth ...
, and basket.
The Azteca stop at Coatlicamac for two years on folio 5v. The migration segment ends on folio 6r with the arrival and stay of the Mexica at Coatepec for a period of nine years.
On 12r, Copil's heart is sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli and form grows the
nopal cactus marking the land Huitzilopochtli promised to the Mexica. The migration segment ends on the next page with the foundation of Tenochtitlan (left; 12v) and Tlatelolco (13r) and the selection of their respective ''tlatoani''. Around Cuacuapitzauac, ''tlatoani'' of Tlateloco, are five figures that include his father,
Tezozomoc, and other representatives of
Tepanec ancestry. The two foundation scenes are separated by six men fishing and hunting in
Lake Texcoco. Below the boats is a golden disk flanked by two hands.
Imperial segment
The structure of the Imperial segment is similar to contemporary Aztec codices such as the
Aubin and
Mexicanus codices, but especially the
Mendoza Codex. The deeds of the ''tlatoque'' of Tenochtitlan are recorded in a string of events, running left to right, without any dates. This segment is not complete, as evidenced by the lack of dating and the unfinished state of the ''tlatoque'' portraits. Three glosses, the last in the codex, appear on folios 13v to 15r to elucidate some matters of Tepanec history, such as the coronation and death of
Maxtla of Azcapotzalco. Most of the spreads end with the
mummy
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...
of their respective ''tlatoani''.
The segment begins on folio 13v with a nopal cactus, signifying Tenochtitlan. To its right is
Acamapichtli, Tenochtitlan's first ''tlatoani''. This pattern repeats for each of the succeeding ''tlatoani''. The first glyph Acamapochtli's right is that of Colhuacan, his home ''altepetl'', above which is the disembodied head of Huitzilopochtli. Next are shown three conquests by the Mexica of
Mixquic,
Cuitlahuac, and
Xochimilco for Azcapotzalco. After these is the construction of a palace or temple in Tlatelolco, where Cuacuapitzauac and three relatives appear. In the middle of the spread, Tezozomoc dies and is succeeded by Maxtla. Also depicted is the development of sustenance on Lake Texcoco by the Mexica. Finally, Acamapichtli's
mummy
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...
appears at the far right side of the spread.
The depictions of Acamapichtli (13v) and
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 ...
(18v) are the only fully painted portraits in the Imperial segment. The former is painted by the master ''tlacuilo'' and the latter by the apprentice.
Conquest segment
The Conquest segment is also incomplete, lacks any dating whatsoever, and contains no glosses. Its content focuses on the exploits of the Tlateloca warrior Ecatl, known in Spanish as Don Martín. The segment has strong narrative similarity to other indigenous accounts of the Conquest, namely book 12 of the
Florentine Codex and the
Annals of Tlateloco. The master ''tlacuilo'' of the Azcatitlan Codex minimize native defeats and maximize their victories. This segment once contained four two-page spreads, but two have been lost.
The segment begins on folio 22v with
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 ...
and
La Malinche as they encounter another party. Behind Cortés stands his army, rendered as eight ''
conquistadors
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...
'', an African slave, a horse, and three native men carrying supplies while Malinche translates for him. Who she speaks to is made unclear by the loss of the next page, but it is probable that the event depicted is Cortés's meeting with
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 ...
outside Tenochtitlan on 8 November 1519.
Next is folio 23r, the right half of a spread depicting the
Toxcatl massacre of 1520, ordered by
Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado (; 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, ''conquistador'', ''adelantado,'' governor and Captaincy General of Guatemala, captain general of Guatemala.Lovell, Lutz and Swezey 1984, p. 461. He participated in the c ...
. The
Templo Mayor
The (English: Main Temple) was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, Tenōchtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Mesoamerican chronology, Postclassic period of Me ...
dominates the right side of the folio while a European-style building likewise occupies the top portion. The composition of the folios recalls both the massacre and the subsequent uprising of the city against the Spanish. A warrior holding a captured Spanish
standard in the middle of the square as warriors charge into battle around him. Two corpses lie on the ground next to him, as does a severed head wearing a hummingbird headdress. In front of the temple stand two drummers, one with his hands amputated. Behind them lies the body of a ''tlatoani'' upon the steps of the temple, from which two more ''tlatoque'' watch. On the opposite side of the temple, a man dressed as a hummingbird stands ready with his ''
macuahuitl'' and ''
chīmalli''.
On the left side of folio 23v is a Spanish ship and six armored Spaniards in the water in front of it. A native man pulls a Spaniard out while another fights a Mexica warrior armed with a Spanish sword. The fighting Spaniard holds a shield decorated with a solar image. Barlow identified him as Alvarado, or "
Tonatiuh" as he was known to the Mexica. As indicated by the ship, the scene is of a failed attack in May 1521 led by Alvarado that nearly saw Cortés captured while he was attempting to save drowning Spaniards. Cortés is thought to be the Spaniard being pulled out of the water by the native man. The Mexica warrior dueling Alvarado is Ecatl, who led Tlatelolco's warriors against the Spanish and once captured a banner from Alvarado. Ecatl is distinguished from earlier warriors in the codex by his tunic's wavy pattern, shared by the waters around Aztlán and those of Tenochtitlan when the Mexica first arrived there in the earlier Migration segment. His shield is also similar in design to that of Huitzilopochtli's on folio 1v, with a
quincunx
A quincunx ( ) is a geometry, geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, with four of them forming a Square (geometry), square or rectangle and a fifth at its center. The same pattern has other names, including "in saltire" ...
that references Huitzilopochtli's reign as
the Fifth Sun. These signs all identify Ecatl as a holy warrior of Huitzilopochtli.
Folio 24r depicts the evacuation of
Cuauhtemoc's wife
Tecuichpotzin from Tenochtitlan on 31 August 1521, after the former's surrender of the city. Three boats, each seating a woman, sail along the bottom of the page. Above them, five more women stand on top of some buildings. Their clothing denote them as being wealthy, with the woman at far right possibly being Tecuichpotzin.
Post-conquest segment
Folios 24v to 25r break the established flow of narrative to present its content in two vertical columns per page.
The segment begins on folio 24v with a pile of bones, representing the
destruction of Tenochtitlan. Next the elite of Tlatelolco are shown leaving the city to resettle under Spanish rule beneath a glyph for Amaxac, where Cuauhtemoc surrendered. This was also the site of departure for the city's populace after the surrender in August 1521. Four native rulers sit below, representing Cuauhtemoc,
Coanacoch of
Texcoco,
Tetlepanquetzal of
Tlacopan, and Temilotl of Tlatelolco. Next, the beginning of
Christianization
Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...
in the 1520s is marked by a vertical line of nine
friars; a tenth friar baptizes an indigenous man. Above and between the nine priests is a ''
palo volador'' dance with four participants and a musician on top of the pole. Following the priests are a series of images (
digging stick, wood, water) that symbolize the reconstruction of Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco as
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
under Tlacotl, whose name is represented by the hand grasping an animal's head. Above the construction is a representation of a battle at Colhuacan.
The right half of folio 24v and all of folio 25r, recount the events of the years 1524 to 1526. Its content pertains to the events of
Cortés's expedition to Honduras and his killing of Cuauhtemoc, supposedly for plotting to kill Cortés, while other Spaniards were doing likewise. The left side of folio 24r pertains to the expedition while the right concerns events back in the former Aztec Empire.
The time of Cuauhtemoc's death, the ritual month of
Tozoztontli, is marked by the ''tlacuilo'' in the upper-right corner of folio 24v. Below the dating glyphs is the inspiring actor of the killing, Mexicatl Cozoololtic, who accused Cuauhtemoc of plotting to kill Cortés and La Malinche. Mexicatl Cozoololtic watches from afar as a Mayan lord, possibly
Paxbolonacha, brings drums out of a building for a celebration at
Acallan. Following this is the
hanging
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
of the ''tlatoque'') at Hueymollan and the appointing by Cortés of Tlacotl as
governor of Tenochtitlan. Tlacotl appears in
bust form, below a seated ''tlatoani'', looking into an indigenous palace. The Tlatoani is then connected by dots to a series of glyphs marking the location of the killings and promotion. While Cortés was in Honduras, a power struggle erupted between the man he left in charge,
Alonso de Estrada, and two of his other men,
Gonzalo de Salazar and
Pedro Almíndez Chirino. Salazar and Chirino seized Cortés's estate and then murdered his cousin Rodrigo de Paz, depicted as the corpse in the top right in the
Church of San Francisco in Mexico City. With Cortés's aid, Estrada arrested Salazar and Chirino and then
beheaded their supporters, as shown in the bottom left. Estrada is rendered just above this second act of killing.
The final extant page of Codex Azcatitlan, folio 25v, records the arrival of Mexico's first bishop,
Julián Garcés and the torture of native persons for the location of Moctezoma's treasure. The page begins with a heavily damaged rendering of a meteorological event and a death by
stoning in the ritual month of Atlcahualo. Garcés and an entourage that includes a seated ''tlatoani'' cover the upper half of the page and a mounted woman in the bottom left corner. The indigenous man is either the governor of Tenochtitlan or Tlatelolco, while the other members of the entourage are denoted as being of high status by their umbrellas. The woman in the bottom left is thought to be
María Estrada, a member of Cortés's original expedition. On the lower half of the page, a Spaniard approaches two corpses tied to stakes that separate him from a
chest
The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen.
In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...
.
See also
*
Mesoamerican codices
*
Aztec codices
*
Lorenzo Boturini
*
Aztecs
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization 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 ...
*
Aztlán
*
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...
Notes
Citations
References
*
*
*
External links
Codex Azcatitlanon the
World Digital Library
The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress.
The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume ...
{{Aztec mythology
Azcatitlan
Azcatitlan
History of the Aztecs
Azcatitlan