The founding of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan; first page of the Codex Mendoza, c. 1541
Type
codex
Date
1541 approximately
Place of origin
Mexico
Language(s)
Glosses in Spanish
Material
bark paper[citation needed]
Size
140 by 23.5 centimetres (55.1 by 9.3 in)
Format
screenfold book
Script
Aztec script
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox manuscript with unknown parameter "Author"
The Codex Mendoza is an Aztec codex, believed to have been created around the year 1541.[1] It contains a history of both the Aztec rulers and their conquests as well as a description of the daily life of pre-conquest Aztec society. The codex is written using traditional Aztec pictograms with a translation and explanation of the text provided in Spanish. It is named after Don Antonio de Mendoza (1495-1552), the viceroy of New Spain, who supervised its creation and who was a leading patron of native artists.
Mendoza knew that the ravages of the conquest had destroyed multiple native artifacts, and that the craft traditions that generated them had been effaced. When the Spanish crown ordered Mendoza to provide evidence of the Aztec political and tribute system, he invited skilled artists and scribes who were being schooled at the Franciscan college in Tlatelolco to gather in a workshop under the supervision of Spanish priests where they could recreate the document for him and the King of Spain.[2] The pictorial document that they produced became known as the Codex Mendoza: it consists of seventy-one folios made of Spanish paper measuring 20.6 × 30.6 centimeters (8.25 × 12.25 inches).[3] The document is crafted in the native style, but it now is bound at a spine in the manner of European books.
The codex is also known as the Codex Mendocino and La colección Mendoza, and has been held at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University since 1659. It was on display as part of the Bodleian's Gifts and Books exhibition from 16 June to 29 October 2023.[4] The Bodleian Library holds four other Mesoamerican codices: Codex Bodley, Codex Laud, Codex Selden, and the Selden Roll.
^Berdan, F. F.; Anawalt, P. R. (1992). "Codex Mendoza". Scientific American. 1 (6): 70. Bibcode:1992SciAm.266f..70A. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0692-70.
^Carrasco, David (1999). City of Sacrifice : The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization. p. 19.
^Anawalt, Patricia (2001). "Codex Mendoza". In Carrasco, David L. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures :The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America vol.1. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0-19-514255-6. OCLC 872326807.
^"Gifts and Books". visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
The CodexMendoza is an Aztec codex, believed to have been created around the year 1541. It contains a history of both the Aztec rulers and their conquests...
Maguey, Codex Boturini and the Codex Borgia; and a later one, which would comprise CodexMendoza, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Codex Osuna, Codex Mexicanus...
Durán Codex, Ramírez Codex, and Codex Borgia. The CodexMendoza contains multiple depictions of tzompantli. The Frontispiece of the CodexMendoza depicts...
commissioned by the colonial government, for example CodexMendoza, were painted by Aztec tlacuilos (codex creators), but under the control of Spanish authorities...
The codex (pl.: codices /ˈkoʊdɪsiːz/) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of...
four other Mesoamerican codices: Codex Bodley, CodexMendoza, Codex Selden and the Selden Roll. Other views of the Codex Laud on display at the Bodleian...
failed, resulting in the death of Moquihuix who is pictured in the CodexMendoza tumbling down the Great Temple of Tlatelolca. As a result of the battle...
His name glyph, shown in the upper left corner of the image from the CodexMendoza below, was composed of a diadem (xiuhuitzolli) on straight hair with...
was used for war or as a tool. Its use is documented by the CodexMendoza and the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer. Tax collectors from the Aztec Empire demanded...
Aztec empire was at its largest when the Spanish arrived in 1519. The CodexMendoza shows all the lands that Moctezuma conquered. Many territories regularly...
Philippines in 1542–43. The CodexMendoza created by the order of Mendoza, and subsequently named for him. During his term of office, Mendoza is credited with consolidating...
suit and the cone-shaped cap appearance are the most common within the CodexMendoza. A four captive warrior, which would be an eagle or jaguar warrior,...
painted or covered with featherwork. They are depicted frequently in the CodexMendoza, and many other central Mexican codices, usually with the xicalcoliuhqui...
Mendoza, a family of Spanish nobles who originated from Álava, Basque Country, Spain 3868 Mendoza, a main-belt asteroid CodexMendoza, an Aztec codex...
significant tribute item. As discussed by scholar Ross Hassig, the CodexMendoza denotes that cloth and clothing were represented as cargas in the tribute...
and the Huastecs of Veracruz and Aztec (e.g., as illustrated in the CodexMendoza). The Kabiri of New Guinea have the diba, a pointed hat glued together...
pictured in the CodexMendoza' and the Florentine Codex, Aztec codices created between 1540 and 1585. Tribute records from the MendozaCodex, Matrícula de...
pp. 200–202. Berdan, Francis F.; Patricia Rieff Anawalt (1992). The CodexMendoza Vol. 1. University of California Press. p. 196. Brumfiel, Elizabeth...
depicted striving at this game against other gods. For example, in the CodexMendoza we see him playing with the moon-god, and can recognize him by the sign...
Bodleian Library holds four other Mesoamerican codices: Codex Bodley, Codex Laud, CodexMendoza, and the Selden Roll, recently renamed The Roll of the...
museum in the house of his birth. Anenecuilco is first mentioned in CodexMendoza as belonging to the prehispanic jurisdiction of Huaxtepec (Oaxtepec)...
Atonal was ritually strangled and his family was taken as slaves. The CodexMendoza records that the tribute owed by Coixtlahuaca consisted of 2000 blankets...
Telleriano Remensis, Codex Ixtlilxochitl, Codex Tudela, Codex Magliabechiano, CodexMendoza, the Matrícula de Tributos, Codex Badianus, Relación de Michoacan....
Sahagún's Florentine Codex of the General History of the Things of New Spain (Books III, VI, and VIII) and part 3 of the CodexMendoza. The calmecac of the...
of Mexico against Cuauhnahuac (Cuernavaca). According to the Florentine Codex, Itzcoatl ordered the burning of all historical codices because it was "not...
Bodleian Library holds four other Mesoamerican codices: Codex Bodley, Codex Laud, CodexMendoza, and Codex Selden. Other views of the Seldon Roll on display...
were described in Aztec codices (including the Durán Codex, the Codex Tudela and the CodexMendoza) as wearing their hair untouched, allowing it to grow...
Global Information
United Kingdom