MENDOZA CODEX: ORIGIN AND AUTHORSHIP, CHARACTERISTICS, CONTENT - HISTORY - 2025

The Mendocino Codex, also known as the Mendoza Codex, was a publication in which pictorial scenes of native style were collected, having the particularity that they were captured on European paper.

This publication was ordered and completed in the 16th century, around 1541 and 1542, during the administration of Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco. Mendoza held the position of viceroy in New Spain, being the first in that position.

Source:], via Wikimedia Commons.

This codex received the name of Mendoza by the viceroy of Spanish origin. It served to capture the most relevant information in relation to imperial history and the organization, both economically and socially, that existed in Aztec society. That is to say, its function was to give data about the old empire to the Spanish government.

At the time it had great practical value for the Spanish, but it has also been historically valuable. More than half of the Mendocino Codex referred to copies of pictorial sources from pre-Hispanic times.

Origin and authorship

The Mendocino Codex was a manuscript on Aztec civilizations. Its creation occurred 14 years after the beginning of the Spanish conquest in Mexico, which began in 1521. The idea of ​​this publication was that it would reach the hands of Carlos V, the King of Spain, during that time.

In the pages of the Mendocino Codex, the history of the Aztec governments and the conquests they had prior to the Spanish occupation was captured. It also included a list of taxes paid by local populations and a detailed description of what their lifestyle was like on a day-to-day basis.

Pictograms were used to convey the information. The use of these consisted of signs as a representation of real objects, figures or concepts. In addition to these pictograms, which were part of Aztec writing, the codex had some explanations and comments in Spanish.

The term Mendocino was given to the codex by Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco, who may have been the one who commissioned the manuscript in 1541. It was also known as the Mendoza codex or the Mendoza collection.

Others

In Mexican history, there are several codices that were created to preserve or collect data on ancient civilizations. There were codices that dealt with the Aztec civilizations and other publications about the Mixtecs.

In the case of the Aztec codex, as in the case of the Mendocino, they were manuscripts that had less complexity in terms of the use of pictorial elements. This, despite the fact that the Aztecs inherited much of their pictorial culture from the Mixtecs.

Of the Aztec manuscripts there are none that did not have some influence from the European colonies. In addition, the Codex Borbonicus was created, whose style was Nahuatl, which was prior to the period of the Spanish conquest.

The Aztec codices were burned by the Spanish due to their pagan content and were also destroyed by Aztec kings who had the goal of rewriting their history.

They differed from the pre-conquest codices because they had a great combination of writing with pictograms, ideograms, and phonetic symbols. The manuscripts during the colonial era had great influence from Spain.

The representation that was made in these works was about native Mexicans and a script with Latin letters or in Spanish was used.

Among the colonial codices there were: the Mendocino Codex, the Matrícula de Tributos, the Borbonicus Codex, the Azcatitlan, the Florentino Codex, Sierra, the Toltec-Chichimeca history or the Xicotepec, among many others.

characteristics

The Mendocino Codex was characterized as the first copy to be written using a style that was highly influenced by European art and culture.

It was completed a few years after the conquest and was in charge of native scribes who were supervised by the missionary priests who arrived in New Spain. These priests were also in charge of adding notes in Spanish.

It is considered on many occasions as a European book, since European paper and a binding that resembled the Old Continent style was used. It had 71 sheets whose measurements were 33 centimeters by 23. The representations or themes were divided into three.

The indigenous books prior to the conquest were characterized, on the contrary, in having been painted on paper made of bark or by the use of deerskin.

Very few references to Aztec religion were recorded in the manuscript. The belief is that the codex had only one master painter, although other natives were involved in its creation, especially when it came to preparing the paintings and applying the colors.

The profession of painter of these works was very well regarded by society, since it had great importance for the Aztec culture. Although the Aztecs did not have a defined writing system, they used pictograms to capture their stories.

This codex consisted of 72 sheets with pictorial content, of which 63 were pages that had comments in Spanish.

Content

The content of the Mendocino Codex was based on the compilation of information about the Aztec civilizations and their empire. In this codex it was possible to find data on the organization of the Aztecs, both economically and socially, as well as the foundation of their civilizations.

The cover of the Mendocino Codex also provided information about the ancient Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, as well as its origins. On the cover, which was divided into four parts, it could be seen that the city was made up of canals.

On the other hand, the interior of the codex was divided into three sections that dealt with different elements of the Aztec civilizations.

The first part

The first section of the Mendocino Codex ranged from page one to number 18. In total, it consisted of 19 pictorial pages. In this part, information about the founding of the Aztec Empire, which began in 1324, was captured.

This section concluded with the stage of the conquest of Mexico, which began in 1521, a year before Moctezuma's death.

In its pages could not find all the wars that they lived, since they did not make reference to the defeats. Among the wars that took place are the war with Chalco or the conquest of Coaxtlahuacan.

The second stage

The second part in which the codex was divided corresponded from pages 18 to 55. This section of the manuscript was characterized by its great similarities with the Matrícula de los Tributos. This was a codex that was written around the 20s and 30s of the 16th century. He made reference to the taxes paid by the colonized communities.

This section and the first part of the manuscript had the presence of images that represented times prior to the pre-Hispanic period. Both parties complemented each other in terms of the information they offered.

Not for this reason all the existing information on the military confrontations or the economic organization was captured.

Third part

The last section into which the Mendocino Codex was divided ranged from page 56 to 71. These sheets contained relevant information about the daily life of the natives of the Mexican towns. They talked about the customs from when they were born until they died.

Some called this section of the codex a novel. It featured very colorful images.

Importance

The importance of the Mendocino Codex is only comparable to the relevance of the Florentine Codex, which was a manuscript created by the Spanish Bernardino Sahagún. Both are manuscripts that were a vital source of information both historically, politically and ethnographically about Mexico, before and during the conquest.

In the case of the Mendoza codex, it was of great importance to reconstruct data on the Aztec Empire, for which the first two parts of the manuscripts were fundamental.

Authors such as Barlow, Hassig and Van Zantwijk have been in charge of summarizing and explaining in a simple way the information present in the codex. These publications allowed the codex to reach a much larger audience.

Owners

The culmination of the codex was done in a hurry, since it had to be sent to Spain when one of the fleets of the conquerors left. The manuscript never reached its destination, as it was captured by French pirates who were in the Caribbean.

The codex ended up in the hands of the Frenchman Andre Thevet, a cosmographer who made a large number of annotations to the original manuscript, where his signature can be seen on several occasions.

After Thevet's death, the codex kept changing ownership. An English ambassador to France, named Richard Hakluyt, took over the work and transferred it to England. There it became the property of Samuel Purchas and later the son of Purchas.

It later came into the hands of collector John Selden, the last owner before the codex finally became part of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, where it remains today.

Digital version

Although the original manuscript is at the University of Oxford, the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH) created an interactive version to consult the original document.

The interactive resource has explanations and details in both English and Spanish. You can also download an application to consult the codex.

References

1. Berdan, F. (1996). Aztec imperial strategies. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
2. John, L. (1984). Past and present in the American: a compendium of recent studies. New Hampshire: Manchester University Press.
3. Jovinelly, J., & Netelkos, J. (2002). The crafts and culture of the Aztecs. New York, NY: Rosen Central.
4. León Portilla, M. (1990). Aztec thought and culture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
5. Ross, K. (1984). Codex Mendoza. London: Regent Books / High Text.