Mesoamerican Codices

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Some examples of facsimile versions of Mesoamerican codices Examples of Mesoamerican pictorial manuscripts (facsimiles).jpg
Some examples of facsimile versions of Mesoamerican codices

Mesoamerican codices are manuscripts that present traits of the Mesoamerican indigenous pictoric tradition, either in content, style, or in regards to their symbolic conventions. [1] The unambiguous presence of Mesoamerican writing systems in some of these documents is also an important, but not defining, characteristic, for Mesoamerican codices can comprise pure pictorials, native cartographies with no traces of glyphs on them, or colonial alphabetic texts with indigenous illustrations. Perhaps the best-known examples among such documents are Aztec codices, Maya codices, and Mixtec codices, but other cultures such as the Tlaxcaltec, the Purépecha, the Otomi, the Zapotecs, and the Cuicatecs, are creators of equally relevant manuscripts. The destruction of Mesoamerican civilizations resulted in only about twenty known pre-Columbian codices surviving to modern times. [2] : 8 

Contents

Formats

During the 19th century, the word 'codex' became popular to designate any pictorial manuscript in the Mesoamerican tradition. In reality, pre-Columbian manuscripts are, strictly speaking, not codices, since the strict librarian usage of the word denotes manuscript books made of vellum, papyrus and other materials besides paper, that have been sewn on one side. [1] Instead, precolumbian pictorials were made in native, non-codical formats, some of these being the following: [3]

Classification

According to Donald Robertson and John B. Glass, the first scholars to propose a comprehensive census of such documents, five categories can be discerned among them. [1] The first is that of traditional pictorials (which we will name "traditional codexes" in this article), comprising numbers 1-599 in their catalog. The second is that of paintings and maps from the Relaciones Geográficas, a set of questionnaires elaborated by the colonial bureaucracy of the Spanish Empire during the reign of Phillip II (numbers 601-699). The third category is that of Techialoyan manuscripts, a number of late colonial manuscripts created during the 17th century with the intention to serve as legal documents for indigenous communities, which display a noticeable similarity in style and format, as well as sharing a regional origin (numbers 701-799). The fourth category is that of pictorial cathecisms, also known as Testerian cathecisms (numbers 801-899). The fifth category is that of falsified pictorials. Finally, the category of nonpictorial texts which describe pictorials is contemplated, but not used, by Robertson and Glass (numbers 1000 and up), but examples of such documents exist too.

Besides this primary classification, these documents can be further classified according to their origin, their region, and subject, Thus, in regards to their origin, manuscripts can be distinguished as pre-Columbian (like those of the Borgia group), those produced under Spanish patronage (the Codex Mendoza being a notable example), native colonial (for example, Codex Xolotl), and mixed colonial (like the Lienzo de Tlaxcala). In regards to their topic, these documents can be classified as dealing with the following topics: ritual-calendrical, historical, genealogical, cartographic, cartographic-historical, economic, ethnographic, and miscellaneous.

These manuscripts can comprise many regions: Western Mexico (mainly Michoacan), Central Mexico (Mexico City and the State of Mexico, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala and Veracruz), Oaxaca, Southeast Mexico (Chiapas and Yucatan) and Guatemala. Regional schools have been identified: the classic division in the Central Mexican region was proposed by Donald Robertson, who distinguished among them the schools of Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco and Tezcoco. [4]

Traditional Mesoamerican codices

Codex Borbonicus, a traditional Mesoamerican codex Mexico - Museo de antropologia - Livre.JPG
Codex Borbonicus, a traditional Mesoamerican codex

This category comprises most pre-Columbian and colonial Mesoamerican pictorials, and is by far the best-known and studied. Individual manuscripts in this category are numerous, totalling 434 in Robertson and Glass original census, [1] and their number keeps increasing thanks to the discovery of new native traditional codices in Mexican villages. An example of a recent addition would be the Codex Cuaxicala, a pictorial document from the 16th century currently kept by the homonymous community of Huachinango, Puebla. A list of the most representative manuscripts from this category would be the following:

Within these categories, some sub-groupings of codices that are closely related in subject or that share a common prototype exist. Among the most famous are the following:

Paintings from the Relaciones Geográficas

Map of Metztitlan, from the Relacion Geografica de Metztitlan (1579) Mapa de Metztitlan - Relaciones geograficas de Indias (1579).jpg
Map of Metztitlan, from the Relación Geográfica de Metztitlán (1579)

This group comprises all the paintings and illustrations from the Relaciones Geográficas, a series of documents produced as a result of questionnaires distributed to the territories under the jurisdiction of Phillip the Second, King of Spain, during the years 1579–1585. Besides their invaluable ethnohistorical, ethnological and geographical data, the Relaciones often includes a series of paintings and maps, some considered to display elements of the native cartographical tradition.

Techialoyan manuscripts

The Techialoyan Codex of Cuajimalpa, an example of a Techialoyan manuscript Codex techialoyan de Cuajimalpa.png
The Techialoyan Codex of Cuajimalpa, an example of a Techialoyan manuscript

The Techialoyan manuscripts is a group of indigenous Mexican manuscripts named after the Codex of San Antonio Techialoyan. These documents were produced during the 18th century, and reveal a set of common elements, including the use of amate paper, the presence of Nahuatl alphabetic glosses, their artistic style, their legal purpose and the fact that they were created in a number of villages in and around the State and the valley of Mexico. [1] They were first classified by Robert Barlow. [6] Some of them were produced by local indigenous artists in order to be recognized as legal documents for the colonial Spanish administration, but were deemed as forgeries. A foremost example of this class is the Codex García Granados.

Pictorial cathecisms

Pictorial cathecisms, also known as Testerian manuscripts, are documents containing prayers, articles of faith, or any part of the Catholic cathecism, either drawn or written through mnemonic images or ad-hoc hieroglyphs. They are called "Testerian" because they were once taught to be an invention of the Franciscan friar Jacobo de Testera; however, most documents of this tradition are unrelated to Testera, who was not even the first friar to use them. [7] For this reason, some scholars consider them as being an indigenous rather than a Spanish creation. [8] Therefore, the use of the term has been avoided in recent academic works. [9] Regardless, pictorial cathecisms form a clear group, characterized by the use of a new iconographic and a hieroglyphic repertoire unrelated to that of Mesoamerican cultures. Due to the fragmented and dispersed state of the manuscripts, many of which are still not even individually named yet, the study of this group is still incipient. Relevant works include those of Galarza, [10] Anne Whited Normann, [11] and Hill-Boone. [9]

Falsified codices

This category comprises forgeries created during the 19th and 20th centuries in order to deceive institutions and individual collectors regarding their authenticity. They vary noticeably in their contents, materials and techniques. Some are purely fantastical, while other combine disparate native styles and sources. Materials vary from native amate paper, to agave fibers, parchments, cloth, animals skins and even coconut fiber. [12] Notable examples in this category are the Codex Moguntiacus, [13] the Codex of Lieberec and the Codex Hall. Finally, some recently surfaced documents, like the Codex Cardona, are still waiting to be confirmed as either forgeries, Techialoyan documents or actual traditional pictorials. [14]

Non-pictorial codices

Non pictorial manuscripts describing lost indigenous pictorials are rare; this category was contemplated, but not used, by Glass and Robertson originally, but in recent years such documents have emerged. One such example is the Códice Cabezón, a textual copy of Codex Tudela that was never illustrated, [15] and the Codex Fiestas, a copy of the lost pictorial Libro de Figuras, although the former contains some sketches of illustrations that were never completed. [16]

Pictography and writing

List of Aztec writing signs in the work of J. A. Aubin (1885). Aubin-Memoires sur la peinture didactique et l'ecriture figurative des anciens Mexicains 1885.jpg
List of Aztec writing signs in the work of J. A. Aubin (1885).

Much controversy has been dedicated to the relationship between pictures and writing in these documents. While the polemic has been settled regarding the Maya, whose writing system is recognized nowadays as being logo-syllabic, [17] the relationship between image and writing in non-Maya mesoamerican manuscripts, which comprise a vast majority of these documents, has not reached an academic consensus as of yet. Current specialists are divided between grammatological perspectives, which consider these documents as a mixture of iconography and writing proper, [18] and semasiographical perspectives, which consider them a system of graphic communication which admits "glottography", or a limited representation of language. [19] In regards to linguistic affiliation, the problem is increased by the fact that some of the foremost among these documents are for now impossible to assign to any particular language due to the lack of any noticeable phoneticism in them (like Codex Borgia), while some others seems to illustrate Spanish rather than native accounts (like Codex Magliabechiano), or are a mixture of Spanish and native alphabetic glosses with native hieroglyphic writing (like the Codex Mendoza). Thus, the classification of these documents by Glass and Robertson was originally agnostic on the polemic of pictography and hieroglyphic writing, as well as on the linguistic affiliation of these documents. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madrid Codex (Maya)</span> One of three surviving pre-Columbian Maya books

The Madrid Codex is one of three surviving pre-Columbian Maya books dating to the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. A fourth codex, named the Grolier Codex, was discovered in 1965. The Madrid Codex is held by the Museo de América in Madrid and is considered to be the most important piece in its collection. However, the original is not on display due to its fragility; an accurate reproduction is displayed in its stead. At one point in time the codex was split into two pieces, given the names "Codex Troano" and "Codex Cortesianus". In the 1880s, Leon de Rosny, an ethnologist, realised that the two pieces belonged together, and helped combine them into a single text. This text was subsequently brought to Madrid, and given the name "Madrid Codex", which remains its most common name today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya codices</span> Manuscript written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya hieroglyphic script

Maya codices are folding books written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark paper. The folding books are the products of professional scribes working under the patronage of deities such as the Tonsured Maize God and the Howler Monkey Gods. The codices have been named for the cities where they eventually settled. The Dresden codex is generally considered the most important of the few that survive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aztec codex</span> Manuscripts painted by pre-Columbian and colonial Aztec

Aztec codices are Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the colonial period in Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Tlaxcala</span> Illustrated codex

History of Tlaxcala is an alphabetic text in Spanish with illustrations written by and under the supervision of Diego Muñoz Camargo in the years leading up to 1585.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Borbonicus</span> Aztec codex

The Codex Borbonicus is an Aztec codex written by Aztec priests shortly before or after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. It is named after the Palais Bourbon in France and kept at the Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée Nationale in Paris. The codex is an outstanding example of how Aztec manuscript painting is crucial for the understanding of Mexica calendric constructions, deities, and ritual actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Borgia</span> Pre-Columbian Middle American pictorial manuscript from Central Mexico

The Codex Borgia, also known as Codex Borgianus, Manuscrit de Veletri and Codex Yohualli Ehecatl, is a pre-Columbian Middle American pictorial manuscript from Central Mexico featuring calendrical and ritual content, dating from the 16th century. It is named after the 18th century Italian cardinal, Stefano Borgia, who owned it before it was acquired by the Vatican Library after the cardinal's death in 1804.

Mesoamerica, along with Mesopotamia and China, is one of three known places in the world where writing is thought to have developed independently. Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are a combination of logographic and syllabic systems. They are often called hieroglyphs due to the iconic shapes of many of the glyphs, a pattern superficially similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs. Fifteen distinct writing systems have been identified in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, many from a single inscription. The limits of archaeological dating methods make it difficult to establish which was the earliest and hence the progenitor from which the others developed. The best documented and deciphered Mesoamerican writing system, and the most widely known, is the classic Maya script. Earlier scripts with poorer and varying levels of decipherment include the Olmec hieroglyphs, the Zapotec script, and the Isthmian script, all of which date back to the 1st millennium BC. An extensive Mesoamerican literature has been conserved, partly in indigenous scripts and partly in postconquest transcriptions in the Latin script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican literature</span> Extensive body of literature from 1st mil. BCE times

The traditions of indigenous Mesoamerican literature extend back to the oldest-attested forms of early writing in the Mesoamerican region, which date from around the mid-1st millennium BCE. Many of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica are known to have been literate societies, who produced a number of Mesoamerican writing systems of varying degrees of complexity and completeness. Mesoamerican writing systems arose independently from other writing systems in the world, and their development represents one of the very few such origins in the history of writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Testerian</span> Pictorial writing system used to proselytize Christianity to indigenous Mexican peoples

Testerian is a pictorial writing system that was used until the 19th century to teach Christian doctrine to the indigenous peoples of Mexico, who were unfamiliar with alphabetic writing systems. Its invention is attributed to Jacobo de Testera, a Franciscan who arrived in Mexico in 1529.

The Codices Azoyú I & II are two Mesoamerican pictorial codices, painted in Tlapa around 1565. They were accidentally discovered in 1940 in the town of Azoyú, after which they are named. Both codices depict and offer supporting evidence for the Mesoamerican belief of nahualism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Tudela</span> Aztec codex

The Codex Tudela is a 16th-century pictorial Aztec codex. It is based on the same prototype as the Codex Magliabechiano, the Codex Ixtlilxochitl, and other documents of the Magliabechiano Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borgia Group</span> Group of religious pre-Columbian documents from central Mexico

The Borgia Group is the scholarly designation of number of mostly pre-Columbian documents from central Mexico. In 1830–1831, they were first published in their entirety as colored lithographs of copies made by an Italian artist, Agustino Aglio, in volumes 2 and 3 of Lord Kingsborough's monumental work titled Antiquities of Mexico. They were named the “Codex Borgia Group” by Eduard Seler, who in 1887 began publishing a series of important elucidations of their contents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixtec writing</span> Logographic writing system

Mixtec writing originated as a logographic writing system during the Post-Classic period in Mesoamerican history. Records of genealogy, historic events, and myths are found in the pre-Columbian Mixtec codices. The arrival of Europeans in 1520 AD caused changes in form, style, and the function of the Mixtec writings. Today these codices and other Mixtec writings are used as a source of ethnographic, linguistic, and historical information for scholars, and help to preserve the identity of the Mixtec people as migration and globalization introduce new cultural influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Laud</span> Mesoamerican manuscript

The Codex Laud, or Laudianus, is a sixteenth-century Mesoamerican codex named for William Laud, an English archbishop who was the former owner. It is from the Borgia Group, and is a pictorial manuscript consisting of 24 leaves from Central Mexico, dating from before the Spanish takeover. It is evidently incomplete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Cospi</span> Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican pictorial manuscript

The Codex Cospi is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican pictorial manuscript, included in the Borgia Group. It is currently located in the library of the University of Bologna.

Elizabeth Hill Boone is an American art historian, ethnohistorian and academic, specializing in the study of Latin American art and in particular the early colonial and pre-Columbian art, iconography and pictorial codices associated with the Mixtec, Aztec and other Mesoamerican cultures in the central Mexican region. Her extensive published research covers investigations into the nature of Aztec writing, the symbolism and structure of Aztec art and iconography and the interpretation of Mixtec and Aztec codices.

Karl Anton Nowotny was an Austrian ethnographer, art historian and academic, specialising in the study of Mesoamerican cultures. He is most renowned for his analyses and reproductions of Mesoamerican codices, and his commentaries on their iconography and symbolisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Vaticanus B</span> Pre-Columbian Middle American manuscript

Codex Vaticanus B, also known as Codex Vaticanus 3773, Codice Vaticano Rituale, and Códice Fábrega, is a pre-Columbian Middle American pictorial manuscript, probably from the Puebla part of the Mixtec region, with a ritual and calendrical content. It is a member of the Borgia Group of manuscripts. It is currently housed at the Vatican Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lienzo de Quauhquechollan</span>

The Lienzo de Quauhquechollan is a 16th-century lienzo of the Nahua, a group of indigenous peoples of Mexico. It is one of two surviving Nahua pictorial records recounting the Spanish conquest of Guatemala and the earliest surviving maps of what is now Guatemala.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Handbook of Middle American Indians. Volume fourteen, volume fifteen, Guide to ethnohistorical sources. Robert Wauchope, Howard Francis Cline, Charles Gibson, H. B. Nicholson, Tulane University. Middle American Research Institute. Austin. 2015. ISBN   978-1-4773-0687-1. OCLC   974489206.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. ↑ Raven, James (2020). The Oxford illustrated history of the book (1st ed.). Oxford (GB): Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-870298-6.
  3. ↑ Galarza, Joaquín. (1990). El papel, el libro : los códices mesoamericanos : guía para la introducción al estudio del material pictórico indígena [The paper, the book: Mesoamerican codices: guide for the introduction to the study of indigenous pictorial material]. Rubén. Maldonado Rojas (2nd ed.). México: Editorial TAVA. ISBN   968-6776-00-1. OCLC   31127841.
  4. ↑ Robertson, Donald (1994). Mexican manuscript painting of the early colonial period : the metropolitan schools. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN   0-8061-2675-2. OCLC   30436784.
  5. ↑ Écrits : manuscrits à miniatures otomi. Alfonso M. García Téllez, Pierre Déléage, Jacques Galinier. Nanterre. 2018. ISBN   978-2-36519-027-5. OCLC   1066259291.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ↑ Barlow, R. H. (1994–1995). Fuentes y estudios sobre el México indígena. Jesús. Monjarás-Ruiz, Elena Limón, Maricruz Paillés H. (1st ed.). México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. ISBN   968-6254-27-7. OCLC   33196379.
  7. ↑ Bonilla Palmeros, Jesus Javier. "Un acercamiento a los catecismos indígenas del Siglo XVI" (PDF). Tetlacuilolli.
  8. ↑ Galarza, Joaquín. (1992). Catecismos indígenas : el Pater Noster : método para el análisis de un manuscrito pictográfico del siglo XVIII con su aplicación en la primera oración, el Pater Noster. Aurore Monod-Becquelin (2a ed.). México: TAVA. ISBN   968-6776-02-8. OCLC   28272533.
  9. 1 2 Boone, Elizabeth Hill (2017). Painted words : Nahua Catholicism, politics, and memory in the Atzaqualco pictorial catechism. Louise M. Burkhart, David Eduardo Tavárez (First ed.). Washington, D.C. ISBN   978-0-88402-418-7. OCLC   949552604.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ↑ Galarza, Joaquín. (1992). Catecismos indígenas : el Pater Noster : método para el análisis de un manuscrito pictográfico del siglo XVIII con su aplicación en la primera oración, el Pater Noster. Aurore Monod-Becquelin (2nd ed.). México: TAVA. ISBN   968-6776-02-8. OCLC   28272533.
  11. ↑ Normann, Anne Whited (1985). Testerian codices: hieroglyphic catechisms for native conversion in New Spain. New Orleans, Louisiana: Tulane University.
  12. ↑ González Centeno, Gregorio (2018). "Falsificaciones de códices en papel de fibra de coco", in Códices y cultura indígena en México: homenaje a Alfonso Lacadena García Gallo. Juan José Batalla Rosado, José Luis de Rojas, Lisardo Pérez Lugones (1ª ed.). Madrid: BRF Servicios Editoriales. pp. 411–438. ISBN   978-84-09-06669-8. OCLC   1079365228.
  13. ↑ Meer, Ron Van (2010-01-01). "The History of a Falsified Mesoamerican Pictorial Manuscript: The Codex Moguntiacus". Indiana. 27: 193–228. doi:10.18441/ind.v27i0.193-228. ISSN   2365-2225.
  14. ↑ Bauer, Arnold J. (2009). The search for the Codex Cardona : on the trail of a sixteenth century mexican treasure. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN   978-0-8223-4596-1. OCLC   319499265.
  15. ↑ José, Batalla Rosado (2003). "Estudio formal y codicológico del Códice de Cabezón o Códice de Costumbres y Fiestas, enterramientos y diversas formas de proceder de los indios de Nueva España. Manuscrito sobre religión azteca del siglo XVI", In Actas del V Congreso Nacional de Historia del Papel en España : Sarrià de Ter, Girona, 2, 3 y 4 de octubre de 2003. Asociación Hispánica de Historiadores del Papel. Girona: CCG Ediciones. pp. 105–113. ISBN   84-95483-68-8. OCLC   56922351.
  16. ↑ Batalla, Juan José. "El libro escrito europeo del Códice Fiestas o Fiestas de los indios a el Demonio en dias determinados y a los finados". Pueblos Originarios: Escritura y Simbología.
  17. ↑ Johnson, Scott A. J. (2013). Translating Maya Hieroglyphs. Norman. ISBN   978-0-8061-4333-0. OCLC   814707434.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. ↑ Velásquez García, Erik (2018-05-31). "In memoriam Alfonso Lacadena". Estudios de Cultura Maya. 52: 306. doi:10.19130/iifl.ecm.2018.52.961. ISSN   2448-5179. S2CID   243900028.
  19. ↑ Mikulska Dąbrowska, Katarzyna (2015). Tejiendo destinos : un acercamiento al sistema de comunicación gráfica en los códices adivinatorios (Primera ed.). Zinacantepec, México, México. ISBN   978-607-7761-77-8. OCLC   951433139.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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