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| Codex Mendoza | |
|---|---|
Bodleian Library, England,  United Kingdom | |
 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 |
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.