Codex Ixtlilxochitl

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Robyn Ruder

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Aug 3, 2024, 4:11:39 PM8/3/24

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The Codex Ixtlilxochitl (Nahuatl for "dark flower[1]") is a pictorial Aztec Codex created between 1580 and 1584, after the arrival of the Conquistadors and during the early Spanish colonial period. It is a record of the past ceremonies and holidays observed at the Great Teocalli of the Aztec city of Texcoco, near modern-day Mexico City, and contains visual representations of rulers and deities with association to Texcoco.[2] The existence of this codex is a demonstration of the cultural assimilations and interactions between native Aztecs, Spanish colonists, and mestizos that occurred during the 17th century in Mexico as the colonies developed and their residents, of all cultures, endeavored to find a balance between native tradition and colonial innovation.[3] Contrasting with the attitude of colonists from the prior century of striving for a complete annihilation of all native culture, this codex served as a quasi-translator between native and European cultural languages, and denotes an occurrence of European fascination with the unknown resulting in a valuable preservation of the native cultures they had previously sought to destroy.

The codex is a component of the Magliabechiano Group,[12] a set of three codices pertaining to religion and ritual that also includes the Codex Magliabechiano[13] and the Codex Tudela,[14] as well as parts of Crnica de la Nueva Espaa[15] by Francisco Cervantes de Salazar. While other well-known post-colonial Aztec codices mostly document native life in Tenochtitlan, the largest city in the Aztec empire and the one that would eventually develop into the modern-day capitol of Mexico City, much of the content of the Codex Ixtlilxochitl is associated with life in Texcoco and offers a more diverse perspective on day-to-day living in other Aztec regions.[16] While the driving force behind the creation of Spanish-commissioned codices was to serve as aid in converting natives to Catholicism and exterminating the Aztec religion and culture, the Codex Ixtlilxochitl is a tribute to the complex relationship between the colonists and the natives and how that relationship eventually resulted in enough preservation of native practices for historians to have access to a significant wealth of knowledge pertaining to Aztec culture.

After the codex's arrival in Europe and its application to Spanish census questionnaires, it passed through the hands of various Mexican and European historians and collectors before eventually coming into the possession of Mexican-French collector and philanthropist E. Eugene Goupil. Following Goupil's death in 1895, his estate donated the codex to the Bibliothque Nationale of Paris, where it continues to reside today.[16] The pages of the codex bear the cataloguing stamps of the Bibliothque Nationale, Goupil's extensive personal library, as well as page numbers inscribed early in the codex's circulation by previous owners.[2]

The aspects of the prototype preserved in the Codex Ixtlilxochitl present the solar Xiuhpohualli calendar, which is a 365-day calendar consisting of 18 months of 20 days called veintenas in Spanish or mētztli in Nahuatl, as well as each month's associated feast. At the end of the 18 months is a 5-day period called the nemontemi, which were considered to be "unlucky" days separated from the rest of the calendar, during which many day-to-day activities were abstained from at the risk of attracting bad luck or misfortune.[17] Each folio represents a month with a pictogram, ranging from the month Atlcahualo's human figure representative to the month Tozoztontli's garment representative to animal and building and food representatives. Beneath each pictogram is commentary written by Spanish historians from around 1600. Also included in this section of the codex are descriptions of two mortuary rituals.[2]

In this section, the European influence on Native depictions of deities and rulers within codices is most evident; the figures are rendered with accurate proportions and realistic expressions, and care is taken with anatomical shading in order to create a lifelike image. The first illustration depicts the Aztec emperor or tlatoani Ixtlilxochitl Ome Tochtli, more commonly known as Ixtlilxochitl I, who ruled the altepatl of Texcoco from 1409 to 1418, prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.[8] The folio's illustration depicts him standing upright in regal garb, wearing an elaborately woven textile cloak and holding an arrow in his left hand and a ceremonial floral and feathered scepter in his right hand.[2] Ixtlilxochitl I is regarded as slightly infamous in the context of Texcoco's history; under his rule Texcoco was lost in battle to Tenochtitlan and would not be reclaimed until the reign of his son, the famed "poet-king" Nezahualcoyotl.[20]

Nezahualcoyotl himself is next depicted in this section of the codex, and in keeping with the altepatl's history, he is shown fully costumed for battle. The artist depicts him with a menacing grimace, and utilized carefully applied gold leaf on his calf guards and arm bands to establish the illustration as especially regal. Holding an obsidian-edged sword, or macuahuitl, and bearing a feathered shield and armor, one can imagine Nezahualcoyotl taking to the battlefield to avenge his father, successfully reclaim his throne, and eventually rebuild Texcoco to its former glory.[21]

The third image is a second depiction of Ixtlilxochitl I; this illustration is slightly more modest in terms of scale, color saturation, and detail, but the king's snail shell patterned cloak and ceremonial incense burner continue to exemplify the full breadth of Aztec ceremonial regalia.

The fourth picture illustrates the tlatoani Nezahualpilli, son of Nezahualcoyotl, and is likely the most referenced and recognizable folio of the Codex Ixtlilxochitl as a whole thanks to its depiction of Nezahualpilli's elaborately patterned xiuhtlalpiltilmatl, or "turquoise-tied-mantle," about which there is a degree of controversy surrounding the material with which the cloak was made. Shown also with gold-leaf arm and calf bands, a maxtlatl, or loincloth bearing the same pattern as the mantle, and feathered incense holders,[22] the image depicts Nezahualpilli in a way visually characteristic to his reputation of being a fair, peaceful ruler; alongside that, according to Aztec legends he had divinatory gifts and predicted the arrival of the conquistadors and subsequent fall of the Aztec Empire under Montezuma II's reign.[23]

The fifth image diverges from the depiction of emperors of Texcoco, and instead is an ornate illustration of the rain god Tlaloc.[2][24] Tlaloc, who had jurisdiction over agricultural fertility and crop outcomes, was one of the most significant and revered gods in Aztec religion and culture, and is depicted in this folio wearing his usual unique fanged mask and holding a lightning bolt in his right hand and a feathered shield in his left.

Finally, the sixth image illustrates Texcoco's great teocalli, the double-templed pyramid at which many religious ceremonies and cultural events took place. This specific depiction of the teocalli is often used in reference to Tenochtitlan's Templo Mayor,[25] possibly due to its academic clarity in terms of the artist's usage of line and color, but is in fact Texcoco's equivalent of Tenochtitlan's teocalli. Most Aztec cities possessed a grand central temple for ceremonial usage, and the comparability of Texcoco's and Tenochtitlan's teocallis has a tendency to confuse historians and casual observers despite the fact that they were two entirely different temples.

Folios 113-122 are an assembly of unillustrated notes and textual analyses regarding the Aztec ceremonial calendar outlined visually in the first section of the codex. Thought to be written by de Alva Cortez Ixtlilxochitl himself to aid the European understanding of Aztec ritualistic practices and their calendrical associations, the text is simply formatted, written entirely in Spanish, and echos much of the written Spanish annotations found in the first section of the codex in a more comprehensive fashion, as well as sharing similarities with other written accounts of Aztec calendars by other European historians and census writers.[7]

It is named for Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxchitl (1578-1650) a descendant of Texcoco rulers and translator for the viceroyalty in Mexico City, who may have been responsible for writing the last portion of the manuscript.

The half-page illustrations of the first section are rendered in a palette dominated by red, ocher, and green with figures outlined in black, as is found in preconquest art of Mesoamerica, but with little assurance. Among these images are two adaptations of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent deity central to Nahautl religion (fols. 97r and 103r). Most of the depicted deities are associated with particular feast days.

The full-page illustrations of part two are in a fully European style, with well-modeled figures. Four Texcocan lords, rendered in brilliant color and using gold leaf, are pictured wearing traditional headdresses, earrings, and lip plugs and carrying ritual objects and weapons. The rain deity, Tlaloc, is pictured with a blue face, exaggerated lips, and long fangs, as is traditional. He wears a headdress of heron feathers and a jade necklace (fol. 109/110v).

Two scribes contributed to the first part of the codex. One wrote short indigenous-language texts and the half-page Spanish explanatory texts. Another scribe added more labels at a later date. The text of each of the subsequent sections was copied by a different scribe, both writing in European Secretary script.

Le Codex Ixtlilxochitl est un codex colonial du XVIIe sicle. Il se compose de 50 feuillets (dimensions : 21 31 cm) et fut ralis sur du papier europen. Il est actuellement conserv la Bibliothque nationale de France.