Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T13:36:03.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Bibliographic Introduction to Twenty Manuscripts of Classical Nahuatl Literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2022

Willard P. Gingerich
Willard P. Gingerich*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This bibliography is offered as a preliminary guide for students and professionals interested in the texts of the indigenous Nahuatl cultures of Mexico. It is the bibliography I would wish to have were I to begin again my own investigations, which were undertaken with only a general knowledge of Nahuatl culture of the kind available to any curious aficionado of antiquities. While many excellent bibliographies of Nahuatl materials are available (see Note), none have indicated clearly for the uninitiated the primary manuscript sources of the literature or what editions of facsimile, paleography, and translation have been prepared from each. And since much of the critical editing has been piecemeal, locating facsimile or paleography of any specific manuscript may require as many as three different references published over a span of perhaps fifty years. Chasing these references from one book to another in pursuit of sources is time consuming and frustrating for students unfamiliar with the literature, especially for those North Americans whose only chance to work in Mexico is through an inadequate travel grant giving them precious little time. This bibliography offers a convenient organization of references which will facilitate location of any source in whatever form the investigator may desire.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , Spring 1975 , pp. 105 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © 1975 by Latin American Research Review

References

1. Title: Madrid Codex of the Royal Palace (Códice Matritense del Real Palacio). Origin: Redacted by Sahagún and students from native informants, mainly at Tepepulco, Tlatelolco, and Mexico-Tenochtitlan between 1547 and 1565.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the library of the Royal Palace at Madrid.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: Paso y Tronsoco, Franciso del. Códice Matritense del Real Palacio, Vol. 6, parts 1 & 2, and vol. 7. Madrid, Hauser y Menet, 1906. 400 copies.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Ritos, sacerdotes y atavíos de los dioses. México, Instituto de Historia, National University of Mexico (unam), 1958. Reprinted by Edmundo Aviña Levy. Guadalajara, 1968. This entry and the two following unam publications are the result of the Institute of History, Seminar of Nahuatl Studies' project to publish the texts of the Madrid Codices with facing page Spanish translation and notes.Google Scholar
LÓpez Austin, Alfredo. Augurios y abusiones. México, Instituto de Historia, unam, 1969.Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. Veinte himnos sacros de los nahuas. México, Instituto de Historia, unam, 1958. These twenty hymns appear also as an appendix to Book II of the Florentine Codex and constitute one of the most ancient and hieratic texts in the language. In spite of their brevity—329 lines in all—and extensive commentaries by various German, English, Mexican, and North American scholars, they retain many obscurities.Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. “Paralipómenos de Sahagún,” Tlalocan. 1 (1943-44): 307-13; 2 (1946): 167–74., 249-54. An excerpt.Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. “Relación Breve de las Fiestas de los Dioses,” Tlalocan. 2 (1946): 289-320. An excerpt.Google Scholar
Seler, Edward. Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach und Altertumskunde. 5 vols. Berlin, Ascher und Co. and Behrend und Co., 1902-1923.Google Scholar
Schultze Jena, Leonhard. Wahrsagerei, Himmelskunde und Kalender der alten Azteken. “Quellenwerke zur alten Geschicte Amerikas,” Bd. 4. Stuttgart, 1950.Google Scholar
REA, VARGAS, AND PORFÍRIO AGUIRRE, trans. Primeros Memoriales. México, 1950-1954. 100 copies. The Nahuatl text in this edition is incomplete and critical judgment has been harsh. “Has no scientific or critical presentation. … The paleography is filled with faulty readings”—León Portilla.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
Portilla, León. Ritos.Google Scholar
Austin, LÓpez. Augurios.Google Scholar
GARIBAY. Veinte himnos, //Paralipómenos,“ ”Relación Breve.“Google Scholar
German Translations:Google Scholar
SELER. Gesammelte.Google Scholar
Jena, Schultze. Wahrsagerei.Google Scholar
English translations:Google Scholar
Brinton, Daniel G. Rig Veda Americanus. “Library of Aboriginal Literature,” vol. 8. Philadelphia, 1890. The twenty hymns are the only part of this MS to receive direct treatment in English, and that long ago. Unfortunately, Brinton had access only to corrupt copies of the text and inadequate preparation in the language.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Pre-Columbian Literatures of Mexico. trans. Grace Lobanov. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1969. This is a translation of Portilla's Literaturas precolombinas de Mexico and includes only a few hymns.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Irene. Firefly in the Night. London, Faber & Faber, 1959. A non-scholarly introduction to Nahuatl poetry, derived almost completely from Garibay and Portilla with a little touch of Séjourné. Nicholson prints many of the hymns but gives no documentation for any of her sources, except to say that Garibay had selected and translated a collection of poems for her to study. She claims to have studied the originals in preparing her English versions.Google Scholar
Spence, Lewis. The Gods of Mexico. London, 1923. Gives versions of all twenty hymns, but taken from Seler's German translations.Google Scholar
Barlow, Robert. “Remarks on a Nahuatl Hymn,” Tlalocan. 4: 2 (1963): 185-92. An interesting version, with extensive commentary, of the hymn to Xipe Totec.Google Scholar
2. Title: Madrid Codex of the Royal Academy of History (Códice Matritense de la Real Academia de Historia).Google Scholar
Origin: Redacted by Sahagún and students from native informants, primarily at the College of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco between 1560 and 1565.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the library of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: Paso y Troncoso, Franciso del. Códice Matritense de la Real Academia de Historia, vol. 8. Madrid, Hauser y Menet, 1907. 400 copies.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. Vida económica de Tenochtitlan: Pochtecayolt. México, Instituto de Historia, unam, 1961.Google Scholar
LÓpez Austin, Alfredo. Medicina Náhuatl. México, Instituto de Historia, unam, 1967. Gives selection of texts dealing with pre-Cortesian medical science.Google Scholar
Schultze Jena, Leonhard. Gliederung des alt-aztekischen Volks in Familie, Stand und Beruf. “Quellenwerke zur alten Geschichte Amerikas,” Bd. 5. Stuttgart, 1952.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
GARIBAY. Vida económica.Google Scholar
Austin, LÓpez. Medicina náhuatl.Google Scholar
German translations:Google Scholar
Jena, Schultze. Gliederung.Google Scholar
SELER. Gesammelte.Google Scholar
English translations:Google Scholar
Cornyn, John. The Song of Quetzalcoatl. Yellow Springs, 1930. This is a poetic version of Sahagun's material on the mythic reign of Quetzalcoatl at Tula. An interesting version, but severely faulted by its insistence on Longfellow's trochaic tetrameter line, which Cornyn says is equivalent to a certain Nahuatl rhythm. There is something like a trochee in the Nahuatl, but nothing as heavy or regular as Cornyn's line.Google Scholar
3. Title: Florentine Codex (Códice Florentino).Google Scholar
Origin: Redacted by Sahagún and students from native informants at Tepepulco, Tlatelolco, and Tenochtitlan between 1547 and 1580, approximately. This manuscript is a copy, with additional material, of either the Madrid Codices or some lost original.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the Laurentian Library at Florence.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: No edition is available. Illustrations accompanying the text are published in Paso y Troncoso, Franciso del. Códice Florentino, vol. 5. Madrid, Hauser y Menet, 1905.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Anderson, Arthur A. O., and Dibble, Charles. Florentine Codex. 12 vols. The School of American Research and University of Utah, 1950-69. This publication contains the complete text of the Florentine MS plus notes comparing alternate readings in the Madrid Codices and appendices of material found only in those manuscripts. All in all the most complete edition of Sahagun's informants found anywhere. The accompanying direct English translation is something not available in any other modern language. It is slightly flawed, unfortunately, by its attempt to reproduce King James English. While the reading of some passages is disputed, this edition is in continuous use by investigators and students at the University of Mexico. A volume containing introduction and index remains yet to be published.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
Acosta Saignes, Miguel, ed. Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España. 3 vols. México, 1946.Google Scholar
Bustamente, Carlos, ed. Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España. 3 vols. México, 1829.Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M., ed. Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España. 4 vols. México, Porrúa, 1956. This edition is the only one to consult both versions of the Historia as well as the Nahuatl originals.Google Scholar
ROBREDO, ed. Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España. 5 vols. México, 1938.Google Scholar
German translation:Google Scholar
Some portions of this manuscript may be found in the Gesammelte of Seler.Google Scholar
English translations:Google Scholar
ANDERSON AND DIBBLE. Florentine Codex. Version of the complete text.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Aztec Thought and Culture, trans. Jack Davis. Norman, University of Oklahoma, 1963.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Pre-Columbian Literatures of Mexico. trans. Grace Lobanov and the author. Norman, University of Oklahoma, 1968. Both of these studies by León Portilla contain exensive second-hand English versions (translated through the Spanish) of selections from the Florentine MS.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. trans. Lysander Kemp. Boston, Beacon Press, 1962. This translation of León Portilla's Visión de los vencidos contains extensive selections from Book 12 of the Florentine MS.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Thelma. “Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún,” Estudios de cultura náhuatl. 4 (México: 1963): 92-177. A paleographic version with translation of a part of Book 6, folios 185r-215v in the MS. Sullivan, a former student of Garibay, is the only working translator in English who has both excellent preparation and anything like an ear for poetry.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Thelma. “Prayer to Tlaloc,” Estudios de cultura náhuatl. 5 (1965): 39-55. This is a version, with text, of a long and ancient address to the deity of mountains and rain, found in Book 6 of the Florentine MS, folios 28r-33r.Google Scholar
Note: The facing column Spanish version which accompanies the Nahuatl text in this MS is a summary in most cases, rather than a literal version; much is left out but some comments not found in the original are also added, often of value. This version is not identical to the Spanish text of Sahagún's Historia as found in the MS of the Madrid Royal Academy of History and has never been published in its entirety. The two are very close, however, and for all but the most rigorous investigation the numerous editions of the Royal Academy MS will serve for access to the Historia.Google Scholar
4. Title: The Mexican Cantos (Cantares mexicanos).Google Scholar
Origin: Redacted at various locations around the Valley of Mexico between approximately 1536 and 1597. The major part was probably recorded in the decade of the sixties. Though there is no final evidence, Garibay believes Sahagún or his students are responsible for collection of the material represented in this MS.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the National Library of Mexico (Biblioteca Nacional), MS no. 1622. 268 folios plus 24 in blank. Contains the following items: The Cantos, 85 folios of lyric poetry, the single most extensive source of this genre in the language; an explanation of the Aztec calendar year in Spanish and Latin, identical to Sahagún's text in the General History; an incomplete description of the divinatory calendar (tonalamatl) in Spanish; a treatise on the Eucharist in Nahuatl; a single huehuetlatolli; a short sermon on Hic est panis; a narration of the healing of Jarius's daughter; an exposition of Leviticus 1: 9 in Spanish; a meditation on death in Nahuatl; a life of St. Bartholomew in Nahuatl; 47 fables of Aesop in Nahuatl and adapted to the animals of Mexico; a narration of the Passion in Spanish.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition:Google Scholar
Peñafiel, Antonio. Cantares mexicanos. México, 1904. First 85 folios, theGoogle Scholar
Cantos, only. A good, legible edition, but too pale to make photocopies from. A rare book. The National Library also has a bound photocopy of the complete MS, very clear, from which good copies could be made. Incidently, in my brief period of contact I found the staff of the National Library to be very cooperative and accommodating, and can say the same for the library of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. There are microfilm copies of this MS in the Wilbur Cross Library of the University of Connecticut and in the Hillman Library of the University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Brinton, Daniel. Ancient Nahuatl Poetry. Philadelphia, 1887. Paleography and English version of 28 poems from this manuscript, but prepared from a highly unreliable copy made for Brinton by Galicia Chimalpopoca.Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. Poesía náhuatl, vols. 2 and 3. México, unam, 1965 and 1968. Contains paleography and translation of folios 7v-15r, 16v-36v, 53v, 55v-56r, 65r-79v. This is 45 out of 85 folios, but several of the published folios duplicate ones omitted. Folios 80-85 in the MS are entirely duplicates. Garibay's edition is the most extensive and essential version of the Cantos.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Trece poetas del mundo azteca. México, unam, 1967. Paleography, Spanish version, and notes of poems in this manuscript attributable to a known historical poet.Google Scholar
Peñafiel, Antonio. Cantares en Mexicano, “Documentos para la historia de México.” México, 1899. First 85 folios only. Generally considered very unreliable.Google Scholar
Schultze Jena, Leonhard. Alt-aztekische Gesänge, “Quellenwerke zur alten Geschichte Amerikas,” vol. 6. Stuttgart, 1957. Paleography, German version and notes up to folio 57v. “The paleography is too literal, without a sense of criticism; the translation is in general acceptable, though not always faithful, … his glossary, though complicated, is to be praised, as well as his notes, almost always exact.” —Garibay.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. La literatura de los aztecas. México, Joaquín Moritz, 1964. An anthology made up largely of shorter poems from the Cantos.Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. Poesía indígena. México, unam, Biblioteca del Estudiante no. 11, 1940. An anthology which includes poems from the Cantos.Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. Poesía náhuatl, vols. 2 and 3. Garibay's final translations of the Cantos.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Filosofía náhuatl estudiado en sus fuentes. México, unam, 1959. Contains selections only.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Las literaturas precolombinas de México. México, Editorial Pormaca, 1964. Selections only.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Los antiguos mexicanos através de sus crónicas y cantares. México, Fondo de cultura económica, 1961. Selections only; significant for its complete version and interpretation of the series of poems composed at the conference of poets at the palace of Tecayehuatzin in Huexotzinco, reputed to have been held about 1490.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Nezahualcoyotl: Poesía y pensamiento. Texcoco, Gobierno del Estado de México, 1972. Contains all the poems Portilla believes can be attributed to Nezahualcoyotl in the Cantos.Google Scholar
León Portilla, Miguel. Trece poetas del mundo azteca.Google Scholar
German translation:Google Scholar
Jena, Schultze. Alt-aztekische Gesänge.Google Scholar
English translations:Google Scholar
Berg, Stephen. Nothing in the Word. New York, 1972. These translations are free versions of short extracts from Garibay's Poesía náhuatl. Berg is the first American poet to attempt a treatment of Náhuatl poetry in anything like a contemporary idiom. He catches some of the angst of the original, in spite of the fragmentary nature of his selections. William Carlos Williams prepared versions of three Nahuatl poems for Pictures from Breughel but they lack the immediacy of Berg's versions, though they are more faithful to the form and symbolism of the originals.Google Scholar
BRINTON. Ancient Nahuatl Poetry. Version of 28 poems, very inadequate as translations, but not worthless as poetry.Google Scholar
Portilla, León. Aztec Thought and Culture, and Pre-Columbian Literatures of Mexico. Selections only.Google Scholar
NICHOLSON. Firefly in the Night. Selections only with no documentation.Google Scholar
Note: The only other Nahuatl section from this MS to have been published, with paleography only, is: Peñafiel, Antonio. Fábulas de Esopo. México, 1895 and 1906.Google Scholar
5. Title: Cantos in Nahuatl: Ballads of the Lords of New Spain, the Manuscript of Juan Bautista Pomar (Cantares en náhuatl: Romance de los señores de la Nueva España, manuscrito de Juan Bautista Pomar).Google Scholar
Origin: Redacted by Juan Bautista Pomar, great grandson of Nezahualcoyotl, probably in the 1580s in Texcoco.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the Latin American Collection of the University of Texas, Austin. Manuscript consists of two parts: The first contains some sixty poems in Nahuatl, a few of which are also found in the Mexican Cantos MS; and the second contains the “Narrative of Juan Bautista Pomar,” a general account of pre-Cortesian life in Texcoco, written in 1582 in Spanish, from the point of view of a mestizo nobleman.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: No published edition. The library of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia has a photocopy. Both photocopy and MS are lacking folio 33.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. Poesía náhuatl, vol. 1. México, unam, 1964. Contains both Nahuatl and Spanish texts of the MS.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
Portilla, León. Filosofía náhuatl, Las literaturas precolombinas, Los antiguos mexicanos, Nezahualcoyotl, Trece poetas. All contain poems from this MS.Google Scholar
GARIBAY. Poesía náhuatl, 1. Version of complete text.Google Scholar
6. Title: Codex of Chimalpopoca (Códice Chimalpopoca). MS in three parts: The Annals of Cuauhtitlan (Anales de Cuauhtitlan), Treatise on the Gods and Rites of the Heathen (Tratado de los dioses y ritos de la gentilidad), and The Legend of the Suns (Leyenda de los soles).Google Scholar
Origin: Part 1: Redacted anonymously in Cuauhtitlan in 1570. Part 3: Redacted anonymously in 1558. Part 2: Written in Spanish by Father Pedro Ponce de León of Zumpahuacan in 1569, and published by A. M. Garibay, ed., Teogonia, “Sepan cuantos” no. 37, (México, Porrúa, 1965).Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the Library of the National Museum of Anthropology and History, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: Velázquez, Primo F. Códice Chimalpopoca. México, unam, 1945. Terrible photocopy of a sloppy MS.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Lehmann, Walter. Die Geschichte der Konigreiche von Colhuacan und Mexico, “Quellenwerke zur alten Geschichte Amerikas,” vol. 1. Stuttgart, 1938. The two Nahuatl texts of the MS.Google Scholar
Paso Y Troncoso, Francisco Del. Leyenda de los soles. Florence, 1903. Part 3 of the MS only.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. Épica náhuatl. Biblioteca del estudiante universitario no. 51. México, unam, 1945. Also La literatura de los aztecas and Poesía indígena-, all three contain selections.Google Scholar
Portilla, León. Filosofía náhuatl, Las literaturas precolombinas, and Los antiguos mexicanos. Selections only.Google Scholar
VELAZQUEZ. Códice Chimalpopoca. Translation of the complete Nahuatl texts. “Better in many places than Lehmann's [German translation], although not cleared of defects, bad translations and false interpretations. All in all, the most usable until now.”—Garibay. Not all scholars accept this opinion.Google Scholar
German translation:Google Scholar
LEHMANN. Die Geschichte. Version of complete Nahuatl text with extensive notes. “Good notes, but in many places deficient or erroneous.”—Garibay.Google Scholar
English translation:Google Scholar
Portilla, León. Aztec Thought and Culture, Pre-Columbian Literatures. Selections with extensive commentary.Google Scholar
7. Title: The Grammar of the Mexican Language Composed by Father Andrés de Olmos (El Arte de la lengua mexicana compuesta por el padre fray Andrés de Olmos). This is the MS which contains the huehuetlatolli, the “discourses,” which Olmos collected and appended to his grammar.Google Scholar
Origin: Collected and redacted by Olmos about 1540-45, probably in Texcoco. The collection consists of 25 “discourses” which were added to the Arte when it was completed in 1547.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 145 holograph folios. (MS no. 1477 in the National Library of Mexico also contains an altered version of the first two huehuetlatolli in the Olmos MS. See entry 19 below.)Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: None available. (Remí Simeón has prepared a facsimile of the manuscript which he edited in Paris in 1875, but I have been unable to find a copy of this facsimile and cannot say whether or not it is the Library of Congress MS.)Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Bautista, Father Juan, ed. Huehuetlatolli o pláticas de los viejos. México, 1600. This is an extremely rare book. Two copies are in the library of Brown University, and one is in the Library of the Museum at the University of Pennsylvania. Bautista added four discourses to the 25 of Olmos; they concern Christianity and its morality and discuss the obligations of ethical education.Google Scholar
Peñafiel, Antonio, ed. Huehuetlatolli, “Documentos para la historia de México,” Cuaderno III. México, 1901. “Very bad transcription.”— Garibay. Neither this nor Bautista's edition were prepared from the MS at the Library of Congress, indicating this collection must have circulated in various manuscript copies.Google Scholar
Simeón, RemÍ, ed. Arte para aprender la lengua mexicana. Paris, 1875 and 1885. This edition is taken from the MS in Washington but gives text only of the grammar and a supplement on metaphorical phrases.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
BAUTISTA. Huehuetlatolli. Gives a summary version of the first four discourses only. Peñafiel gives the same translation in his edition, though he took it from Torquemada, Monarquía Indiana, and Zurita, Breve relación, who apparently took it in turn from Bautista (who may have taken it himself from Olmos!)Google Scholar
GARIBAY. La literatura de los aztecas. Contains excerpts.Google Scholar
Note: This collection combined with the 40 huehuetlatolli of Book 6 in Sahagún's Florentine Codex make the principal corpus of the Nahuatl huehuetlatolli. Garibay believes both collections are the work of Olmos, and Sahagún merely obtained the second collection to form the nucleus of his beginning researches in the later 1540s. While certain parallels are evident in the two collections, they clearly represent two different bodies of material, the first being primarily a tradition of the general populace, and the second pertaining to the nobility or pipiltin which went to considerable lengths to distinguish itself from the lower classes. These two collections of texts are the interpretive center of the Nahuatl ethic. Garibay and León Portilla have been the authorities on the huehuetlatolli, but Thelma Sullivan is preparing a book which will challenge some current assumptions.Google Scholar
8. Title: MS in Nahuatl no. mPM4068.J83 (Huehuetlatolli).Google Scholar
Origin: Uncertain. Appears to have once belonged to Father Horacio Carochi.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Garibay, Ángel M. “Huehuetlatolli, Documento A,” Tlalocan. 1: 1, 2 (1943): 31–107.Google Scholar
Spanish translation:Google Scholar
GARIBAY. “Documento A.”Google Scholar
Note: “The present document is not, properly speaking, a huehuetlatolli, but rather a miscellany of formulas of social behaviour which have neither the abundance nor the importance of the huehuetlatolli.”—Garibay.Google Scholar
9. Title: The Annals of Quauhtinchan: History of the Toltec-Chichimecs (Anales de Quauhtinchan: Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca).Google Scholar
Origin: Anonymous, Quauhtinchan, c.a. 1545?Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the National Library of Paris, Goupil collection, MS 46-58 bis. Facsimile edition: Mengin, Ernst. Corpus Codicum Americanorum Medii Aevi, vol. 1. Copenhagen, 1942. This is volume 1 of Mengin's splendid reproductions of four Mexican manuscripts in the French collection.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Mengin, Ernst, and Preuss, Konrad. “Die Mexikanische Bilderhandschrift Historia tolteca-chichimeca,” Baessler Archiv, Beiheft 9 (Berlin, 1937).Google Scholar
Spanish translation:Google Scholar
Berlin, Heinrich, AND SILVIA RENDÓN. Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca. “Fuentes para la historia de México,” 1. México, Antigua Librería Robrero de José Porrúa e Hijos, 1947. Contains an excellent introduction by Paul Kirchoff.Google Scholar
German translation:Google Scholar
MENGIN AND PREUSS. “Die Mexikanische Bilderhandschrift.”Google Scholar
Note: Garibay has prepared paleography, Spanish version, and notes for three short poems from this MS in the appendix to Veinte himnos, 229 ff.Google Scholar
10. Title: Some Historical Annals of the Mexican Nation: Annals of TlatelolcoGoogle Scholar
(Unos anales históricos de la nación mexicana: Anales de Tlatelolco).Google Scholar
Origin: Anonymous, México-Tlatelolco, 15247-1528. One of the oldest recorded MSS in Nahuatl, written presumably by an Indian who must have learned the use of Latin characters and alphabet within three or four years of the conquest.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the National Library of Paris. MS consists of two copies, numbered 22 and 22 bis. Both appear to be copies of an unknown original (Garibay). 22 bis has additional notes.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: Mengin, Ernst. Corpus Codicum Americanorum Medii Aevi, vol. 2. Copenhagen, 1945.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Mengin, Ernst. Baessler Archiv, Band 22, Heft 2-3, Teil 1 (1939).Google Scholar
Spanish translation:Google Scholar
Berlin, Heinrich. Anales de Tlatelolco, “Fuentes para la historia de México,” 2. México, Antiguo Librería Robrero de José Porrúa e Hijos, 1948. Contains also a facsimile of the Codex of Tlatelolco (Códice de Tlatelolco), plus an analytic resumé of the Annals, and an analysis of the Códice, both by Robert Barlow.Google Scholar
Note: Garibay has prepared paleography, Spanish version, and notes of a poem from this MS in the appendix to Veinte himnos, 249.Google Scholar
11. Title: Chronicle of the Mexican Nation (Crónica Mexicayotl).Google Scholar
Origin: Partially redacted from pictographic codices and partially composed by Fernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc at México-Tenochtitlan in 1609. Tezozomoc was a grandson of Motecuzoma and great grandson of Axayacatl.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the National Library at Paris, no. 311.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: None published. The Library of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, has a photocopy prepared by Paso y Troncoso, Col. PT, leg. no. 21.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
León, Adrian. Crónica Mexicayotl. México, unam, 1949. A fine edition.Google Scholar
Spanish translation:Google Scholar
LEÓN. Crónica. Contains two parallel versions of the text, one very literal and the other in clear modern idiom.Google Scholar
English translation:Google Scholar
Sullivan, Thelma “The Finding and Founding of Mexico Tenochtitlan,” Tlalocan. 6:4 (1971). A poetic version of excerpts from this MS having to do with the myth of founding Tenochtitlan, capital of the Mexica-Aztecs. Sullivan's translations succeed as poems.Google Scholar
12. Title: Different Original Histories of the Reigns of Culhuacan and Mexico (Diferentes histórias originales de los reynos de Culhuacan y México).Google Scholar
Origin: Redacted and composed by Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin (known as Chimalpahin) of Amequemeca-Chalco, around 1650. The MS is extensive, some 280 folios, and made up of eight “Relacions” or chapters of varying length. In addition to transposing the indigenous material at his disposal, Chimalpahin attempts to interweave Biblical and European history to form a vast chronology of both Old and New World cultures.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the National Library at Paris, Mexican MS no. 74.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition:Google Scholar
Mengin, Ernst. Corpus Codicum Americanorum, Vol. 3, parts 1 & 2. Copenhagen, 1949-52.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Lehmann, Walter, and Kutscher, Gerdt. Das Memorial Breve acerca de la fundación de la ciudad de Culhuacan, “Quellenwerke zur alten Geschichte Amerikas,” vol. 7. Stuttgart, 1958. Edition of the second Relacion only. This Relacion is known as the Brief Memorandum (Memorial breve) and synthesizes much of the rest of the MS.Google Scholar
Simeón, RemÍ. Sixième et Septième Relations. Paris, 1889. This edition gives the sixth and seventh Relacions only (covering the years 1258-1612), which, with the second Relacion, form the bulk of the MS.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, GÜnter. Die Relationen Chimalpahin's zur Geschichte Mexico's, “Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiet der Auslandskunde vols. 38 & 39. Hamburg, Universität Hamburg, 1963 and 1965.Google Scholar
Spanish translation:Google Scholar
Rendón, Silvia. Relaciones originales de Chalco Amaquemecan. México, Fondo de cultura económica, 1965. This translation begins with folio 57v of the MS (at the end of the Brief Memorandum) and continues through to the end of the seventh Relacion. Though an important contribution to Nahuatl studies, critical comment has often been hostile.Google Scholar
French translation:Google Scholar
SIMEÓN. Sixième et Septième Relations.Google Scholar
German translations:Google Scholar
LEHMANN. Das Memorial Breve.Google Scholar
Mengin, Ernst “Quinta RelacióN De Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin,” Mitteillungen aus dem Museum für Völkerkund in Hamburg, 22, Hamburg, 1950. Fifth Relacion only.Google Scholar
13. Title: Diary of Don Domingo Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitizin (Diario de Chimalpahin).Google Scholar
Origin: Personal diary of Chimalpahin for the years 1589-1615. This MS is certainly not thirteenth in importance among all the MSS of the 16th century, but it relates directly to the MS of the Different Relations.Google Scholar
Manuscript: National Library at Paris, Mexican MS no. 220.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: None published.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
ZIMMERMAN, Die Relationen, part 2, 37–146.Google Scholar
German translation:Google Scholar
ZIMMERMAN.Google Scholar
Note: The first two folios of this Diary, covering the years 1577-89, have recently been discovered in the archives of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología (Colección Antigua de Manuscritos Históricos, vol. 256), and published with facsimile, paleography, and Spanish version in Anales del INAH, Epoca 7a, Tomo 2 (1969-published 1971), 333–48. This same MS, in folios 1-16, also contains a chronicle for the years 1426-1522, assumed to be also by Chimalpahin. This section is not yet published.Google Scholar
14. Title: Book of the Colloquies and Christian Doctrine with which the Twelve Brothers of St. Francis, sent by Pope Adrian VI and by the Emperor Charles V converted the Indians of New Spain, in both the Mexican and Spanish languages (Libro de los coloquios y doctrina cristiana con que los doce frayles de San Francisco enbiados por el Papa Adrian sesto y por el Emperador Carlos quinto convertieron a los indios de la Nueva Espanya en lengua Mexicana y Espanola).Google Scholar
Origin: Composed from notes and memoranda of the first encounter between the Nahuatl people and the twelve Franciscan priests sent by Pope Adrian VI to evangelize New Spain in 1524. The present MS was redacted in 1564 by Sahagún's students at the Colegio de Santa Cruz, and represents a reconstruction, not a transcription, of those first exchanges in 1524. While only 14 of the original 30 chapters are extant, this text is important for demonstrating the attitude of the Church toward its new mission field, and for a summary outline in Chapter 7 of Nahuatl theology, given by native priests in response to the message of the churchmen.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the Archives of the Vatican.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: Nuttall, Zelia. “Coloquios de los doce,” Revista Mexicana de Estudios Históricos, appendix to vol. 1. México, 1927. See Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos. A xylographic reproduction of the Nahuatl text only.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Lehmann, Walter. Sterbende Gotter und Christliche Heilsbotschaft, “Quellenwerke zur alten Geschichte Amerikas,” vol. 3. Stuttgart, 1949. Nahuatl and Spanish text.Google Scholar
NUTTALL. “Coloquios.” Spanish text only; Nahuatl is given only in facsimile.Google Scholar
Spanish translation: A Spanish text accompanies the Nahuatl in MS, and since the conference was bilingual, and both were reconstructed together by Sahagún's students, each is the original depending upon who speaks, Nahua or Spaniard. Other Spanish renderings from this text appear in León Portilla's Filosofía náhuatl, including an extensive but not complete version of Chapter 7.Google Scholar
English translation:Google Scholar
Portilla, León. Aztec Thought and Culture.Google Scholar
15. Title: Treatise on the Superstitions and Heathen Customs Which Today Persist Among the Native Indians of This New Spain (Tratado de las supersticiones y costumbres gentílicas que oy viven entre los indios naturales de esta Nueva España). Commonly refered to as The Conjurations (Los Conjuros).Google Scholar
Origin: Collected by Father Hernando Ruiz de Alarcón between 1624 and 1629 in the area where the states of Guerrero, Morelos, and Puebla border one another. Consists of some 80 magical songs used by shamans for healing, by seducers, by hunters, or by common workers to make their labor easier. This text represents more a “folk” tradition than any mainstream of high Nahuatl culture.Google Scholar
Manuscript:?Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: None published.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
De La Serna, Jacinto ET AL. Tratado de las idolatrías, supersticiones, dioses, ritos, hechicerías y otras costumbres gentílicas de las razas aborígenes de México, ed. Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, 2 vols, México, Ediciones Fuente Cultural, 1953-54. In vol. 2, 17–180.Google Scholar
Ruiz De Alarcón, Hernando. “Tratado de las supersticiones y costumbres gentílicas que oy viven entre los indios naturales de esta Nueva España,” Anales del Museo Nacional de México, 1st ed., (1900), 125–224.Google Scholar
Spanish translation:Google Scholar
LÓpez Austin, Alfredo. “Conjuros Nahuas del Siglo xvii,” and “Conjuros Medicos de los Nahuas,” Revis ta de la Universidad de México. 24:11 (June 1970); 27: 4 (December 1972). A very literal and competent version, with paleography.Google Scholar
Note: A version prepared by Father Alarcón appears with the text in both the Anales del Museo and the edition of Paso y Troncoso.Google Scholar
16. Title: Aubin Codex (Códice Aubin).Google Scholar
Origin: Anonymous. Often called the MS of 1576 though it contains accounts covering years from early Chichimec times to 1606.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the British Museum, London.Google Scholar
Facsimile editions:Google Scholar
Aubin, J. M. A. Histoire de la Nation Mexicaine depuis le départ d'Aztlan jusqu'a l'arrivé des Conquérants espagnols. Paris, 1893.Google Scholar
Dibble, Charles. Códice Aubin. Madrid, n.d.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
DIBBLE. Códice Aubin.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
DIBBLE. Códice Aubin. Version of entire text.Google Scholar
Galicia Chimalpopoca, Faustino. Unpublished version in the archives of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Mc Afee, Byron, AND ROBERT H. BARLOW. “La segunda parte del Códice Aubin,” Memorias de la Academia de la Historia, 6, no. 2, Tlatelolco a través de los tiempos, 9. México, 1946.Google Scholar
17. Title: Annals of Tecamachalco (Anales de Tecamachalco).Google Scholar
Origin: Anonymous. Tecamachalco.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: None published.Google Scholar
Paleography:Google Scholar
Peñafiel, Antonio. Anales de Tecamachalco, “Documentos para la historia de México.” México, 1903.Google Scholar
Spanish translation:Google Scholar
PEÑAFIEL. Anales. A species of interlinear translation which contains the barest minimum of sense.Google Scholar
18. Title: Documents in Nahuatl Relative to the Toltecs (Documentos en lengua náhuatl relativos a los toltecas).Google Scholar
Origin: Anonymous. Claims to be based on a lost MS of one Benito Iztac Maacechtli of the region of Tlaxcala. Not earlier than 1562. This MS appears to be identical to a narrative known as The Account of the Anonymous Mexican (Relación del Mexicano anonimo). The title “Documents in Nahuatl…” is the denomination of only one part of a longer MS in the National Library at Paris.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the National Library at Paris, MS no. 254.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: There is a photocopy of 31 folios of MS no. 254, the section known as Documents in Nahuatl, in the archives of the Instituto Nacional de Antropolgía e Historia, Mexico City, Col PT, leg. 54; a copy made by Paso y Troncoso. (All of the photocopies in the Paso y Troncoso collection are of some archaic type nearly impossible to re-copy.)Google Scholar
Paleography: “Manuscrito en lengua náhuatl,” Anales del Museo Nacional, Epoca 1, Tomo 7 (1903). This is the MS of the Anonymous Mexican.Google Scholar
Spanish translations:Google Scholar
“Manuscrito,” Anales del Museo.Google Scholar
Barlow, Robert. “Resumen analítico de ‘Unos anales históricos de la nación Mexicana,‘ ” in Anales de Tlatelolco, ed. Heinrich Berlin, México, 1948. Barlow gives a translation of Chapter 4 of the Anonymous Mexican MS in an appendix to his analysis of the Annals of Tlatelolco. It appears there are strong parallels between that chapter and the information in the Annals concerning the kings of Azcapotzalco.Google Scholar
19. Title: Sacred Miscellany (Miscelánea sagrada).Google Scholar
Origin: Anonymous in part, in part by Father Juan de Gaona. Later 16th century. The first 230 folios of the MS contain material Christian in origin, probably by Fr. Gaona. There are 13 folios of discourses in the manner of huehuetlatolli, and then some 25 folios of untitled text. Among the material is an incomplete copy of Coloquios de la paz, y tranquilidad Cristiana, en lengua Mexicana, a work composed by Fr. Gaona for use in teachingGoogle Scholar
Nahuatl, and first published in 1582.Google Scholar
Manuscript: No. 1477 in the collection of the National Library of Mexico, Mexico City. The cataloger of that collection says of this MS: “The calligraphic beauty of this manuscript, as well as the importance of some of its materials, make this book one of the most valuable of those which the National Library guards in its collection of indigenous writings.”Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: None. Microfilm copies in the Wilbur Cross Library, University of Connecticut, and in the Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Translations: None.Google Scholar
20. Title: MS no. 303 of the Goupil Collection.Google Scholar
Origin: Various. 16th century.Google Scholar
Manuscript: In the National Library at Paris.Google Scholar
Facsimile edition: None published. Archives of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia contains photocopies of folios 81r-126v, Col PT, leg. 66, made by Paso y Troncoso.Google Scholar
Paleography: None.Google Scholar
Translations: The MS contains facing column translation of certain parts. No publications have been made.Google Scholar
Note: The 46 folios contained in the Paso y Troncoso photocopy have these five separate items:Google Scholar
1. “Tesoro dos veces rico aunque sin valor alguno. Maestro genuino del elegantísimo Idioma Náhuatl” (A twice-rich treasure though of no value whatsoever. A genuine teacher of the most elegant Nahuatl). A Nahuatl grammar, written between 1666 and 1704, and concluded at Tlalmanalco. May be derived from a grammar by Father Juan Bautista. 9 folios.Google Scholar
2. “Martirio del niño Cristobalito en Tlaxcala por defender la religión Cristiana” (Martyrdom of the child Cristobalito in Tlaxcala for defending the Christian religion). This is a Nahuatl translation prepared by Fr. Juan Bautista of an account written in Spanish by Fr. T. Motolinía. Facing column Spanish-Nahuatl versions. 9 folios.Google Scholar
3. “Traducción de las vidas y martirios que tuvieron tres niños principales de la cuidad de Tlaxcala” (Translation of the lives and martyrdoms of three outstanding children of the city of Tlaxcala). Translated in 1601 by Fr. Bautista from an account by Motolinia. Facing column Spanish-Nahuatl versions. Incomplete. 7 folios.Google Scholar
4. “Copia de lo más substancial de un quaderno en mexicano” (Copy of the principal part of a notebook in Nahuatl). An annal in Nahuatl without translation for the years 1398-1524. 3 folios.Google Scholar
5. “Nican motecpana(?) in ixquich tlamahuizolli…” (Here begins(?) the all miraculous…). A poetic account of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe, written in what appears to be metrical lines. Facing each column are extensive grammatical notes in Spanish. No introduction given. Signed with “13r Luís Lazo de la Vega.”Google Scholar