Ramírez Codex
TheRamírez Codex(Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia,MNA 35-100), not to be confused with theTovar Codex,is a post-conquestcodexfrom the late 16th century entitledRelación del origen de los indios que hábitan esta Nueva España según sus Historias( "An Account of the Origin of the Indians who Inhabit thisNew Spainaccording to their Histories "). The manuscript is named after the Mexican scholarJosé Fernando Ramírez,who discovered it in 1856 in theconvent of San Franciscoin Mexico City.[1][2]
Creation and contents
[edit]The manuscript was presumably created by the jesuitJuan de Tovarca. 1583-1587[2]under the auspices of the historianJosé de Acosta.[3]The manuscript deals with the history of the Aztec since their origins at the legendary location ofAztlanuntil the Spanishconquest.Besides the text of theRelación,the manuscript contains 32 line drawings which are parallel to those found in the work ofDiego Durán,in which the text is probably partly inspired, although diverging in significant ways.[4]It is considered as a draft or earlier version of what would be theTovar Codex,a later, full color version of the same account prepared by Tovar and send to Spain to Acosta, which is now kept in theJohn Carter Brown LibraryinProvidence.
TheCodex Ramirezcomprises three sections or treatises: An Aztec imperial history; a book about deities and their festivals; and a brief account of the native calendar. The most detailed and important section is the first treatise, which chronicles the rise of the Aztec empire and the Spanish conquest.[4]Tovar asserts that his works were prepared with the original information of Aztec informants fromTula;[5]however, historians argue that he also extensively utilized the works of Diego Durán, given the undeniable parallels between both.[1]Many scholars believe that, while Tovar may have drawn from Durán, both of them, along with Tezozomoc, based their works on an earlierNahuatlsource (now lost), that is presumed to have been compiled by one or moreAztechistorians sometime shortly after the conquest. This earlier document (or documents) is often referred to as "Crónica X"(" Chronicle X ") and is proposed to be the original or influential source of a number of early manuscripts (such as the Ramírez,DuránandAcostacodices), based on similarities in their content, which coincide in the exaltation of theCihuacoatlTlacaelelas the crucial figure in the consolidation and expansion of theAztec empire.[3]
The illustrations that accompany the manuscript were created using traditional indigenous techniques by an Aztec book painter ortlacuiloque.They are uncoloured, and written indications for illumination are still left in some plates, as in number 26 and 28.[6]The first eighteen drawings are parallel to those in Durán'sHistoria de las Indias de Nueva España e Islas de Tierra Firme;numbers 29 and 30 are calendar wheels, while the final two drawings are entirely original, depicting the Spanish Conquest.[2]
Discovery and publication
[edit]TheRamírez Codexwas discovered in 1856 byJosé Fernando Ramírezin the library of the convent of San Francisco in Mexico City. Ramírez prepared its publication but sadly didn't live to see its first publication, which was finally done byManuel Orozco y Berrain his 1847 edition of the workCrónica MexicanabyFernando Alvarado Tezozomoc.To honour Ramírez, Orozco y Berra gave his name to the codex itself; in his edition, he published both the Codex and the work of Tezozomoc together along with Ramírez preface, and intercalated the plates fromCodex Ramírezalong the whole volume.[6]It was only later, with the edition of Editorial Inovación in 1979, that the Codex Ramírez was published in standalone form.[7]The work has been subsequently translated to French, and English.[2]
The Illustrations of the Ramírez Codex
[edit]-
Plates 1 and 2. Chicomoztoc and Tollan -
Plates 3 and 4. The founding of Tenochtitlan and Battle at Chapultepec -
Plates 5 and 6. Acamapichtli and Huitzilihuitl -
Plates 7 and 8. Chimalpopoca and Itzcoatl -
Plates 9 and 10. Battles at Azcapotzalco and Coyoacan -
Plates 11 and 12. Sacrifice of a warrior. Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. -
Plates 13 and 14: Tizoc and Axayacatl -
Plates 15 and 16. The sorcerers receive the water of Cuextecatl, Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. -
Plates 17 and 18. Dancing. Huitzilopochtli -
Plates 19 and 20. Aztec temples, human sacrifices -
Plates 20 and 21. Aztec gods. -
Plates 22 and 23. Priests and funerals. -
Plates 25 and 26. Quetzalcoatl. The feast of Tlacaxipehualiztli -
Plates 27 and 28. Xipe Totec. Funeral -
Plates 29 and 30. Calendric Wheels -
Plates 31 and 32. The Spanish Conquest
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abLeal, Luis (1953)."El Codice Ramirez".Historia Mexicana.3(1): 11–33.ISSN0185-0172.JSTOR25134307.
- ^abcdWauchope, Robert; Cline, Howard Francis; Gibson, Charles; Nicholson, H. B. (2015).Handbook of Middle American Indians. Volume fourteen, volume fifteen, Guide to ethnohistorical sources.Austin. p. 224.ISBN978-1-4773-0687-1.OCLC974489206.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^abSaleh Camberos, Omar (2011)."Historia y Misterios del Manuscrito Tovar"(PDF).Revista Digital Sociedad de la Información.35.
- ^abCouch, N. C. Christopher (1991)."The Codex Ramírez: Copy or Original?"(PDF).Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl.21:109–125.
- ^Tovar, Juan de (1860). Phillipps, Thomas (ed.).Historia de los yndios mexicanos.Cheltenham: Jacobus Rogers. p. 1.
- ^abAlvarado Tezozómoc, Fernando, active (1987).Crónica mexicana.Manuel Orozco y Berra (4 ed.). México, D.F.: Editorial Porrúa.ISBN968-452-188-X.OCLC22635760.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^Ramírez, José Fernando (1979).Códice Ramírez.Mexico: Innovación, S. A.
External links
[edit]
Media related toCodex Ramírezat Wikimedia Commons
