Editing Codex Mendoza (section)

{{Short description|Aztec manuscript}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox manuscript
<!----------Name---------->
| name                  = ''Codex Mendoza''
| location              = [[Bodleian Library]], England, {{flag|United Kingdom}} 
| web =
<!----------Image---------->
| image                 = CodexMendoza01.jpg
| width                 = 350px
| caption               = The founding of the Aztec capital [[Tenochtitlan]]; first page of the Codex Mendoza, {{circa|1541}}
<!----------General---------->
| Also known as         = 
| Type                  = codex
| Author                = Antonio de Mendoza and Pacheco
| Date                  = [[1541]] approximately
| Place of origin       = Mexico
| Language(s)           = Glosses in Spanish
<!----------Form and content---------->
| Material              = [[amate|bark paper]]{{fact|date=January 2024}}
| Size                  = {{convert|140|by|23.5|cm|in}}
| Format                = screenfold book
| Condition             = 
| Script                = [[Aztec script]]
| Contents              = 
| Additions             =
| Discovered            = 
}}

The '''Codex Mendoza''' is an [[Aztec codices|Aztec codex]], believed to have been created around the year 1541.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berdan |first1=F. F. |last2=Anawalt |first2=P. R. |title=Codex Mendoza |journal=Scientific American |date=1992 |volume=1 |issue=6 |page=70|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0692-70 |bibcode=1992SciAm.266f..70A }}</ref> 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 language|Spanish]]. It is named after [[Don (honorific)|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]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Carrasco |first=David|title=City of Sacrifice : The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization |date=1999 |page=19}}</ref> 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).<ref>{{cite book |last=Anawalt |first=Patricia|editor-last=Carrasco |editor-first=David L.|entry=Codex Mendoza |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures :The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America vol.1|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195108156.001.0001/acref-9780195108156 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York|date=2001 |pages=72–73 |isbn=978-0-19-514255-6 |oclc=872326807}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gifts and Books |url=https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/gifts-and-books |access-date=2023-06-25 |website=visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> The Bodleian Library holds four other [[Mesoamerican codices]]: [[Codex Bodley]], [[Codex Laud]], [[Codex Selden]], and the [[Selden Roll]].