The Codex Mexicanus Genealogy

Binding the Mexica Past and the Colonial Present

Bibliographic Data

ID12413488
AuthorsLori Boornazian Diel (Texas Christian University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume24
Issue2
Pages120-146
Publication date2015-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueColonial Latin American Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1060-9164 • E-ISSN: 1466-1802
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10609164.2015.1040274
OpenAlexW1522443847
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited27

Created in late sixteenth-century Mexico City, the Codex Mexicanus is an extensive bound book of miscellaneous contents, including a rare pictorial genealogy of the Tenochca dynastic lineage that traces the family line from its ancient origins to its colonial descendants. The Codex Mexicanus, as a whole, represents an attempt by its patrons and contributors to reconcile the Mexica past and the Christian present, and the inclusion of a genealogy in the larger book suggests that the Mexica royal house was believed to play an important role in this process. By providing a reading of the genealogy and comparing it with others, both native and European, I show that it presents a unique view of the Tenochca royal house that emphasizes its integrity and antiquity and in so doing effectively excludes outsiders who, at the time the codex was being created, were increasingly making claims on Mexica privileges without the proper family connections

Archaeology · Biology · Colonialism · Genealogy · Lineage (genetic · Political science · Reading (process · Classics · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · Latin American history and culture · Law · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Genetics