Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I
Encyclopedia
Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I, also known as Codex Vindobonensis C, or Codex Mexicanus I is an accordion-folded pre-Columbian
piece of Mixtec
writing. It is a ritual-calendrical and genealogical document dated to the 14th century.
and sent to Sevilla, together with the other manuscript Codex Zouche-Nuttall
, as a gift for Charles V
in 1519. The later story of the codex is not well known, but it came to Portugal, Rome, Weimar, and Vienna (at last).
The manuscript changed its owners and places in which it was housed. As a result, its name was often changed (18 times). It was known as Codex Constantinopolitanus, Codex Byzantinus, and Codex Mexicanus I. The last name is more often used in the present day.
Currently it is housed at the Austrian National Library
at Vienna
.
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
piece of Mixtec
Mixtec
The Mixtec are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples inhabiting the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla in a region known as La Mixteca. The Mixtecan languages form an important branch of the Otomanguean language family....
writing. It is a ritual-calendrical and genealogical document dated to the 14th century.
Contents
Codex Vindobonensis has 52 pages with size 26.5 by 22 cm. It was composed in a form of harmony with length 13.5 m. Its weight is 2.687 kg. The text is divided into 10 major sections. In the beginning it presents mythological genealogies of gods. It also contains lists of Mixtecian rulers and priests.History
It is not certain where the codex was discovered. Probably it was discovered in VeracruzVeracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
and sent to Sevilla, together with the other manuscript Codex Zouche-Nuttall
Codex Zouche-Nuttall
The Codex Zouche-Nuttall is an accordion-folded pre-Columbian piece of Mixtec writing, now in the British Museum . It is one of three codices that record the genealogies, alliances and conquests of several 11th and 12th-century rulers of a small Mixtec city-state in highland Oaxaca, the Tilantongo...
, as a gift for Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
in 1519. The later story of the codex is not well known, but it came to Portugal, Rome, Weimar, and Vienna (at last).
The manuscript changed its owners and places in which it was housed. As a result, its name was often changed (18 times). It was known as Codex Constantinopolitanus, Codex Byzantinus, and Codex Mexicanus I. The last name is more often used in the present day.
Currently it is housed at the Austrian National Library
Austrian National Library
The Austrian National Library , is the largest library in Austria, with 7.4 million items in its collections. It is located in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna; since 2005 some of the collections are located in the baroque Palais Mollard-Clary...
at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
Further reading
- Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I: A commentary Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New York at Albany (1978).
- Walter Lehmann and Ottokar Smital, Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus 1. Faksimileausgabe der Mexikanischen Bilderhandschrift der Nationalbibliothek in Wien (Vienna, 1929).