‘Codex Mendoza’, etc.; A: Mexico, c. 1541 (?); B: England, early 17th century (?)

Title

‘Codex Mendoza’, etc.; A: Mexico, c. 1541 (?); B: England, early 17th century (?)

Shelfmark

MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1

Place of origin

Mexican

England

Date

17th century, first half

16th century, second quarter (1529 × 1553); perhaps c. 1541 (?)

Language

Latin

English

Spanish

Classical Nahuatl

Contents

Physical extent

i (paper, 16th cent.) + ii (paper, added 1985–6) + i (paper, 16th cent.) + 71 + i (paper, 16th cent.) + 10 + iii (paper, 17th cent.), foliated i-ii, 1–85.

Binding

Plain vellum-covered boards, either London, c. 1655 × 1659, or Oxford, c. 1655 × 1665 (Barker-Benfield, 2000, pp. 99–102).

Acquisition

Acquired by the Bodleian from Selden’s executors at some point between 1655 and 1659 (Barker-Benfield, 2000, pp. 101–2).

Provenance

John Selden, 1584–1654.

The two parts of the manuscript were still separate after John Selden’s death and are listed separately in the handwritten catalogue (c. 1655) of his books and manuscripts, MS. Selden Supra 111 (Barker-Benfield, 2000, p. 100).

Title

Mexican records, known as the Mendoza Collection (Codex Mendoza)

Shelfmark

MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1

Summary

Mexican records, known as the Mendoza Collection, and consisting of three parts:

Fols. 1-18r, a Mexican Chronicle, 1324-1520 (death of Montezuma II)

Fols. 18v-55v, Tributes paid by the towns or communities

Fol. 56v-71v, The social and political life of Mexico

Each part consists of Mexican hieroglyphics in colour, with Spanish interpretations, notes, and introductions.

Fols. 73-82 (which are insititious) contain tables of the comparative value of Roman, Greek, English, and French money: the date 1563 occurs on fol. 74. Fol. 83 bears a note by dr. John Greaves (Gravius: (d. 1652) that these tables do not agree with those of sir Thomas Smith.

Date

Written about the second quarter of the 16th century in Mexico

Language

Spanish

Physical facet

On paper, with many coloured pictures

Physical extent

84 Leaves

Custodial history

This remarkable and valuable volume was made in Mexico at the command of Mendoza, the viceroy of Mexico, and sent as a present to the emperor Charles v, but the ship carrying it was captured by the French, and the volume fell into the hands of André Thevet, the geographer, whose signature in 1553 is on fols. 1r, 70v, 71v, and the cover. After his death in 1590 Richard Hakluyt bought it, and left it by his will in 1616 to Samuel Purchas, who regarded it as 'the choisest of my Iewels', and reproduced many of the hieroglyphics, and most of the facts represented, in his Pilgrimes (3rd part, Lond. 1625: bk. 5, pp. 1065-1117); and the above history of the volume is from Purchas's account: see also H. H. Bancroft's Works, vol. ii (= Native Races, vol. ii), pp. 241, 529.

Manuscript 3147 acquired by the Bodleian Library