Codex Durán

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Motēcuhzōma Xōcoyōtzin observes the passage of a comet. Image from Codex Duran, Chapter LXIII. According to Duran, the comet was interpreted as a sign by the Tlatoani , but the Aztec medicine people ("agoreros mexicas") did not know what to say. Moctezuma then sought advice from Nezahualpilli von Tetzcoco , who said it was a sign of the decline of México-Tenochtitlan.

The Codex Duran ( Códice Durán or Historia de las Indias de Nueva España e Islas de Tierra Firme; German: "History of the Indian territories of New Spain and the mainland islands") is a New Spanish manuscript, written in the second half of the 16th century by the Dominican friar Diego Durán . It is kept in the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid .

content

The Historia de las Indias… is a text about the ancient history of the Aztecs ("mexicas"). It contains numerous references to other texts and some of its sources probably also served as a model for the Crónica Mexicayotl by Hernando de Alvarado Tezozómoc , with which she not only shares the topic, but also a large part of the information. This hypothetical document was lost and is Crónica X called.

Image from the Codex Durán, the massacre of the templo Mayor (main temple) (between 1521 and 1530)

The Codex Duran deals with the history of the Aztecs from their departure from Chicomoztoc to their defeat by the Spanish. On the pages of the manuscript, Durán also includes numerous anecdotes and is extremely detailed. The character of the people receives special attention in order to explain the reasons for the rise and fall of México-Tenochtitlan . This procedure differs from what the same people experience in the Crónica Mexicáyotl . For example, Tlacaélel in the Codex Durán seems to be much more important in the development of the power of the Aztecs than in the Codex Tezozómoc.

literature

  • Robert H. Barlow (1990 [1945]), "La" Crónica X ": Versiones coloniales de la historia de los mexica-tenochca" (German: "Cronica X": Colonial versions of the history of the Tenochca-Aztecs), in: Monjarás -Ruíz, Jesús; Mª Cruz Paillés y Elena Limón (coords.): Obras completas de Robert H. Barlow (German: Complete Works of Robert H. Barlow), Volume 3, México, INAH - UDLA: 13-32.
  • José Luis De Rojas (2007): "Una historia: dos versiones. Durán, Tezozomoc y el pasado mexica" (German: "One story: Two versions. Durán, Tezozomoc and the Aztec past), in: Itinerarios, no. 5, 143-152.

Web links

Commons : Codex Durán  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Barlow, 1990.