Codex Mendoza

The Codex Mendoza was made about 1541-1542 on behalf of Antonio de Mendoza for Charles V. In the format 32.7 x 22.9 cm 71 pages featured on Aztec scribe represents the Aztec history from 1325 to 1521, to pay tribute, and the life of the Aztecs in their picture-writing, which was complemented by Spanish translations, comments and extensions.

1542 the manuscript was indeed sent to Spain, but came by pirates first to France, where the French monk and traveler André Thevet ( 1502-1590 ) it was referring in his cosmography. He is since 1659 owned by the Bodleian Library in Oxford ( MS signature. Arch. Selden. A. 1).

The Codex Mendoza contains important information about the origin, the wars and the faith of the Aztecs. On the picture-writing, which is the foundation legend of Tenochtitlan, an eagle is to see who settles on a cactus and in its beak, a yellow and a red ribbon, the Aztec word images for smoke and flames, wearing a symbol of the war. In later tradition the eagle holding a snake in its talons ( Aubin Codex ( 1576 ), Fernando Alvarez Tezozomoc Cronica Mexicana ( 1598 ) ), as he bears the arms and the flag of Mexico today.