Mesoamerican Codices

Aztec(Mexica) Codices:

• Anales de Tlatelolco, early colonial era set of annals written in Nahuatl, no pictorial content. Information on Tlatelolco's participation in the Spanish conquest.
• Badianus Herbal Manuscript previously called Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis (Latin for "Little Book of the Medicinal Herbs of the Indians") is a herbal manuscript, it describes the medicinal properties of various plants used by the Aztecs(Mexica). Translated into Latin by Juan Badiano, from a Nahuatl original composed in Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco in 1552 by Martín de la Cruz that is no longer existent. The Badanius herbal manuscript is better known as the Badianus Manuscript, Codex de la Cruz-Badiano, after both the original author and translator. It also had the name the Codex Barberini, after Cardinal Francesco Barberini, who had possession of the manuscript in the early 17th century.[
• Chavero Codex of Huexotzingo
• Codex Osuna
• Codex Azcatitlan pictorial history of the Mexica(Aztecs), includes depictions of the conquest.
• Codex Aubin pictorial history of the Mexica from their departure from their origin in Aztlán all the way through the Spanish conquest, to the early Spanish colonial period, ending in 1608. Consisting of 81 leaves, it is two independent manuscripts, now bound together. The opening pages of the first, an annals history, bear the date of 1576, leading to its informal title, Manuscrito de 1576 ("The Manuscript of 1576"), although its year entries run to 1608. Among other topics, Codex Aubin has a native description of the massacre at the temple in Tenochtitlan in 1520. The second part of this codex is a list of the native rulers of Tenochtitlan, up to 1607. It is held by the British Museum and a copy of its commentary is at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. A copy of the original is held at the Princeton University library in the Robert Garrett Collection. The Aubin Codex is not to be confused with the similarly named Aubin Tonalamatl.[30]
• Codex Borbonicus is written by Aztec priests sometime after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Like all pre-Columbian Aztec codices, it was originally pictorial in nature, although some Spanish descriptions were later added. It can be divided into three sections: An intricate tonalamatl, or divinatory calendar; documentation of the Mesoamerican 52-year cycle, showing in order the dates of the first days of each of these 52 solar years; and a section of rituals and ceremonies, particularly those that end the 52-year cycle, when the "new fire" must be lit. Codex Bornobicus is held at the Library of the National Assembly of France.
• Codex Borgia – pre-Hispanic ritual codex, after which the group Borgia Group is named. The codex is itself named after Cardinal Stefano Borgia, who owned it before it was acquired by the Vatican Library.
• Codex Boturini or Tira de la Peregrinación was painted by an unknown author sometime between 1530 and 1541, roughly a decade after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Pictorial in nature, it tells the story of the legendary Aztec journey from Aztlán to the Valley of Mexico. Rather than employing separate pages, the author used one long sheet of amatl, or fig bark, accordion-folded into 21½ pages. There is a rip in the middle of the 22nd page, and it is unclear whether the author intended the manuscript to end at that point or not. Unlike many other Aztec codices, the drawings are not colored, but rather merely outlined with black ink. Also known as "Tira de la Peregrinación" ("The Strip Showing the Travels"), it is named after one of its first European owners, Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci (1702 – 1751). It is now held in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City.
• Codex Chimalpahin, a collection of writings attributed to colonial-era historian Chimalpahin concerning the history of various important city-states.[31]
• Codex Chimalpopoca
• Codex Cospi, part of the Borgia Group.
• Codex Cozcatzin, a post-conquest, bound manuscript consisting of 18 sheets (36 pages) of European paper, dated 1572, although it was perhaps created later than this. Largely pictorial, it has short descriptions in Spanish and Nahuatl. The first section of the codex contains a list of land granted by Itzcóatl in 1439 and is part of a complaint against Diego Mendoza. Other pages list historical and genealogical information, focused on Tlatelolco and Tenochtitlan. The final page consists of astronomical descriptions in Spanish. It is named for Don Juan Luis Cozcatzin, who appears in the codex as "alcalde ordinario de esta ciudad de México" ("ordinary mayor of this city of Mexico"). The codex is held by the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
• Codex en Cruz - a single piece of amatl paper, it is currently held by the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
• Codex Fejérváry-Mayer – pre-Hispanic calendar codex, part of the Borgia Group.
• Codex Ixtlilxochitl, an early 17th-century codex fragment detailing, among other subjects, a calendar of the annual festivals and rituals celebrated by the Aztec teocalli during the Mexican year. Each of the 18 months is represented by a god or historical character. Written in Spanish, the Codex Ixtlilxochitl has 50 pages comprising 27 separate sheets of European paper with 29 drawings. It was derived from the same source as the Codex Magliabechiano. It was named after Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl (between 1568 & 1578 - c. 1650), a member of the ruling family of Texcoco, and is held in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and published in 1976.[32] Page by page views of the manuscript are available online.[33]
• Codex Laud, part of the Borgia Group.
• Codex Magliabechiano was created during the mid-16th century, in the early Spanish colonial period. Based on an earlier unknown codex, the Codex Magliabechiano is primarily a religious document, depicting the 20 day-names of the tonalpohualli, the 18 monthly feasts, the 52-year cycle, various deities, indigenous religious rites, costumes, and cosmological beliefs. The Codex Magliabechiano has 92 pages made from Europea paper, with drawings and Spanish language text on both sides of each page. It is named after Antonio Magliabechi, a 17th-century Italian manuscript collector, and is held in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence, Italy.
• Codex Mendoza is a pictorial document, with Spanish annotations and commentary, composed circa 1541. It is divided into three sections: a history of each Aztec ruler and their conquests; a list of the tribute paid by each tributary province; and a general description of daily Aztec life. It is held in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.[34]
• Codex Mexicanus
• Codex Osuna is a mixed pictorial and Nahuatl alphabetic text detailing complaints of particular indigenous against colonial officials.
• Codex Porfirio Díaz, sometimes considered part of the Borgia Group
• Codex Reese - a map of land claims in Tenotichlan discovered by the famed manuscript dealer William Reese.[35]
• Codex Santa Maria Asunción - Aztec census, similar to Codex Vergara; published in facsimile in 1997.[36]
• Codex Telleriano-Remensis - calendar, divinatory almanac and history of the Aztec people, published in facsimile.[37]
  • Codex Ríos - an Italian translation and augmentation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis.
• Codex of Tlatelolco is a pictorial codex, produced around 1560.
• Codex Vaticanus B, part of the Borgia Group
• Codex Vergara - records the border lengths of Mesoamerican farms and calculates their areas.[38]
• Codex Xolotl - a pictorial codex recounting the history of the Valley of Mexico, and Texcoco in particular, from Xolotl's arrival in the Valley to the defeat of Azcapotzalco in 1428.[39]
• Crónica Mexicayotl, Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, prose manuscript in the native tradition.
• Codex Florentine is a set of 12 books created under the supervision of Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún between approximately 1540 and 1576. The Florentine Codex has been the major source of Aztec life in the years before the Spanish conquest. Charles Dibble and Arthur J.O. Anderson published English translations of the Nahuatl text of the twelve books in separate volumes, with redrawn illustrations. A full color, facsimile copy of the complete codex was published in three bound volumes in 1979.
• Huexotzinco Codex, Nahua pictorials that are part of a 1531 lawsuit by Hernán Cortés against Nuño de Guzmán that the Huexotzincans joined.
• Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2 - a post-conquest indigenous map, legitimizing the land rights of the Cuauhtinchantlacas.
• Mapa Quinatzin is a sixteenth-century mixed pictorial and alphabetic manuscript concerning the history of Texcoco. It has valuable information on the Texcocan legal system, depicting particular crimes and the specified punishments, including adultery and theft. One striking fact is that a judge was executed for hearing a case that concerned his own house. It has name glyphs for Nezahualcoyotal and his successor Nezahualpilli.[40]
• Matrícula de Huexotzinco. Nahua pictorial census and alphabetic text, published in 1974.[41]
• Oztoticpac Lands Map of Texcoco, 1540 is a pictorial on native amatl paper from Texcoco ca. 1540 relative to the estate of Don Carlos Chichimecatecatl of Texcoco.
• Codex Ramírez - a history by Juan de Tovar.
• Romances de los señores de Nueva España - a collection of Nahuatl songs transcribed in the mid-16th century
• Santa Cruz Map. Mid-sixteenth-century pictorial of the area around the central lake system.[42]
• Codices of San Andrés Tetepilco
  • Map of the Founding of Tetepilco, found in 2024, "about the foundation of San Andrés Tetepilco and includes lists of toponyms within the region"[43]
  • Inventory of the Church of San Andrés Tetepilco, found in 2024, "a pictographic inventory of the church and its assets"[43]
  • Tira of San Andrés Tetepilco, history of Tenochtitlan from foundation to 17th century[43]

         Mixtec Codices:

1.  Codex Colombino: Unknown date: Main Plot: Chronicles the life and conquests of the Mixtec hero, Lord Eight Deer.
2.  Codex Becker: Unknown date: Main Plot: Closely related to Codex Colombino, also focuses on Mixtec history.
3.  Codex Egerton: Unknown date: Main Plot: A historical account of Mixtec rulers and their genealogies. 
4. Codex Bodley: Unknown date: Main Plot: Details Mixtec history and genealogies.
5. Codex Zouche-Nuttall: 1200-1521 CE Main Plot: Genealogies, alliances, and conquests of Mixtec rulers.