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Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World: From the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World: From the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World: From the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
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Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World: From the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century

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This significant work reconstructs the repertory of insignia of rank and the contexts and symbolic meanings of their use, along with their original terminology, among the Nahuatl-speaking communities of Mesoamerica from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Attributes of rank carried profound symbolic meaning, encoding subtle messages about political and social status, ethnic and gender identity, regional origin, individual and community history, and claims to privilege.

Olko engages with and builds upon extensive worldwide scholarship and skillfully illuminates this complex topic, creating a vital contribution to the fields of pre-Columbian and colonial Mexican studies. It is the first book to integrate pre- and post-contact perspectives, uniting concepts and epochs usually studied separately. A wealth of illustrations accompanies the contextual analysis and provides essential depth to this critical work. Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World substantially expands and elaborates on the themes of Olko's Turquoise Diadems and Staffs of Office, originally published in Poland and never released in North America.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 15, 2014
ISBN9781607322412
Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World: From the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century

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    Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World - Justyna Olko

    Lockhart

    Contents


    List of Figures

    Preface

    1. Introduction

    The Focus and Organization of This Book

    Literature and Sources

    Written Sources in Nahuatl

    Written Sources in Spanish

    Preconquest Monuments

    Pictorial Manuscripts

    The Nahua Background

    The Nahua World before Contact

    The Imperial Perspective

    Rulers and Lords

    Postcontact Rearrangements

    2. The Repertory of Elite Apparel and Insignia of Rank

    Hairstyles

    Headdresses

    Xiuhhuitzolli

    Other Elite Headdresses

    Ear Adornments

    Nose Ornaments

    Lip Ornaments

    Neck and Chest Ornaments

    Capes

    Xicolli

    War Gear for the Upper Body

    Tlahuiztli

    Shields and Weapons

    Hand Attributes

    Apparel for the Lower Body

    Loincloths

    Leg Bands

    Sandals

    Female Garments

    Seats

    Summary

    3. Images of Rank by Region

    The Imperial Core: Mexico-Tenochtitlan and Surroundings

    Preconquest Sculpture Monuments

    Mexica Royal Imagery in Colonial Pictorial Manuscripts

    Tlatelolco

    Tetzcoco

    Beyond the Valley of Mexico: Northern Regions

    Beyond the Valley of Mexico: Southern Regions

    Beyond the Valley of Mexico: Southeastern Regions

    Toward the Gulf Coast: Eastern Regions

    A Case of Resistance: Tlaxcala and Its Iconography of Rank

    Regional Conventions and Imperial Impact

    Postconquest Strategies in Images of Rank

    Convergence of Form and Meaning

    4. Functions and Meanings of Precontact Costume and Status Items

    Insignia as Vehicles of Transformation

    Clothes and the Notion of Civility

    Inspiring Terror and Pride: Battle Costumes

    5. Postcontact Survivals and Adaptations

    Changes in Costume Repertory

    Survival of Native Dress and Status Symbols

    6. Summation

    Appendix: Dictionary of Insignia and Accouterments

    Abbreviations Used

    References

    Index

    Figures


    1.1. Late Postclassic Mesoamerica

    1.2. The Valley of Mexico at the time of contact

    1.3. Members of native nobility, Primeros Memoriales, fols. 55v, 56r

    2.1. Hairstyles: (a) short hair with a protruding forelock, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 53v; (b) long hair tied at the neck, Codex Mendoza, fol. 63r; (c) temillotl, Codex Mendoza, fol. 67r; (d) axtlacuilli/neaxtlahualli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 56r

    2.2. Turquoise diadem: (a) Primeros Memoriales, fol. 51v; (b) Tovar Manuscript, fol. 93, (c) Codex Tulane

    2.3. Turquoise diadem in association with Mexica state officials: (a) tlacochteuctli and tlacateuctli with turquoise diadems directly over their heads, Codex Mendoza, fol. 17v; (b) teuctli acting as constable and judge, Codex Mendoza, fol. 64r

    2.4. Turquoise diadem in association with Mexica judges, Codex Mendoza, fol. 68r

    2.5. Turquoise diadem in association with Mexica judges, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fols. 26r, 36v

    2.6. Turquoise diadem in association with war leaders and worn at war: (a) Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 33v, fragment; (b) Codex Azoyú 2, fragment

    2.7. Xiuhteuctli, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, fol. 6v

    2.8. Examples of the turquoise diadem in Chichen Itza: details from Upper Registers D and E, Interior Wall, Lower Temple of the Jaguar

    2.9. Turquoise diadem worn in Tula and Chichen Itza: (a) Atlantean figure in Chichen Itza, Upper Temple of the Jaguar, Great Ballcourt; (b) Atlantean figure from Tula; (c) Toltec warrior from Ixtapatongo rock painting

    2.10. Pillbox headdress in Chichen Itza, Atlantean figures, Upper Temple of the Jaguar, Great Ballcourt

    2.11. Pillbox headdress in Tula, Atlantean pillar

    2.12. Oval Palace Tablet, Palenque

    2.13. Mosaic headdresses in Classic Maya culture: (a) Stela 31, Tikal, right side; (b) Stela 31, Tikal, left side; (c) limestone panel, Temple XVII, Palenque; (d) pillbox headdress, the Oval Palace Tablet, Palenque; (e) domed mosaic headdress, Lintel 2, Piedras Negras; (f) Stela 26, Piedras Negras; (g) Stela 7, Piedras Negras

    2.14. War-serpent headdresses in Teotihuacan: (a) figurine with a war-serpent headdress similar to trapeze and ray year sign; (b) figurine with a platelet war-serpent headdress; (c) Late Postclassic image of Xiuhcoatl, Codex Nuttall, fol. 76

    2.15. Golden headbands or frontlets given in tribute from Tochtepec, Codex Mendoza, fol. 46r

    2.16. Aztaxelli head device: (a) Codex Mendoza, fol. 57r; (b) Codex Tudela, fol. 22r; (c) Primeros Memoriales fol. 266r

    2.17. Tlaxcalan red-white twisted headbands with aztaxelli and aztaxelli quetzalmiahuayo devices: (a) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 29; (b) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 5; (c) Genealogía de Maxixcatzin

    2.18. Possible examples of quauhtzontli: (a) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 57; (b) Codex Azcatitlan, fol. 18 detail; (c) Primeros Memoriales, fol. 264r

    2.19. Xipe Totec wearing the tlauhquecholtzontli, Codex Tudela, fol. 12r

    2.20. Tlalpiloni hair binders: (a) Primeros Memoriales, fol. 55v; (b) Manuscrito del Aperreamiento (BNF 374); (c) Codex Ixtlilxochitl, fol. 108r

    2.21. Different kinds of headgear: (a) quetzalquaquahuitl, Primeros Memoriales, fol.73v; (b) wreath head ornament, probably icpacxochitl, Codex Mendoza, fol. 71r

    2.22. White feather-down head adornment: (a) Codex Mendoza, fol. 66r; (b) Mapa Quinatzin, fol. 3; (c) Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, fol. 21v; (d) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 32, detail

    2.23. Coçoyahualolli ornament: (a) Primeros Memoriales, fol. 53r; (b) Códice de Tepetlaoztoc, fol. 3; (c) Codex Telleriano-Remensis, fol. 43r

    2.24. Copilli headpieces: (a) copilli as part of the cuextecatl outfit, Codex Mendoza, fol. 23r; (b) citlalcopilli, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 34r

    2.25. Elaborate warrior outfits with earplugs, labrets, and back devices in the Primeros Memoriales, fols. 72r, 72v, 73r

    2.26. Royal nose plugs: (a) xiuhyacamitl worn by Axayacatl, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 51r; (b) image of Moteucçoma Ilhuicamina, Tovar Manuscript, fol. 109

    2.27. Curved labret, Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fols. 39, 40

    2.28. Mortuary bundle of a ruler, Codex Tudela, fol. 58r

    2.29. Mortuary bundle, Codex Tudela, fol. 55r

    2.30. White capes bordered with eyes: (a) Codex Mendoza, fol. 64r; (b) Codex Tulane

    2.31. Neçahualpilli, Codex Ixtlilxochitl, fol. 108r

    2.32. Axayacatl and Mocteucçoma Ilhuicamina, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 51r

    2.33. Toltec garments with mosaic design: (a) possible turquoise-mosaic hip cloth on the relief figure in Tula; (b) possible turquoise-mosaic sandals, Atlantean figure, Tula

    2.34. Netted capes, Codex Mendoza, fols. 57r, 61r, 63r

    2.35. Textiles with turquoise mosaic and quilted designs: (a) one of the capes belonging to Martín Ocelotl; (b) fragment of a cotton textile identified as a xicolli garment, Offering 102, Museo Templo Mayor; (c–e) capes given in tribute, Codex Mendoza, fols. 27r, 32r, 49r

    2.36. (a) Painal wearing xiuhtlalpilli hip cloth, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 261r; (b) Yacateuctli wearing the xiuhtlalpilli tilmatli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 262r

    2.37. Ehuatilmatli: (a–c) Primeros Memoriales, fols. 51r, 52r, 53r

    2.38. Jaguar-skin capes or capes with jaguar-skin design: (a–b) Codex Tudela, fol. 87v; (c) Codex Mendoza, fol. 31r

    2.39. Examples of capes in the Codex Tudela: (a) quauhtilmatli, fol. 88r; (b) tonatiuhyo tilmatli, fol. 88r; (c) mictlanteuctli tilmatli, fol. 86r

    2.40. Examples of the ecacozcayo tilmatli: (a) Codex Tudela, fol. 85v; (b–c) Codex Mendoza, fols. 52r, 53r

    2.41. Ixnextlacuilolli tilmatli, Codex Mendoza, fols. 34r, 36r

    2.42. Capes with regional designs: (a) ometochtecomayo tilmatli; (b) ocuiltecayo tilmatli, Codex Mendoza, fols. 46r, 34r

    2.43. Sleeveless jackets: (a) xicolli with a fringed border, Codex Mendoza, fol. 66r; (b) xicolli bordered with eyes, Codex Tudela, fol. 54r

    2.44. Ichcahuipilli protective tunic: (a) Codex Mendoza, fol. 67r; (b) Codex Telleriano-Remensis, fol. 34r

    2.45. Neçahualcoyotl, Codex Ixtlilxochitl, fol. 106r

    2.46. Coyote outfits: (a) citlalcoyotl, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 79v; (b) tlecoyotl, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 79r

    2.47. Battle suits in the Codex Mendoza: (a) coyotl with the xicacoliuhqui shield; (b) ocelotl with the cuexyo shield; (c) cuextecatl with the cuexyo shield; (d) quetzalpatzactli with the xicacoliuhqui shield; (e) cicitlalo cuextecatl; Codex Mendoza, fols. 39r, 37r, 65r

    2.48. Ocelotl costume with a variant of the teocuitlaanahuacayo shield, Codex Tudela, fol. 12r

    2.49. Military outfits, including eagle and coyote or jaguar suits, delivered among other tribute goods, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 33v

    2.50. Mexica battle suits, including eagle and jaguar costumes, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 34r

    2.51. Tzitzimitl insignia: (a) quetzaltzitzimitl, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 73v; (b) xiuhtototzitzimitl or xoxouhqui tzitzimitl, Codex Mendoza, fol. 21v

    2.52. Copilli back devices: (a) quetzalcopilli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 75r; (b) aztacopilli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 77r; (c) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 39

    2.53. Quaxolotl costume: (a) tlapalquaxolotl, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 76r; (b) iztac quaxolotl, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 76r; (c) coztic quaxolotl, Codex Mendoza, fol. 26r; (d) tozquaxolotl, Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 51

    2.54. Itzpapalotl and Otonteuctli: (a) itzpapatlotl device, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 78v; (b) impersonator of Otonteuctli in the feast of Xocotl huetzi, Codex Tudela, fol. 20r

    2.55. Xopilli insignia in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fols. 25, 28

    2.56. Battle suits awarded to brave warriors: (a) warrior who took two captives, wearing the red cuextecatl costume; (b) warrior who took three captives, wearing the papalotl back device; (c) Otomi-rank warrior carrying the xopilli back device; (d) quachic warrior carrying the panitl insignia; Codex Mendoza, fol. 64r

    2.57. Tozcololli: (a) Primeros Memoriales, fol. 77v; (b) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 53

    2.58. Different tlahuiztli: (a) quetzaltonatiuh, Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 29; (b) çacuantonatiuh; (c) ometochtlahuiztli; (d) quetzaltototl; (b–d) Primeros Memoriales, fol. 74r

    2.59. Aztatzontli back device: (a) Primeros Memoriales, fol. 77r; (b) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 37

    2.60. Examples of patzactli insignia worn as back devices: (a) cueçalpatzactli; (b) cacalpatzactli; (a–b, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 76v); (c) quetzalpatzactli, Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 48

    2.61. Patzactli and momoyactli in the Codex Mendoza, fol. 26r: (a) cueçalpatzactli; (b) momoyactli

    2.62. Eagle warrior with the quetzalpatzactli back device, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 34r

    2.63. Quetzalapanecayotl in the feast of Xocotl huetzi, Codex Tudela, fol. 20r

    2.64. Examples of head insignia: (a) ananacaztli, Primeros Memoriales, fol.75v; (b) xiuhananacaztli, Codex Ixtlilxochitl, fol. 106r

    2.65. Different cuexyo chimalli variants: (a–d) Codex Mendoza, fols. 19r, 20r, 25r, 51r; (e–h) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 46; (i) Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 59

    2.66. Terminal Classic-Early Postclassic examples of the cuexyo chimalli outside the Huastec region: (a) Chichen Itza, Upper Temple of the Jaguars; (b) Tula

    2.67. Different shields: (a) tehuehuelli/ihuiteteyo chimalli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 80r; (b) quauhtetepoyo chimalli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 75v; (c) macpalo chimalli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 80r

    2.68. Ruler holding a smoking tube and with a flower bouquet, Florentine Codex, Bk. X, fol. 30r

    2.69. Moteucçoma Xocoyotzin in the Codex Vaticanus A, fol. 60r

    2.70. Hip cloth in the Codex Mendoza, fols. 62r, 68r

    2.71. Female shifts (huipilli) in the Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 30v

    2.72. Female skirts (cueitl), in the Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 30v

    2.73. Different kinds of seats: (a) icpalli/tolicpalli, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 33v; (b) tepotzoicpalli, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 33v; (c) oceloehuaicpalli, Tovar Manuscript, fol. 93; (d) xiuhicpalli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 51r; (e) low stool, Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 1

    3.1. Stone of Tiçoc

    3.2. Reliefs in Tepetzinco

    3.3. (a) Dedication Stone; (b) Hamburg Box

    3.4. Participants of the feast of Izcalli, Primeros Memoriales, fol. 253r, fragment

    3.5. Temple Stone, an upper part

    3.6 Xipe Totec dress: (a) Xipe Totec in the Codex Vaticanus A, fol. 43r; (b) Moteucçoma Xocoyotzin wearing the costume of Xipe Totec, Codex Vaticanus A, fol. 85v; (c–d) Axayacatl wearing the costume of Xipe Totec, Codex Cozcatzin, fols. 13v, 14r

    3.7. Precontact and postcontact rulers of Tenochtitlan in the Primeros Memoriales (fols. 51r–52r) and Florentine Codex (Bk. VIII, fols. 1r–4v)

    3.8. Precontact and postcontact rulers of Tetzcoco in the Primeros Memoriales (fols. 52r–53r) and Florentine Codex (Bk. VIII, fols. 7r–8v)

    3.9. Precontact and postcontact rulers of Huexotla in the Primeros Memoriales (fols. 53r–53v) and Florentine Codex (Bk. VIII, fols. 9r–10r)

    3.10. Precontact and postcontact rulers of Tlatelolco in the Florentine Codex

    3.11. Mexica rulers in the Plano parcial de la Ciudad de México: (a) Motecuhçoma Xocoyotzin; (b) Cuitlahuac; (c) Quauhtemoc; (d) don Pablo Xochiquentzin; (e) don Diego Huanitzin; (f) don Diego de San Francisco Tehuetzquititzin; (g) don Esteban de Guzmán; (h) don Cristóbal de Guzmán Cecetzin; and (i) don Luis de Santa María Cipac

    3.12. Don Esteban de Guzmán, Codex Osuna, fol. 500r

    3.13. Native rulers and officials of Tenochtitlan in the Codex Aubin, fols. 32r, 53v, 58v, 79r

    3.14. Titres de Propriété Mexico Tenochtitlan

    3.15. Techotlalatzin wearing a fur cape, while his wife and children appear in cotton garments, Codex Xolotl, fol. 5

    3.16. Investiture of Ixtlilxochitl, Codex Xolotl, fol. 7

    3.17. Tetzcocan rulers in the Mapa Tlotzin

    3.18. Boban Calendar Wheel: (a) Neçahualcoyotl and Itzcoatl; (b) don Antonio Pimentel Tlahuitoltzin

    3.19. (a) Precontact and (b) postcontact rulers in the Códice en Cruz

    3.20. Rulers of Tepetlaoztoc, Códice de Tepetlaoztoc, fol. 4v: (a) don Diego Tlilpotonqui; (b) don Luis Tejeda

    3.21. Foundation of Tepechpan, Tira de Tepechpan

    3.22. Accession of Caltzin in Tepechpan (upper register) and the foundation of Tenochtitlan (lower register), Tira de Tepechpan

    3.23. Colonial rulers of Tepechpan: the mortuary bundle of don Cristóbal Maldonado and don Bartolomé de Santiago seated on the curule seat and wearing the Spanish crown; Tira de Tepechpan

    3.24. Mapa de Cempoala

    3.25. Mapa de Atenco-Mizquiahuala

    3.26. Códice de Huichapan, fol. 26: (a) Itzcoatl and his wife and (b) Itzcoatl with two other rulers

    3.27. Códice de Santiago Tlacotepec (BNF 32), document presented by Alonso Gonzáles

    3.28. Códices del Marquesado del Valle de Oaxaca, native rulers depicted in the documents from Tezoyuca and Taquitenango

    3.29. Mapa del Coatlán del Río

    3.30. Litigio sobre tierras en el pueblo de Huitzila, Morelos

    3.31. Palimpsesto Veinte Mazorcas

    3.32. Codex Humboldt Fragment 1, fol. 25, fragment

    3.33. 4 Rain/Quiyauhtzin, the ruler of Tlapan, shown wounded and meeting the representative of Tenochtitlan, Codex Azoyú 2

    3.34. Don Domingo Cortés Quapoltochin in the Codex Azoyú 1 and 2

    3.35. Icxicoatl and Quetzaltehueyac in Chichimec dress, Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, fol. 2r

    3.36. Mapa Circular de Quauhquechollan, fragment

    3.37. Codex Tulane, fragment

    3.38. Matrícula de Huexotzinco: (a) fol. 687r; (b) fol. 711r

    3.39. Lienzo de Coacoatzintla, delimitation of borders and meeting with Spanish authorities

    3.40. Lienzo de Coacoatzintla: (a) don Juan de Mansilla and don Francisco Tlauhquechol in traditional apparel and (b) don Juan de Mansilla in Hispanized costume

    3.41. Lienzo de Coacoatzintla, native officials in Hispanized costume, don Francisco Tlauhquechol is the first one on the left

    3.42. Tlaxcalan lords greeting Cortés, Lienzo de Tlaxcala, fol. 5

    3.43. Tlaxcalan nobles in the genealogical document BNF 104

    3.44. Genealogía de Zolín

    3.45. Códice de las posesiones de don Andrés, fragment

    3.46. Genealogía de don Francisco Aquiyahuateuctli

    3.47. Spears and walking sticks: (a) Codex Xolotl, fol. 9; (b) Codex Mexicanus, fol. 33; (c) Codex Azcatitlan, fol. 5

    3.48. Investiture of native officials, Codex Osuna, fol. 471v

    3.49. Motecucçoma Xocoyotzin, Tovar Manuscript, fol. 117

    3.50. Spears-varas held by precontact rulers, Codex Azcatitlan, fol. 3

    3.51. Investiture scene, Tira de Tepechpan

    3.52. Pointed-finger gesture, pre-Hispanic examples: (a) Codex Nuttall, fols. 56 and 57; (b) wall painting in Teotihuacan

    3.53. Finger-pointing in postcontact sources: (a) Codex Telleriano-Remensis, fol. 29v; (b) Codex Cozcatzin, fol. 1v; (c) Codex Telleriano-Remensis, fol. 46v

    3.54. Native diadems transformed: (a) archbishop Alonso de Montufar, Codex Aubin, fol. 49r and (b) yellow turquoise diadem

    4.1. Royal accession, Codex Tudela, fol. 54r

    4.2. Royal accession, the penitential phase, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 46r

    4.3. Coronation of Moteucçoma Ilhuicamina, Tovar Manuscript, fol. 109

    4.4. Awards to brave warriors, Florentine Codex, Bk. VIII, fol. 56v

    5.1. A native person wearing a cape, a Spanish shirt, and trousers, Matrícula de Huexotzinco, fol. 484v

    5.2. Joyas de Martín Ocelotl

    5.3. Fiesta real in the Códice de Tlatelolco, fragment

    Preface


    I have long been enthralled with status items and images of power among the ancient Nahuas, and all the more so when I became aware that the topic is not only fascinating in itself but a window onto other essential dimensions of their culture. The present book is the result of many years of researching and developing perspectives on the pre-Hispanic and early-postconquest Nahua world. The first results of my studies on the insignia and iconography of rank were presented as a doctoral dissertation at the University of Warsaw in 2005 and were soon published as Turquoise Diadems and Staffs of Office: Elite Costume and Insignia of Power in Aztec and Early Colonial Mexico. Since that time I have added other themes to my research, but the insignia of rank did not cease to fascinate me and occupy the core of my effort. For one thing, the enormous source base needed more time for its potential to be developed. In this process my approach to some aspects of my studies gradually matured as I reformulated and reassessed my earlier work.

    In my continued work on the topic, I have broadened the thematic and chronological scope, incorporated an even wider source base, and posed entirely new questions. As a result, the present book, though drawing on the earlier publication in various ways, is not an updated version of it but an entirely different work, embracing new themes, goals, and additional research results, as well as new ways of presentation. The temporal interval between the two books has made it possible for me to see many important issues in a new light and address them in a different way, including the treatment of Nahuatl terms and the creation of the contextual dictionary of pertinent terminology. It has also helped me to focus more consciously and directly on a methodological approach bridging precontact and postcontact eras. I have become increasingly aware of the potential of combining different categories of sources rarely explored in a single study, weaving together methods and perspectives associated with ethnohistory, philology, anthropology, and art history. Thus my book strives to cross disciplinary and temporal divisions in the belief that a better understanding of a native culture and its response to cross-cultural transfers can be achieved through a more holistic, comprehensive approach. Such a stance seems particularly propitious when dealing with the abundant material referring to the attributes of rank and ways they were employed in imagery and social practice, both before and after the arrival of the Europeans on the scene. Some of the results extend beyond the theme of insignia and elite attributes. They throw light on essential aspects of Nahua (or Aztec) culture manifest in a wide array of cultural and political practices, embracing elite ideology, interregional interactions, and posturing toward the past. Reflecting native responses to the Spanish world and attitudes developed toward preconquest traditions, this study also reveals a constant interplay between novelty and continuity, change and survival, in which the two are deeply intertwined.

    As this book deals with Nahuatl terminology and contains abundant material in Nahuatl, an explanation of the orthographic conventions used is called for. Words and passages quoted from particular sources are reproduced with the original spelling; most of them appear in endnotes and appendix, though some can also be found in the text proper. Whenever I rewrite Nahuatl terms in the main text, I follow a standardized orthography based on that of the grammarian Horacio Carochi, frequently used in works of Nahua philology and ethnohistory today. Proper names are given in the same orthography and are spelled the same throughout the book for consistency; in the original sources one sees them in many forms which can make it difficult even to recognize them as referring to the same person. I hope it will not disturb readers to see Moteucçoma where they may be used to Moctezuma or Motecuhzoma, Tiçoc instead of Tizoc, Neçahualpilli instead of Nezahualpilli, Teçoçomoc instead of Tezozomoc (except in biliographic references to already published works), or Quauhtinchan and Quauhtitlan for Cuauhtinchan and Cuauhtitlan, respectively.

    Many people have helped me with the present book. I am indebted most of all to James Lockhart, who passed away earlier this year, for sharing his knowledge with me through the entire process of writing, especially in matters of Nahuatl and English composition. I cannot thank Jim enough for his unceasing aid and guidance in all I have been doing in my studies and research, well beyond this book project. My deepest thanks go to Jerzy Axer for his unwavering support and care ever since my student days and for giving me absolute freedom—but also constant inspiration—in all my scholarly activities. To him I owe an exceptional research space and stimulating milieu that I am lucky enough to be able to share with my students, colleagues, and friends. I would like to thank Frances Berdan for her insightful remarks and for bringing important data and references to my attention; John Sullivan for his comments on my compilation and reconstruction of the vocabulary of native terminology referring to status items; María Castañeda de la Paz for helping me with valuable information and interpretations; Michel Oudijk for his comments and for providing me with an unpublished manuscript of his work; Jerome Offner for commenting on parts of this work and sharing his ideas with me; Miguel Ángel Ruz Barrio for his important remarks and suggestions; and Rebecca Horn for a helpful reader’s report. Juan José Batalla Rosado generously contributed his time, deep expertise, library resources, and other materials of study for both my dissertation and the present book. I give my deep thanks to Ryszard Tomicki for guiding me in my student days and, later on, helping to shape my understanding of Mesoamerican cultures and sharing his exceptional knowledge of source criticism and methodology. I have benefited from conversations with Stephanie Wood and Robert Haskett and appreciate greatly the opportunity to present results of my research during a lecture series at the University of Oregon in 2010. I am grateful to Alexandre Tokovinine for commenting on supplementary data from the Maya area and for providing me with additional materials. I extend my gratitude also to persons who helped me to shape the original dissertation, offering sound advice, suggestions, and information at various stages of the project: Agnieszka Brylak, Patricia Díaz Cayeros, Alfredo López Austin, Julia Madajczak, Katarzyna Mikulska-Dąbrowska, José Luis de Rojas, Mariusz Ziółkowski, and Jarosław Źrałka.

    Important parts of my research were accomplished thanks to the hospitality of several institutions and their staff: Dumbarton Oaks Library and Collection in Washington, DC, the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico), the Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Mexico), the Museo de América in Madrid, the Biblioteca Hispánica de la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional in Madrid, the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and the Museo del Arte Virreinal in Puebla. I would like to thank Miłosz Giersz for preparing maps for this book, Frances Berdan for permission to reproduce line drawings from the Codex Mendoza, and Emily Umberger for allowing me to use her drawings of Aztec sculptures. I am grateful to the Academia Real de la Historia (Madrid), the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico), the Benson Latin American Collection (University of Texas), the Biblioteca Laurenziana (Florence), the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, the John Carter Brown Library (Brown University), the Middle American Research Institute (Tulane University), and the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin for permission to reproduce their numerous pictorial resources at no charge. My work on this book was supported by a grant from the Foundation for Polish Science within its Focus Program (2010–2013) and I am extremely grateful for the many ways in which the Foundation has encouraged my research during the last several years.

    Finally, I feel endlessly indebted and thankful to my family, whose constant support, patience, and sacrifice make my work possible. My parents, Bożena and Mariusz Olko, have understood my passion since I became fascinated with pre-Hispanic cultures in primary school, bolstering and encouraging me in my plans through all these years. I am exceptionally fortunate that my husband, Mateusz Bajer, has shared my enthusiasm for the Nahuas and other Mesoamerican cultures, helping me in many aspects of my work, participating in some of my research trips, and taking on numerous family duties, especially during my stays abroad. Our precious ones, Antoś and Gabrysia, who are growing up hearing regularly about the Nahuas and Nahuatl, constantly help me to find a better balance between all my activities.

    Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World

    1

    Introduction


    Let your Majesty not imagine that what I say is fabulous, for it is true that Moteucçoma had had copied very faithfully all the things created in both land and sea of which he had knowledge, in gold and silver as well as in precious stones and feathers, in such perfection that they almost appear to be the things themselves . . . Besides this, Moteucçoma gave me much clothing that belonged to him, which considering that it was entirely of cotton with no silk, in the whole world the equal could not be made or woven, nor in so many and diverse colors and workmanship, which included very marvelous garments for men and women.¹

    As implied by this enthusiastic account by Hernando Cortés, among the first European visitors to imperial Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards were not only attracted by the material value of what they witnessed upon their encounter with one of the most advanced societies in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. Such sensitive observers as Cortés were also impressed by the astounding level of native craftsmanship. He was able to appreciate the high quality, pageantry, and sumptuousness of the accouterments and jewelry of the Mexica of Tenochtitlan and other Nahuatl-speaking groups who occupied the Valley of Mexico and adjacent regions. Indeed, this was one of the most compelling aspects of native culture, deservedly catching the attention of sixteenth-century Spanish authors. And, surprisingly enough, it is a subject that has not received enough scrutiny by modern scholars.

    My own fascination with native adornments and status items, their meaning and roles, started many years ago when I was almost entirely focused on the pre-Hispanic world, though already beginning to perceive the research possibilities offered by postconquest sources. I became interested in how the Nahuas themselves referred to their costume and insignia much more than in the descriptions of European observers such as Cortés. I wanted to find out how much can be learned from native records in different genres, especially when these are combined with other categories of extant sources studied in a cross-disciplinary perspective. Perhaps the greatest advantage of the available corpus of data on costume and insignia is in its potential for creating both a very broad systematic study and more focused, interpretative searches. With time, the study of postconquest resources has brought me to the realization that I should not only make full use of them to illuminate earlier times, but that I should include the later time as an equal component within the larger topic and not accept a rigid and unrealistic barrier between the two. As a result of an inclusive approach to the topic in several dimensions, this book has characteristics of a reference work and a research monograph at the same time, providing both a systematic listing and analysis of extensive data and an interpretative study based on contextual reading of a wide range of sources. I now turn to more detailed discussion of the points I have just made.

    The Focus and Organization of This Book

    It is a general tendency among Mesoamerican scholars that preconquest and postconquest themes and perspectives are treated separately and are rarely combined in the same study.² This dominant attitude ignores the important fact that the bulk of currently available evidence dates from the postcontact era and can be explored to address issues referring to both epochs at the same time, instead of focusing exclusively on one or the other. Such a procedure also means shutting our eyes to the native perspective, which saw many preconquest phenomena as continuing after the arrival of the Europeans on the scene and either avoided seeing an abrupt break with the Spanish conquest or tried to minimize it. The nature of the available data makes it virtually impossible to understand many aspects of native culture and its transformations under European impact without studying both epochs within a unified approach combining precontact and postcontact data, though keeping in mind their distinct contextual frameworks and inherent differences.

    This book is an attempt to reconstruct the repertory of insignia of rank in the Nahua world and the ways they were used, based on the currently available body of native and Spanish written sources in different genres, as well as indigenous painted manuscripts. By insignia of rank I understand all components of elite dress and certain portable items, accessories, or accouterments, such as seats, mats, staffs, and weapons. The chronological framework encompasses the last several decades before the Spanish arrival, the period of expansion of the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, as well as the early postconquest era up to the seventeenth century. At the heart of my research is the Valley of Mexico, the center of the Nahua world, but the study extends to other areas inhabited by Nahuatl-speaking communities and to regions dominated by other ethnic groups but controlled by the Triple Alliance. Thus, to the extent made possible by existing sources, the study embraces territories surrounding the Valley of Mexico, including portions of the present states of Hidalgo, Estado de México, Morelos, Guerrero, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Oaxaca, and Veracruz, but giving special emphasis to states in this geographically vast area that were fully or partially Nahua. I have excluded the core Mixtec and Zapotec regions in Oaxaca, characterized by the strength of local traditions that should be studied in their own right. The only exception is parts of the Mixteca Baja region that have been included in the general discussion because of the region’s strong ties with the Nahua zone, at least as seen through the postconquest evidence.

    Thus, the innovation of this study is that it deals with the Nahua world both before and after the conquest on the same basis, trying to view similar phenomena across the time span embracing both the dominance of the Triple Alliance and the reorganization of native sociopolitical organization and culture under Spanish rule. The justification for this approach lies not only in the strong lines of continuity between the two eras, but also in the simple fact that much can be learned about pre-Hispanic status items by how they were described and used in colonial times. This method also makes it possible to trace changes occurring over time and, by grasping the nature of these transformations, to understand more fully not only the degree of overlapping but also the distinctiveness of preconquest and postconquest functions and meanings. By the same token, this study integrates written and pictorial sources often dealt with separately, treating both the visual vocabulary and the Nahuatl terminology as equal dimensions of the research. Nahuatl resources are not handled as simple listings of terms referring to the attributes of rank, but are studied in their own context, in actual statements in real texts belonging to many distinct genres, including accounts provided by elite collaborators but compiled by their European patrons: historical annals, early dictionaries, mundane documents such as wills, and so forth. The same principle applies to the spatial approach, incorporating the whole Nahua sphere in its broadest sense. This makes it possible to transcend the narrow perspective limited to Tenochtitlan and its closest vicinity, a strong, if not dominant, focus of contemporary research.

    The core of the book is the extensive chapter 2, containing a systematic and analytical reconstruction of the Nahua repertory of elite dress and status items as used before the Spanish conquest. Although the emphasis is inevitably on the insignia employed by the Mexica, for the great majority of the extant sources refer specifically to Tenochtitlan, the customs of other groups are also discussed whenever possible. The study embraces elite costume in the wide sense, that is, what was worn by rulers, lords, nobles, and high-ranking warriors, with some references also to the prestigious insignia granted to long-distance merchants. Strictly religious insignia, especially those worn by impersonators of gods, remain beyond the scope of this book. However, it is not possible to draw a clear borderline between secular and ritual costume in the Nahua world, because the most important elite garments were used in ritualized contexts or in rituals proper. Therefore, whenever religious paraphernalia form part of the accouterments worn by rulers and nobles, in addition to being worn by deities’ representatives or priests, they are embraced by the analysis. While focusing on descriptions and references to native attire and symbols of rank, I pay special attention to their contextual use and symbolic meaning, when hints can be retrieved from extant sources. This is, for example, the case with the turquoise diadem (the royal headdress in Tenochtitlan and beyond), the royal cape, exuberant battle insignia, and even flowers carried as essential attributes of nobility.

    The wide scope of this reconstruction was made possible by the creation of a complex database recording all attestations of a given item in textual and pictorial sources, together with the available contextual information. This approach helps to define basic contexts, where identified attributes and garments appear, shedding important light on ways they were used, groups of their wearers, and symbolic meanings. But even more important for this reconstruction was the identification of the original Nahuatl terminology describing the repertory of status items, with possible variants and synonyms, as well as attempts at translation. The latter are often strengthened by additional clues provided by native texts and by identifying pictorial images of objects known by their Nahuatl terms. This way of data gathering has made it possible to reconstruct the spatial distribution of certain items and their terminological variants and functional range. A natural extension of this chapter is the appendix at the end of the book. Presenting in compact form and expanding on the data discussed in the main text, it is conceived as a contextual dictionary of identified terms designating elite garments and attributes, with short descriptions, groups of users, and references to their attestations in written sources and in pictorial material. References are limited to secure identifications based on terminological correspondences or iconographic verisimilitude, omitting problematic cases such as ambiguous mentions in Spanish texts that ignore the original terms.

    Chapter 3 takes a different standpoint, centering on pictorial records, embracing both preconquest sculptures and postconquest native manuscripts to address the iconography of rank in a regional perspective, from the times of the Triple Alliance through the sixteenth and, to a lesser degree, the seventeenth centuries. Crucial for this part of the research has been broadening the analysis by incorporating local evidence from regions surrounding the Valley of Mexico and inhabited by distinct ethnic groups interacting with the speakers of Nahuatl at different levels. By discussing many different kinds of royal images, I define pictorial conventions specific to different altepetl (native states, see below) and regions, examining the degree of unification of attributes in the wider geographic perspective and the evidence of local traditions. An important issue addressed in this part of the book is the identification of imperial influence associated with Tenochtitlan and Tetzcoco, both within the Valley of Mexico and beyond it, in territories subject to the political and cultural impact of the Triple Alliance. A related question that I reassess is the degree of trustworthiness of postcontact imagery for the reconstruction of local precontact iconography of rank and for detecting possible signs of imperial impact and its nature. However, my focus exceeds the themes related to the expansion of status items identified with the Triple Alliance. By broadening the factual base as much as possible, I have been able to learn more about the local point of view of different polities and communities, thus complementing the imperial perspective.

    Yet another essential aspect of this analysis is the role of garments and other status items in constructing the image of the native nobility and the rhetoric associated with it, including in the postcontact era. Basing myself on extensive pictorial evidence, I discuss how accouterments of both native and European origin were skillfully employed to mark degrees of status and political aspirations, or to downgrade the position of competing groups or individuals, not without hints of animosities rooted in the past. Messages encoded in this imagery often conveyed indigenous claims to legitimate status, personal and ancestral history, heritage, or deserved privileges. It is also possible to see how native painters resorted to a mixture of traditional and new attributes to define political roles and offices of the postconquest world, trying to relate them both to their counterparts from the past and to disruptions occurring right before their eyes.

    Bringing the systematic reconstruction to another level, chapter 4 focuses on the functions and symbolic meanings of preconquest costume and accouterments. It broadens earlier analyses by discussing native concepts related to precious insignia as they can be retrieved from the Nahuatl terminology and its semantic fields implied by extant texts. Special attention is given to the indigenous notion of status items as the innate property of the nobility and the links with crucial religious conceptualizations. The possible meanings of special-purpose costume items are elucidated by their roles in the rituals of royalty, and especially investiture. Focusing strongly on native texts, this interpretative part also discusses the communicative role of garments on the battlefield, as part of ritualized political acts and in ethnic stereotyping, where they expressed the ideas of barbarism and civility, affinity and strangeness.

    Chapter 5 takes a different but complementary approach, extending the analysis to the social practice of New Spain. By examining the evidence on customs of dress and their transformations among the postconquest Nahuas, my intention is to assemble and examine dispersed evidence on the survival of preconquest status markers in colonial reality. This would not be possible without resorting to native documents such as wills and historical annals. Combined with iconographic evidence and Spanish accounts, these reveal the scope of the use of traditional garments and symbolic objects, both inherited from the ancestors and manufactured anew according to older patterns. Despite fragmentary evidence, it is nevertheless possible to grasp the significance these items continued to have for the descendants of the pre-Hispanic nobility and even to trace the survival of basic concepts attached by them to the ancient insignia of rank. It was in colonial festivities patronized by the Spanish crown and in the merging of the traditions of the two worlds that these costumes of the past became the principal visual expression of native identity and autonomy under colonial rule.

    Chapters 2 and 3 are largely devoted to factual points and close analysis, while chapters 4 and 5 are more thematic and interpretative. In view of the complexity of this work, then, I provide in chapter 6 not an expansive chapter of conclusions but a brief summation that identifies the main points and indicates where in the book the reader can find them thoroughly discussed. The reader should be particularly aware that chapter 3 ends with a separate subchapter of conclusions relative to the wider implications of the data analyzed in this part of the book.

    Literature and Sources

    I now turn to discussing in some detail a wide variety of works and sources that are explored in this book in different ways. Some are of primary importance, forming the basic foundation for the present study, while others are probed mainly for supplementary information and perspectives, but in a sense they are all equally important within my methodological approach of treating all available evidence as a whole. Though it presents many challenges, the combination not only of different genres, material from different regions, and sources traditionally explored within distinct subdisciplines has many advantages in addressing topics cutting across both preconquest and postconquest perspectives, or an imperial vision and regional variation. A close presentation of pertinent literature and sources is not only much needed as an introduction to the work, but it may prove particularly useful for readers who, depending on their special experience, have greater familiarity either with the precontact-related corpus or the postcontact sources.

    Already in the late nineteenth century, Nahua costume and insignia of rank began to attract the attention of the first Mesoamerican scholars such as Antonio Peñafiel (1903) and especially the outstanding German researcher Eduard Seler (1902–23, II: 509–619). Seler briefly discussed all the insignia that he could find in written and pictorial sources available to him, identifying representations of particular items and showing considerable concern with translating their Nahuatl names. In fact, his pioneering, comprehensive, and acute research remained unsurpassed for many decades. The topic was much later taken up again on a small scale by Thelma Sullivan (1972), who translated the list of military insignia contained in the Primeros Memoriales (PM), and by Patricia Anawalt in her study of Aztec civil and war costumes, including back insignia and shields, based on the analysis of the relevant content of the Codex Mendoza (Anawalt 1992). Anawalt (1981) also authored a general monograph on native costume, Indian Clothing before the Conquest, in which she described the basic clothing repertories worn in different Mesoamerican regions, with no special focus on elite dress. She also dealt with more specific garment types, their significance, and their social roles (Anawalt 1979, 1984, 1990, 1993), getting involved in a polemic with Carmen Aguilera concerning the technique of manufacture and symbolism of the Mexica royal cape (Anawalt 1996a; Aguilera 1997). Several studies have focused on royal headdresses (Nicholson 1967; Noguez 1975; Neurath 1992) and the Xipe Totec dress of Mexica rulers (Nicholson 1959, 1972; Dyckerhoff 1993; Vié-Wohrer 2002). Nahua dress in the postconquest epoch was touched on by James Lockhart (1992, 198–200), whereas Stephanie Wood described Spanish material culture, including dress and status items, illustrated in native pictorial manuscripts (Wood 2003, 46–59). In addition, an insightful analysis of Mixtec symbols of rank by Manuel Hermann Lejarazu (2005) provides an important point of reference for studies focusing on the Nahua world. Although these studies together represent a valuable contribution to our knowledge of native accouterments, one misses a comprehensive monograph devoted to elite status items and based on the wide range of currently available sources, all the more so if their potential for this kind of research is considered.

    On a very general level, extant sources that can be employed to address this broad topic include both textual and pictorial records, with some additional data provided by museum items. Written texts encompass original sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Nahuatl documents of many different genres as well as works in Spanish authored by Spaniards, natives, and persons of mixed descent. It should be emphasized that not only language and authorship, but also characteristics and functions of specific genres determined the nature of the information recorded and the channels in which particular media circulated. Many of the Nahuatl genres can be considered a response to the Spanish system requiring the use of different kinds of legal documents; some items were produced to supply ethnographic information collected by the Europeans and to help with Christianization, while others use alphabetic texts to transmit aspects of native oral tradition, also often including pictorial records. Except for religious texts composed by Spanish priests and friars with the help of native collaborators, the bulk of these documents were written by indigenous authors alone.

    Written Sources in Nahuatl

    Of primary importance for the research on native status items are some Nahuatl works compiled by fray Bernardino de Sahagún with the help of his native informants and aides. Thanks to this method of data collection, giving priority to the original terminology and often combining textual data with visual representations, sections of the manuscript known as the Primeros Memoriales (fols. 55r–57v, 68r–69r, 72r–80r) as well as Book VIII of the Florentine Codex (FC) are fundamental for studies of Nahua costume and insignia. The first of these manuscripts was probably made in the early 1560s, possibly with the active assistance of indigenous informants from Tepepolco, where Sahagún stayed between 1558 and 1561 (Nicholson 1997, 6–13; León-Portilla 1999, 111–33).³ The content of this manuscript suggests that native collaborators from Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco also played an important role; that role is much more salient in the later work known as the Florentine Codex. This extensive and lavishly illustrated opus, ordering data on the indigenous world according to the concept of a European encyclopedia, was probably prepared between 1578 and 1580 as one of the versions of Sahagún’s now lost main work, the Historia general. The relevance of this corpus, aside from the pictorial matter itself, lies not only in extensive samples of original terms referring to status items, but also in rich contextual data that, in addition to providing insights into the meaning and functions of particular items, help us either to visualize those of them whose pictorial representations have not survived, or identify them in extant iconographic material.

    An important genre of Nahua writing were historical records structured as annals. Called xiuhpohualli, or year counts, they were based partly on preconquest glyphic and pictorial prototypes capable of recording only rudimentary information—including, for example, royal accessions, deaths, war, and natural events—and partly on the extensive oral recitations that accompanied the pictorials. Continuing to thrive after the conquest, they quickly became adapted to an alphabetic mode of expression. Some of the native annals preserved the strong pictorial component till the end of the sixteenth century. This was not a linear change, however, for others were composed at a relatively early date as entirely alphabetic accounts, accommodating a much wider range of topics and traditional concepts than any other genre of postconquest Nahua writing. In addition to the chronological presentation of key events from the point of view of a given polity (altepetl) and its representatives, they sometimes contain dialogue forms and speech taken down from the oral tradition that originally played a crucial role in complementing the abbreviated year-count records. At times interesting facts, including costume details and references to particular insignia, are also provided by what seem to be descriptions of probable pictorial prototypes. Together with the contextual information on the use of such objects by particular individuals or in events of some importance for a community, this kind of evidence is particularly telling. Usually expressing the point of view of a citizen identifying himself with a specific subdivision of the native state, Nahua annals convey the local vision of political life and cultural changes; survivals of earlier concepts, structures, and offices; interactions with competing indigenous entities and with the Spanish world; as well as all sorts of current concerns of the community. All this is communicated in traditional vocabulary, which nevertheless also reflects ongoing language change occurring in native communities. A more conservative way of expression, with hardly any loanwords, is usually retained when speaking about the preconquest past, as is the case with the Anales de Tlatelolco or the Anales de Quauhtitlan.

    These two entirely alphabetic works, composed between the 1540s and 1560s, provide important data on the preconquest use of elite garments and status items.⁴ Other documents, such as the so-called Anales de Juan Bautista, focusing on events between 1519 and 1569, reveal how traditional insignia continued to be used in early colonial times. We also learn about their much later survival in the work of the late-seventeenth century Tlaxcalan annalist don Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza. Of particular importance are accounts by probably the most outstanding Nahua annalist, don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, active in the early seventeenth century. From Chalco Amaquemecan, he stayed most of his life in Mexico-Tenochtitlan and had access to many Mexica records, but the primary base for his work were sources available in his own altepetl. He interviewed notable leaders in the Chalco region and made use of their ancient manuscripts, both pictorial and alphabetic, including those that his grandfather, don Domingo Hernández Ayopochtzin, had collected (Schroeder 1991, 14–24). Carrying out much more extensive researches than other Nahua annalists, he managed to collect and unify the work of his predecessors by developing a clear textual structure and a uniform terminology. He often enhanced the narrative with rich details, conveying an invaluable view of native sociopolitical organization, attitudes, and concepts (Lockhart 1992, 388). Through these enrichments many details relevant to the topics of this book emerge, going beyond what is found in the typical annals-structured history.

    An important body of Nahua texts belongs to the category of mundane documents focusing on legal and economic matters, sometimes preserving an additional pictorial content, but at the same time adopting Spanish genres. It is not infrequent to find numerous expressions and conventions transmitted from native oral expression into alphabetic texts, and especially in letters and petitions, sometimes considerably deviating from their European models. Of special value for the current work are Nahuatl wills, of which a large corpus has survived. Closely following the Spanish prototype and becoming strongly conventionalized, they nevertheless absorbed some of the speechlike and declamatory characteristics typical of the native mode of expression. Indigenous testaments, especially those made for important members of the Nahua nobility, reveal continuities and changes in the use of status items of both preconquest and European origin, functioning also as an important vehicle for conveying traditional terminology referring to power and rank. The latter is also to be found in songs and speeches recording in alphabetic form the remnants of preconquest oral tradition, whose conventions are often transmitted also in religious genres recording the Christian or merely Christianized content in the native language.

    These genres represent a separate category of Nahuatl texts, done under Spanish ecclesiastical auspices, strongly based on European prototypes and reflecting the goals of religious policy and instruction. Among them are catechisms, prayers, and confessionaries composed by Spanish priests with the help of native assistants. It is often difficult to assess the degree of indigenous authorship in such texts: usually serving very practical needs of friars working among local communities, they also embraced some of the preconquest orality and elegant language of the upper class. Somewhere in-between the predominantly native and Hispanized literature are Nahuatl plays composed by diverse authors. They too incorporate preconquest forms of expressions and terms as well as sociopolitical, cultural, and even religious concepts into the general European framework. Whereas much of their language is based on neologisms and translations of Spanish terms, what also comes to sight is the fully traditional vocabulary applied to new contexts, inevitably amplifying or transforming its original meanings.

    Written Sources in Spanish

    Not all native writers stuck to their own language. As a result of ongoing Hispanization, important members of the native nobility chose to record the stories of their ancestors in Spanish, thus making them available to a different audience. Their importance, from my point of view, lies not so much in the frequent attempts of native authors to prove their familiarity with the European tradition, but in their use of Nahuatl terms and in providing additional data directly based on native written and pictorial prototypes. Don Hernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc, a member of the royal dynasty of Tenochtitlan, is known for his Spanish Crónica mexicana (1598) and the Nahuatl annals copied and enhanced by Chimalpahin (Crónica mexicayotl ). His major Spanish chronicle conveys the Mexica version of their history and was based on a now lost Nahuatl prototype, the so-called Crónica X (Barlow 1945). Historians had long been puzzled by the poor Spanish of this work as well as omnipresent Nahuatl expressions and syntax, though authored by a high-level interpreter and a heavily Europeanized aristocrat. The answer to this conundrum is simple: the earliest extant version of this text is most probably a rough draft of a lost more polished work and constitutes the direct translation of the original Nahuatl source dictated by the author himself (Díaz Migoyo 2001). Therefore, in spite of its confusing syntax and wording, this account preserves a profusion of references to royal apparel and status items using the original terminology mentioned in the context of public rituals, wars, ceremonies of investiture, funerals, and many other events. Another famous Spanish-writing chronicler of native origin, don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, a descendant through his mother of the rulers of Tetzcoco and Teotihuacan, used indigenous pictorial manuscripts (among them the Codex Xolotl and Mapas Quinatzin and Tlotzin), now-lost written Nahuatl sources, as well as oral tradition as his principal sources of information (Calnek 2001, 62–63). The dominant perspective in his works, written in the first half of the seventeenth century, is a subjective exaltation of Tetzcocan history and the admirable achievements of his royal ancestors.

    A separate group of sources is formed by numerous accounts written by Spaniards, who, with some exceptions, were living in New Spain and had access to both native informants and native documents. Derived from the Crónica X is the chronicle written by fray Diego Durán, who also collected valuable data on the native calendar, religion, and ritual. Although the author was fully familiar with Nahuatl and the bulk of what he tells us was based on the Nahuatl prototype, in vain do we look for any large number of original terms in his work. The same is true for earlier authors writing about native culture, such as fray Toribio de Benavente Motolinía. Later works, such as the Monarquía indiana by fray Juan de Torquemada (1612), are usually complex compilations of earlier authors. Some useful data are to be found in the accounts of conquistadors, such as Cortés or Díaz del Castillo, but again the information on the native world is strongly filtered through European eyes and terminology. Also recorded in Spanish is the copious information provided by native informants in numerous localities of New Spain in the Relaciones geográficas, commissioned by order of the Spanish king between 1579 and 1585, among them the famous Relación de Tlaxcala by the mestizo author Diego Muñoz Camargo, extending far beyond the modest scope of this genre. In general, for the purposes of the current research the value of Spanish sources is much inferior to that of the native documents. Although native dress and insignia caught much attention on the part of European authors, who devoted lengthy descriptions to their richness, wealth, and variety, it is rarely possible to identify a specific item or recover fully reliable data.

    Preconquest Monuments

    Any study on the Nahua nobility and its attributes of rank would be very deficient if it ignored the extant corpus of pictorial sources, and especially pre-Hispanic sculptures and early colonial pictorial manuscripts. Useful also are artifacts preserved in museum collections, including pieces of jewelry and objects of featherworking. The large group of Aztec stone sculptures includes a relatively small number of royal portraits, and those that survive are mainly images of the huei tlatoque (supreme leaders; sing. huei tlatoani) of Tenochtitlan. The iconography and style of Aztec monuments have been the subject of numerous studies (Seler 1902–23; Wicke 1975, 1986; Townsend 1979; Umberger 1981, 1996a; Pasztory 1983; Graulich 1992). Although royal costumes on the most important Aztec monuments have already been described and interpreted by various scholars (e.g., Wicke 1975; Townsend 1979; Umberger 1981, 1996a; Pasztory 1983), this research rarely involved an exhaustive examination of all items and identification of corresponding Nahuatl terms.

    Several monuments represent elite leaders and warriors in processional rows, an iconographic type apparently derived from the relief benches at Tula. Royal imagery is an essential component of colossal sacrificial stones, combining the forms of the quauhxicalli, or sacrificial vessel, and the temalacatl, the gladiatorial stone. The common iconographic theme is the series of conquests by Tenochtitlan, whose leaders are shown as valiant warriors with attributes of their patron gods. In other public monuments, commissioned by different monarchs and on different occasions, the huei tlatoque appear in priestly costume and perform autosacrifice, an ancient Mesoamerican rite of royalty. These works of art communicated important political messages, as with the Dedication Stone, not only commemorating the dedication of the new version of the main temple of Tenochtitlan in the year 1487, but also announcing the transfer of power from Tiçoc to his successor Ahuitzotl (Townsend 1979, 40–42; Pasztory 1983, 150–51). Others, like the so-called Acuecuexatl Stone, enunciate the link between the ruler and his divine protector, in this case the deity Quetzalcoatl (Umberger 1981, 130; Pasztory 1983, 157; Quiñones Keber 1993, 151–52). In spite of strong conventionalization, using relatively simple iconographic and glyphic means, the Mexica sculptors were capable of communicating nuanced political and cultural messages. A good example is the so-called Temple Stone commemorating the New Fire Ceremony that was celebrated as a massive ritual spectacle by Moteucçoma Xocoyotzin in 1507. In addition to reiterating the priestly and sacrificial functions of the Tenochca ruler, it also declares the prestige of the Chichimec roots and the historical importance of the foundation of Tenochtitlan (Townsend 1979, 49–63; Umberger 1981, 174–91; Pasztory 1983, 165–69). Unfortunately, the famous royal commemorative relief portraits made on the cliff of Chapultepec have not survived to our days except for hardly recognizable remains, but are described in written sources (Nicholson 1967; Umberger 1981, 147–48). Finally, an interesting group of works of art consists of stone boxes decorated with penitential images of their royal owners, which has caused scholars to assume that these were privately owned objects for storing sacrificial implements (Umberger 1981, 97; Pasztory 1983, 247, 255). Whereas preconquest monuments shed much light on the iconography of rank of the rulers of Tenochtitlan and provide a point of comparison with posterior postconquest images, almost nothing is known about such portraits of rulers of other Nahua altepetl. In most of those cases the only clues are provided by pictorial manuscripts made after the Spanish

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