Codex Selden
Also known as: Codex Añute, Ms. Arch. Selden. A. 2
A Mixtec pictorial screenfold chronicling the lineage, marriages, alliances, and rituals of the polity of Añute (Jaltepec), created in the early colonial period but rooted in pre-Hispanic traditions.
Description
Codex Selden is a Mixtec pictorial manuscript that records the dynastic history of Añute (Jaltepec) through sequences of toponyms, personal name-glyphs, calendrical signs, and ritual scenes. Painted on a deerskin screenfold and produced during the sixteenth century, it transmits pre-conquest historiography adapted to colonial circumstances. The manuscript functions as a visual genealogy and political memory map: it tracks successions, strategic marriages, territorial claims, and ceremonial obligations that legitimated rulership. In the twenty-first century, imaging revealed an underpainting—evidence that the extant narrative overwrote an earlier layer—attesting to ongoing redaction and reuse within the Mixtec manuscript tradition. Housed today in the Bodleian Library, the codex stands alongside other Mixtec histories as a key witness to Postclassic and early colonial identity-making.
Historiography
Preserved as Bodleian Library MS. Arch. Selden. A. 2, the codex entered early modern European collections and has been studied since the nineteenth century alongside other Mixtec screenfolds. Its sixteenth-century painting overlays an earlier, hidden pictographic narrative identified via hyperspectral imaging, indicating a palimpsest and redactional reuse. Scholars compare its sequence with Codex Bodley, Zouche–Nuttall, Colombino–Becker, and Vindobonensis to reconcile lineages and regional politics. The work’s colonial-era execution coupled with pre-Hispanic content illustrates the continuity and transformation of Mixtec historiography.
Date Notes
Colonial-era Mixtec screenfold preserving pre-Hispanic genealogies; later shown to be a palimpsest with an older, hidden pictographic layer revealed by hyperspectral imaging in the 2010s.
Themes
Major Characters
- Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw
- Lady Six Monkey
- Lord Four Wind
Myths
- Lineage Histories of Jaltepec
- Hidden Palimpsest Narratives
- Marriages and Political Alliances
Facts
- Pictorial Mixtec screenfold on prepared deerskin.
- Records dynastic history and alliances of Añute (Jaltepec).
- Held at the Bodleian Library as MS. Arch. Selden. A. 2.
- Produced in the sixteenth century under early colonial rule.
- Painted in Mixtec pictography with calendrical and name signs.
- Reading order follows conventional Mixtec pathways marked by footprints.
- Hyperspectral imaging revealed an earlier, hidden narrative layer.
- Comparative study aligns episodes with other Mixtec codices.
- Functions as legal-historical memory for land and authority claims.
- Survives with areas of damage, repair, and repainting typical of reused screenfolds.