Codex Vindobonensis
Also known as: Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I, Vienna Mexicanus I, Mixtec Codex Vindobonensis
A Mixtec pictorial screenfold that records mythic origins, sacred rites, and dynastic genealogies, culminating in the deeds of Eight Deer Jaguar Claw and allied rulers across the Mixteca region.
Description
The Codex Vindobonensis is a richly painted Mixtec screenfold on deerskin that weaves together primordial creation scenes, sacred place-origins, and the ritual legitimation of rule. It traces lineages through calendrical name-glyphs and place signs, situating marriages, alliances, and conquests within a sacred geography anchored by Apoala and other cult centers. The narrative foregrounds the career of Eight Deer Jaguar Claw while preserving older cosmogonic episodes and ceremonies—nose-piercings, enthronements, pilgrimages—that bind temporal power to divine sanction. As a primary visual record, it preserves a pre-Hispanic historiography where myth and history interpenetrate, offering a canonical map of Mixtec memory.
Historiography
Known as Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I, the manuscript entered European collections by early modern times and is now housed in the Austrian National Library. Its pictorial narrative, executed in the Mixtec style, preserves an integrated mytho-historical account independent of alphabetic glosses. Scholarly comparisons with Codices Zouche-Nuttall, Bodley, Selden, and Colombino-Becker refine event sequences and identify shared personages. Modern facsimiles and studies stabilize reading orders and scene boundaries while debates continue over precise dating and regional workshops.
Date Notes
Pictorial deerskin screenfold produced in the Late Postclassic period; preserved in Vienna (Austrian National Library) under the name "Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I".
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw
- Lady Six Monkey
- Lord Four Wind
Myths
- Mixtec Origins at Apoala
- Ancestral Tree and Cave of Emergence
- Deeds of Ancestral Lords
Facts
- Pictorial manuscript painted on deerskin, folded accordion-style.
- Also cataloged as Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I in the Austrian National Library.
- Records Mixtec cosmogony alongside dynastic genealogies and rituals.
- Calendrical name-glyphs identify persons (e.g., Eight Deer, Six Monkey).
- Apoala serves as a key origin-place and sacred landscape anchor.
- Ritual investitures are marked by nose-piercing and throne-seat iconography.
- Shares personages and episodes with Codices Zouche-Nuttall, Bodley, and Selden.
- Reading order proceeds along red guideline bands typical of Mixtec codices.
- Scholarly consensus places production in the Late Postclassic period.
- The codex is a primary pre-Hispanic source independent of alphabetic glosses.