Florentine Codex
Also known as: Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, General History of the Things of New Spain, Códice Florentino, Codex Florentinus
A twelve-book Nahuatl–Spanish encyclopedia of Mexica religion, cosmology, ritual, society, and history compiled by Sahagún with Indigenous scholars. It preserves pre-conquest lore—myths, festivals, omens, and lifeways—alongside colonial-era interpretations.
Description
The Florentine Codex is a bilingual, richly illustrated compendium that documents Nahua theology, ceremonial calendars, natural history, social customs, and the conquest narrative. Organized into twelve books, it records prayers, hymns, festival scripts, and mythic accounts of gods such as Huitzilopochtli, Tlaloc, and Quetzalcoatl, together with detailed ethnographic observations on merchants, healers, artisans, flora, and fauna. Compiled collaboratively by Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua scholars and scribes trained at Tlatelolco, the work juxtaposes Nahuatl testimony with Sahagún’s Spanish commentary, preserving diverse voices and visual knowledge through hundreds of paintings. Beyond its ethnographic aims, it is a critical primary source for Mesoamerican cosmology—the Five Suns, sacred places, underworlds—and for ritual cycles like the New Fire ceremony and month-by-month feasts.
Historiography
The manuscript reflects layered redactions: early questionnaires and Primeros Memoriales evolved into the twelve-book codex with parallel Nahuatl and Spanish columns and extensive pictorials. Ecclesiastical scrutiny shaped its didactic framing, yet the Nahuatl text often preserves Indigenous categories and poetics. Modern scholarship relies on the Anderson–Dibble edition and high-resolution facsimiles. Its images and Nahuatl prose have informed debates on colonial mediation, authorship, and the survival of pre-conquest knowledge.
Date Notes
Compiled in stages at Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco; major redactions in the 1550s–1570s; final three-volume manuscript delivered c. 1577; preserved at the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence.
Themes
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Huitzilopochtli
- Quetzalcoatl
- Tezcatlipoca
- Tlaloc
- Xipe Totec
- Motecuhzoma
Myths
- The Five Suns
- Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca
- The Descent to Mictlan
- The Creation of Humans from Bones
- Origins of Gods and Festivals
Facts
- Twelve books cover gods, rites, omens, moral philosophy, natural history, social classes, and conquest history.
- Text is bilingual: Nahuatl testimony with parallel Spanish exegesis.
- Hundreds of painted images were created by Indigenous tlacuiloque (scribes-painters).
- Compiled at the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco with teams of Nahua scholars.
- Final manuscript resides in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Florence).
- Book 7–11 treat natural and social worlds; Book 12 narrates the conquest from a Nahua viewpoint.
- Festival cycle maps the eighteen veintenas (monthly feasts) and major rites.
- Preserves core cosmology of the Five Suns and multiple afterlife realms (Mictlan, Tlalocan).
- Modern standard translation is the Anderson–Dibble edition (University of Utah Press).
- Serves as a foundational primary source for Nahua religion, language, and ethnography.