Madrid Codex
Also known as: Codex Madrid, Códice de Madrid, Tro-Cortesianus Codex, Codex Tro-Cortesianus, Códice Tro-Cortesiano
A late Postclassic Maya screenfold manuscript of ritual and divinatory almanacs, the Madrid Codex catalogs ceremonies, day-sign prognostics, and deities overseeing agriculture, rain, craft, and household rites.
Description
The Madrid Codex (also known as the Tro-Cortesianus) is the longest surviving pre-Hispanic Maya manuscript, painted on fig-bark paper coated with stucco. Produced in the Yucatán during the Late Postclassic, it preserves almanacs and ritual sequences used by priest-diviners to time ceremonies, diagnose omens, and manage cyclical tasks such as planting, beekeeping, weaving, hunting, and healing. Its pages depict deities—including Itzamna, Chaac, Ix Chel, K’awiil, the Maize God, and underworld lords—performing offerings, rainmaking, and renewal rites. Structured around sacred calendars and day signs, the codex encodes practical-religious knowledge that integrates cosmic order with everyday work, sustaining community life through divination, sacrifice, and seasonal renewal.
Historiography
The manuscript’s two principal parts—once catalogued separately as the Troano and the Cortesianus—were identified in the 19th century as belonging to the same codex. Paleography and iconography indicate multiple scribes and workshops active in a Yucatec milieu. Its exact pre-Conquest provenance remains debated, but most scholars place its production in northern Yucatán. Now held in the Museo de América (Madrid), the codex has been published in facsimiles and studied comparatively with the Dresden, Paris, and the Maya Codex of Mexico to reconstruct Postclassic ritual practice and calendar science.
Date Notes
Late Postclassic Yucatán; multiple scribal hands; two portions (Troano and Cortesianus) recognized in the 19th century as parts of a single pre-Hispanic screenfold manuscript; brought to Spain after the Conquest.
Major Characters
- Itzamna
- Chaac
- Ix Chel
- Kʼawiil
Myths
- New Year Ceremonies and Deities
- Venus Almanacs
- Rainmaking and Agricultural Rites
Facts
- Screenfold manuscript on fig-bark (amatl) paper coated with stucco.
- Longest surviving Maya codex, comprising 112 painted pages.
- Composed by multiple scribes; handwriting and pigments vary across sections.
- Focuses on ritual almanacs for divination tied to sacred calendars and day signs.
- Includes practical cycles for agriculture, beekeeping, weaving, hunting, and healing.
- Iconography centers on Itzamna, Chaac, Ix Chel, K’awiil, the Maize God, and underworld lords.
- Likely produced in northern Yucatán during the Late Postclassic period.
- Two parts (Troano and Cortesianus) were later recognized as one manuscript.
- Current repository is the Museo de América in Madrid.
- Closely studied alongside the Dresden, Paris, and Maya Codex of Mexico for Postclassic ritual knowledge.