King Emmanuel of Portugal original: "Emmanuel of Portugal"; referring to King Manuel I (1469–1521), and had in turn been presented by him to Giulio de’ Medici, who later became Pope Clement VII. These facts provide strong evidence that the Vienna Codex A famous pre-Columbian screenfold manuscript now held in the Austrian National Library. was one of the two “native books” received by Emperor Charles V in 1520.

5. The same inscription records that the Vienna Codex passed from the possession of Clement VII into the hands of another ecclesiastical member of the Florentine Medici family. A natural conclusion is that it must also, at one time, have been in Florence, where other rarities listed in the 1519 inventory were kept in the Medici palace until recently.

6. The fact that, until recently, this current manuscript Referring to the Codex Nuttall. was preserved in Florence undoubtedly links its history to that of the Vienna Codex. It appears, therefore, that these sister-manuscripts not only shared a common origin but also followed a similar path through history, both having strong associations with Florence.

In conclusion: it is certain that in the Vienna Codex and its sister-manuscript, we possess two books created by the same authors at the same time. Historical evidence suggests they are the very same “native books” recorded in the 1519 inventory of treasures sent from Mexico.

Let us now examine how much internal evidence these sister-manuscripts provide to support the view that they date from the era of Montezuma Moctezuma II, the Aztec ruler at the time of Spanish contact. and are written in the Nahuatl language The language of the Aztecs; though modern scholars now identify these specific codices as Mixtec, the author here is exploring an earlier theory., as was assumed by the unknown person who added notes to one of them.

DATE OF THE SISTER-CODICES

AS already mentioned, the first year-sign in this manuscript—and the one that appears more frequently than any other in both books—is 1 Reed original: "I Acatl", accompanied by the day 1 Crocodile original: "1 Cipactli". It is well known that the year 1 Reed in the Mexican Calendar corresponds to the year 1519 of the Julian Calendar The calendar system used in Europe before the modern Gregorian reform.. Consequently, the date most prominent in both manuscripts is precisely the year 1519, the year Hernán Cortés landed in Vera Cruz. It was from there, on July 10, that he sent two native books along with other treasures to Europe.

To me, the day-sign 1 Crocodile, combined with the year-sign 1 Reed, is of particular interest and importance. I shall never cease to marvel at the strange series of events by which a manuscript, displaying the starting date of the year 1 Reed and the day 1 Crocodile, should have been brought to light by the same researcher The author, Zelia Nuttall. who, in 1894, demonstrated that the day 1 Crocodile in the year 1 Reed coincided exactly with the spring equinox, March 12, 1519. The reconstruction I published in 1894 in my Note on the Ancient Mexican Calendar System (presented to the Tenth International Congress of Americanists in Stockholm) is reproduced here without changes (Table I). It is based on the significant historical dates recorded by both the Spaniards and the Mexicans in their respective calendars. For instance, the soldier-chronicler Bernal Diaz states that the Spaniards entered the City of Mexico on November 8, 1519. The indigenous chronicler Chimalpahin A 17th-century historian of indigenous descent. records that this memorable event occurred on the day 8 Wind original: "8 Ehecatl", the eve of the 10th day of the month Quecholli The fourteenth 20-day "month" of the solar year, associated with the god of the hunt., in the year 1 Reed.