E-Book Overview
Transcribed from the original Nahuatl manuscript (written circa 1600) and translated into English for the first time, this epic chronicle tells the preconquest history of the Tlaxcalteca, who migrated into central Mexico from the northern frontier of the Toltec empire at its fall. By the time of Cort?s's arrival in the sixteenth century, the Tlaxcalteca were the main rivals to the Mexica, or Aztecs, as they are commonly known. One of the few peoples of central Mexico not ruled from the Mexica capital city of Tenochtitlan, the Tlaxcalteca resided in the next valley to the east and became Cort?s's powerful allies. They were also speakers of the Nahuatl language who followed a sophisticated agriculturally based urban way of life and documented their history in traditional —painted books—created by specially trained scribes. Thus, their chronicle, An?nimo Mexicano, offers a rare alternative perspective on the history of central Mexico, which has been dominated in the popular imagination by the stories of the Mexica. The original An?nimo Mexicano is housed in the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris. Its first complete publication here includes a full English translation, the original classical Nahuatl, a modern Nahuatl version, and comprehensive annotation. This definitive edition thus will be valuable for linguists, ethnohistorians, folklorists, Mesoamerican scholars, and others. Moreover, anyone interested in the epic origin tales of peoples and nations will find interest in An?nimo Mexicano's grand narrative of dynastic wars, conquests, and migrations, cast in mythological terms.
E-Book Content
edited by
Richley Crapo and Bonnie Glass-Coffin
ANÓNIMO MEXICANO
The island of Aztlan and its seven caves from which the Mexica, Tlaxcalteca, and other Chichimeca emerged. (“Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca,” Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Manuscript, Mexicain 51–53, fol. 28. )
ANÓNIMO MEXICANO edited by
Richley H. Crapo Bonnie Glass-Coffin
Utah State University Press Logan, UT 2005
Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322–7800 All rights reserved Printed on recycled, acid-free paper Copyright © 2005 Utah State University Press
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anónimo mexicano. English & Nahuatl Anónimo mexicano / edited by Richley H. Crapo, Bonnie Glass-Coffin. p. cm. Includes a full English translation, the original classical Nahuatl, and a modern Nahuatl version. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87421-623-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 0-87421-515-3 (e-book) 1. Indians of Mexico. 2. Tlaxcalan Indians--Origin. 3. Tlaxcalan Indians--History. 4. Tlaxcalan Indians--Migrations. 5. Manuscripts, Nahuato--Mexico--Tlaxcala (State) 6. Tlaxcala (Mexico : State)--History--Sources. I. Crapo, Richley H. II. Glass-Coffin, Bonnie, 1957- III. Title. F1219.A61A66 2005 972--dc22 2005022566
Contents
Introduction
1
Chapter 1
7
Chapter 2
11
Chapter 3
21
Chapter 4
25
Chapter 5
28
The Beginning of the Mexican War
38
Chapter 7
43
Chapter 8
45
Chapter 9
49
Chapter 10
56
Chapter 11
58
Chapter 12
61
Notes
66
References Cited
102
Index
103
Illustrations
The island of Aztlan and its seven caves
ii
The city of Tollan and its sphere of influence
8
The stinking corpse
9
The scribal rubric and attestation
10
Two Chichimec warriors
12
Xolotl on Mount Xoloc with his son Nopaltzin
14
Anahuac, the well-watered lands of the Valley of Mexico
17
Scribe