Download Florentine Codex

Conquest of Mexico Through
Aztec Eyes
AP World History
Unit Three: 1450-1750
The peoples of central Mexico had long used a type of
book called a codex to record their history. Codices
included drawings and symbols painted by trained
artist-scribes. Although the Spanish destroyed most of
these codices, the codex tradition continued in a
modified form in the century following conquest. These
new codices, assembled under the supervision of
European missionaries, were composed largely by
native people, many of them new converts to
Christianity and some literate in Latin and Spanish.
The following images are taken from the Florentine
Codex compiled under a Franciscan missionary that
felt understanding Aztec culture was key to
conversion. Because the missionary relied on Aztec
informants and artists, many scholars believe these
codices represent an Aztec point of view on the
conquest. These were created decades later, so they
Disaster Foretold
1. Why might Aztec contributors to
the codices have included
accounts of such supernatural
events preceding the arrival of the
Spanish?
2. Why do you think the Spanish
frequently incorporated such
accounts into their own
descriptions of the conquest?
Moctezuma and Cortes
1.
2.
3.
4.
How does this painting present the relationship
between Cortes and Moctezuma? Are they meeting
as equals, enemies, allies, as ruler and subject?
What do the items at the bottom of the image
represent?
Does this image challenge or support the
perception that the Aztecs viewed the Spanish
newcomers in religious terms?
The woman standing behind Cortes in Dona
Marina, also known as La Malinche. Cortes once
wrote, “after God we owe this conquest of New
Spain to Dona Marina.” To what extent do you
agree with this, based on last night’s reading?
The Massacre of the Nobles
“[W]hen the dance was loveliest and when song was
linked to song, the Spaniards were seized with an
urge to kill the celebrants. They all ran forward, armed
as if for battle. They closed the entrances and
passageways…they [they] rushed into the Sacred
Patio to slaughter the inhabitant…They attacked the
man who was drumming and cut off his arms. Then
they cut off his head, and it rolled across the floor.
They attacked all the celebrants stabbing them,
sparing them , striking the with swords..Others they
beheaded..or split their heads to pieces…The blood of
the warriors flowed like water and gathered into
pools…[T]hey invaded every room, hunting and
killing.”
1. What elements of the description above are reflected
in the painting?
2. What image of the Spanish does this painting
The Spanish Retreat from
Tenochtitlan
Conversion
1. Whose perspective do you think it
represented in this image? Spanish, their
Tlaxcala allies, or the Aztecs? How might
each of them understood this retreat
differently?
2. In neither source in slides 9 and 10 are the
Spanish are portrayed with firearms. How
might you understand their omission?
3. Do you notice any evidence of cultural
blending in this image?
1. How do these images, from the
Florentine Codex, an Aztec portrayal of
the diesase, represent the impact of the
smallpox epidemic, and the Aztec
response to it?