LONDON:
PRINTED BY TAYLOR & FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1912.
A NOTE
ON THE POSITION AND EXTENT
OF THE
GREAT TEMPLE ENCLOSURE OF TENOCHTITLAN
AND THE POSITION, STRUCTURE, AND ORIENTATION
OF THE
TEOCALLI OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.
BY
ALFRED P. MAUDSLAY.
Extracts from the works of the earliest authorities referring to the
Great Temple Enclosure of Tenochtitlan and its surroundings are printed
at the end of this note, and the following particulars concerning the
authors will enable the reader to form some judgment of the comparative
value of their evidence.
THE ANONYMOUS CONQUEROR.—The identity of this writer is unknown. That he
was a companion of Cortés during the Conquest is undoubted. His account
is confined to the dress, arms, customs, buildings, &c. of the Mexicans.
The original document has never been found, and what we now possess was
recovered from an Italian translation.
MOTOLINIA.—Fray Toribio de Benavento, a Franciscan monk, known best by
his assumed name of Motolinia, left Spain in January 1524 and arrived in
the City of Mexico in the month of June of the same year. From that date
until his death in August 1569 he lived an active missionary life among
the Indians in many parts of Mexico and Guatemala.
He was in fullest sympathy with the Indians, and used his utmost efforts
to defend them from the oppression of their conquerors.
Motolinia appears in the books of the Cabildo in June 1525 as “Fray
Toribio, guardian del Monesterio de Sor. San Francisco”; so he probably
resided in the City at that date, and must have been familiar with what
remained of the ancient City.
SAHAGUN, Fr. Bernadino de, was born at Sahagun in Northern Spain about
the last year of the 15th Century. He was educated at the University of
Salamanca, and became a monk of the Order of Saint Francis, and went to
Mexico in 1529. He remained in that country, until his death in 1590, as
a missionary and teacher.
No one devoted so much time and study to the language and culture of the
Mexicans as did Padre Sahagun throughout his long life. His writings,
both in Spanish, Nahua, and Latin, were numerous and of the greatest
value. Some of them have been published and are well known, but it is
with the keenest interest and with the anticipation of enlightenment on
many obscure questions that all engaged in the study of ancient America
look forward to the publication of a complete edition of his great work,
‘Historia de las Cosas de Nueva España,’ with facsimiles of all the
original coloured illustrations under the able editorship of Don
Francisco del Paso y Troncoso. Señor Troncoso’s qualifications for the
task are too well known to all Americanists to need any comment, but all
those interested in the subject will join in hearty congratulations to
the most distinguished of Nahua scholars and rejoice to hear that his
long and laborious task is almost completed and that a great part of the
work has already gone to press.
TORQUEMADA, Fr. Juan de.—Little is known about the life of Torquemada
beyond the bare facts that he came to Mexico as a child, became a
Franciscan monk in 1583 when he was eighteen or twenty years old, and
that he died in the year 1624. He probably finished the ‘Monarquia
Indiana’ in 1612, and it was published in Seville in 1615. Torquemada
knew Padre Sahagun personally and had access to his manuscripts.
DURAN, Fr. Diego.—Very little is known about Padre Duran. He was
probably a half-caste, born in Mexico about 1538. He became a monk of
the Order of St. Dominic about 1578 and died in 1588.
His work entitled ‘Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espana y Islas de
Tierra Firme’ exists in MS. in the National Library in Madrid. The MS.
is illustrated by a number of illuminated drawings which Don José
Ramíres, who published the text in Mexico in 1867, reproduced as a
separate atlas without colour. Señor Ramíres expresses the opinion that
the work “is a history essentially Mexican, with a Spanish physiognomy.
Padre Duran took as the foundation and plan of his work an ancient
historical summary which had evidently been originally written by a
Mexican Indian.”
TEZOZOMOC, Don Hernando Alvaro.—Hardly anything is known about
Tezozomoc. He is believed to have been of Royal Mexican descent, and he
wrote the ‘Cronica Mexicana’ at the end of the 16th Century, probably
about 1598.
IXTLILXOCHITL.—A fragment of a Codex, known as the ‘Codice Goupil,’ is
published in the ‘Catalogo Boban,’ ii. 35, containing a picture of the
great Teocalli with a description written in Spanish. The handwriting is
said by Leon y Gama to be that of Ixtlilxochitl.
Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl was born in 1568 and was descended
from the royal families of Texcoco and Tenochtitlan. He was educated in
the College of Sta. Cruz and was the author of the history of the
Chichamecs. He died in 1648 or 1649.
The ‘Codice Goupil’ was probably a translation into Spanish of an
earlier Aztec text.
The picture of the great Teocalli is given on Plate D.
* * * * *
The positions of the Palace of Montezuma, the Palace of Tlillancalqui,
the Cuicacalli or Dance House, and the old Palace of Montezuma have been
defined by various writers and are now generally accepted.
The principal difficulty arises in defining the area of the Temple
Enclosure and the position and orientation of the Teocalli of
Huitzilopochtli.