Native Pictorial Genealogies of Central Mexico: Tracing Pre

Justyna Olko
Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies “Artes Liberales"
University of Warsaw
jolko@ibi.uw.edu.pl
Native Pictorial Genealogies of Central Mexico:
Tracing Pre-Hispanic Roots in a Colonial Genre
From a Pre-Hispanic Genre to Colonial Creations
Although only very few pre-Hispanic pictorial manuscripts survived the fire of
conquest and the long process involved in the eradication of “idolatry,” the genres and
contents of this ancient tradition, going back hundreds of years before the arrival of
Spaniards, can be at least partially reconstructed on the basis of early colonial documents.
Early colonial genres include ritual-calendrical, historical, genealogical, cartographic,
economic, and ethnographic manuscripts (the latter commissioned by Spaniards), as well as
different mixed types. Although the present sample of preserved pre-Hispanic books
encompasses historical, ritual-calendrical and economic codices,1 the original thematic
scope must have been wider. Nonetheless, even very cautious reconstructions of preHispanic prototypes based on early colonial examples remain the source of considerable
controversy among scholars. This refers also to Central Mexican genealogies. All presently
known examples date to the colonial period, but differ considerably in forms, time of
manufacture, and, above all, the degree of reception of European influence. Native
genealogies flourished in New Spain accommodating new challenges and needs of its
native inhabitants to the colonial reality and expanding into new important “niches”
associated especially with judicial litigations and the necessity of corroborating
contemporaneous claims with testimonies going back to pre-Hispanic times. My intention is
to discuss only some aspects of this heterogeneous genre focusing on the identification of
surviving pre-Hispanic conventions and concepts in colonial native genealogies, including
both simple legal records and more elaborate artistic creations belonging to the “shared
J. Olko, “Native Pictorial Genealogies of Central Mexico,” a publication associated with The Mapas Project,
Wired Humanities, University of Oregon <http://mapas.uoregon.edu>, December 2008.
1
Apart from Mixtec and Maya codices, this modest sample embraces several manuscripts from the Borgia
Group. There has been considerable controversy concerning the dating of several Aztec documents, such as
the Codex Borbonicus and the Matrícula de Tributos. However, some new arguments have been presented
quite recently in favor of their pre-conquest origin (Batalla Rosado 1994a,b, 2007).
1
world” of New Spain. An important point of discussion is also the significance of these
documents in shaping and maintaining the historical memory as well as in early colonial
constructions of native identity.
A special popularity of this genre of indigenous pictorial manuscripts during the
sixteenth century is attested in the areas corresponding with the actual states of Tlaxcala,
Puebla and Oaxaca, and a considerable sample is also known from the Valley of Mexico.
There are clear regional variations in pictorial genealogies. One of these traditions is
represented by a group of lists from Oaxaca and southern Puebla where ruling couples
figure in vertical columns, sharing the delimited space of a particular territory with crucial
historical events, such as the foundation of a town. In case of Tlaxcala, native genealogies
constitute probably the most representative regional genre of manuscript painting (see:
Cosentino 2007); recurrent in almost all actually known Tlaxcalan genealogies is a
descending reading order of a noble line originating in the person of a founder represented
in his noble palace, no doubt an entirely pre-Hispanic trait. An actual territory of the state of
Puebla shares in many respects this Tlaxcalan tradition. Although genealogies do not seem
to constitute a predominant genre, their importance for local elites is attested by such
significant examples as the Genealogía de Cuauhquechollan or the lists from southern
Puebla that combine elements commonly identified as “Nahua traits” with Mixtec
conventions. Aztec genealogies and ruler lists include those associated with TenochtitlanTlatelolco, the Tetzcocan region, and other localities of the Valley of Mexico, such as
Culhuacan or Xochimilco. Representative examples encompass lists in the Primeros
Memoriales and the Plano en Papel de Maguey, the complex genealogy known as
Genealogía circular de los descendientes de Nezahualcoyotl, or the genealogy from
Xochimilco included in the Códice Cozcatzin (Batalla Rosado 2003). Traditional
genealogies frequently accompany written lawsuit documents associated with native
communities, but not necessarily indigenous colonial nobility.2 Genealogical conventions
are employed also within cartographic-historical manuscripts, including Mixtec lienzos and
Aztec documents, such as the Códice Xolotl or the Mapa Tlotzin.
In a widely dispersed view apparently shared by numerous scholars, native
genealogies reveal strong Spanish influence or even represent a native adoption of an
entirely Spanish genre. According to Mary Elisabeth Smith (Smith and Parmenter
1991:20,32; Smith 1991:20) the vertical ruler lists represent a native adaptation to
2
Good examples are Proceso de Marta Petronila y Agustín de Luna, Indios, contra Juan Francisco, María y
Juana (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, hereafter BNF, 110) from Colhuacan (ca. 1590), Procès entre
Francisco de la Cruz Cohuatzincatl, Indio natural de Xochimilco, et Joachim Tecoloatl (BNF 29) from
Xochimilco, dated to 1571, or the group of documents from the same locality dated to 1575-1576 (Genealogy
of Pedronilla and Juliana, Newberry Library Ayres Collection, hereafter NLA, 1271; Document relating to
the Descendants of Don Miguel Damián, NLA 1270; Glass 1975b:238).
2
colonial administrative requirements: the arrangement of genealogical information in
columns of marriage pairs, found only in the post-conquest manuscripts, may illustrate a
phrase that occurs frequently in the colonial litigation (por línea recta). The same issue is
raised by Susan Spitler (1998:77) who claims that the “simplified format” of the Mapa
Tlotzin king list may be the painter’s version of the Spanish legal phrase por línea recta.
According to her, in accordance with the notion of direct descent, it would not have been
possible to represent contemporaneous rule by several brothers, and perhaps this is why
the six final rulers in this document are depicted in the same fashion as their predecessors.
Elisabeth Boone, for her part, thinks that, “although the implication is that these vertical
ruler lists are a colonial invention, they might also be a pre-conquest form that was
emphasized over other presentations to fit colonial needs” (Boone 2000:128).
Before evaluating these views, some more data should be brought into discussion.
First of all, it must by emphasized that visual genealogical records did exist in preHispanic sources, especially in Oaxaca. Examples are Classic-period sculptured slabs
from the Valley of Oaxaca, each presenting several seated male-female couples belonging
to subsequent generations and shown in a vertical ascending order. These sculptures seem
to be a direct prototype for vertical rulers lists from this and surrounding regions.
Genealogical records are also contained in pre-Hispanic codices relating the dynastical
histories of the Mixtec aristocracy, but there the data on succession and kinship
relationships appear inside the structure of dynastic, political, or military events. In preand early-colonial Mixtec codices ruler lists take the form of horizontal rows running
from left to right (Códice Becker II, Códice Egerton) or right to left (Códice Muro).
Regarding the purported “simplified format” of ruler lists omitting more detailed
genealogical information, there is no evidence that this kind of data had actually been
represented in pre-Hispanic times. The way in which succession was visualized in Aztec
annals or in historical Mixtec codices suggests the contrary. What mattered, particularly
in year-count records, was to register enthronements and deaths of subsequent rulers,
usually picturing their straightforward succession without bothering to indicate exact
kinship relationships. That is why the line of rule in native annals is smooth and
uninterrupted. As Mixtec manuscripts or cartographic-historical documents clearly show,
the additional information was usually limited to the provenience of a particular spouse or
both spouses. Coming back to the case of the Mapa Tlotzin, it seems probable that the aim
of its painter was to fit the successive sovereigns into the available space, omitting
genealogical relationships redundant from the point of view of this convention. Besides, it
must be emphasized that the Mexica kinship system seems to have been cognatic, with a
structural equivalence for men and women. It appears to have been based on two
principles: the children of a married couple had equal rights from and claims on the
3
mother and the father; and all siblings were equivalent. As observed by Susan Kellogg,
although in the colonial period the inheritance was frequently referred to be from tiempo
inmemorial and through línea recta, these legal terms evoke Nahua concepts of kinship.
Thus, a relationship could be traced by a “straight line” from an individual to an ancestor,
and that line would be a cognatic descent line, traced through male or female links to a
male or female ancestor (Kellogg 1986:103-111). The term, or rather, a concept referring
to lineage and kinship was tlacamecayotl, denoting succession based on parentage, or,
literally, “human cordage.” The sphere of application of this term seems to surpass the
notion of simple blood bonds encompassing the idea of origin and descent expressed
graphically by a tied rope (Díaz Rubio 1986:65). The verbal description of the
tlacamecayotl is told from the point of view of a single individual, listing both the direct
lineal relations (parents, grandparents, and children), but also collateral kin (aunts and
uncles, brothers), and relations created by marriage (in-laws and stepkin) (Cline 1986:66)
At the same time, tlacamecayotl has to be understood as a personal kindred that permits
an individual to highlight advantageous relationships (Offner 1983:200). This pattern of
kinship is clearly seen in indigenous pictorial genealogies, such as the Genealogía
circular de los descendientes de Nezahualcoyotl or the Genealogía de Tetlamaca y
Tlametzin, where the descent line is traced both by female and male ancestors.
According to Boone (2000:61) “king lists usually run from bottom to top, as in the
Mapa de Teozacoalco, the Codex Tulane, the Coixtlahuaca manuscripts from Puebla and
Oaxaca, and Plano de Maguey from the Valley of Mexico.” However, this seems to be
Mixtec and Zapotec convention, while the Plano en Papel de Maguey rather than a rule,
seems to be one of the few exceptions,3 if compared with other available examples from
the Valley of Mexico and the Puebla-Tlaxcala region, where a downward reading order
clearly predominates. These include, for example, imagery of subsequent rulers in the
Mapa Tlotzin or the Códice de Tepetlaoztoc, as well as genealogical presentations in the
Genealogía circular de los descendientes de Nezahualcoyotl, Códice Xolotl, Genealogía
de los príncipes mexicanos (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, hereafter BNF, 72), a
genealogy from Culhuacan (Proceso de Marta Petronila…), the Genealogía de
Cuauhquechollan-Macuilxochitepec and numerous Tlaxcalan genealogies. Significantly,
European genealogies were usually read upward according to the concept of the
genealogical tree, whereas the opposite reading order of Central Mexican genealogies
3
Other pictorial genealogical records from the Valley of Mexico that are read from bottom to top are the
already-mentioned genealogies accompanying court litigation from Xochimilco, dated to 1575-76 (see note
2). Another convention used in the former core of the Aztec area was to represent genealogical relations in an
approximately horizontal order with a preference of a downward positioning of some of the lineage members
(Proceso de Marta Petronila…; BNF 110) or with those descendants that could not fit in a horizontal space
and were drawn both to the top and to the bottom (Procès entre Francisco de la Cruz Cohuatzincatl…; BNF
29).
4
clearly reveals an indigenous pattern. This implies their local roots and not a direct
borrowing of a European genre. Obviously, the opposite reading order of Oaxacan
genealogies should not be viewed as a result of the Spanish impact, but as a distinct
regional tradition. We should also consider an option that the reading order from top to
bottom was developed after the Spanish conquest following a European manner to read
books and documents that was imposed rapidly on native manuscripts. It is a well known
fact that the format of numerous indigenous documents was transformed, suppressing preHispanic patterns, and adapted to the convention that was quickly becoming the dominant
one in the early colonial period, where downward and left-to-right reading orders clearly
stood out. Nonetheless, in case of genealogies this supposed adaptation—though not
entirely impossible—does not seem very probable. It would have been strange if such a
process had transformed simultaneously and in a relatively short time most of known
genealogies and genealogical records from the center of Mexico, including a homogenous
corpus of Tlaxcalan genealogies. Besides, why cannot a similar adaptation be observed in
any of Mixtec or Zapotec genealogies, including the latest ones?
Yet another argument is provided by the presence of genealogical information—or
simple representations of descent and parentage—in documents belonging to other
genres. Perhaps the best example is the Códice Xolotl, the manuscript that seems to stick
firmly to indigenous conventions. The genealogical substance is always read from top to
bottom. It is equally little probable that the supposed transformation of the reading order
took place in a purely local document, the Códice de Santiago Tlacotepec, whose first
folio was made by a local artist no doubt without direct access to European sources. It
should be emphasized that the reading order of the year-count presentation enclosing this
document preserves the pre-Hispanic pattern (from bottom to top and around the
delimited space). The presentation mode of the genealogical information of the original
owner of this document, Pablo Ocelotl, is more complex. Emerging from the toponym of
Tlacotepec the line leads to the couple united to the tecpan in the lower half of the folio
and with their offspring below; although the footprints lead from another pair in the upper
half to that below, it seems that one of the sons of the latter reappears forming the
superior couple (Ruiz Medrano and Noguez 2004). The offspring of both pairs, united by
lines, is enumerated downward, below their parents.
Notably, this reading order is preserved in some late genealogies, possibly coming
from the seventeenth century. The Genealogía de Cotitzin y Zozahuic seems to reflect a
late memory of the pre-Hispanic costume with its protagonists seated on reed seats and
sporting capes with elaborate motifs, none of them, however, bearing a faithful depiction
of pre-conquest tilmatli designs. The style of the Genealogía de Metztepetl is much
5
cruder, simplifying the details. Nonetheless, apart from the traditional downward reading
order, its iconography continues important elements of the pre-Hispanic imagery, such as
white capes, reed thrones, or a jaguar-skin cape. Traces of ancient conventions can also be
seen in the Fragmento Caltecpaneca, which shows an Indian couple inside a doorway
with floral decorations, with a rope emerging from between them and descending
probably to later generations in a now destroyed part of the manuscript. The nobleman
wears turquoise nose and lip plugs, signs of a long endurance of the old symbols of
power.
Fig. 1: Proceso de Marta Petronila y Agustín de Luna, Indios, contra Juan Francisco, María y Juana,
BNF no. 110, fragment (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, redrawn by Justyna Olko)
Another important element of pre-Hispanic origin in colonial genealogies are ropes
expressing the already-mentioned concept of tlacamecayotl. As various studies clearly
show, it was not exclusively the Aztec idea of kin being “tied,” both verbally and
graphically, for we see an ancient Mesoamerican tradition that identified symbolically ropes
with umbilical cords, and, on a more esoteric level, with links to the supernatural world
(e.g. Looper and Kappelman 2000). Good visualizations of the concept of tlacamecayotl are
found in such documents as the Confirmación de las elecciones de Calpan (1578) or the
genealogy accompanying the Proceso de Marta Petronila y Agustín de Luna, Indios, contra
Juan Francisco, María y Juana de Culhuacan (1590). The latter is illustrative for almost all
6
traits that I consider indigenous: a mixed horizontal and downward reading order of the
genealogical presentation, the clear presence of the cognatic system and the use of ropes to
refer to kinship bonds.
Fig. 2: Testimony of Ana Tepi, 1567 (AGN Tierras, vol. 20, 1a. parte, exp. 3, fol. 256v., detail, with the
permission of Archivo General de la Nación, Fondo Hermanos Mayo, concentrados sobre 363)
Pictorial renderings of tlacamecayotl may also refer to marriage relationships, as in
the property plan accompanying the legal confirmation of 1567 concerning the inheritance
rights of Ana Tepi, a widow of Martín Lázaro Pantecatl (AGN Tierras, vol. 20, 1a parte,
exp.3; Reyes García et al. 1996: 89-91). The heads, showing the glyphic signs of a banner
(pantli -- referring to Pantecatl whose defunct status is indicated by his closed eyes) and a
combination of water and hand (a[tl] + ma[itl], a reference to Ana), are connected by a
rope, no doubt alluding to their married status. A cross sign painted with a different ink and
attached to the rope may allude to the Christian marriage or to Pantecatl’s death. In another
pictorial document, from Coyoacan (AGN Tierras 1735, exp. 2), a rope links doña María
Xalatlauhco to the landed property depicted above; she grasps it in her hand in a way
similar to some indigenous genealogies coming from later periods. However, the meaning
of the rope in this image is not entirely obvious: it may simply refer to possession rights, or,
more specifically, her property rights resulting either from her marriage bonds (the
accompanying gloss names her as the spouse of don Nicolas) or, perhaps less probably, to
her descent from don Juan de Guzmán, the tlatoani and governor of Coyoacan, that is, an
explicit reference to tlacamecayotl ties. Significantly, in an associated Nahuatl will she
emphasizes her status, making a reference both to her husband and to her position as a
legitimate daughter of the ruler of Coyoacan.
7
Fig. 3: Land property claimed by doña María Xalatlauhco, Coyoacan, 1569 (AGN Tierras 1735, exp. 2, fol.
109r., detail, with the permission of Archivo General de la Nación, Fondo Hermanos Mayo,
concentrados sobre 363)
Surprisingly, the presence of ropes persists even in a very late document, the Lienzo
de Quiotepec y Ayauhtla, dated to 1677, which reveals an interesting blending of
indigenous and European conventions. Descent is traced by a genealogical rope in its
ancient meaning of the umbilical cord that is “literally” grasped by distinct members of the
lineage. Moreover, what we find is a creative, and in many respects unique, fusion of the
Mesoamerican tradition of “human cordage” and the Christian tree of Jesse that inspired
numerous native genealogies. The cord emerges from the stomach of a naked progenitor,
and goes downward piercing his female spouse. Hybrid imagery continues also in the
costume of local nobles, seated on European chairs, clad in spotted capes tied under the
neck, hats, shirts, and trousers, and holding thin staffs in their hands.
Are these data a sufficient body of evidence to speak of the native genealogies
from the sixteenth century as the direct survival of a pre-Hispanic genre, even if no
examples prior to the Spanish conquest are known? I am not negating the powerful effect
of European art on native manuscripts during the sixteenth century, which also
profoundly affected genealogical presentations. It suffices to recall another kind of
indigenous genealogy, the one that assimilated a European (though probably not entirely
foreign for Mesoamerican peoples) concept of the genealogical tree—and the tree of Jesse
in particular (see Russo 1998)—where the longevity of pre-Hispanic traits seems much
more subtle. The comparison of these works with the already discussed genealogical
presentations—that I consider pre-conquest survivals—is not only striking but also
meaningful, especially if kept in mind that in many cases they are products of the same
8
epoch or even decade.4 Thus, the assumed adoption of a foreign genre or its conventions
was not a linear, ongoing process; rather, external inspirations and borrowings seem to
have been introduced to a major or minor degree into an already established, local
tradition that flourished in its own right, perhaps because it was perfectly readable also
for the Spanish audience.
Genealogies as Mirrors of Native Identity
Affirming the importance of pre-Hispanic origins of the colonial nobility, Central
Mexican genealogies seem to move subtly beyond that essential fact, negotiating status
and constructing identity within the socio-political, economic and cultural realities of
New Spain. What frequently calls for attention is the continuity of pre-conquest apparel
that makes it frequently difficult to distinguish colonial generations, usually possible only
when glosses with Spanish names appear. Tlaxcalan genealogies are particularly
illustrative of this phenomenon. In the Genealogía de Zolin the founder is seated within
his palace on a reed seat (though low stools figure usually in other Tlaxcalan documents),
and adorned with the red-white twisted headband with the double heron feather device
(aztaxelli), golden ear plugs, a red cape, and sandals. He holds a flower bouquet as do
some of his male descendants almost to the last generation. All names are glyphic, and the
lack of glosses does not permit us to indentify any of the lineage members as colonial
personages. If some of them actually lived after the Spanish conquest, this is not marked
by any change in their costumes and hence—no drop in status is implied. This may have
been of primary importance, considering that the purpose of this document was most
probably to litigate for land or to prove rights to a certain territory, because plots of land
are schematically depicted along the right side and bottom of the document. Sometimes
the use (and reuse) of pictorial genealogies in judicial contexts is relatively well
documented, as in the case of the Genealogía de Pablo Tliltzin5 that was employed in a
long-lasting litigation over land between the cacicas of Tizatlan, Tlaxcala, against the
inheritors of Francisco González Gallardo, continuing for many years until the second
decade of the eighteenth century.
The Genealogía de Zolín is obviously not unique in visualizing pre-Hispanic
attributes of rank. No less refined indigenous apparel figures in the Genealogía de
Tlatzcantzin, where the founder sits on a low stool, wears the red-white headband with
4
Early examples of the tree of Jesse adapted to native needs include the genealogy of Tarascan rulers in the
Relación de Michoacan (ca. 1547) and the genealogy of the family Xiu by Gaspar Antonio Chi (from around
1560).
5
AGN Tierras 318, exp.5.
9
Fig. 4: Genealogía de Zolín (Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico, redrawn by
Justyna Olko)
10
Fig. 5: Genealogía de Pablo Tliltzin (AGN Tierras 318, exp. 5, fol. 8v.; with the permission of
Archivo General de la Nación, Fondo Hermanos Mayo, concentrados sobre 363)
the aztaxelli, a red cape, and a white loincloth, and he holds a flower. His male
descendants share the same costume, though the presence of the headband and flower is
limited to one person, three rows below the founder, probably intended to mark his
special status. Remaining males do preserve aztaxelli and other costume elements, even
when they are already colonial personages. The change between pre-Hispanic and
colonial nobles is marked only by the appearance of Spanish-style names indicated by
glosses, and not by the actual change of clothing habits that did occur quite rapidly in the
several decades after the conquest. Significantly, in both documents the importance of
women in tracing descent lines is manifest in their position in the lineage through which
further succession may be claimed in accordance with the cognatic system, while their
elaborate, traditional costumes or the gesture of a pointed finger will also denote high
rank in Central Mexican iconography (Olko 2005:337-345).
11
Nevertheless, what can also be seen in the Genealogía de Tlatzcantzin is a
relative simplification of elite attributes—or the complete lack thereof—among the latest
members of the lineage. The same phenomenon is manifest in the Genealogía de
Cuauhtli, where only a founder seated within his palace wears full attributes of a preHispanic noble, while his descendants sport simplified, more modest costumes, though
still entirely pre-Hispanic. Similar “impoverishment” of apparel can be seen in the
Genealogía de Tepeticpac, where only lords of the upper generations wear prestigious
headbands with heron feathers. Still, all their male descendants are clad in traditional
capes and seated on traditional native stools. In general, while some of Tlaxcalan
genealogies illustrate no change in elite costume and others signal certain
“impoverishment” of the original set of attributes, none of them introduces Spanish
costume. It is possible that the simplification of attributes reflects the rank of the
descendants who supervised the creation of imagery and/or utilized genealogical
documents for their purposes. The emphasis on the continuation of a complete set of
apparel appropriate for rulers or heads of noble houses would have been important for
colonial functionaries of high rank. If the images were being made for or used by
descendants whose unique aim was to confirm their noble status or rights over
possessions, derived from the founders of the noble lineage of teuctli rank, some
simplification of the imagery seems understandable.
A similar strategy to represent colonial descendants in the same way as their preHispanic ancestors, even when ignoring actual fashion habits, can be found in documents
from the area of Puebla, such as the Lienzo Circular de Cuauhquechollan, the Codex
Tulane, or the Mapa de Xochitepec. In much the same way, in genealogies and ruler lists
from the Valley of Mexico this identification of colonial generations with pre-colonial
attributes was quite frequent (e.g. Plano en papel de maguey, ruler lists in the Códice
Florentino, Genealogía de los príncipes mexicanos (BNF 72). It should be emphasized that
although this form of presentation corresponds well with the native ideas expressed, for
example, in colonial annals that highlight the uninterrupted continuity and survival of an
altepetl and its ruling line, its relationship with the daily reality of New Spain seems more
complex. In regard to the latter, various testimonies imply that native nobility rapidly
assimilated foreign status markers, such as ways of dressing and other elements of the
Spanish culture, striving for permission to use symbols of rank prohibited by cédulas reales
(Lockhart 1992:198-200; Rojas 2008; Wood 2003:53-56). Obviously, there are also
genealogies where the last generation—probably the proper owners or commissioners of
the document—are the first to adopt attributes that demonstrate their partial incorporation
into Spanish culture. They, advertently or not, mark a border between the two worlds or
historical contexts that are united at the same time by kinship bonds. Examples of this
12
artistic convention are found in the Lienzo de Tlapa, the Genealogía de Macuilxochitl, the
Lienzo de Tecomaxtlahuaca, the Lienzo de Guevea or, manifesting the adoption of the
Spanish culture in a much more subtle way, the list of rulers in the Códice de Tepetlaoztoc.
This said, imagery in an entirely Spanish mode seems in the minority when compared with
those representations where the colonial successors of pre-Hispanic nobility chose to be
represented in a way that exposed their historical identity. This rhetoric is also grounded
and emphasized by iconographic conventions developed by indigenous painters to manifest
an important difference between legitimate native tlatoque, belonging to the royal lineage
and thus with an innate right to rule, and those associated with posts introduced by the
Spaniards, such as juez-gobernador or gobernador without the parallel function of tlatoani,
even if occupied by indigenous nobles. This strategy is particularly manifest in the ruler list
contained in the Plano en Papel de Maguey, where only the actual descendants of the preHispanic royal line are shown wearing the traditional regalia, while the governors or judges
lacking this background and equivalent to pre-Hispanic cuauhtlatoque, or interim rulers,
appear with appropriate European attributes.
Importance of Chichimec Roots
Indigenous authors of colonial genealogies pay considerable attention to the
historical identity of local rulers and nobles. This identity is frequently visualized in the
perspective of the Chichimec tradition shared by numerous Nahua and other communities
of Central Mexico. However, it should be emphasized that in spite of a widely diffused
stereotype of Aztec historiography presenting this part of indigenous identity in terms of
humble origins (or as a “rags to riches” reading), some of these “Chichimec” traits—
especially in the area of Acolhuacan, but also in the Mexica tradition—were apparently
quite prestigious in the iconography of power for “legitimate” tlatoque associated with the
“imperial” period as well as their colonial descendants. The most illustrative pre-Hispanic
work of art that affirms the prestigious aspect of Chichimec identity is a famous Temple
Stone, where Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin wears cozoyahualolli, a “Chichimec” headdress
identifying him with his nomadic ancestors, instead of a turquoise diadem (xiuhhuitzolli)
derived from Toltec lore (Umberger 1981:176; Pasztory 1983:168-169), as well as a skin
cape, perhaps an oceloehuatilmatli. By choosing these attributes, this state monument
proclaims the importance of the Chichimec component of the Mexica identity.
Meaningfully, the cozoyahualolli device is combined with balls of down which should be
here viewed not as sacrificial attributes, but as elements diagnostic for “early” Mexica
leaders and other Chichimec chieftains, as can be seen in the imagery of the Tira de
Tepechpan, the Códice Azcatitlan, illustrations in the Historia de la Nueva España by
13
Diego Durán, or the Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca. Such an apparel for the imperial lord
may seem surprising, if considered that in most Aztec sculptures rulers were shown with
attributes of power identified with the admired Toltecs. However, the date that accompanies
the imagery on the Temple Stone is 2 Calli (2 House), no doubt a reference to the year 2
Calli (1325), associated with the foundation of Tenochtitlan, a key event for the historical
tradition of the Mexica. Thus, Emily Umberger seems perfectly right in hypothesizing that
“these two figures seem to be attired as they are to represent the Aztecs at the time of the
foundation of Tenochtitlan. One is the god who led ancestors to the site, the other may be
dressed as an ancestor” (Umberger 1981:184).
Both diagnostic elements for the Chichimec identity, cozoyahualolli and an animal
hide cape, are recurrent in the iconography of colonial pictorial manuscripts, figuring as
insignia of “early” rulers or attributes of ancestors in a genealogical imagery (the Primeros
Memoriales, the Códice Florentino, the Códice de Tepetlaoztoc, the Genealogía de
Tetlamaca y Tlametzin, or the Genealogía de Pitzahua). In the Códice Xolotl the
ehuatilmatli type of cape seems to be a special attribute of Acolhua rulers, even when all
other protagonists became “civilized” as signaled by their cotton mantles. The exceptional
persistence of the Chichimec identity may be seen in the images of Techotlalatzin, the ruler
of Tzinacanoztoc. He is depicted on fol. 5 clad in a hide cape, although his wife
Tozquentzin is wearing axtlacuilli coiffure and cotton clothes, similar to their offspring and
almost all surrounding personages, including chiefs of subject towns depicted along the
margin. On the same page below Tetzcoco and over the glyph of Oztoticpac he is shown
again sporting an animal skin cape and receiving chiefs of migrating tribes who wear white
mantles, as do most of the personages and local rulers on this page. Similarly, we see on
fol. 4 that Mixcoatl in Tlatelolco, Acamapichtli in Tenochtitlan, and the rulers of Chalco all
wear cotton garments, while Quinatzin and his successor Techotlalatzin in Tetzcoco are still
depicted in animal hide clothes. In the Mapa Tlotzin some of the elements associated with
the first ancestors persist even in the imagery of sovereigns ruling during the “imperial”
period—Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli—represented with bows and arrows. In reality,
the only details that set them apart from their predecessors are reed thrones with backrests
(tepotzoicpalli) and their hairstyles.
14
Fig. 6: Genealogical presentation, Techotlalatzin wearing an animal hide cape with his family
sporting cotton garments, Códice Xolotl, fol. 5, detail (redrawn by Justyna Olko)
The special meaning of Chichimec roots in the Tetzcocan ideology is confirmed by
fols. 60-61 of the Primeros Memoriales, which betray Acolhua affiliations. According to
this text, a special noble rank was attributed to Acolhua Chichimecs: they were first to
come out from Chicomoztoc and are referred to as tecpil chichimeca, that is, noble
Chichimecs, belonging to a clearly superior group (Lesbre 2000:492-493). The message
of the Códice Xolotl is fully congruent with these ideas as well as with the special
emphasis the Tetzcocan historian Alva Ixtlilxochitl gives to the “Chichimec empire” of
the Acolhuaque and the concept of the royal title Chichimeca teuctli that was used by the
Tetzcocan dynasty. In the interpretation of Patrick Lesbre, this title expressed Acolhua
claims to political superiority within the Triple Alliance, as did the Chichimec story
contained in fols. 60-61 of the Primeros Memoriales (Lesbre 2000:493). Thus, the
historical affiliation with the Chichimecs seems to have been conceived as prestigious
enough, becoming an important component of identity for different indigenous groups. It
remained as such also in the colonial period as implied by numerous historical,
cartographic-historical and genealogical documents. On a general level, the prestige of
Chichimec roots among native groups from early colonial Central Mexico could have
been related to the fact that a separate arrival followed by the foundation of an own town
was an important factor in achieving or retaining independent altepetl status also in that
time (Schroeder 1991:123-124).
15
Significantly, the division between the “barbarous” (or Chichimec) and “civilized”
(Toltec) phase does not seem to have been understood as abrupt and definitive, despite the
widespread paradigm across modern scholarship.6 A good example is again the
genealogical part of the Mapa Tlotzin. After analyzing this document, scholars (e.g.
Boone, 2000:187) stress the division between the Chichimec phase and the legitimate
foundation of altepetl associated with the accession of Nezahualcoyotl, whose
attributes—including the cotton cape—make him the first independent tlatoani. However,
upon a closer inspection of the manuscript, it can be concluded that although animal hide
garments are worn by incoming Chichimecs and some of the founding couples, still a
considerable number of the “Chichimecs” sport white cotton clothes. The borderline
between the “savages” and the “civilized” is by no means well marked. White cotton
garments are already worn by the couple in the cave of Tzinacanoztoc, while in the cave
of Oztoticpac only the first seated couple—Tlotzin and his wife—wears what appear to be
animal hide clothes. All subsequent members of the Tetzcocan royal line depicted below,
including those preceding Nezahualcoyotl, are adorned with white cotton capes, shifts and
skirts. The same can be seen in the royal line of Huexotla (where even the wife of the
founder wears white garments) and Coatlinchan. Thus, unlike the Códice Xolotl, white
capes are used quite “naturally” by some of the earliest members of royal lines. It is
possible that mistaken readings of this manuscript result from the use of its drawing
published by Aubin in 1885 and not of color photos of the original published uniquely in
the Journal de la Société des Américanistes (vol. 84-2, 1998), even if their quality is
deficient. The edition of Aubin seems to have various discrepancies in respect to the
original. For example, Tetzcocan rulers from Tlotzin through Ixtlilxochitl sport animal
hide capes, although according to the photographic publication clearly wear white
garments all but Tlotzin.7 Accordingly, if compared with the imagery of the Códice
Xolotl, what we see is a certain ambiguity in the iconographic conventions associated
with the Chichimec identity as well as unfeasibility for matching them with a simple and
stereotyped scheme.
Several native genealogies perpetuate Chichimec roots as part of the indigenous
identity into late colonial times. The Genealogía de Pitzahua (read upward) revives the
6
A considerable overlapping of “Chichimec” and “Toltec” conventions is manifest in pictorial manuscripts.
As can be seen in the Primeros Memoriales or Códice Xolotl, Chichimec objects are represented as faithful
“historical” counterparts of prestigious elements used by the Aztec elite, having even the same design
though being made of other materials, considered appropriate for that epoch. Although the Códice Xolotl
clearly attaches prestigious associations to Chichimec dress, even here the two conventions were not
always strictly separated.
7
The cape of his successor Quinatzin looks more like the cloaks of subsequent rulers, but its color is darker in
the front which leaves open a possibility that we deal with something “intermediate”.
16
myth of the emergence from Chicomoztoc. The first members of the lineage wear feathered
ornaments that appear to be a simplified version of cozoyahualolli, and they carry
Chichimec weapons. Similarly, in the Genealogía de Tetlamaca y Tlametzin, men from the
earliest generations are depicted with bows, arrows, quivers and cozoyahualolli devices
combined with fans, courtly attributes of pre-Hispanic origin. Rulers in Chichimec apparel
figure not only in the first two generations but are present also in posterior rows. Thus, this
identity is understood as a persisting tradition, not limited to mythical founders.
Importantly, in much the same way as in early colonial genealogies, no change in costume
marks the passage from pre-Hispanic to colonial nobles.
Fig. 7: Genealogía de Pitzahua, fragment (Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico,
redrawn by Justyna Olko)
17
Fig. 8: Genealogía de Tetlamaca y Tlametzin, fragment (Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e
Historia, Mexico, redrawn by Justyna Olko)
***
Combining the evidence pointing to the probable pre-Hispanic genesis of
numerous features of indigenous pictorial genealogies and the analysis of their
iconographic conventions, supplemented by the data on Nahua ideas of inheritance and
succession, helps to provide new insights on this little studied genre. Summing up, what
some scholars see as a rapid adoption of the línea recta concept, should rather be seen as
an expression of the native notion of tlacamecayotl, and not—or at least not only—a mere
adjustment to Spanish ideas. Even when the latter left irrefutable impact on native art, in
much the same way as in other fields of cultural interaction, this complex adaptation was
grounded in transformations taking place mainly within “lines of confluence” between the
two worlds. Not surprisingly, continuing various elements of the pre-colonial tradition,
native genealogies were being successfully employed to communicate important
messages on the historical identity and strategies of the indigenous nobility in New Spain.
18
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22