Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
A NOTE
ON THE POSITION AND EXTENT
OF THE
GREAT TEMPLE ENCLOSURE OF TENOCHTITLAN,
AND THE POSITION, STRUCTURE AND ORIENTATION
OF THE
TEOCOLLI OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.
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 GreatTemple Enclosure of Tenochtitlan and its surroundings are printed at the endof this note, and the following particulars concerning the authors will enable thereader to form some judgment of the comparative value of their evidence.
The Anonymous Conqueror.—The identity of this writer is unknown. That he wasa companion of Cortés during the Conquest is undoubted. His account is confined tothe dress, arms, customs, buildings, &c. of the Mexicans. The original document hasnever been found, and what we now possess was recovered from an Italian translation.
Motolinia.—Fray Toribio de Benavento, a Franciscan monk, known best by hisassumed name of Motolinia, left Spain in January 1524 and arrived in the City ofMexico in the month of June of the same year. From that date until his death inAugust 1569 he lived an active missionary life among the Indians in many parts ofMexico and Guatemala.
He was in fullest sympathy with the Indians, and used his utmost efforts to defendthem 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 Cityat that date, and must have been familiar with what remained of the ancient City.
2Sahagun, Fr. Bernadino de, was born at Sahagun in Northern Spain about the lastyear of the 15th Century. He was educated at the University of Salamanca, andbecame 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 theMexicans as did Padre Sahagun throughout his long life. His writings, both inSpanish, Nahua, and Latin, were numerous and of the greatest value. Some of themhave been published and are well known, but it is with the keenest interest and withthe anticipation of enlightenment on many obscure questions that all engaged in thestudy of ancient America look forward to the publication of a complete edition of hisgreat work, ‘Historia de las Cosas de Nueva España,’ with facsimiles of all theoriginal coloured illustrations