Between sombreros and diadems: a pictorial testament from colonial central Mexico

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the graphic choices in two sixteenth-century Nahua pictorials concerning the property distribution of don Miguel Damián after his death: Mexicain 34 and Ayer 1900. The uniqueness of these complementary documents has been unrecognized until now and helps us see the Central Mexican colonial testamentary tradition in a new light. The work on these documents so far has primarily focused on understanding their relationship to the Spanish will. But thinking about them also in relation to Aztec and colonial Nahua accounting documents can help us explain why testaments were so quickly and widely adopted by colonial Nahuas. The paper also shows how a careful visual analysis of these documents offers us a peek into the interstitial spaces generated by the conquest, spaces in which modes of recording, family structures, and expressive choices capture lived experiences in the process of radical cultural change between a Prehispanic past and a colonial reality.

KEYWORDS:

• graphic grammar; Nahua pictorials
• testaments
• accounting documents
• lived experience
• family structures
• personal attributes

Acknowledgements

Many people generously contributed to the development of this paper with moral and intellectual support. I owe special thanks to Santiago Mejia, who read many iterations of this work and encouraged me to publish it. Claudia Brittenham introduced me to this material and, like Dana Leibsohn and three anonymous reviewers, read drafts and offered invaluable feedback. When I first developed the paper, Ellen T. Baird gave me key bibliographical sources; Mallory Melton helped me identify plants in the documents; Tatiana Seijas pointed me to crucial archival sources; Xavier Puente assisted in the analysis of translated sixteenth-century Nahua testaments; Allison Caplan checked the Nahuatl usage in the document.

Notes

1 I use the term Aztec to characterize the Prehispanic cultural practices of Nahuatl-speaking peoples that were important markers of the imperial regime that dominated Mesoamerica from 1431 to 1521. This imperial regime resulted from the alliance of the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, the Acolhuaque of Tetzcoco, and the Tepanecs of Tlacopan, also known as the Triple Alliance. I use Nahua to characterize the colonial cultural practices of Nahuatl-speaking peoples of Central Mexico, practices that descended from Aztec culture. For instance, I refer to the Nahuatl-language hieroglyphic script that bloomed during the imperial regime as Aztec hieroglyphic writing and to the broader graphic system of communication used in conjunction with the script as Aztec pictography. I refer to the colonial documents that used Aztec pictography as Nahua colonial documents. For a definition of Aztec hieroglyphic writing and a broader discussion of the term Aztec, see Whittaker 2020, 6, 30–31.

2 In this document and another closely associated to it, Ayer MS 1900, Miguel Damián and his family members are always called don and doña. Indigenous men and women of noble lineage were commonly called with this Spanish title in the colonial period (Graubart 2015, 21; Rojas Rabiela et al. 1999a, 58).

3 For seminal discussion of these terms see Dean and Leibsohn 2003; Ortiz 1940; Pratt 1991.

4 Bhabha 1994, 53–56; Rutherford 1990.

5 Oudijk and Castañeda de la Paz (2006) suggest the documents were made at the same time. Reina Granados believes the Ayer MS 1900 was made before (Reina Granados 2020, 70). However, Ayer MS 1900 has a two-generation genealogy displaying the relationship between Miguel and his most significant heirs. This information, which must have been crucial to determining the rights of his heirs, can explain the need for drawing the Ayer manuscript, probably after Mexicain 34 was drafted.

6 The Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (hereafter BnF) has the document catalog as Mexicain 34. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b100862340/f1.item.r=mexicain%2034.

7 https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc1097228.

8 The manuscript associated with Miguel Damián at the Newberry Library is now part of the Edward Ayer Collection, where it is cataloged as Ayer MS 1900. https://i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991201518805867&context=L&vid=01CARLI_NBY:CARLI_NBY&lang=en&search_scope=MyInstitution&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=LibraryCatalog&query=any,contains,Ayer%20MS%201900&offset=0.

9 None of these documents have dates or signatures. In a 1975 publication, John B. Glass (1975) suggested they are from 1576, but it is not clear why he ascribed them that date. The notarial records found so far suggest that the documents belong to the last quarter of the sixteenth century. One Miguel Damián from the barrio de Santiago, described as an indio, served as witness in a notarial record from 1571 (AGN DF, Fondo Antiguo Siglo XVI, f. 220). There is also a record from 1567 that mentions the siblings Maria Xoxo and Francisco Damián transferring a piece of land in Alcuoca, part of the Azcapotzalco jurisdiction, that they inherited from their parents, Ana and Pedro Damián. The wife and siblings’ name coincides with our documents, but not the name of the father. However, this could be a mistake in the archive’s index or the notarial document (Catálogo de protocolos del Archivo General de Notarías de la Ciudad de México, vol. II, Procesos 1, f. 23r/v (185/186) (311r/v)). A third document, the 1566 Nahuatl testament of Ana Tiacapan, from Tepetenchi, Tlalnepantla barrio in Xochimilco, is signed by an Enrique or Miguel Damián, alcalde (the document appears transcribed and translated in Teresa Rojas Rabiela’s compendium of colonial Nahua testaments). In the transcription, the name appears as Enrique Damián, whereas in the translation the name appears as Miguel Damián (Rojas Rabiela et al. 1999b, 142). Lastly, Miguel Damián is mentioned again in a 1582 document (AGN, Vínculos, vol. 279, exp. 1, f. 77, as cited in Reina Granados 2020, 64). Thus, perhaps the documents are post-1582.

10 As Eustaquio Celestino Solís argues, the mention of chinampas, aquatic gardens for which Xochimilco is famed, is a good indication that they are from Xochimilco. Moreover, one of the plots has an alphabetic gloss and pictogram indicating the placename Acapulco, which Solís states is currently San Gregorio Atlapulco, located under the jurisdiction Xochimilco: ‘las imágenes de chinampas y su nombre en nauatl lo confirman; además ahí aparece en glosa y en nauatl el topónimo de Acapulco (hoy San Gregorio Atlapulco, delegación de Xochimilco)’ (Solís 2016). Ricardo Reina Granados suggests that Miguel Damián belonged to Olac, one of the three political divisions of Xochimilco (2020, 64).

11 There is ample bibliography on Indigenous-authored testaments: Pizzigoni 2007; S. L. Cline and León-Portilla 1984; Wood 1991; Kellogg and Restall 1998; Rojas Rabiela et al. 1999b; Christensen and Truitt 2015; Mendoza Posadas 2018.

12 Oudijk and Castañeda suggest that there might have been a Precolumbian oral tradition for disposing of inheritance goods, which seems to be attested in certain phrasing found in alphabetical testaments from the colonial period (2006, 112). S. L. Cline and Miguel León-Portilla mention that colonial evidence suggests there was diversity in patterns of inheritance in Prehispanic Central Mexico. They are also inclined to think that some kind of testamentary institution already existed. Such pre-existence would help explain why so many Indigenous people ‘far from showing resistance, made their testaments in their own language before notaries, accepting Spanish juridical forms’ (S. L. Cline and León-Portilla 1984, viii).

13 My discussion here draws from Oudijk and Castañeda’s analysis of Mexicain 34 (2006).

14 Nahuatl testaments from New Spain usually contain at least one mass request and a corresponding offering (S. L. Cline and León-Portilla 1984; Pizzigoni 2007, 14). In her analysis of twenty-four Nahuatl testaments from Huexotzinco, historian Erika Hosselkus found that all testators in this sample ‘requested at least one mass near the beginning of the testament, almost as if the notary, Esteban de Coto, included the provision without exception. They left between two and five pesos for each mass, with two to three pesos being standard.’ According to these prices for masses, the fifteen coins under Miguel’s bundle, which equate to fifteen pesos according to the alphabetic gloss, would have been an appropriate amount for at least three masses (Hosselkus 2015, 202).

15 The representation of the mummy bundle corresponds to representations of mummy bundles in other Nahua documents. Erika Hosselkus mentions two Nahuatl alphabetic testaments that state the desire of the testators to be wrapped just in a cloak and buried in a church. As stated in Hosselkus (2011, 45): ‘Ana Xiuhpetlacal of Huexotzinco asks to be wrapped just in a cloak and buried at her church [… also] Juana Castillanxochitl of Huexotzinco asks to be wrapped just in a cloak and buried at the church in Apetlac.’ The desire to be wrapped in a cloak might obey Nahua traditional ways of disposing the deceased’s body.

16 For examples of Nahua testaments that mention plot measurements; see Rojas Rabiela et al. 1999a; 1999b.

17 The gloss to the right of this last plot seems to read as ‘ollolticayan.’ This word could come from the verb ololotica and refer to the shrouding of the corpse. The -yan is a locative suffix that attaches to verbs. Therefore, this gloss might refer to the place where the shrouding takes place. I thank an anonymous reviewer for this observation. For the use of ‘ololoa’ in the funerary context, see https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ololoa.

18 Oudijk and Castañeda have tentatively suggested that the cluster of ten figures also evokes corn cobs (2006, 122). However, there are two strong indications that they represent maguey hearts. First, the plants above and connected to the rosette resemble maguey, not corn. Second, corncobs are usually depicted with cornsilk and/or a defined triangular tip at the top; both features are characteristic of real corncobs. The elements on the rosette lack any indication of cornsilk, and their tops are distinctly round (I thank Hellen Burgos-Ellis, Mallory Melton, and an anonymous reviewer for their help with this identification). For depictions of corncobs with cornsilk at the top, see Codex Borbonicus, 23, and Primeros Memoriales, f. 5v (Bernardino de Sahagún 2017; FAMSI - Bibliothèque du Palais Bourbon - Codex Borbonicus (Loubat 1899), n.d.).

19 The transcription comes from Solís, who translates it to Spanish as ‘dos años se hará ofrenda’ (2016). I thank Allison Caplan for the translation to English.

20 Another reason, not mentioned in the existing scholarship, to believe that this is a correct interpretation is the use of the expression ‘huentli mochihuaz.’ In a 1577 alphabetic testament from Xochimilco we find: ‘yn quauhtecomatl yhuan yn chalchihuitl yhuan xihuitl xelihuic monamacaz yn ipatiuh huentli mochihuaz yhuan ontetl nuehuetl teponaztli’ translated as: ‘el tecomate de palo y los chalchihuites, y también donde se asentaban los años, se ha de partir y se ha de vender y el valor de ello es para limosna; y dos teponastlis’ (Rojas Rabiela et al. 1999b, 212–13; see also https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xelihui).

21 In 1565, Franciscan friar Alonso de Molina published a testament prototype, presumably so that friars and their Native fiscales and tlacuiloque could make testaments for people as the epidemics were creating havoc (Molina 1975).

22 The close relationship in content between the Matrícula de Tributos and the second section of the Codex Mendoza has been analyzed by various scholars. Berdan noted that one of the most salient differences between the two documents is their reading order. While the Matrícula is designed to be read starting in the lower left and up the page, the Mendoza’s tribute pages are designed to be read, like European texts, starting in the upper left and continuing down the page, much like Mexicain 34 (Berdan and Anawalt 1992, 57).

23 Interestingly, these early taxation records indicate the totals tributed of each good but do not specify what each specific town under a particular jurisdiction is contributing.

24 The Códice de Tributos de Coyoacan is currently held at the Archivo de Simancas, Spain.

25 Currently, the Mapa Catastral de Tepoztlan is housed at Vienna’s Nationalbibliothek. The first person that appears depicted on the top right could be Diego de Mendoza Austria Moteuczoma. Thus, the document might be from the last third of the sixteenth century (Anonymous 16th cent.).

26 Codex Cozcatzin is currently at the BnF. Rafael Tena believes the document at the BnF is a transcription of an original made after 1572. The date of the original document is considered to be 1572 because on f. 10r it says: ‘Estos son ciento y treinta y tres años que aquel príncipe el señor Itzcoguatzin repartió las dichas tierras a los que conquistaron hesta ciudad de México, 1439’ (Códice Cozcatzin 1994, 24).

27 Very similar spatial information can be seen on f. 2v [290v] of Memorial de los Indios de Tepetlaoztoc or Codex Kingsborough (European paper, 72 folios, 29.8 × 21.5 cm, ca. 1555), currently held at the British Library. Like Codex Cozcatzin, this codex is related to a lawsuit.

28 The use of horizontal lines in the BnF and several accounting documents also evokes the spatial organization of pictorial catechisms, often called Testerian manuscripts. However, the relationship between these two manuscript genres is tenuous. Probably designed by mendicant friars working in New Spain with the intent of aiding Native evangelization, Testerians were more reflections of European ideas about Indigenous needs than useful tools for catechization. Moreover, most of the surviving Testerians date to the seventeenth up to the nineteenth century. Only two are from the sixteenth century (H. F. Cline 1964, 281; Hill Boone 1998, 155, 161–62).

29 Some information present in MS Mexicain 34 is missing in Ayer MS 1900. None of the movable property is listed in Ayer MS 1900. It also lacks the detailed plot measurements present in Mexicain 34. Also, two persons listed in Mexicain 34 do not appear in Ayer MS 1900. They both inherited the same property and have the smallest share of the estate. Because they do not appear in Ayer MS 1900, we do not know their relation to Miguel. Finally, in Ayer MS 1900 the properties in Acapolco do not state clearly that one of the lots belongs to Francisco Damián (Reina Granados 2020, 70). However, one of the markings on the third lot from left to right could mean ‘Francisco Damián.’

30 In the period, an illegitimate child was a child born outside of a legal and religiously sanctioned couple, usually a Catholic marriage.

31 According to Alonso de Molina, wives had rights over the property they brought into the marriage as dowry but not over the rest of the property. Wives are sometimes listed in Nahua testaments. However, the testaments do not specify whether the goods ascribed to them were from their dowry.

32 For examples of wills dictated by indigenous actors, see: Christensen and Truitt 2015; Kellogg and Restall 1998; Rojas Rabiela et al. 1999b; 1999a.

33 Some scholars think the red highlighting in colonial Indigenous genealogies denotes blood links.

34 To better understand inheritance patterns, I analyzed a group of 65 alphabetic testaments from Central Mexico written originally in Nahuatl from 1530 to 1600. Of the 65 testaments, 24 were drawn by female testators, 39 by male, and 2 by anonymous testators. Within the 39 testaments drawn by males, 16 show wives inheriting (less than half the total), and 32 show children of the testator inheriting (almost all of the testaments). Of all the 65 testaments, only 7 mention sisters inheriting (4 of these testaments were drawn by men, 3 by women). This corpus has no explicit allusion to second wives or illegitimate children. The testaments analyzed were transcribed and translated into Spanish by Teresa Rojas Rabiela (Rojas Rabiela et al. 1999a).

35 It should be noted that the alphabetic glosses on Ayer MS 1900 were made with a different ink than the rest of the document. Therefore, they might have been added later or by a different scribe. It should also be noted that given the average life expectancy in early colonial Mexico (age 45), it is unlikely that someone would have been married for 60 years; see McCaa 2000: https://users.pop.umn.edu/~rmccaa/mxpoprev/table3.htm.

36 It is worth noting that these glosses do not seem to have been added later but were done at the same time the glyphs were drafted. Moreover, the glosses were written by a Nahua. This is strongly suggested by the gloss ‘arga’ on the third and fourth line of Mexicain 34. ‘Arga’ is the Nahuatlized Spanish word for chest, ‘arca.’

37 I thank Allison Caplan for the translation.

38 For a thorough study of the glyphs in Mexicain 34, see: Amoxcalli Códices n.d.; Núñez Alonso n.d.

39 The transcription by Solis is ‘Gaspar Cihu[a]cuecuenotl.’ However, it is more likely that the name is Gaspar Cihu[a]cuecuenotl. The glyphic compound consists of a woman’s head and a bending band. The word for ‘woman’ is ‘cihuatl,’ contributing the first part of the name. The bending band alludes to ‘cuecuepa’ the reduplicative form of the verb ‘cuepa,’ which means to turn or twist. Moreover, the name Cihu[a]cuecuenotl appears in other records. The glyph for Tozten is composed of a parrot feather, ‘toztli,’ contributing ‘toz’ and a lip, ‘tentli,’ contributing ‘ten.’ For the transcription and the analysis of the glyphs, see: https://www.amoxcalli.org.mx/interiorTraduccion.php?id=034 and https://www.amoxcalli.org.mx/glifos.php?id_codice=034&id_lamina=034_1&id_zona=034_1_F&id_comp=034_1_F_01&id_glifo=034_1_F_01_01.02.11&idficha1=1667&act=con.

40 See entry for ‘Tecuhtli’ at https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecuhtli.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catalina Ospina Jiménez

Catalina Ospina Jiménez is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. She will join Yale’s Department of the History of Art as an assistant professor in 2024. Catalina obtained her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Chicago. She studies material culture of Prehispanic and colonial Latin America, with a focus on the Andean region. Her research examines the intersections between material culture and embodied practices, with a particular interest in understanding knowledge-making beyond alphabetic writing.