Sahagún’s preparation for the creation of the Florentine Codex began shortly after his arrival in 1529 to New Spain, an area that included modern-day Mexico, Central America, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Philippines, Florida, and most of the southwestern United States. Luis de Riaño and indigenous collaborators, Church of São Francisco de Assis, Ouro Preto, Mestre Valentim, Passeio Publico, Rio de Janeiro, Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos of Congonhas do Campo, 1757-1872, Independence from Spanish rule in South America, Early Scientific Exploration in Latin America, Mundurukú Headdress: a glimpse of life in the Amazon rainforest, Kayapó Headdress: a glimpse of life in the Amazon rainforest, https://smarthistory.org/bernardino-de-sahagun-and-collaborators-florentine-codex/. We believe art has the power to transform lives and to build understanding across cultures. A whole series of native sources for the study of Mexican pre-conquest history is now at hand for a field of historical study formerly restricted to a small number of investigators. Cite this page as: Erika Nelson, "Bernardino de Sahagún and collaborators, Featured | Art that brings U.S. history to life, At-Risk Cultural Heritage Education Series. [The Codex is] an impressive monument to Spanish humanism in the sixteenth-century New World.”—The Hispanic American Historical Review, “Sahagún emerges as the indisputable founder of ethnographic science. For their work on the Florentine Codex, both Dibble and Anderson received the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor of the Mexican government; from the King of Spain the received the Order of Isabella the Catholic (Orden de Isabel la Católica) and the title of Commander (Comendador). Authors Dibble and Anderson dig into Sahagun’s past in “Sahagun’s Historia” and “Sahagun: Career and Character,” and discuss dating the Codex in “The Watermarks in the Florentine Codex.” This volume also includes indices of subject matter, persons and deities, and places for all twelve books. Two of the world’s leading scholars of the Aztec language and culture have translated Sahagún’s monumental and encyclopedic study of native life in Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest. He was a curator of history and director of publications at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe and taught at a number of institutions, including San Diego State University, from which he retired. A whole chapter of the cultural history of early Colonial Mexico is unfolding before us. The Florentine Codex is divided by subject area into twelve books and includes over 2,000 illustrations drawn by Nahua artists in the sixteenth century.This introduction to the Florentine Codex contains the original prologues to each volume written by Bernadino de Sahagun, which detail his intentions and personal experiences in compiling the Codex. We created Smarthistory to provide students around the world with the highest-quality educational resources for art and cultural heritage—for free. The complete series of volumes is a landmark of scholarly achievement.”—The New Mexican, “This publication of Sahagún makes available to scholars and their students alike the original Nahuatl text for comparison with the more easily accessible Spanish text, which is in many places merely an abridgment or précis of the original. We believe that the brilliant histories of art belong to everyone, no matter their background. A viceroy (like a governor) ruled New Spain on behalf of the King of Spain. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees from the Universidad Nacional Autónomo de México and taught at the University of Utah from 1939-1978, where he became a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. List of IllustrationsPrefacio by Miguel León-PortillaIntroductions by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. DibbleVariations of a Sahaguntine Theme by Arthur J. O. AndersonSahagún's Historia by Charles E. DibbleThe Watermarks in the Florentine Codex by Charles E. DibbleSahagún: Career and Character by Arthur J. O. AndersonSahagun's Prologues and Interpolations(translated from the Spanish by Charles E. Dibble):Book I: The Gods• Prologue• To the Sincere ReaderBook II: The Ceremonies• Prologue• To the Sincere Reader• Exclamation of the Author• Comment on the Sacred SongsBook III: The Origin of the Gods• PrologueBook IV: The Soothsayers• Prologue• To the Sincere ReaderBook V: The Omens• Prologue• Appendix PrologueBook VI: Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy• PrologueBook VII: The Sun, Moon, and Stars, and the Binding of the Years• Prologue• To the ReaderBook VIII: Kings and Lords• PrologueBook IX: The Merchants• PrologueBook X: The People• Prologue• Author's Account Worthy of Being NotedBook XI: Earthly Things• Prologue • To the Sincere Reader• Note• Note Also• Eighth Paragraph• MaizeBook XII: The Conquest• To the ReaderIndices compiled by Arthur J. O. AndersonSubject MatterPersons and DeitiesPlacesBibliography, “Highly recommended for all academic and large public libraries.”—Choice, “A great scholarly enterprise.”—New Mexico Historical Review, “Bringing the knowledge of modern scholarship to bear on their materials, the translators have been able to illuminate many obscurities in the text. This introduction to the Florentine Codex contains the original prologues to each volume written by Bernadino de Sahagun, which detail his intentions and personal experiences in compiling the Codex. The accomplishments of the joint translators, Dibble and Anderson, will surely rank among the greatest achievements of American ethnohistorical scholarship.”—Natural History, The University of Utah Press J. Willard Marriott Library 295 South 1500 East, Suite 5400 Salt Lake City, UT 84112. Arthur J. O. Anderson (1907-1996) was an anthropologist specializing in Aztec culture and language. He received his MA from Claremont College and his PhD in anthropology from the University of Southern California. Florentine Codex work by de Sahagun Aztec farmers (left) planting and (right) cultivating corn with the assistance of a wooden digging tool; illustrations from the Florentine Codex, a version, in Nahuatl, of the Historia general de las cosas de Nueva Espana by Bernardino de Sahagun, 16th c The Florentine Codex is divided by subject area into twelve books and includes over 2,000 illustrations drawn by Nahua artists in the sixteenth century. This immense undertaking is the first complete translation into any language of Sahagún’s Nahuatl text, and represents one of the most distinguished contributions in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, and linguistics.Written between 1540 and 1585, the Florentine Codex (so named because the manuscript has been part of the Laurentian Library’s collections since at least 1791) is the most authoritative statement we have of the Aztecs’ lifeways and traditionsa rich and intimate yet panoramic view of a doomed people. Charles E. Dibble (1909-2002) was an anthropologist, linguist, and scholar specializing in Mesoamerican cultures. Help Smarthistory continue to make a difference, Help make art history relevant and engaging, Defining “Pre-Columbian” and “Mesoamerica”, Introduction to the Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas, About geography and chronological periods in Native American art, Fort Ancient Culture: Great Serpent Mound, Mississippian shell neck ornament (gorget), Olmec mask at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Mesoamerican ballgame and a Classic Veracruz yoke, Yaxchilán—Lintels 24 and 25 from Structure 23 and structures 33 and 40, The Templo Mayor and the Coyolxauhqui Stone, Remembering the Toxcatl Massacre: The Beginning of the End of Aztec Supremacy, Mirror Pendant in the Form of a Bat-Human From Grave 5, Sitio Conte, Global trade and an 18th-century Anishinaabe outfit, Juana Basilia Sitmelelene, Presentation Basket (Chumash), Puebloan: Maria Martinez, Black-on-black ceramic vessel, Contemporary Native American Architecture, Prints and Printmakers in Colonial New Spain, Hispaniola’s early colonial art, an introduction, Classical Architecture in Viceregal Mexico, Mission churches as theaters of conversion in New Spain, The Convento of San Nicolás de Tolentino, Actopan, Hidalgo, Murals from New Spain, San Agustín de Acolman, A Renaissance miniature in wood and feathers, Mission Church, San Esteban del Rey, Acoma Pueblo, Biombo with the Conquest of Mexico and View of Mexico City, Francisco Clapera, set of sixteen casta paintings, Inventing “America,” The Engravings of Theodore de Bry, Portraits of John and Elizabeth Freake (and their baby), Gerardus Duyckinck I (attributed), Six portraits of the Levy-Franks family, c. 1735, Ostentatious plainness: Copley's portrait of the Mifflins, Thomas Hovenden, The Last Moments of John Brown, The end of an era: Remington's The Fall of the Cowboy, Inventing America, Colt's Experimental Pocket Pistol, Seneca Village: the lost history of African Americans in New York, Cultures and slavery in the American south: a Face Jug from Edgefield county, Carleton Watkins, Eagle Creek, Columbia River, William Howard (attributed), Writing desk, The light of democracy — examining the Statue of Liberty, Carrère & Hastings, The New York Public Library, Herter Brothers, Mark Hopkins House Side Chair, Robert Mills and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lincoln Casey, Washington Monument, Complexity and vision: the Staff God at Chavín de Huántar and beyond, Nasca Art: Sacred Linearity and Bold Designs, Semi-subterranean Court at the site of Tiwanaku, Inka ushnus: landscape, site and symbol in the Andes, Portrait Painting in the Viceroyalty of Peru, Introduction to religious art and architecture in early colonial Peru, Early Viceregal Architecture and Art in Colombia, The Church of San Pedro Apóstol de Andahuaylillas. An interconnected world is not as recent as we think. . During his first years in New Spain, Sahagún prepared for the creation of t…