Codex Bodley, c. 1501-1550 (drawing)

Codex Bodley / Codex Ñuu Tnoo', c. first half 16th century. MS. Mex. d.1, p. 7. Obverse. Book I. Starting at bottom (following from p. 6). Band i (left to right). On the day 10 Flower of the year 13 House, three priests of the supreme council of Ñuu Tnoo visited Lord 5 Alligator, seated with his parents behind him. They asked his parents’ permission to take the boy to priestly duties in the temple, putting before him the sacrificial knife, together with tobacco and blankets. Day 10 Flower was the name-day of the prince of Ñuu Tnoo, who, born in the year 6 Flint (992), was now thirty-three years old. We suspect that this date is mentioned here because it was chosen for Lord 10 Flower’s accession to the throne of Ñuu Tnoo (his father, Lord 9 Wind ‘Stone Skull’, would by 1025 be aged eighty-three, and would probably be dead). The first priest was named ‘Smoke’; [the last one was the Keeper of the Sacred Arrow. First, young Lord 5 Alligator went to Mountain of Plants and Flowers to offer a tunic as tribute to Lord 7 Movement, a Rain Spirit. After that, Lord 5 Alligator went to the River of the Serpent (Yute Coo), the ancestral place of the ruling dynasty of Ñuu Tnoo, where he offered another tunic. Band ii (right to left). Continuing his journey, he was welcomed and ceremonially saluted by two priests: Lord 10 Flower ‘Stone Man, born from the Earth’ and Lord 7 Reed ‘White Star’, who offered him fire and blew the ceremonial conch. Lord 10 Flower was probably the ruler of Ñuu Tnoo at that time. Then, still on the day 7 Movement of the year 13 House (1025), Lord 5 Alligator burnt incense for the Sacred Bundle in the Temple of Heaven, the ceremonial centre of Ñuu Tnoo.] He became a priest there, and in following years passed through the successive ranks of priesthood symbolised by different tunics and sacrificial knives that he received, the first in the year 6 Reed (1031), the second in the year 10 Reed (1035), the third in the year 1 Reed (1039). The ritual day to enter a new period of four year’s service was, logically 1 Alligator, the beginning of the count of 260 days. After a first period of six years (probably composed of two ‘preparatory’ years and a regular rank period of four years) and then three successive rank periods of four years each, i.e. after a total of eighteen years in the Temple of Heaven, lord 5 Alligator had reached the highest level of priesthood. Band iii (left to right). The elderly Smoke priest sent a younger priest to him with a garland of flowers, indicating that he could leave the priesthood and marry. By then Lord 5 Alligator ‘Rain-Sun’ had become an extremely important figure with great charisma and political power. In the year 5 Reed (1043), on the day 7 Eagle, a sacred day for the Ñuu Tnoo dynasty, Lord 5 Alligator had his first wedding. Later he would marry a second time. Comparing Codex Bodley with other manuscripts, this codex seeCodex Bodley / Codex Ñuu Tnoo', c. first half 16th century. MS to have inverted the sequence of the two wives. Here the first wife is Lady 11 Water ‘Blue Parrot’. [She had been married before to Lord 3 Wind ‘Jaguar Warrior, Bird with Fish Tail’, who came from Town of Stones, and was the son of Lady 10 House ‘Garment of Stone’ (Virtue of Town of Stones). With this man she had a son: Lord 8 Flower ‘Flint-Hair’. Several children were born from the first marriage of Lord 5 Alligator: 10 In the year 7 House (1045) Lord 12 Movement ‘Blood Jaguar’, who was to become Keeper of the Sacred War Arrow. Band iv (right to left). 2) In the year 9 Reed (1047; date given on band iii, far right), Lady 6 Lizard ‘Jewel Fan’, who later married Lord 11 Wind from the Town of the Red and White Bundle’. 3) In the year 10 Flint (1048) Lord 9 Movement ‘Hummingbird’. 4) In the year 10 House (1061) Lord 3 Water ‘Heron’.] The latter two would be slain in the year 9 Rabbit (1086), on the day 8 Death, in a place called Town of the Quetzal, probably Ñuu Ndodzo (today known as Huitzo), at the entrance of the Valley of Oaxaca (date and place on p. 8). In the year 10 House (1061) on the day 6 Deer, Lord 5 Alligator ‘Rain-Sun’ married for the second time. The name of his wife is given as Lady 9 Eagle ‘Cacao Flower’. She was the daughter of Lord 8 Rain ‘War Eagle’ and Lady 12 Flint ‘Quetzal Feathers’, rulers of Island of Stone. Band v (left to right). The following children were born from the second marriage (in fact, they were the children of Lady 11 Water): 1) Lord 8 Deer ‘Jaguar Claw’, born in the year 12 Reed (1063). His birth was marked by several symbolic occurrences, which announced his later importance. The first omen is represented as a long plumed grass. Perhaps this indicates simply that the grasses were extraordinarily high that season, or that there was a drought. But the grass is also a symbol of poverty and oblivion, and may indicate Lord 8 Deer’s low birth. On the other hand, these grasses are used in sacrifices, and so might prophesy ritual bloodshed. The same symbol occurs in Codex Tonindeye (Nuttall) as the hieroglyph of the place where Lord 8 Deer starts his huge campaign of conquests. The second omen is represented as the head of the Rain God from which coloured dots emanate, perhaps suggesting an unexpectedly long period (20 days?) of heavy rain, an appropriate sign for the birth of someone whose actions would affect the whole of Ñuu Dzaui, the People of the Rain, i.e. the Mixtecs. The third sign was an eagle, which could be an augury of bravery in war, but could also be understood as a warning that an eagle might snatch away the good luck. 2) The younger brother of Lord 8 Deer was Lord 9 Flower ‘Sacred Arrow’, born in the year 3 Reed (1067). 3) Their sister, Lady 9 Monkey ‘Jewel Quetzal’, was born in the year 13 Flint (1064). [She married Lord 8 Alligator ‘Blood Coyote’, ruler of the great Death Town, i.e. Ñuu Ndaya. 4) A last child, Lady 12 Grass ‘Hand with Jewel and Fur’, was born in the year 4 House (1081), and married Lord 3 Reed, a visionary priest from Mountain of the Insect, possibly the slope Tiyuqh of Monte Albán. On the day 9 Dog of the Year 5 Rabbit (1082), the great High Priest, Lord 5 Alligator, died. The passing away of this spiritual and political leader must have had a great impact in the region. His ambitious son, Lord 8 Deer, had anticipated it by making hiCodex Bodley / Codex Ñuu Tnoo', c. first half 16th century. MSelf a name through military conquests and ritual celebrations.]