Innovación y tipologías

THE SOURCE

This was the title given by Joaquín García Icazbalceta (following the lead of one of its previous possessors) to an anonymous Spanish document, part of a manuscript volume known as Libro de oro y tesoro indico, that con- tains various unrelated pieces, all in script of the sixteenth century, includ- ing the Memoriales of Motolinía (Benson Latin American Collection, Uni- versity of Texas, Austin, JGI 31). José M. Andrade purchased it for García Icazbalceta in Spain in 1860/61, and, in 1891, the latter (Garciá Icazbalceta 1891: 228–262) published most of the individual documents in it, including that under consideration. Previously, he had published it elsewhere (Historia

de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas 1882), although in a slightly imperfect form.

A year later, an English translation was made by Henry Phillips, from this edition, and published under the misleading title “Notes Upon the Codex

Ramírez” (Phillips 1884). Paul Radin (1920) also translated the latter por-

tion into English.

There have been many speculations as to its authorship. The names of both Sahagún and Olmos have been suggested, the former with very little foundation, the latter with somewhat more cogency (see discussion in García Icazbalceta 1891: xxxix–xli). Lacking a title, it only contains a note, in a hand identical to that of the text, stating that it was copied from “la pintura” that was brought by “ramírez obispo de Cuenca presidente de la chancillería.” Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal, later Bishop of Cuenca, was the president of

CENTRAL MEXICO: NAHUATL 5 the Second Audiencia de Nueva España and apparently returned to Spain early in 1536, at which time he seems to have carried with him the original of which this document is a copy (probably post-1542, since Fuenleal did not become Bishop of Cuenca until that year). García Icazbalceta surmised that “la pintura” referred to a pictorial history that accompanied the written text. This is supported by the first sentence of that text, in which the compiler describes the sources upon which he is basing his account (Historia de los

Mexicanos por sus pinturas 1891: 228):

Por los carácteres y escrituras de que usan, y por relación de los que en tiempo de su infidelidad eran sacerdotes y papas, y por dicho de los señores y principales a quién se enseñaba la ley y criaban en los templos para que la deprendiesen, juntados ante mi y traídos sus libros y figuras que según lo que demostaban eran antiguas, y muchas dellas teñidas, la mayor parte untadas con sangre humana.

As to date, the year count of the principal narrative ends abruptly in 1529, but a reference to the native governor of Mexico Tenochtitlan, Don Pablo Xochiquen, who seems not to have taken office until 1531 (or 1532, according to other sources), makes it probable that this was the actual date of completion. A terminus ante quem seems to be provided by the date of Ramírez de Fuenleal’s departure for Spain, 1536. In any case, the pictorial history upon which the principal narrative was clearly based was undoubt- edly pre-Hispanic, with the year count being continued after the Conquest to the year 1529.

With the possible exception of the next source to be considered, this is the earliest version of the Basic Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl of Tollan Tale that has been preserved. This early date, plus the unquestionably authentic in- digenous flavor of the account as a whole, lends it a special importance. THE TOPILTZIN QUETZALCOATL MATERIAL

As is true of others in this group, Quetzalcoatl appears in this source in two entirely different guises—first, under that name, as one of the first gods, who participates actively in the creation of the earth and man, and second, much later, under a different name, as a great ruler of the Toltecs. This account makes unusually clear, then, the basic distinction between Ehecatl Quetzalcoatl (EQ) and Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl. In line with the primary focus of this study, it is only the material relating to the latter figure that will be considered here.

The relevant narrative begins after the creation of the sun in the year 13 Acatl (Reed) with a series of adventures involving the god Camaxtli/Mixcoatl, who creates four men and one woman, together with four hundred Chichi- meca, with the object of setting them against each other to provide the new sun with his sustenance, human hearts and blood. This is finally accomplished,

TOPILTZIN QUETZALCOATL 6

the former annihilating the latter, with the exception of three individuals: Xiuhnel, Mimich, and Camaxtli/Mixcoatl, the god himself who has meta- morphosed into a Chichimec. Camaxtli/Mixcoatl now pursues a warlike ter- restrial career, undertaking a series of conquests with the aid of a kind of sacred fetish or standard, a two-headed deer, that had fallen from heaven— and which was taken by the inhabitants of Cuitlahuac for a god. Finally, in the year 1 Acatl, Camaxtli/Mixcoatl is defeated and his potent deer charm taken from him by his Chichimec enemies. The text is not completely clear at this point, but his loss and defeat seem to have been caused in some way by the fact that he had encountered “en el campo” a woman (unnamed), descended from five who had been created by Tezcatlipoca at the time the gods first wished to create war. This woman bore him a son, Ce Acatl (1 Reed).

Camaxtli/Mixcoatl disappears from the narrative at this point, which now focuses on the career of his son. Ce Acatl, after achieving young man- hood, performs seven years of penance alone in the mountains, offering his blood to the gods while seeking their aid in making him a great warrior. He then begins a martial career and becomes the first ruler of Tollan, whose inhabitants select him “por ser valiente.” The date is ambiguous. The text states that he began to make war “en el treceno sexto después del diluvio” (beginning 1 Acatl, his apparent birth year), but this may be a mistake for “septo,” for it is clear that he was adult at this time. In any case, Ce Acatl rules Tollan until “el segundo año del noveno trece,” which would be 2 Acatl, forty-two years after his birth. Four years before this, he had constructed a great temple in Tollan. While engaged in this project, Tezcatlipoca had come to him and informed him that in the direction of Honduras, in a place that “hoy día” was called “Tlapalla,” a house was prepared for him. There he was to go to die, abandoning Tollan, where he was now held to be a god. Ce Acatl responded that the heavens and the stars had told him that he must go within four years. At the end of that time, Ce Acatl left Tollan, taking with him all of the macehuales (common people). On his journey, he left some in Cholollan, from whom were descended its later inhabitants, others in Cozcatlan, and others in Cempohuallan. Arriving at Tlapallan, the same day he fell sick, and the next day he died. Then Tollan was depopulated and without a ruler for nine years (Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas 1891: 236–238).

The narrative next switches abruptly to the migration of the ancestors of the Mexica from Aztlan. The further history of the Toltecs is completely omitted in this otherwise reasonably full account, although the last sentence implies that after nine years a new ruler was chosen, who continued the dynasty. Tollan reappears briefly in a later connection with the Mexica mi- gration, when we find it “poblado de los naturales de la tierra, que eran

CENTRAL MEXICO: NAHUATL 7 Chichimecas.” The Mexica erect their usual temple to Huitzilopochtli there, following which the god appears to the natives “en figura de negro” and is later heard crying under the earth. When they asked why the god of the Mexica was crying, it replied: because all those of Tollan had to die. Four years later, an old woman, native of Tollan, went about handing out paper banners to each inhabitant, warning them to be prepared, since they had to die. Following this, the entire population is sacrificed by the Mexica, who become lords of Tollan, soon after continuing their migration (Historia de los

Mexicanos por sus pinturas 1891: 242).

SUMMARY

This obviously quite sketchy narrative can be summarized as follows: (1) Ce Acatl is born, apparently in the year 1 Acatl, to Camaxtli/Mixcoatl, a god transformed into an earthly “Chichimec” and an unnamed woman en- countered by him during his conquests, a relative of Tezcatlipoca descended from a group of five women created by this god, along with four hundred men, to wage war to provide the sun with sustenance; (2) his father meets his downfall at this time, somehow connected with his encounter with Ce Acatl’s mother; (3) Ce Acatl, coming of age, performs penance for seven years to become a great warrior; (4) he begins to make war and is taken by the people of Tollan for their first ruler; (5) he rules, apparently peacefully, in Tollan until, in his thirty-eighth year, Tezcatlipoca comes to him as he is constructing a great temple and informs him that a kind of “rest home” is awaiting him in Tlapallan, toward Honduras, where he is to die; (6) replying that the heavens and stars have told him that he must leave within four years, at the end of that period, in his forty-second year (2 Acatl), he departs with all of the common people of Tollan; (7) on his journey, he leaves part of his band in Cholollan, some in Cozcatlan, and some in Cempohuallan, from which the inhabitants of those centers, all important at the time of the Conquest, were descended; (8) he arrives in Tlapallan, falls sick, and the next day dies; (9) back in Tollan, this center was depopulated and without a ruler for nine years; (10) somewhat later (seventy-eight years, to be exact, in the continuous year count of the chronicle, in 2 Calli), the migrating Mexica reach Tollan, now inhabited by “Chichimeca,” sacrifice all of its population, and become its lords, soon after continuing their wanderings.

COMMENT

This terse account is basically straightforward and presents no particu- larly difficult problems. Its extreme brevity, however, is frustrating. The Span- ish compiler obviously recorded (or, perhaps, was only told) just the barest bones of the full tale. Certain important incidents are related so sketchily as to be almost meaningless, above all, Ce Acatl’s encounter with Tezcatlipoca, which, as we shall see, in some other accounts is narrated with a colorful

TOPILTZIN QUETZALCOATL 8

wealth of detail. Fortunately, this cryptic skeletal framework can be fleshed out with material from the more complete versions of the tale considered below.

It is interesting that no linkage is made between the god Quetzalcoatl, who appears extensively in the opening cosmogonical portion of the work, and the first ruler of Tollan, who bears only the calendric name Ce Acatl. Except that he is the son of a transformed god and a woman related to a god and descended from a group created under special circumstances, he is essen- tially a human figure. His adoration as a god by his people of Tollan does not deprive him of his fundamentally mundane role.

Again, as possibly the earliest extant version of the Basic Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl of Tollan Tale, this account, however truncated, is of special importance. This is particularly true in view of the likelihood that the Historia

de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas constituted an excellent example of an “offi-

cial” Mexica history of the world, from earliest times to 1531. The loss of the pictorial history from which this Spanish digest was derived is one of the keenest that the vicissitudes of fortune have inflicted on ancient Mexican studies. We should be grateful, however, that this abbreviated verbal deriva- tive fortuitously survived to provide us with one of the most authentic ac- counts of Mexica history—in which the Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl of Tollan Tale was significantly incorporated.