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The problem of the Codex Mendoza’s itinerary in the construction of its history

Among Mexican manuscripts, the Codex Mendoza has received the most attention over the last four centuries, having been reproduced and studied continuously from 1625 until the present day. However, regardless of the multiple theories on how the codex’s history began, this continues to be a matter for debate. The best known and most widely accepted hypothesis avers that, after the manuscript departed from New Spain, it was stolen by French pirates as it crossed the Atlantic and taken to France, where Thevet procured it in 1553. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Thevet signed and dated the manuscript on its upper sleeve as well as in folios 1r, 2r, 70v, and 71v. A parallel hypothesis, advanced by Nicholson in 1992, but which he subsequently discarded inasmuch he did not pursue it further, suggests that the manuscript might have reached Thevet by way of Queen Elizabeth de Valois (1545-1568), third wife of King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) and daughter of King Henry II of France (1519-1559). Both hypotheses are problematic, for they impose the burden of great speculation even by the standards of the most lenient of historians.