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On one hand, by naming the manuscript after Mendoza, Clavijero took a manuscript whose importance was indisputable but whose patronage and authorship had remained anonymous, and linked it with one of the major figures in Mexican history. That figure was the first viceroy of New Spain, whose reputation as a statesman, benefactor, and maker of the viceroyalty were widely known (Matienzo [1567] 1967, 207; Alcalá [1540] 1980, 5–6; Tovar de Teresa, León-Portilla, and Zavala 1992).16 Likewise, the concept of collection (“raccolta” in the original Italian) made Mendoza’s role an active one. He was not a mere patron or benefactor of someone else’s work; instead, he had personally collected the object that bore his name. The specific form that this gesture took as part of Clavijero’s bibliography establishes an axis around this decision which betrays an unspoken purpose in the construction of his narrative. In this narrative, the Codex Mendoza is presented as the turning point between pre-Columbian histories and written sources and, as a consequence, between pre-Columbian and Modern Mexico. As such, the Codex Mendoza became a foundational document.