The Historical Validity of the Codex Xolotl

Abstract

Abstract Parsons (1970) has attempted to prove that the first part of the Codex Xolotl (Dibble 1951, Planchas I-IV) is based on “folk tradition” rather than actual history. He notes that the codice's claim that the northern and eastern sectors of the Valley of Mexico were depopulated in the early thirteenth century A.D. is contradicted by the archaeological evidence. He believes that this fact, in itself, is sufficient to invalidate the entire text of this important pictographic manuscript. This paper summarizes historical evidence which confirms the general validity of the Codice’s references to persons, places, dates, and events; illustrates the kinds of errors and misrepresentations which characterize early Mesoamerican historical sources of this type; and suggests that the contradiction between historical and archaeological evidence, which is a central issue in Parsons’ “folk tradition” hypothesis, is more easily explained in terms of the political and ideological objectives of prehispanic historians, and by the conventions and standards of historical relevance which they employed in the composition of their narratives.

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