Codex Chimalpahin

I have recently "discovered" this document, the Codex Chimalpahin. The author was apparently not part of the indigenous artistocracy. This was written in the early 1600s, some portions possibly earlier; some is original, and some from other sources. It was originally written in Nahuatl and Spanish, and presents some very important information of interest to many Nuestros Ranchos members.

The codex was acquired by the archive of the Bible Society in England in the early 1800s, and was re-discovered in the late 1980s, and its importance realized, when the archive was being move to Cambridge University.

The codex has been transcribed and translated into English. This was published as two volumes in 1997, and is well indexed. These volumes can be found in major university libraries.

The two sections of primary interest are the descendants of Moctezuma and the descendants of the Valderama de Moctezuma and Sotelo de Moctezuma families.

The first part identifies 19 children of Moctezuma (a few only by sex only: daughters with unknown names), with their mothers in some cases. Most of the information is pretty sketchy, but their is more detail on Pedro, Leonore, and Isabel (using these names). Some interesting points:

Pedro de Moctezuma's son Martin had a daughter named Inez, who "just disappeared" according to the codex. From other sources: many of Pedro's descendants became Spanish nobility. I have not seen mention of her in articles/books about the various lawsuits in the early years after the conquest: did she die without heirs? As one of Moctezuma's descendants, she should have been quite "marriageable."

Leonore de Moctezuma's section named her husband Cristobal de Valderrama, their daughter Leonore, and her (the daughter Lenore) marriage with Diego Sotelo. Their children (Ana and Hernando Sotelo de Moctezuma) are called quadroons. Hernando [or Fernando from other records] it says had several children: five that are commonly seen in the published genealogies, and five more who are unnamed!! This is most interesting.

The section on Valderrama de Moctezuma / Sotelo de Moctezuma repeats this information, with some additions: It says the five children (still names unknown) are living with their father in Michhuacan. [Is "Michhuacan" Michoacan?] It says that these five children are all Spaniards because their mother was a Spaniard and their father was a quadroon. This was written in 1619.

This is interesting information about Diego Sotelo that I have not seen before.

A very interesting "omission" is that Petronilla de Moctezuma and Martin Navarro are not named at all in the Codex that I have found (I will admit that my reading of it is not complete). At this time, the two women assumed to be their daughters would have been in positions of significant social status in Aguascalientes.

More on this will follow in a later posting.

George Fulton