tlequiquiztli (FCbk12f8v-9r)

tlequiquiztli (FCbk12f8v-9r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of a Spaniard firing a lombard gun (tlequituiztli) aboard a ship, is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a Spaniard in profile, facing the viewer’s right. He holds his weapon, what Lockhart has translated as a “lombard gun,” horizontally. Flames and smoke shoot out from it. Below the gun, Nahua messengers, who met the ship and came aboard with gifts, have fainted or swooned from the intimidating show of fire power.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This is the first example of a Spaniard shooting a firearm in this digital collection (as of February 2026).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

…tlequiquiztli…

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)
Date of Manuscript: 

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke
Marine, Maritime, Lacustrine
Race, Ethnicity, Identity, Othering
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
shading and parallel line hatching
three-dimensionality
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

rifle, rifles, firearm, firearms, arma de fuego, armas, weapons, funs, canons, navío, navíos, barco, barcos

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

tlequiquiz(tli), a rifle, firearm, or lombard gun, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlequiquiztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

un cañón lombardo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 12: Conquest of Mexico", fol. 8v-9r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/12/folio/8v-9r/images/0 Accessed 7 February 2026.

Image Source, Rights: 

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: