Castilteca (LTlaxUT1b)
This iconographic example is included here for possible comparisons with Nahuatl hieroglyphs. It shows a group of Spaniards (presuming they were called Caxtilteca by the Nahuas, as there is no gloss) who were allied with the Nahua warriors from Tlaxcala to march against Tenochtitlan. They are six men shown in a ¾ view with their heads in profile, and they are all facing right but one. Two are pointing to the right, apparently very interested in their destination. While all but one carry lances, they are not dressed in armor. They wear belted tunics and capes of various colors. They all have hats, but no two hats are shaped alike, and they come in different colors, too. One has knee socks and a type of pants that come down to just above the knee. They all wear shoes, and all are bearded. The men’s horses have red collars with large bells attached. The bells might be made of gold.
Stephanie Wood
A Quick Search through this collection for the word “Spaniard” will sometimes bring up images of men in armor or in battle, although the “conquistador” theme is more prevalent in later Nahua memories that look back upon this time of “conquest.” Lienzos and primordial titles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries recall the invasion and seizure of power by the Spanish invaders in a different light than we see here. Even so, it is important to remember that the Tlaxcallan authors of this manuscript had taken the Spanish as allies, and they were on an expedition here.
Stephanie Wood
1540s
Jeff Haskett-Wood
Tlaxcala, Tlaxcalteca, español, lanza, lanzas, alianza, conquista, castellano, castellanos, caxtiltecatl, invasores, colonizadores, imperialismo, campanillas, metales, mapilhuia
Caxtilteca, Spaniards, people from Castile, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/caxtilteca
gente de Castilla, españoles
Stephanie Wood
Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/catalog/utblac:3c754fd0-b27f-4af7-9cf...
The Benson Library has kindly provided the digital images and permission to put them into our Mapas Project in 2015. Use and reproduction from this project: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/, but please also cite the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood, (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Projects, ©2020-present). Version 1.0.
