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En nominis patris et fili e cum Espiritu Santu cuam[?] amen[.] Ave Maria purissima gratia plena[.] Historia de la pazificazion de las tierras de los Indios Itzaes y la gananzia de el Tayasial y de todos los pueblos y ciudades de la alaguna en la sola
[Mexico?]: [s.n.], [1697-1698, i.e. between 1930 and 1968]
Physical Description: [2], 30, [4] p. ; 31 cm. (fol.)
Call number: Codex / Sp / 34
Accession number: 69-419
Notes: Ms. codex. Dated and signed on p. 30: .. de el dia de 14 de el mes de marzo de ese año q[u]e fue el de el 1697. Y acabe [...] igloria aq[u]i en la muy noble y muy heroica cibdad [...] Merida en el dia de 24. de el mes de agosto de este año q[u]e es el de el 1698[.] Ad maiorem [sic] gloriam Dei. Fray Joseph Antonio Maria de Roldan.
vManuscript written in single hand on watermarked European paper. This manuscript, acquired in 1968, has since proven to be a forgery. The provenance, which was not to be revealed until 20 years after acquisition in 1989, was given to be Salvador Ugarte, who was for many years the director of the Banco de comercio in Mexico City; however, it is a well documented fact that Salvador Ugarte's library was acquired by the Monterry Institute of Technology and Higher Education. The place of composition and the name of the forger are unknown, though it is possible that the manuscript was composed in Mexico.
The textual evidences of the forgery are numerous. In addition to the handwriting which is not consistent with other examples from the 17th century, there are numerical "catchwords" at the foot of each page, which is a practice not known to exist in any amanuensis' method. Moreover there are numerous Latin mistakes as in the title page "En nominis patris et fili e cum Espiritu Santu", a curious mixture of Latin and Spanish which any 17th century priest would not have done, as is the mispelling of "Ad maiorem [sic] gloriam Dei nostro" on the title page. Even the Spanish spelling of "que", here uniformly spelled "q[u]e" is not consistent with other authentic manuscripts of the time. In addition to non-standard 17th century composition and spelling practices, the manuscript is paginated, not foliated, as was custom for the time, and most contemporary manuscripts which are paginated have been done so by a modern hand. The name of the author cannot be located in standard reference sources.
The pictorial evidence of the forgery is also pronounced. The selection of Maya glyphs which include thirteen months of the year, the glyphs for the cardinal points of the compass, and seven glyphs for the planets of the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Venus occur in the same order as those on p. 23 of the Paris Codex, which was printed in Codices Mayas, in Guatemala by Villacorta and Villacorta in 1930. The Paris Codex consists of twenty-two screen-folded pages of hieroglyphs, painted figures, and calendrical calculations, which are reproduced in this volume. One section covers the calendrical cycles of katuns, tuns, and uinals, which Maya priests used to read history and predict the future. Other sections cover weather almanacs; the influence of God C, also known as k'u; the four yearbearers with their thirteen numbers; the Maya spirit entities, including sky gods and earth or death gods; and the Maya constellations. The Codices Mayas included the Paris Codex, the Dresden Codex, and the Madrid Codex. Along with these three codices, the Grolier Codex is the other know authentic pre-Columbian Mayan Codex which is extant. The main contention with the Maya glyphs for the months is that there are 18 months not 13 as are drawn in this manuscript.
For a comprehensive list of forged Mesoamerican manuscripts and where they are held, please see "A catalog of falsified middle American pictorial manuscripts" by John B. Glass in Handbook of middle American Indians, volume 14, Guide to ethnohistorical sources, part 3, Austin, Texas, 1975, p. 297-310.
Little is known of the Itza, a Maya people whose best known monument is the city of Chichen Itza in northern Yucatan. About 1450 they migrated south to central Guatemala where they remained independent until the Spanish conquered them in 1697.
Digital facsimile copy of book available.
Languages: Maya
Genre: Specimen
Region: Spanish America
