Indian Languages Database
Record Details
Colloquio yn quenin oquimaxili yn tlaçomahuiz quauhnepanolli Sancta Cruz intlacemicnopilhuiani S[anta]. Elena. Oquimo tecpanicuilhuili b[achille]r. D[on]. Manuel de los Sanctos y Salazar cura beneficiado y cahinco su Magestad vic[ar]io. y juez ecclesiastico y pan Altepetl Sancta Cruz cosca quauhatlauhticpac yllo tilanal ciudad Tlaxcalan
[Santa Cruz Tlaxcala, Mexico?]: , [1714]
Physical Description: 15 leaves ; 22 cm. (4to)
Call number: Codex / Ind / 16
Accession number: 06491
Notes: Ms. codex.
Title from caption on leaf 1 recto.
Caption title and text are a mix of Nahuatl with Spanish loan words.
Dated at end of leaf 15 recto: 31 de mayo del año de 1714.
Devotional drama, in the Nahuatl language, of the story of the pilgrimage of St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, to the Holy Land in search of relics of the true cross, and on her son's conversion to Christianity after his vision on the Milvian Bridge. Other characters include Saint Sylvester, the Roman Emperor Maxentius, Macarius, a bishop, and numerous friends and servants. This devotional drama was intended to be accompanied by music but there is no music in the text. Following the caption title on leaf 1 recto is the dramatis personae and some stage directions.
This work was translated in Spanish called "Invención de la Santa Cruz por Santa Elena" by Francisco del Paso y Troncoso from this manuscript by the Museo nacional in Mexico City in 1890. In his introduction the translator claimed that this manuscript was a transcript of a vellum bound copy which had recently disappeared from the collection of the Museo nacional in Mexico City.
John Carter Brown Library copy imperfect: leaves 1, 6 and 14 are torn and wanting part of foredge and the text on these leaves has been supplied in pen and ink; a hole has been repaired with paper on leaf 15 and the text has been supplied in pen and ink; leaves 7-15 are wormed on the foredge with no loss of text.
John Carter Brown Library copy quarter bound in 19th century red morocco with marbled boards.
Provenance of the John Carter Brown Library copy: Dr. Nicolás León: bookplate on verso of front flyleaf.
Digital facsimile copy of book available.
Languages: Nahuatl
Genre: Specimen
Region: Spanish America
