Codex Borbonicus

The Codex Borbonicus is one of the most interesting documents dealing with pre-Spanish Mexico in the 16th century. The large-format illuminated manuscript delivers information like no other. The fact that it also provides yet-unsolved mysteries makes the manuscript even more interesting. The style of this Aztec illuminated manuscript is from the high valley region of Mexico before and during the Spanish conquest, its style is uncommonly magnificent. In the evaluation of style, one is dependent upon copies from the colonial age, since all other manuscripts were exported and there is no original remaining. Therefore, the Codex Borbonicus is a copy of a pre-Spanish illuminated manuscript from the early colonial age. The value of the Codex as a source of information about the Mexican language is emphasized by the fact that it serves not only as an illuminated manuscript for calendar information, but also as a work that with certainty originated out of the strong influence of the Aztec capital, almost devoid of any European influence.