Notes on the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España

1547: Sahagún first records huehuetlatolli in Nahuatl at the Colegio de Santa Cruz, Santiago Tlatelolco.
1555: First Nahuatl composition of the conquest narrative created.
1558: Request from Francisco de Toral for Sahagún to expand his work on Nahuatl language.
1558-1565: Writing of the Códices Matritenses (Madrid Codices) begins, containing various works including the Primeros memoriales and Manuscrito de Tlatelolco.
Primeros memoriales (1559-1561): Consists of four sections on various divine and human topics.
Manuscrito de Tlatelolco (1561-1565): Includes multiple memoriales and revisions written in Nahuatl.
San Francisco, Mexico (1570-1575): Sahagún amends and annotates texts in preparation for more organized works.
1575: Arrival of Rodrigo de Sequera to commission Sahagún for a bilingual, illustrated manuscript of his work.
1575-1577: Final production of the Florentine Codex.
April 22, 1577: The Florentine Codex transported to Spain.
1580: Royal order directed to seize Sahagún's works due to concerns over their content.
1783: First record of the Florentine Codex in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

Sahagún's work involved synthesizing old-world sources with indigenous traditions to document Aztec culture and religion.
Emphasis on dual influences: European classical texts and indigenous traditions in the compilation of ethnographic knowledge.

Kings: Easily transitioned from preconquest frames into Sahagún's texts, with careful adherence to traditions seen in Primeros memoriales and Florentine Codex.
Gods: Constructed using both indigenous practices and European discourses, lacking a pre-existing comprehensive text.
Influential texts included classical works like Pliny's Natural History and medieval encyclopedias.
Sahagún incorporated both visual depictions and comprehensive explanations in his writings.

Depicted in a preconquest style with symbolic attributes like headdresses and cloaks, using traditional pictograms.
Images influenced by earlier annals preserved the attributes of rulership, linking physical depictions with descriptive texts.

The depiction of gods proved more challenging; Sahagún’s team often relied on preconquest codices for imagery but transformed their context to fit European expectations.
Visualization followed a two-dimensional form reflective of indigenous pictography but was reformulated for educational purposes.
Distinct symbolic elements were emphasized, showcasing a blend of indigenous and European representations.

Indigenous traditions influenced the choice of how knowledge was depicted, relying on culturally significant literary forms rather than purely European models.
The Florentine Codex served as both a cultural encyclopedia and a pedagogical tool, merging artistic representation with historical accounts.
Sahagún faced the challenge of representing deities, balancing between indigenous perceptions and European scholarly traditions.
His innovation lay in reframing gods within the context of encyclopedic knowledge while maintaining a connection to their traditional representations and meanings.