Eagle and jaguar

Tlaneltoquiliztli

Facts

1. 01

   Chimalli is Nahuatl for shield. Yaochimalli is a war shield. Māhuizzoh chimalli is a prestige or ceremonial shield (feather, gold, mosaic).

   Molina; Hassig, Aztec Warfare

2. 02

   A field chimalli was a round disc of woven cane or wood, faced with hide, often cotton padding, with two leather arm-straps on the back. Feather mosaic (amantecayotl) was applied by amanteca of Amantla.

   Sahagún, Book 9; Hassig

3. 03

   War in Nahuatl is a pair: in mitl, in chimalli — the arrow and the shield. One word for the whole act.

   Difrasismo; Sahagún; Karttunen

4. 04

   Xicalcoliuhqui means twisted gourd: xicalli (gourd-bowl) + coliuhqui (twisted). The greca of right-angle stairs that reads, to a later eye, as a letter G. It is a chimalli device in Codex Mendoza, and an older highland motif (Teotihuacan, Mitla).

   Nahuatl morphology; Codex Mendoza tribute lists

5. 05

   Rank was counted in live captives. Codex Mendoza fol. 64r paints the sequence: first captive; two captives in Huastec (cuextecatl) dress with cuexyo chimalli; then higher tlahuiztli; eagle and jaguar; otontin; cuāchicqueh.

   Codex Mendoza, Bodleian Library, c. 1541; Berdan & Anawalt

6. 06

   Xōchiyāōyōtl — flower war — was fought with Tlaxcala, Huexotzinco, and Cholula to take captives, train youth, and keep pressure on rivals. It was not bloodless.

   Sahagún; Durán; Hassig

7. 07

   Florentine Codex Book 7: after the sun was made at Teotihuacan, an eagle and a jaguar were sent into the same fire. The eagle's wingtips scorched; sparks spotted the jaguar. That is the charter the Mexica gave the two knightly animals.

   Sahagún, Book 7

8. 08

   A surviving feather chimalli with a coyote (sometimes called plumed coyote / ahuizotl type) is in the Weltmuseum Wien: wood, bamboo, paper, feather mosaic, gold, about 1500. Photograph on this page is of that object.

   Weltmuseum Wien; photo Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0

Codex Mendoza · fol. 64r · c. 1541

The book

Bodleian Library. Public domain. This folio is how Mexica rank was painted for the Spanish: captives, costumes, chimalli. Not a modern drawing.

In ōmpa Stuttgart

The ones that still exist

Cane and feathers rot. A handful of chimalli survive in European cases. The coyote in Vienna is the object itself. The G in the vitrine is the object itself. Codex Mendoza is the book. We do not redraw those.

• 

  Coyōchimalli

  Coyote mosaic — Weltmuseum Wien

  The object itself. Wood, cane, paper, feather mosaic, gold. A plumed coyote, about 1500. Now in Vienna. Ahuitzotl's kind. Photographed in the museum. Not a drawing.

• 

  Xicalcoliuhqui īyōllō

  The G with a sun-heart — as it sits in the case

  Yellow mosaic, the greca, stairs, a concentric disc at the navel. This is the chimalli from the vitrine, unaltered. Sun or chalchihuitl at the heart of the stairs.

• 

  Xicalcoliuhqui

  The G as the pattern is drawn

  The stairs coiled into a disc, pantli hanging. This is the xicalcoliuhqui chimalli as a clean rendering of the real type — yellow field, black greca, feathers below.

• 

  Cuexyo chimalli

  Huastec crescents

  Four gold U-shapes, hanging pendants. Codex Mendoza gives this to the two-captive warrior. The crescents are how the field read cuextecatl.

In the glass

How a chimalli sits now

Dark case. Spotlight. Knives, jade, sandals, shell. The G in the middle. The photograph is the case as shown — not a redrawing.

1. 01

   Chimalli

   The shield in the glass

   Yellow mosaic, the G, stairs on the right, a concentric disc at the bottom — sun or chalchihuitl at the navel of the greca. Museums hang it in the dark so the feathers do not fade. This is how most of us will ever see one.

2. 02

   Tecpatl

   Flint / obsidian knife

   A day-sign and a tool. Priests used it. Warriors carried one. The blade is volcanic glass. It sits in the case because a chimalli is only half of in mitl, in chimalli — the other half is what you send.

3. 03

   Chalchihuitl

   Jade beads

   Water, preciousness, a heart that does not rot. A necklace in the same vitrine as a war shield is not random. Rank wore green stone. The dead were given it too.

4. 04

   Cactli

   Sandals

   A person of station. Captives were stripped of them. The pair at the bottom of the case is the walk: from the telpochcalli to the field, and home if the sun allowed it.

5. 05

   Ehecacōzcatl

   Wind jewel / shell discs

   White discs of shell. Quetzalcoatl wears the wind jewel. On a warrior they are ornament and a name. Three of them in a case read as breath, next to a shield that does not breathe.

Xicalcoliuhqui chimalli · shee-kal-ko-LEE-oo-kee chee-MAH-lee

The shield that looks like a G

People who did not grow up with the books see a letter G. The Mexica saw stairs. A thick band that turns at right angles, like the steps of a teocalli, then coils into the disc. The opening of the coil is why it reads as a G. Xicalli is a gourd-bowl; coliuhqui is twisted.

This is the chimalli the tribute lists actually name. Codex Mendoza paints it yellow, with a green greca, a red band, and a hanging fringe of feathers — pantli — so the field could read the man before he closed. Provinces sent these by the score: cane core, hide, paint or feather mosaic. In mitl, in chimalli — the darts on one side of the gold type are the other half of the sentence.

Almost none survive. Feathers and cane rot. The coyote chimalli in the Weltmuseum Wien is the object itself — mosaic, about 1500. The G in the vitrine is the object itself. Codex Mendoza is the book the empire painted. Those are not redrawn here.

The hummingbird sitting on this G — and Hunab Ku, which is the same stairs with another name — are in Signs.

The chimalli in the case, as shown. G, stairs, sun-heart.

Codex Mendoza, folio 64r. The book itself. Rank and chimalli as painted.

• 

  Tōnatiuh īpan teōcalli

  Sun over the stairs

  Concentric disc at the top — sun, or jade. Pyramid stairs on the left. The G below. The temple and the Fifth Sun on one chimalli.

• 

  Xicalcoliuhqui

  The G with hanging feathers

  Yellow disc, black stairs, pantli below. The chimalli as the type is drawn — unaltered.

• 

  Ihuitl xicalcoliuhqui

  Feather mosaic — the kind that survives

  Amanteca work. Yellow and olive feathers, down rim. Stuttgart keeps this type. Almost the only G you can still touch.

• 

  Mendoza chimalli

  Tribute shield, as the book paints it

  Cream paper, yellow field, green G, red band, yellow fringe. How the empire counted them.

• 

  Teocuitlachimalli

  Gold and turquoise mosaic

  The G in gold on fire-stone. Darts on the left — mitl. Pendants below. Ceremony, not mud.

• 

  Tōnatiuh xicalcoliuhqui

  G with a solar heart

  Stairs around concentric rings. The year inside the greca.

• 

  Xicalcoliuhqui īyōllō

  G with a sun at the heart

  The object in the case. Greca, stairs, concentric disc at the navel. Unaltered.

• 

  Nauhxicalcoliuhqui

  Four G's, one sun

  Four quarters, four coils. The year as four stairways.

Cuāuhtli · Ocēlōtl · Huitzillin

Eagle, jaguar, and the hummingbird's own

Two orders, one patron. The eagle knight holds the day. The jaguar knight holds the night. Huitzilopochtli's chimalli is not a rank — it is the god's name on an arm.

Huitzilopochtli · Tonatiuh

Cuāuhtin

Eagle warrior shields

The eagle knight does not hide his chimalli. The most Mexica disc he can hold is the xicalcoliuhqui — the G of stairs. Down-balls (ihuiteteyo) around other rims are the war-god's tufts. Concentric gold is the day's heat. The spread eagle is the bird that went into the fire.

• 

  Xicalcoliuhqui

  The G of stairs

  Stepped spiral, hanging feathers. The eagle knight's most-seen chimalli.

• 

  Cuāuhchimalli

  Spread-eagle shield

  The bird of the Fifth Sun, wings open so the field cannot mistake the order.

• 

  Ihuiteteyo cuāuhtli

  Eagle shield with down-balls

  White down around the eagle. Priest-war. The same tufts on Huitzilopochtli's own chimalli.

• 

  Tōnatiuh chimalli

  Solar eagle shield

  Rings of gold and crimson. The knight as a moving sun. Daylight war, meant to be counted.

Tezcatlipoca

Ocēlōmeh

Jaguar warrior shields

The jaguar knight shows the night. One chimalli is the face of the animal. One is the whole pelt, with an obsidian heart. One is Smoking Mirror — Tezcatlipoca's seeing — set in the spotted field. Capture opened this door. The shield kept it open.

• 

  Ocēlōchimalli

  Jaguar-face shield

  The First Sun looking back at you. You do not hide behind this. You show the eater.

• 

  Ocēlōehuatl chimalli

  Pelt shield

  The whole hide as a disc. Obsidian at the navel. Night you can hold.

• 

  Tezcatl ocēlōtl

  Smoking-mirror jaguar shield

  Spots around an obsidian glass. The god who sees, carried on the arm.

Mexi · the patron

Huitzilopochtli

Shields of the hummingbird of the left

These are not a rank you buy with captives. They are the god's own devices, carried by his priests and his captains at Panquetzaliztli. Blue and white down. The fire-serpent. Water and burnt earth — teoatl, tlachinolli — the old picture for war itself. The hummingbird on the field is the name we took.

• 

  Huitzilchimalli

  Hummingbird shield

  Mexi's bird on a blue field. The left-hand, the south, the thorn-side.

• 

  Ihuiteteyo chimalli

  Down-ball war-god shield

  Deep blue, white down-balls, a gold heart. The chimalli painted for Huitzilopochtli in the books.

• 

  Xiuhcōātl chimalli

  Fire-serpent shield

  The weapon he was born with, coiled as a disc. Turquoise fire around a sun.

• 

  Ātl tlachinōlli

  Sacred water, burnt earth

  The glyph for war: water-scroll and fire-scroll on one chimalli. Not a metaphor. The name of the act.

Tlahuiztli

All the warrior shields

The chimalli changed as the count of captives changed. Codex Mendoza paints that road. The discs below are modern paintings after those types — not the surviving objects. The objects are above.

• 

  1 captive

  Yāōchimalli

  War shield of the first captive

  yah-oh-chee-MAH-lee

  Yāōqui — a man who has been to war

  Cane, hide, maguey. A small sun painted so the field can see you at all. This is the first name. Without it you are only a body in the dust.

• 

  2 captives

  Cuexyo chimalli

  Huastec shield

  KWEH-sho chee-MAH-lee

  Cuextecatl — the two-captive warrior in Huastec dress

  Four crescents, a borrowed costume. The Mexica dressed a man as a Huastec when he had taken two. The shield says: this one has started to count.

• 

  3 captives

  Pāpālōchimalli

  Butterfly shield

  pah-pah-LOH-chee-MAH-lee

  The three-captive warrior

  The butterfly is not softness. It is the same creature the dead become, with the hummingbird, after they have walked with the sun. Three captives and the shield grows wings.

• 

  The greca

  Xicalcoliuhqui

  The G of stairs / step-fret

  shee-kal-ko-LEE-oo-kee

  Eagle knights and tribute companies — a design, not one rank

  The one that looks like a letter G. Stairs coiled into a disc, often with hanging feathers (pantli). Codex Mendoza counts them. Stuttgart still holds the feather mosaic.

• 

  Landesmuseum Württemberg type

  Ihuitl xicalcoliuhqui

  Feather-mosaic G

  EE-weetl shee-kal-ko-LEE-oo-kee

  The few that survive — amanteca work

  Yellow and olive feathers cut and glued into the stairs. Down rim. This is how a chimalli looked when it was not only paint.

• 

  Ceremony

  Teocuitla xicalcoliuhqui

  Gold-and-turquoise G

  teh-o-KWEET-lah shee-kal-ko-LEE-oo-kee

  Lords and temples

  The G in gold on turquoise. Darts on the left are mitl — the arrow half of in mitl, in chimalli. Not for the mud.

• 

  Sun over the teocalli

  Tōnatiuh īpan teōcalli

  Sun over the stairs

  toh-nah-TEE-uh EE-pan teh-o-KAH-lee

  Feather-mosaic chimalli of the xicalcoliuhqui type

  Concentric disc at the top. Pyramid stairs on the left. The G below. Tonatiuh sitting on the god-house, on an arm.

• 

  4 captives · the night order

  Ocēlōchimalli

  Jaguar shield

  o-seh-LOH-chee-MAH-lee

  Ocēlōmeh — jaguar knights

  The face of the First Sun. Tezcatlipoca's animal. You do not hide behind this chimalli. You show the night that eats.

• 

  The day order

  Cuāuhchimalli

  Eagle shield

  KWAH-oo-chee-MAH-lee

  Cuāuhtin — eagle knights

  The bird that went closest to the fire. Huitzilopochtli's own. Daylight war, meant to be seen, the same eagle that landed on the nopal.

• 

  5–6 captives

  Otontin chimalli

  Otomí shield

  o-TONE-teen chee-MAH-lee

  Otontin — named for a people famous for ferocity

  Red field, a warning. The Mexica borrowed the name of a highland people they both fought and hired. This shield means the man has gone past knight and into terror.

• 

  Many captives · no step back

  Cuāchic chimalli

  Shield of the shorn ones

  KWAH-cheek chee-MAH-lee

  Cuāchicqueh — the highest field rank

  Yellow, like the paint on the shorn head. These men were forbidden to retreat. The chimalli told the other line that before a dart was thrown.

• 

  Command

  Teocuitlachimalli

  Gold shield

  teh-o-kweet-lah-chee-MAH-lee

  Tlacateccatl, tlacochcalcatl — generals, the speaker's captains

  God-excrement, the old word for gold. Not a field shield you ruin in the mud. A sun you carry so the army can see where the order stands.

• 

  Precious

  Xiuhchimalli

  Turquoise shield

  SHEE-oo-chee-MAH-lee

  Lords, fire-priests, the year itself

  Turquoise is fire and the year — xiuhitl. Xiuhtecuhtli's color. A mosaic like this is a hearth you can hold. Rare in the dust. Common in the temple.

• 

  Vienna

  Coyōchimalli

  Coyote feather-mosaic

  ko-YOH-chee-MAH-lee

  The surviving object — Weltmuseum Wien, ca. 1500

  Blue coyote, feather mosaic, down at the rim. The shield itself, photographed. Not a reconstruction.

• 

  The patron

  Huitzilchimalli

  Hummingbird shield

  wee-tzeel-chee-MAH-lee

  Priests and captains of Huitzilopochtli

  The bird we are named for. Mexi's own. Blue field, fire-serpent rim. Not a rank you buy with captives. A claim: this arm belongs to the hummingbird of the left.

The road

From school to the field

1. 01

   Tēlpochcalli

   House of youth

   Commoner boys trained here: work, song, and arms. The army started as a school, not a purchase.

   Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Book 3

2. 02

   Calmecac

   House of lineage

   Nobles and some gifted commoners. Priests, scribes, and captains. Harder hours, more books.

   Sahagún, Book 3

3. 03

   1 captive

   Yāōqui — a man who has been to war

   Plain cotton (ichcahuipilli), a simple chimalli. Rank started at the first live captive, not at years served.

   Codex Mendoza, fol. 64r

4. 04

   2 captives

   Cuextecatl — Huastec costume

   The cuexyo chimalli: four crescents. The Mexica dressed a two-captive warrior as a Huastec. The shield is how the field read him.

   Codex Mendoza, fol. 64r

5. 05

   Cuāuhocēlōtl

   Eagle and jaguar knights

   Paired elite. Costume, seat, and pay changed. Capture opened the order. Cuāuhtli by day, ocēlōtl by night.

   Sahagún, Book 8; Codex Mendoza, fol. 64r

6. 06

   Otontin / Cuāchicqueh

   Otomí, then the shorn ones

   Five or six captives: otontin, named for a people famous for ferocity. Highest field rank: cuāchicqueh — half the head shaved, yellow paint, forbidden to step backward.

   Sahagún, Book 8; Codex Mendoza