El árbol genealógico de la casa real de Tenochtitlan en el Códice Mexicanus

The Codex Mexicanus is a document that contains various sections of diverse contents. One of these sections concerns a genealogy of the most prominent members of Tenochtitlan’s royal house. I will analyze the contents of this section in order to demonstrate that its objective was to show the legitimacy of the royal members, since the dynastic rights of Itzcoatl’s descendants continued to be questioned during the sixteenth century. The arguments put forth were based on two fundamental aspects: the divine descent of some of the lords, and the intradynastic matrimonies they maintained through time.