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74-441: The document is not a codex as the term is generally understood, but rather a single sheet of parchment (approximately 13.3 by 20 cm, or 5¼ x 8 inches) prepared from what is probably deerskin. In Mesoamerican studies, the word "codex" is applied to every type of pictorial manuscript, irrespective of form, executed in the indigenous tradition. The codex Escalada bears several significant creases both lengthwise and laterally, and

148-437: A close examination of the physical attributes of a codex, it is sometimes possible to match up long-separated elements originally from the same book. In 13th-century book publishing , due to secularization, stationers or libraires emerged. They would receive commissions for texts, which they would contract out to scribes, illustrators, and binders, to whom they supplied materials. Due to the systematic format used for assembly by

222-506: A left-facing pictogram in the indigenous style of a man brandishing an upright staff while seated on a ceremonial chair. The chair is surmounted by a glyph depicting the head of a bird from which streams flow. Beneath this pictogram are the words "juez anton vareliano [sic]" taken to be a reference to Antonio Valeriano (ca. 1525-1605). Valeriano was juez-gobernador (or judge-governor) of his home town of Azcapotzalco from 1565 to 1573, and of San Juan Tenochtitlan thereafter, and he had been

296-1019: A literary work (not just a single copy) being published in codex form, though it was likely an isolated case and was not a common practice until a much later time. In his discussion of one of the earliest parchment codices to survive from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, Eric Turner seems to challenge Skeat's notion when stating, "its mere existence is evidence that this book form had a prehistory", and that "early experiments with this book form may well have taken place outside of Egypt." Early codices of parchment or papyrus appear to have been widely used as personal notebooks, for instance in recording copies of letters sent (Cicero Fam. 9.26.1). Early codices were not always cohesive. They often contained multiple languages, various topics and even multiple authors. "Such codices formed libraries in their own right." The parchment notebook pages were "more durable, and could withstand being folded and stitched to other sheets". Parchments whose writing

370-475: A number of times, often twice- a bifolio , sewing, bookbinding , and rebinding. A quire consisted of a number of folded sheets inserting into one another- at least three, but most commonly four bifolia, that is eight sheets and sixteen pages: Latin quaternio or Greek tetradion, which became a synonym for quires. Unless an exemplar (text to be copied) was copied exactly, format differed. In preparation for writing codices, ruling patterns were used that determined

444-462: A presentation of the scientific study of its authenticity. One José Antonio Vera Olvera found the parchment, by chance, enclosed in a manila envelope and lodged between the pages of a 19th century devotional work on sale in a second-hand book market, and from him it passed to the Guerra Vera family of Querétaro who revealed its existence to Escalada in 1995. On the occasion of the formal donation of

518-711: A pupil and later associate of Sahagún in the compilation of an encyclopedic account of Nahua life and culture before the Spanish conquest assembled between approximately 1540 and 1585 and known most famously through the Florentine Codex . The pictogram of Valeriano is very close to one of him extant on the Aubin Codex in the British Museum , which probably dates from 1576, hence its alternative name of "manuscrito de 1576". The purpose and function of Sahagún's signature and of

592-400: A scroll, which uses sequential access ). The Romans used precursors made of reusable wax-covered tablets of wood for taking notes and other informal writings. Two ancient polyptychs , a pentaptych and octoptych excavated at Herculaneum , used a unique connecting system that presages later sewing on of thongs or cords. A first evidence of the use of papyrus in codex form comes from

666-725: Is not contemporaneous with the 1548 date of the codice. I would assign the signature to the 50s or the 60s." In his report of 18 September 1996, Don Alfonso M. Santillana Rentería, head of the Office of Documentoscopy and Photography of the Bank of Mexico in Mexico City, verified Sahagún's signature in these terms: " . . la firma cuestionada, atribuida a Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, que aparece en el Códice 1548, fue hecha por su puño y letra; por lo tanto es auténtica." (the signature in question, attributed to Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, which appears on codex 1548,

740-409: Is the date of composition as opposed to the date of record), and while further tests can be devised, no critics have impugned (i) the integrity and expertise of those who have subjected the document to investigation, or (ii) (subject to reservations over Dibble's lack of access to the original) the reliability and coherence of such tests and investigations as were actually performed or conducted, or (iii)

814-531: The amatl paper . There are significant codices produced in the colonial era, with pictorial and alphabetic texts in Spanish or an indigenous language such as Nahuatl . In East Asia , the scroll remained standard for far longer than in the Mediterranean world. There were intermediate stages, such as scrolls folded concertina -style and pasted together at the back and books that were printed only on one side of

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888-464: The Heian period (794–1185) were made of paper. The ancient Romans developed the form from wax tablets . The gradual replacement of the scroll by the codex has been called the most important advance in book making before the invention of the printing press . The codex transformed the shape of the book itself, and offered a form that has lasted ever since. The spread of the codex is often associated with

962-517: The Latin word caudex , meaning "trunk of a tree", "block of wood" or "book". The codex began to replace the scroll almost as soon as it was invented, although new finds add three centuries to its history (see below). In Egypt , by the fifth century, the codex outnumbered the scroll by ten to one based on surviving examples. By the sixth century, the scroll had almost vanished as a medium for literature. The change from rolls to codices roughly coincides with

1036-466: The Middle Ages . The scholarly study of these manuscripts is sometimes called codicology . The study of ancient documents in general is called paleography . The codex provided considerable advantages over other book formats, primarily its compactness, sturdiness, economic use of materials by using both sides ( recto and verso ), and ease of reference (a codex accommodates random access , as opposed to

1110-452: The Nag Hammadi library , hidden about AD 390, all texts (Gnostic) are codices. Despite this comparison, a fragment of a non-Christian parchment codex of Demosthenes ' De Falsa Legatione from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt demonstrates that the surviving evidence is insufficient to conclude whether Christians played a major or central role in the development of early codices—or if they simply adopted

1184-656: The Ptolemaic period in Egypt, as a find at the University of Graz shows. Julius Caesar may have been the first Roman to reduce scrolls to bound pages in the form of a note-book, possibly even as a papyrus codex. At the turn of the 1st century AD, a kind of folded parchment notebook called pugillares membranei in Latin became commonly used for writing in the Roman Empire . Theodore Cressy Skeat theorized that this form of notebook

1258-402: The incipit , before the concept of a proper title developed in medieval times. Though most early codices were made of papyrus, the material was fragile and supplied from Egypt, the only place where papyrus grew. The more durable parchment and vellum gained favor, despite the cost. The codices of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) had a similar appearance when closed to

1332-606: The late Middle Ages ] were written in gold and silver ink on parchment...dyed or painted with costly purple pigments as an expression of imperial power and wealth." As early as the early 2nd century, there is evidence that a codex—usually of papyrus—was the preferred format among Christians . In the library of the Villa of the Papyri , Herculaneum (buried in AD 79), all the texts (of Greek literature) are scrolls (see Herculaneum papyri ). However, in

1406-403: The libraire , the structure can be used to reconstruct the original order of a manuscript. However, complications can arise in the study of a codex. Manuscripts were frequently rebound, and this resulted in a particular codex incorporating works of different dates and origins, thus different internal structures. Additionally, a binder could alter or unify these structures to ensure a better fit for

1480-408: The 21st century. How manufacturing influenced the final products, technique, and style, is little understood. However, changes in style are underpinned more by variation in technique. Before the 14th and 15th centuries, paper was expensive, and its use may mark off the deluxe copy. The structure of a codex includes its size, format/ ordinatio (its quires or gatherings), consisting of sheets folded

1554-598: The Archbishop of Mexico, since then it has been kept in the Historical Archives of the Basilica of Guadalupe . Some scholars found the mode and timing of the discovery suspicious and the convergence of data on it little short of miraculous. The puzzling features which require elucidation and explanation were gathered by one eminent Mexican scholar (Rafael Tena) under six headings as follows: provenance (his comments predated

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1628-450: The Centro de Física Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada UNAM (Querétaro campus) and coordinated by Professor Victor Manuel Castaño, who subjected it to a range of non-destructive tests to determine the age, authenticity and integrity of the materials. In their report issued on 30 January 1997 they concluded that the parchment and inks were consistent with an origin in the 16th century and that there

1702-469: The European codex, but were instead made with long folded strips of either fig bark ( amatl ) or plant fibers, often with a layer of whitewash applied before writing. New World codices were written as late as the 16th century (see Maya codices and Aztec codices ). Those written before the Spanish conquests seem all to have been single long sheets folded concertina -style, sometimes written on both sides of

1776-448: The Latin alphabet which can be translated as: "In this year of 15[0]31 there appeared to Cuauhtlatoatzin our dearly beloved mother Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico". Below the landscape and a little off-centre to the right, is the imposing signature of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún (ca. 1499-1590), the renowned Franciscan missionary, historian and pioneering ethnologist. High in the cliffs above

1850-511: The University of Utah and one of the leading scholars in Sahagún studies. In a letter of 12 June 1996 he wrote: "I have received a copy of codice 1548. I have studied the signature, and I believe it to be the signature of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún. I base my conclusions on the indications of three crosses; the form of the 'Fray', the 'd' and the 'b'. In my opinion the signature is not the same as, that

1924-616: The Valeriano pictogram remain uncertain. The disposition of Juan Diego and the Virgin on the parchment and their physical attributes are paralleled to some extent by an engraving by Antonio Castro which ornaments the second (and posthumous) edition of a work by Luis Becerra Tanco first published in Mexico in 1666 as Origen milagroso del santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and republished in Spain in 1675 as Felicidad de México . The iconography of

1998-541: The Virgin on the parchment is notable for the absence of three features which have been an enduring part of the image: the aureole or golden rays framing her, the crown on her head, and the angel with folded cloth at her feet. The first and last features are still visible in the image preserved in the Basilica of Guadalupe on what is said to be Juan Diego's tilma or mantle, but the crown had disappeared by 1895, in circumstances which remain obscure. All three features can be seen in

2072-525: The Western world, the main alternative to the paged codex format for a long document was the continuous scroll , which was the dominant form of document in the ancient world . Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina , in particular the Maya codices and Aztec codices, which are actually long sheets of paper or animal skin folded into pages. In Japan, concertina-style codices called orihon developed during

2146-414: The church of San José el Real, generally known as the "Profesa", several others exist, including "St. Isabel of Portugal", while he executed for the church of Santiago Tlaltelolco fifteen altar-panels. In the cathedral is his "Candelaria" and a "San Sebastian", believed to be by his wife. Among the smaller paintings of Echave is one of San Antonio Abad with St. Paul, the first hermit. The artist also had

2220-437: The codex is very different to that of producing and attaching the case. The first stage in creating a codex is to prepare the animal skin. The skin is washed with water and lime but not together. The skin is soaked in the lime for a couple of days. The hair is removed, and the skin is dried by attaching it to a frame, called a herse. The parchment maker attaches the skin at points around the circumference. The skin attaches to

2294-407: The codex must post-date 1573 when Valeriano was appointed juez gobernador of Tenochtitlan, and that Sahagún's signature on the codex is irreconcilable with his known opposition to the cult – as to which, see below); and finally linguistic analysis. While many of the puzzling features have still not been fully explained or accounted for (including alleged anachronisms which presume that the date 1548

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2368-457: The conclusions drawn from the results of those tests and investigations. Rafael Tena, among others, contended that even if Sahagún's signature is authentic, its presence on a document such as this constitutes a serious internal inconsistency arising from Sahagún's known hostility to the cult of Guadalupe.e.g., Peralta, quoting from Book 11 of Sahagün's Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva España. While Sahagún did indeed express reservations as to

2442-482: The copying occurred. The layout (size of the margin and the number of lines) is determined. There may be textual articulations, running heads , openings, chapters , and paragraphs . Space was reserved for illustrations and decorated guide letters. The apparatus of books for scholars became more elaborate during the 13th and 14th centuries when chapter, verse, page numbering , marginalia finding guides, indexes , glossaries , and tables of contents were developed. By

2516-427: The creativity and ingenuity of the team members – who worked in groups deliberately isolated from each other in order that their conclusions might all be arrived at independently – sufficiently overcame these limitations as to permit them the conclusions at which they did arrive. A copy of the signature as it appears on the parchment was sent to Dr. Charles E. Dibble , a former distinguished professor of anthropology of

2590-524: The cult in his historical works, that comparatively late criticism was based on what he considered to be a syncretistic application to the Virgin Mary of the Nahuatl epithet " Tonantzin " ("our dear mother") which, however, he himself had freely used with the same application in his own sermons as late as the 1560s. The parchment was consigned by Escalada to a team of 18 experts of various disciplines assembled at

2664-520: The discovery by Eduardo Chávez Sánchez in July 2001 of a copy (dated 14 April 1666) of the original translation of the Informaciones Juridicas de 1666 , formerly known only from a copy dated 1737 and first published by Hipólito Vera Fortino in 1889. In April 2002, on the eve of the canonization of Juan Diego, the owners waived their right to anonymity and, in a public ceremony, donated the parchment to

2738-502: The earlier examples do not actually use the codex format), Maya codices and other pre-Columbian manuscripts. Library practices have led to many European manuscripts having "codex" as part of their usual name, as with the Codex Gigas , while most do not. Modern books are divided into paperback (or softback) and those bound with stiff boards, called hardbacks . Elaborate historical bindings are called treasure bindings . At least in

2812-423: The earliest known representation of the tilma, painted in oil on panel dated 1606 and signed Baltasar de Echave Orio . A sequence of marks on the fringe of the Virgin's mantle falling down over her left shoulder have been interpreted as stars but (as with the possible moon) are too vestigial to permit a secure identification. Following an infrared and ocular study of the tilma in 1979, Philip Callahan concluded that

2886-402: The edges are abraded which, together with a deep yellowish patina, impedes a clear reading of it; however, the main features can be distinguished. The principal image consists of a rocky landscape dotted with sparse scrub flanked on the left by an Indian kneeling at the foot of a mountain and facing in three-quarter profile across the plain towards the Virgin who, in turn, flanks the landscape on

2960-545: The end of the 16th century, as Sebastian Arteaga and Alonzo Vasquez . As was tradition for young men of that time, his wife, also a painter, was his instructor. He died in Mexico . His son was Baltasar de Echave Ibía and his grandson was Baltasar de Echave Rioja, both painters. Echave, whose subjects are chiefly religious, had especial skill in composition, and his best works are compared to Guercino . The Academy of San Carlos , Mexico City , has some of his major works: In

3034-434: The experiments of earlier centuries, scrolls were sometimes unrolled horizontally, as a succession of columns. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a famous example of this format, and it is the standard format for Jewish Torah scrolls made to this day for ritual use. This made it possible to fold the scroll as an accordion. The next evolutionary step was to cut the folios and sew and glue them at their centers, making it easier to use

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3108-459: The flesh side. This was not the same style used in the British Isles, where the membrane was folded so that it turned out an eight-leaf quire, with single leaves in the third and sixth positions. The next stage was tacking the quire. Tacking is when the scribe would hold together the leaves in quire with thread. Once threaded together, the scribe would then sew a line of parchment up the "spine" of

3182-426: The form (as opposed to the scroll), as well as the convenience with which such a book can be read on a journey. In another poem by Martial, the poet advertises a new edition of his works, specifically noting that it is produced as a codex, taking less space than a scroll and being more comfortable to hold in one hand. According to Theodore Cressy Skeat , this might be the first recorded known case of an entire edition of

3256-488: The format to distinguish themselves from Jews . The earliest surviving fragments from codices come from Egypt, and are variously dated (always tentatively) towards the end of the 1st century or in the first half of the 2nd. This group includes the Rylands Library Papyrus P52 , containing part of St John's Gospel, and perhaps dating from between 125 and 160. In Western culture , the codex gradually replaced

3330-419: The herse by cords. To prevent it from being torn, the maker wraps the area of the skin attached to the cord around a pebble called a pippin. After completing that, the maker uses a crescent shaped knife called a lunarium or lunellum to remove any remaining hairs. Once the skin completely dries, the maker gives it a deep clean and processes it into sheets. The number of sheets from a piece of skin depends on

3404-432: The historicity both of Juan Diego himself, and of the antiquity of the tradition as to the apparitions. Before the discovery of the parchment, the earliest documented reference to Juan Diego which has survived had been Miguel Sánchez 's Imagen de la Virgen María , published in Mexico in 1648. Nevertheless, the parchment contributes no previously unknown facts relative to Juan Diego or the apparitions, for his native name and

3478-402: The kneeling Indian is a much smaller depiction of a man on the hill. Directly beneath the kneeling Indian is more Nahuatl text written in the Latin alphabet, the first part of which can be translated as: "Cuauhtlatoatzin died a worthy death"; and the second as: "in 1548 Cuauhtlatoatzin died." From other sources, this is known to be the native name of Juan Diego, although the normal orthography for

3552-401: The layout of each page. Holes were prickled with a spiked lead wheel and a circle. Ruling was then applied separately on each page or once through the top folio. Ownership markings, decorations, and illumination are also a part of it. They are specific to the scriptoria , or any production center, and libraries of codices. Watermarks may provide, although often approximate, dates for when

3626-672: The manuscript to protect the tacking. The materials codices are made with are their support, and include papyrus, parchment (sometimes referred to as membrane or vellum), and paper. They are written and drawn on with metals, pigments , and ink . The quality, size, and choice of support determine the status of a codex. Papyrus is found only in late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages . Codices intended for display were bound with more durable materials than vellum. Parchment varied widely due to animal species and finish, and identification of animals used to make it has only begun to be studied in

3700-521: The membrane, whether they are from the original animal, human error during the preparation period, or from when the animal was killed. Defects can also appear during the writing process. Unless the manuscript is kept in perfect condition, defects can also appear later in its life. Firstly, the membrane must be prepared. The first step is to set up the quires. The quire is a group of several sheets put together. Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham point out, in "Introduction to Manuscript Studies", that "the quire

3774-399: The mid-16th century is "Quauhtlahtoatzin". It is these last details which have led the parchment to be regarded as a type of "death certificate" of Juan Diego. The right margin of the parchment constitutes a distinct register of images. The top half is a continuation of the landscape, below which is an indistinct rectilinear image. Below that again, and in the extreme right-hand corner, is

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3848-475: The moon, angel with folded cloth, aureole, and stars, were all later additions to the original image, made probably in that order beginning at an indeterminate time in the 16th century and perhaps continuing into the early 17th century. The parchment first came to public notice in August 1995 when Father Escalada – a Spanish Jesuit and long-time resident of Mexico who had devoted his life to Guadalupan studies and who

3922-400: The new binding. Completed quires or books of quires might constitute independent book units- booklets, which could be returned to the stationer, or combined with other texts to make anthologies or miscellanies. Exemplars were sometimes divided into quires for simultaneous copying and loaned out to students for study. To facilitate this, catchwords were used- a word at the end of a page providing

3996-464: The next page's first word. Baltasar de Echave Orio Baltasar de Echave Orio (late 16th century – mid-17th century) was a Basque Spanish painter. As there was a painter of the same name, thought to be his son, he is known as Echave the Elder. He was born at Zumaya , Guipuzcoa , Spain, and became one of the earliest Spanish artists to reach Mexico, arriving at about the same time, near

4070-461: The owners' initial stipulation for anonymity added an air of mystery to what was already a highly fortuitous discovery both as to its timing and as to the nature and amount of the historical data to which it seemingly attests, although it was not the only such discovery in or around this period which aided the case for the historicity of Juan Diego. Baltasar de Echave Orio's painting of 1606 has already been mentioned in this regard. To this can be added

4144-539: The paper. This replaced traditional Chinese writing mediums such as bamboo and wooden slips , as well as silk and paper scrolls. The evolution of the codex in China began with folded-leaf pamphlets in the 9th century, during the late Tang dynasty (618–907), improved by the 'butterfly' bindings of the Song dynasty (960–1279), the wrapped back binding of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368),

4218-422: The papyrus or vellum recto-verso as with a modern book. Traditional bookbinders would call one of these assembled, trimmed and bound folios (that is, the "pages" of the book as a whole, comprising the front matter and contents) a codex in contradistinction to the cover or case, producing the format of book now colloquially known as a hardcover . In the hardcover bookbinding process, the procedure of binding

4292-568: The parchment to the Archbishop of México on 14 April 2002, the owners requested that it be known as the Codex Escalada in honour of Escalada's life-work researching the apparitions. Escalada died in October 2006. In 1996 and 1997 the parchment and Sahagún's signature were subjected to technical and critical analysis the results of which were all favourable to the document's authenticity (see below under Investigations as to authenticity). Nevertheless,

4366-460: The release of new information in 2002, as to which see under Provenance above); materials analysis (where Tena urged destructive investigatory techniques despite the document's exiguous dimensions); art-historical criticism (including orthography); graphology (where Tena, despite Dibble's expert opinion, expressed the view that access to the original is indispensable for a conclusive attribution of Sahagún's signature); historiography (where Tena contends

4440-458: The right. She is contained within a nebulous mandorla , and at her feet are traces of what seems to be a horned moon. This depicts the apparition which is said to have occurred on 12 December 1531 on the hill of Tepeyac located six kilometers (four miles) north of the main plaza of Mexico City. The Sun is rising over the hills behind the Virgin. Above the central landscape is the date "1548" beneath which are four lines of Nahuatl text written in

4514-551: The rise of Christianity , which early on adopted the format for the Bible . First described in the 1st century of the Common Era, when the Roman poet Martial praised its convenient use, the codex achieved numerical parity with the scroll around 300 CE, and had completely replaced it throughout what was by then a Christianized Greco-Roman world by the 6th century. The word codex comes from

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4588-630: The scroll. Between the 4th century, when the codex gained wide acceptance, and the Carolingian Renaissance in the 8th century, many works that were not converted from scroll to codex were lost. The codex improved on the scroll in several ways. It could be opened flat at any page for easier reading, pages could be written on both front and back ( recto and verso ), and the protection of durable covers made it more compact and easier to transport. The ancients stored codices with spines facing inward, and not always vertically. The spine could be used for

4662-424: The size of the skin and the final product dimensions. For example, the average calfskin can provide three-and-a-half medium sheets of writing material, which can be doubled when they are folded into two conjoint leaves, also known as a bifolium . Historians have found evidence of manuscripts in which the scribe wrote down the medieval instructions now followed by modern membrane makers. Defects can often be found in

4736-518: The stitched binding of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasties (1644–1912), and finally the adoption of Western-style bookbinding in the 20th century. The initial phase of this evolution, the accordion-folded palm-leaf-style book, most likely came from India and was introduced to China via Buddhist missionaries and scriptures . Judaism still retains the Torah scroll , at least for ceremonial use. Among

4810-514: The text was entered and with vertical bounding lines that marked the boundaries of the columns. From the Carolingian period to the end of the Middle Ages, different styles of folding the quire came about. For example, in continental Europe throughout the Middle Ages, the quire was put into a system in which each side folded on to the same style. The hair side met the hair side and the flesh side to

4884-447: The transition from papyrus to parchment as the preferred writing material, but the two developments are unconnected. In fact, any combination of codices and scrolls with papyrus and parchment is technically feasible and common in the historical record. Technically, even modern notebooks and paperbacks are codices, but publishers and scholars reserve the term for manuscript (hand-written) books produced from late antiquity until

4958-513: The year of his death were already known from other sources, as was the role of Valeriano in promoting the cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe (if, indeed, the Nican Mopohua is to be attributed to him, as it traditionally has been, recent tentative challenges notwithstanding). Escalada subsequently issued (in 1997) an 80-page appendix to his Enciclopedia Guadalupana containing photographs of the Codex and

5032-428: Was at that time preparing for the press his Enciclopedia Guadalupana – announced that the owners of the parchment had brought it to his attention while at the same time requesting that their identity remain confidential. The original announcement came almost midway between the beatification and the canonization of Juan Diego in 1990 and 2002 respectively, and the parchment helped to allay doubts in some quarters about

5106-569: Was invented in Rome and then spread rapidly to the Near East. Codices are described in certain works by the Classical Latin poet, Martial . He wrote a series of five couplets meant to accompany gifts of literature that Romans exchanged during the festival of Saturnalia . Three of these books are specifically described by Martial as being in the form of a codex; the poet praises the compendiousness of

5180-553: Was made by his own hand; therefore it is authentic.) Professor Castaño's team identified the ink used for Sahagún's signature (as they also did with the ink used for the date "1548") as being not identical with that used on the rest of the parchment. The results of all these analyses and investigations were published by Escalada in July 1997 as an 80-page fifth volume or appendix to his Enciclopedia Guadalupana , complete with photographs and technical data. Codex The codex ( pl. : codices / ˈ k oʊ d ɪ s iː z / )

5254-504: Was no longer needed were commonly washed or scraped for re-use, creating a palimpsest ; the erased text, which can often be recovered, is older and usually more interesting than the newer text which replaced it. Consequently, writings in a codex were often considered informal and impermanent. Parchment (animal skin) was expensive, and therefore it was used primarily by the wealthy and powerful, who were also able to pay for textual design and color. "Official documents and deluxe manuscripts [in

5328-413: Was sufficient evidence to conclude that the document itself was of 16th century origin. More than ten years after the tests, Castaño noted that the team operated under time constraints (although he gives no indication as to their origin, or how urgent they were). He also adverted to the impermissibility of subjecting the sample to destructive tests which prevented a conclusive assessment, but he conceded that

5402-418: Was the historical ancestor format of the modern book . Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term "codex" is now reserved for older manuscript books, which mostly used sheets of vellum , parchment , or papyrus , rather than paper . By convention, the term is also used for any Aztec codex (although

5476-413: Was the scribe's basic writing unit throughout the Middle Ages": Pricking is the process of making holes in a sheet of parchment (or membrane) in preparation of it ruling. The lines were then made by ruling between the prick marks.... The process of entering ruled lines on the page to serve as a guide for entering text. Most manuscripts were ruled with horizontal lines that served as the baselines on which

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