Dr. Ramirez
Chicano Literature
Spring 2005
Bernardino de Sahagun Florentine Codex


Study Questions for Chapters 1-20
When at court, Moctezuma arranges for captives to be sent to the Spanish.
Why does he do this?

What role does Quetzalcoatl play in terms of Moctezuma’s beliefs and his
reception of the Spanish?

What decision do the Tlaxcallans make in regard to the Spanish?

What is the importance of this statement:
“We are not their equals; we are as nothing”

The Mexicans have different responses to the deaths of Moctezuma and Itzquauhtzin.  What are these responses?

Who orders the Feast of Huitzilopochtli? What happens?

Study Questions for Chapters 21-29
How do the Mexicans respond to the deaths of Moctezuma and Itzquauhtzin?

What is the significance of this quote:
Thereupon they arrayed him; they arrayed him in the palace flag and the
other paper goods, and they made offerings to him. And thereupon they
took him in order to go to burn him in the temple courtyard at the place
called Quauhxiacalco. With great honors his body burned.

What effect does the plague have on the Mexicans?
What happens to the Spanish and their allies in the canal?
What response do the people of Teocalhueyacan have to the Spanish? How do their responses differ from that of the Mexicans?