The Maya Codex Tro-Cortesianus in Nineteenth-Century Scholarship

Record summary

The Maya manuscript now commonly called the Madrid Codex, or Tro-Cortesianus, entered sustained European scholarly discussion during the nineteenth century after its component sections were associated and studied in Spain. Researchers debated its provenance, contents, and relationship to other Maya codices while lacking a reliable decipherment of Maya writing. Modern scholarship identifies it as an authentic pre-Columbian or early colonial-era Maya manuscript tradition, though dating and production history remain specialized questions. It provides a concrete case for studying manuscript transmission and changing authentication standards.