Songs of the Lords of Anahuac

The codex called Romances de los señores de la Nueva España, usually translated Ballads of the Lords of New Spain, consists of forty-two folios on which thirty-six cuicatl—songs or ballads—were compiled in Nahuatl somewhere around 1582. This date is attested in the Relación of Juan Bautista de Pomar, which was attached to the collection. This collection of cuicatl is one of only two surviving codices that preserve Nahua poetry; the longer codex is known as Cantares Mexicanos (Songs of Mexico). The pieces selected by the compiler of Romances are mainly from the city-state of Tetzcoco, a member of the…