Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg

Abbé Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg (8 September, 1814 – 8 January, 1874) was a noted French writer, ethnographer, historian and archaeologist. He became a specialist in Mesoamerican studies, travelling extensively in the region. His writings, publications, and recovery of historical documents contributed much to the later understanding of the region's languages, writing, history and culture (in particular, that of the Maya and Aztec).

Identification of Maya codex

In 1866, Brasseur de Bourbourg had opportunity to examine an artefact in Madrid which was in the possession of a Spanish paleography professor named Juan de Tro y Ortolano, who had purchased it some six years earlier. This artefact was an old book, or codex, made from paper-bark in the form of a folded screen of continuous pages, several metres in length when extended. The codex contained numerous signs and drawings, which Brasseur de Bourbourg was readily able to identify as being Mayan in origin, having seen and studied many similar markings and glyphs whilst in Central America.

Related Topics:
1866 - Paleography - Codex

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Tro y Ortolano gave him permission to publish the codex in a reproduction, and Brasseur de Bourbourg duly gave it the name Troano Codex in his honour. His identification of the codex was significant, as it was the only third such Maya codex to have been uncovered (the second, the Paris codex, had been discovered by the French scholar Léon de Rosny only a few years before). Brasseur de Bourbourg in particular recognised its exceeding rarity, since in de Landa's la Relación which he had earlier rediscovered, de Landa gave an account of how he had ordered the destruction of all such Maya codices he could find, and many volumes had been consigned to the flames.

Related Topics:
Maya codex - Léon de Rosny

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In 1869 - 1870 Brasseur de Bourbourg published his analyses and interpretations of the content of the Troano codex, in his work Manuscrit Troano, etudes sur le systme graphique et la langue des Mayas. He put forward some proposed translations for the glyphs recorded in the codex, in part based on the associated pictures and in part on de Landa's alphabet, but his efforts were tentative and largely unsuccessful.

Related Topics:
1869 - 1870

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A few years later, another Maya codex came to light in the hands of another collector, which became known as the Cortesianus codex (in the belief that it had been in the possession of Hernán Cortés. When later examined by Léon de Rosny, he determined that it was actually a part of the Troano cortex, the two parts having been separated at some indeterminate point in the past. The two parts were later rejoined, and collectively are known as the Madrid or Tro-Cortesianus codex, and remain on display in Madrid.

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In 1871 he published his Bibliothque Mexico-Guatemalienne, a compendium of literature and sources associated with Mesoamerican studies.

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