Painting of the Idols of the Temple of Huitzilopochtli, Mexico Tenochtitlan, 1539–1540: Strategies to Safeguard Legitimacy

Sacred bundles—tlaquimilolliin Nahuatl—were one of the main objects of veneration in Mesoamerican religion. These bundles made of cloth,amatepaper, or reed mat boxes contained a number of objects representing different deities and were the focus of great devotion.² However, beyond this reverence, the divine force that resided in the bundles was what legitimated the foundation of many Mesoamerican polities and their rulers’ authority. This latter aspect explains why, at the height of the conquest, the Central Mexican nobles hurriedly saved the sacred bundles that were at risk of being destroyed by the Spaniards. It is this