According to the Florentine Codex, in 1430 Itzcoatl, fourth emperor the Aztecs (4th Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan), who ruled from 1427 or 1428 to 1440, ordered the burning of all pictographic codices, in which the early history of the Aztecs was recorded. This allowed the early Aztec state to develop a state-sanctioned history and mythos that venerated Huitzilopochtli. a Mesoamerican deity of war, sun, human sacrifice and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan.
