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Antonio Valeriano (his Indian name is unknown) was among the first – and was certainly the most illustrious – of the Indians to assimilate the dominant Spanish culture in the first decades after the Conquest of New Spain. Although a noble birth is disputed, he married into the family of Moctezuma and rose to the position of juez-gobernador (administrator of an Indian district) first of Azcapotzalco (his home town) and then of San Juan Tenochtitlan, which latter post he held until some time in the 1590's.  Among his intellectual accomplishments, he was renowned as a linguist and for the major role he played in assisting fray Bernardino de Sahagún in the latter's extensive project of collecting and recording information about the fast-vanishing indigenous cultures. Sahagún described him as "el principal y más sabio" (the main and most learned) of his native collaborators. Valeriano also taught at the prestigious Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco at which he had studied, and he taught Nahuatl to Franciscan friars, including the future historian fray Juan de Torquemada who praised his various skills. No less notable is his presumed authorship of the Nican Mopohua, a masterpiece of literary Nahuatl and a core text in the development of the tradition of the Marian apparitions to Juan Diego at Tepeyac which initiated the celebrated cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He died in 1605 and was accorded an imposing funeral, the details of which were recorded by Juan de Torquemada, who attended them.

Early life and education
There is no record of Valeriano's birth, but Sahagún, Torquemada and Juan Bautista all assert that his place of origin was Azcaputzalco. He was one of the first students at the prestigious Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco founded by the civil authorities with the cooperation of Juan de Zumárraga, the first bishop of México, and of the Franciscan missionaries who initially ran it. The institution was founded specifically for the education of the sons of caciques and other Indian notables. Although the foundation charter was not granted until 1536 when new premises (funded by viceroy Mendoza) were erected adjacent to the convent of Santiago at Tlatelolco, the College had opened to pupils in 1533 at the convent of San Francisco in Mexico City. Boys were accepted from as early as their eighth year, from which it is deduced that Valeriano was born around 1525, although other dates are also credited.

It has been said that the College was founded for the purpose of training young Indian boys for the Catholic priesthood, which, if true, would mean that Valeriano was initially destined for the Church, but scholars are not in agreement that the College was founded with this intent. After graduating, he taught both at the College and at the convent of Santiago.

Linguistic
His skill as linguist and stylist (he was a master not only of Nahuatl but also of Spanish and Latin) was applauded by Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, Professor of Rhetoric at the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico in a work published in 1554, and by the Franciscan historian Juan de Torquemada in a work published in 1615.

Judge
Legal proceedings which had been initiated by the guardian of the heirs of a wealthy female merchant (una pochteca acaudalada) against Doña María Coatonal, niece of Don Diego Mendoza de Austria Moctezuma (one of the most famous colonial governors of Santiago Tlatelolco), came for adjudication before Don Diego's father, Don Juan de Austria, who was, at that time (1588), governor of Tlatelolco. Don Juan found in favour of the plaintiff but eventually, after much complex litigation, the Real Audiencia remitted the case to Valeriano, as governor of México, who found in favour of the defendant, Doña María Coatonal.