Moctezuma also known by a number of variant spellings including
Montezuma,
Moteuczoma,
Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early
NahuatlNahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
texts as
Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin,
was the ninth
tlatoaniTlatoani is the Nahuatl term for the ruler of an altepetl, a pre-Hispanic state. The word literally means "speaker", but may be translated into English as "king". A is a female ruler, or queen regnant....
or ruler of
Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520. The first contact between Indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign, and he was killed during the initial stages of the
Spanish conquest of MexicoThe Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...
, when
ConquistadorConquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
Hernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
and his men fought to escape from the Aztec capital
Tenochtitlan.
During his reign the Aztec Empire reached its maximal size. Through warfare, Moctezuma II expanded the territory as far south as
XoconoscoSoconusco is a region of the Mexican state of Chiapas, located in the extreme south of the state and separated from Guatemala by the Suchiate River. It is a region of rich lowlands and foothills. The economic center is Tapachula. Soconusco consists of 16 municipalities.The name comes from the...
in
ChiapasChiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
and the
Isthmus of TehuantepecThe Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route...
, and incorporated the
ZapotecThe Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca of southern Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows their culture goes back at least 2500 years...
and Yopi people into the empire. He changed the previous
meritocraticMeritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or...
system of social hierarchy and widened the divide between
pipiltinThe Pipiltin were the noble social class in the Mexica Empire.These people were members of the hereditary nobility and occupied the top positions in the government, the army and the priesthood...
(nobles) and
macehualtinThe mācēhualtin were the commoner social class in the Mexica Empire.During the reign of Moctezuma II , they were banned from serving in the royal palaces, as this monarch widened the divide between pipiltin and macehualtin....
(commoners) by prohibiting commoners from working in the royal palaces.
The portrayal of Moctezuma in history has mostly been colored by his role as ruler of a defeated nation, and many sources describe him as weak-willed and indecisive. The biases of some historical sources make it difficult to understand his actions during the Spanish invasion.
His many children included Isabel Moctezuma — and son
ChimalpopocaChimalpopoca is identified by some sources as a son of the Tlatoani Moctezuma II, not be confused with an earlier Aztec ruler of the same name. According to some authors he was taken out of Tenochtitlan as a prisoner with other noble men by the...
and
TlaltecatzinTlaltecatzin, according to some sources, was a son of the Aztec tlatoani Moctezuma II. In the Noche Triste he was taken out of Tenochtitlán as a prisoner with other Aztec noble men, also prisoners, one of them was his brother Chimalpopoca...
(not to be confused with the previous huey tlatoani).
Name
The Nahuatl pronunciation of his name is motekʷˈsoːma. It is a compounds of a noun meaning "lord" and a verb meaning "to frown in anger", and so is interpreted as "he is one who frowns like a lord" or "he who is angry in a noble manner."
His
name glyphA glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....
, shown in the upper left corner of the image from the Codex Mendoza above, was composed of a
diademDiadem may refer to:*Diadem, a type of crown-Military:*HMS Diadem was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line in the Royal Navy launched in 1782 at Chatham and participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1787...
(
xiuhuitzolli) on straight hair with an attached earspool, a separate nosepiece and a
speech scrollA speech scroll, also called a banderole in Western art history, is an illustrative device used to denote speech, song, or, in rarer cases, other types of sound....
.
Regnal number
The use of a regnal number is only for modern distinction from the first Moctezuma, referred to as
Moctezuma IMoctezuma I , also known as Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, Huehuemotecuhzoma or Montezuma I , was the fifth Aztec emperor - king of Tenochtitlan...
, because even if the latter was the great-grandparent of the former, there was no dynastic succession among the Aztecs. The Aztec chronicles called him
Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, while the first was called
Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina or
Huehuemotecuhzoma ("Old Moctezuma").
Xocoyotzin (ʃokoˈjotsin) means "honored young one".
The sources of Moctezuma's biography
The descriptions of the life of Moctezuma are full of contradictions, and thus nothing is known for certain about his personality and rule.
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
The first hand account of
Bernal Díaz del CastilloBernal Díaz del Castillo was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards for Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés.-Early life:...
's
True History of the Conquest of New Spain paints a portrait of a noble leader who struggles to maintain order in his kingdom after he is taken prisoner by
Hernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
. In his first description of Moctezuma, Díaz del Castillo writes:
"The Great Montezuma was about forty years old, of good height, well proportioned, spare and slight, and not very dark, though of the usual Indian complexion. He did not wear his hair long but just over his ears, and he had a short black beard, well-shaped and thin. His face was rather long and cheerful, he had fine eyes, and in his appearance and manner could express geniality or, when necessary, a serious composure. He was very neat and clean, and took a bath every afternoon. He had many women as his mistresses, the daughters of chieftains, but two legitimate wives who were
CaciqueCacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
s
[Cacique]Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
is a hispanicized word of Caribbean origins, meaning "hereditary lord/chief" or "(military) leader". After first encountering the term and office in the Caribbean, conquest-era writers such as Díaz often used it to describe indigenous rulers generally. in their own right, and only some of his servants knew of it. He was quite free from sodomy. The clothes he wore one day he did not wear again till three or four days later. He had a guard of two hundred chieftains lodged in rooms beside his own, only some of whom were permitted to speak to him." (Díaz del Castillo 1568/1963: 224–25)
When Moctezuma was allegedly killed by being stoned to death by his own people "Cortés and all of us captains and soldiers wept for him, and there was no one among us that knew him and had dealings with him who did not mourn him as if he were our father, which was not surprising, since he was so good. It was stated that he had reigned for seventeen years, and was the best king they ever had in Mexico, and that he had personally triumphed in three wars against countries he had subjugated. I have spoken of the sorrow we all felt when we saw that Montezuma was dead. We even blamed the
MercederianThe Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives also known as Our Lady of Ransom is a Roman Catholic religious order established in 1218 by St...
friar for not having persuaded him to become a Christian." (Díaz del Castillo 1568/1963: 294)
Bernardino de Sahagún
The
Florentine CodexThe Florentine Codex is the common name given to a 16th century ethnographic research project in Mesoamerica by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. Bernardino originally titled it: La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana...
, made by
Bernardino de SahagúnBernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain . Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec...
and his native informants of
Tenochtitlan-subjugated Tlatelolco, generally portrays Tlatelolco and Tlatelolcan rulers in a favorable light relative to the Tenocha, and Moctezuma in particular is depicted unfavorably as a weak-willed, superstitious, and indulgent ruler (Restall 2003). Historian James Lockhart suggests that the people needed to have a scapegoat for the Aztec defeat, and Moctezuma naturally fell into that role.
Hernándo Cortés
Unlike Bernal Díaz, who was remembering his memories many years after the fact,
CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
wrote his
Cartas de relación (
Letters from Mexico) in the moment in order to justify his actions to the Spanish Crown. His prose is characterized by simple descriptions and explanations, along with frequent personal addresses to the
King- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
. In his Second Letter, Cortés describes his first encounter with Moctezuma thus:
"Mutezuma [sic] came to greet us and with him some two hundred lords, all barefoot and dressed in a different costume, but also very rich in their way and more so than the others. They came in two columns, pressed very close to the walls of the street, which is very wide and beautiful and so straight that you can see from one end to the other. Mutezuma came down the middle of this street with two chiefs, one on his right hand and the other on his left. And they were all dressed alike except that Mutezuma wore sandals whereas the others went barefoot; and they held his arm on either side." (Translation:
Anthony PagdenAnthony Robin Dermer Pagden is an author and distinguished professor of political science and history at the University of California, Los Angeles.-Biography:...
1986:84)
Cortés' truthfulness and motives have been called into question by many scholars. Anthony Pagden and Eulalia Guzmán (
Relaciones de Hernán Cortés 1958:279) have pointed the Biblical messages that Cortés seems to ascribe to Moctezuma's retelling of the legend of Quetzalcoatl as a vengeful
MessiahA messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
who would return to rule over the
MexicaThe Mexica were a pre-Columbian people of central Mexico.Mexica may also refer to:*Mexica , a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling*Mexica , a 2005 novel by Norman Spinrad...
. Pagden has written that "There is no preconquest tradition which places
QuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
in this role, and it seems possible therefore that it was elaborated by
SahagúnBernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain . Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec...
and Motolinía from informants who themselves had partially lost contact with their traditional tribal histories" (Pagden 1986:467)
Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc
Fernando Alvarado TezozómocFernando or Hernando Alvarado Tezozómoc was a colonial Nahua noble. A son of Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin and Francisca de Moctezuma , Tezozómoc worked as an interpreter for the Real Audiencia...
, who wrote the
Crónica MexicayotlThe Crónica Mexicayotl is a chronicle of the Aztec empire that was written in the Nahuatl language by Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc around 1598. Given that its author belonged to the Aztec royal lineage, the manuscript documents the Aztec version of the history of central Mexico. It was written in...
, was a grandson of Moctezuma II and his chronicle mostly relates the genealogy of the Aztec rulers. He describes Moctezuma's issue and counts that Moctezuma had nineteen children – eleven sons and eight daughters.
Depiction in early post-conquest literature
Some of the Aztec stories about Moctezuma describe him as being fearful of the Spanish newcomers, and some sources, such as the
Florentine codexThe Florentine Codex is the common name given to a 16th century ethnographic research project in Mesoamerica by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. Bernardino originally titled it: La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana...
, comment that the Aztecs believed the Spaniards to be gods and Cortés to be the returned god
QuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
. The veracity of this claim is difficult to ascertain, but recently ethnohistorians specialising in early Spanish/Nahua relations have discarded it as post-conquest mythicalisation.
Much of the idea of Cortés being seen as a deity can be traced back to the Florentine Codex written down some 50 years after the conquest. In the codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Cortés, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorial Nahuatl, a speech which as described verbatim in the codex (written by Sahagún's Tlatelolcan informants who were probably not eyewitnesses of the meeting) included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as, "You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you," and, "You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth." Matthew Restall argues that Moctezuma politely offering his throne to Cortés (if indeed he did ever give the speech as reported) may well have been meant as the exactly opposite of what it was taken to mean: politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority. This speech has been a factor in fostering the belief that Moctezuma was addressing Cortés as the returning god
QuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
. Other parties have also propagated the idea that the Native Americans believed the conquistadors to be gods: most notably the historians of the
FranciscanMost Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
order such as
FrayA friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
Gerónimo de MendietaFray Gerónimo de Mendieta , alternatively Jerónimo de Mendieta, was a Franciscan missionary and historian, who spent most of his life in the Spanish Empire's new possessions in Mexico and Central America....
. Some Franciscan priests held millenarian beliefs and the natives taking the Spanish conquerors for gods was an idea that went well with this theology.
Bernardino de SahagúnBernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain . Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec...
, who compiled the Florentine Codex, was also a Franciscan priest.
Mythical accounts of omens and Moctezuma's superstition
Bernardino de SahagúnBernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain . Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec...
(1499–1590) mentions eight events, occurring prior to the arrival of the Spanish, which were interpreted as signs of a possible disaster, e.g. a comet, the burning of a temple, a crying ghostly woman, and others. Some speculate that the Aztecs were particularly susceptible to such ideas of doom and disaster because the particular year in which the Spanish arrived coincided with a "tying of years" ceremony at the end of a 52-year cycle in the Aztec calendar, which in Aztec belief was linked to changes, rebirth and dangerous events. The belief of the Aztecs being rendered passive by their own superstition is referred to by Matthew Restall as part of "The Myth of Native Desolation" to which he dedicates chapter 6 in his book
Seven Myths of the Spanish ConquestSeven Myths of the Spanish Conquest is a 2003 non-fiction book by ethnohistorian Matthew Restall which exposes seven myths about the Spanish colonization of the Americas that have come to be widely believed to be true...
. These legends are likely a part of the post-conquest rationalisation by the Aztecs of their defeat, and serve to show Moctezuma as indecisive, vain, and superstitious, and ultimately the cause of the fall of the Aztec Empire.
Ethnohistorian Susan Gillespie has argued that the Nahua understanding of history as repeating itself in cycles also led to a subsequent rationalisation of the events of the conquests. In this interpretation the description of Moctezuma, the final ruler of the Aztec Empire, was tailored to fit the role of earlier rulers of ending dynasties - for example Quetzalcoatl, the mythical last ruler of the
ToltecThe Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology...
s. In any case it is more than likely that the description of Moctezuma in post-conquest sources was largely coloured by his role as a monumental closing figure of Aztec history.
Contact with the Spanish
First interactions with the Spanish
In 1517, Moctezuma received the first reports of Europeans landing on the east coast of his empire; this was the expedition of
Juan de GrijalvaJuan de Grijalva was a Spanish conquistador. Some authors said he was from the same family as Diego Velázquez.He went to Hispaniola in 1508 and to Cuba in 1511....
who had landed on
San Juan de UlúaSan Juan de Ulúa, also known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa is a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico.-History:...
, which although within
TotonacThe Totonac people resided in the eastern coastal and mountainous regions of Mexico at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519. Today they reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the Pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained...
territory was under the auspices of the Aztec Empire. Moctezuma ordered that he be kept informed of any new sightings of foreigners at the coast and posted extra watch guards to accomplish this. (Díaz del Castillo 1963: 220).
When Cortés arrived in 1519, Moctezuma was immediately informed and he sent emissaries to meet the newcomers, one of them known to be an Aztec noble named Tentlil in the Nahuatl language but referred to in the writings of Cortés and Bernal Díaz del Castillo as "Tendile". As the Spaniards approached Tenochtitlan they made an alliance with the
TlaxcaltecThe Tlaxcalteca were an indigenous group of Nahua ethnicity that inhabited the Kingdom of Tlaxcala located in what is now the Mexican state of Tlaxcala.-Pre-hispanic history:...
a, who were enemies of the Aztec Triple Alliance, and they helped instigate revolt in many towns under Aztec dominion. Moctezuma was aware of this and he sent gifts to the Spaniards, probably in order to show his superiority to the Spaniards and Tlaxcalteca.
On November 8, 1519, Moctezuma met Cortés on the causeway leading into Tenochtitlan and the two leaders exchanged gifts. Moctezuma gave Cortés the gift of an Aztec calendar, one disc of crafted gold and another of silver. Cortés later melted these down for their material value (Díaz del Castillo 1963: 216–19).
Host and prisoner of the Spaniards
Moctezuma brought Cortés to his palace where the Spaniards lived as his guests for several months. Moctezuma continued to govern his empire and even undertook conquests of new territory during the Spaniards' stay at Tenochtitlan.
At some time during that period Moctezuma became a prisoner in his own house. Exactly why this happened is not clear from the extant sources. The Aztec nobility reportedly became increasingly displeased with the large Spanish army staying in Tenochtitlan, and Moctezuma told Cortés that it would be best if they left. Shortly thereafter Cortés left to fight
Pánfilo de NarváezPánfilo de Narváez was a Spanish conqueror and soldier in the Americas. He is most remembered as the leader of two expeditions, one to Mexico in 1520 to oppose Hernán Cortés, and the disastrous Narváez expedition to Florida in 1527....
and during his absence the
massacre in the main templeThe massacre in the Main Temple of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was an episode in the Spanish conquest of Mexico which occurred on May 10, 1520....
turned the tense situation between the Spaniards and Aztecs into direct hostilities, and Moctezuma became a hostage used by the Spaniards to assure their security.
[See the account of Moctezuma's captivity, as given in Díaz del Castillo (1963, pp. 245–299).]
Death
In the subsequent battles with the Spaniards after Cortés' return, Moctezuma was killed. The details of his death are unknown, with different versions of his demise given by different sources.
In his
Historia,
Bernal Díaz del CastilloBernal Díaz del Castillo was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards for Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés.-Early life:...
states that on July 1, 1520, the Spanish forced Moctezuma to appear on the balcony of his palace, appealing to his countrymen to retreat. The people were appalled by their emperor's complicity and pelted him with rocks and darts. He died a short time after that. Bernal Díaz gives this account:
"Barely was [the emperor's speech to his subjects] finished when a sudden shower of stones and darts descended. Our men who had been shielding Montezuma had momentarily neglected their duty when they saw the attack cease while he spoke to his chiefs. Montezuma was hit by three stones, one on the head, one on the arm, and one on the leg; and though they begged him to have his wounds dressed and eat some food and spoke very kindly to him, he refused. Then quite unexpectedly we were told that he was dead."
Cortés similarly reported that Moctezuma was stabbed by his countrymen. On the other hand, the indigenous accounts claim that he was killed by the Spanish prior to their leaving the city.
Some modern scholars, such as Matthew Restall (2003), prefer the indigenous accounts over the Spanish ones. They surmise that the Spanish killed Moctezuma once his inability to pacify the Aztec people had made him useless.
Aftermath
The Spaniards were forced to flee the city and they took refuge in Tlaxcala, and signed a treaty with them to conquer Tenochtitlan, offering to the Tlaxcalans freedom from any kind of tribute and the control of Tenochtitlan.
Moctezuma was then succeeded by his brother
CuitláhuacCuitláhuac or Cuitláhuac was the 10th tlatoani of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan for 80 days during the year Two Flint ....
, who died shortly after during a
smallpoxSmallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
epidemic. He was succeeded by his adolescent nephew,
CuauhtémocCuauhtémoc was the Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521...
. During the siege of the city, the sons of Moctezuma were murdered by the Aztec, possibly because they wanted to surrender. By the following year, the Aztec empire had entirely succumbed to the Spanish.
Following the conquest, Moctezuma's daughter
TechichpotzinDoña Isabel Moctezuma was a daughter of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II. After the Spanish conquest, Doña Isabel was recognized as Moctezuma's legitimate heir, and became one of the Mexican Indians granted an encomienda. Among the others were her half-sister Leonor Moctezuma, and Juan Sánchez, an...
was considered the heiress to the king's wealth following Spanish customs and given the name "Isabel". She was married to different conquistadors who laid claim to the heritage of the Aztec emperor.
Descendants in Mexico and the Spanish nobility
Moctezuma had many wives and concubines by whom he fathered an enormous family. Though the exact number of his children is unknown and the names of most of his children were lost to history, according to a Spanish chronicler by the time he was taken captive Moctezuma had fathered 100 children (including dozens of sons) and fifty of his wives and concubines were then in some stage of pregnancy, though this estimate may have been exaggerated. As Aztec culture made class distinctions between the children of senior wives, lesser wives, and concubines, not all of his children were considered equal in nobility or inheritance rights.
Several lines of descendants exist in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
through Moctezuma II's son and daughters, notably Tlacahuepan Ihualicahuaca, or
Pedro MoctezumaDon Pedro Moctezuma Tlacahuepan Ihualicahuaca was a son of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II and María Miyahuaxochtzin, the daughter of Ixtlilcuecahuacatzin, ruler of Tollan....
and Tecuichpo Ixcaxochitzin, or Isabel Moctezuma.
The grandson of Moctezuma II, Pedro's son, Ihuitemotzin, baptized as
Diego Luis de Moctezuma, was brought to Spain by King
Philip IIPhilip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
. There he married Francisca de la Cueva de Valenzuela. In 1627, their son Pedro Tesifón de Moctezuma was given the title
Count of Moctezuma (later altered to
Moctezuma de Tultengo), and thus became part of the Spanish nobility. In 1766, the holder of the title became a
Grandee of SpainGrandee is the word used to render in English the Iberic high aristocratic title Grande , used by the Spanish nobility; Portuguese nobility, and Brazilian nobility....
. In 1865 (coincidentally during the
Second Mexican EmpireThe Second Mexican Empire was the name of Mexico under the regime established from 1864 to 1867. It was created by Napoleon III of France, who attempted to use the Mexican adventure to recapture some of the grandeur of earlier Napoleonic times...
) the title, which was held by Antonio María Moctezuma-Marcilla de Teruel y Navarro, 14th Count of Moctezuma de Tultengo, was elevated to that of a
DukeA duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
, thus becoming
Duke of MoctezumaDuke of Moctezuma de Tultengo is a hereditary title in the Spanish nobility held by a line of descendants of Emperor Moctezuma II, the ninth Tlatoani, or ruler, of Tenochtitlan. Since 1766 the title has been attached to a Grandeza de España, or a place in the Spanish peerage — the highest honor...
, with
de Tultengo again added in 1992 by
Juan Carlos IJuan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
.
Another of Moctezuma's daughters, Princess Xipaguacin Moctezuma, married Juan de Grau, Baron of Toleriu, one of Cortés's senior officers, who took her back to Spain with an entourage of
MexicaThe Mexica were a pre-Columbian people of central Mexico.Mexica may also refer to:*Mexica , a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling*Mexica , a 2005 novel by Norman Spinrad...
where she died in the Mountain village of Toleriu, near
AndorraAndorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, in 1537. There are many descendants of this House of Grau-Moctezuma de Toleriu in Spain today.
Guillermo III de Grau Moctezuma, the head of the Aztec Imperial House died on November 16, 1999 without children or siblings. By his will, he made Don Jose Moscardo Vercher the heir of the Aztec Crown, with the title of His Imperial and Royal Highness Jose I.
Other holders of Spanish noble titles that descend from the Aztec emperor include Dukes of Ahumada, Counts of Miravalle, Duke of Abrantes, Condes de la Enjarada, Condes de Alba de Yeltes, and Dukes of Atrisco. The Dukes of Alba also descend from these lines. Many Spanish families without noble titles also descend from the numerous branches of the families of the children of Moctezuma II.
Descendants of these families included
General Jerónimo Girón-Moctezuma, 3rd Marquis de las AmarilasJerónimo Morejón Girón-Moctezuma, 3rd Marquis de las Amarillas, born 7 June 1741 at Málaga and died 17 October 1819 at Seville, became a general officer in the army of the Kingdom of Spain and commanded division-sized combat units during the War of the Pyrenees in 1793 and 1794. Though he attained...
, a 9th generation descendant of Moctezuma II, who was commander of the Spanish forces at the
Battle of Fort CharlotteThe Battle of Fort Charlotte or the Siege of Fort Charlotte was a two-week siege conducted by Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez against the British fortifications guarding the port of Mobile during the American Revolutionary War...
, and his grandson, Francisco Javier Girón y Ezpeleta, 2nd duque de Ahumada and 5th marqués de las Amarillas who was the founder of the
Guardia CivilThe Civil Guard is the Spanish gendarmerie. It has foreign peace-keeping missions and maintains military status and is the equivalent of a federal military-status police force. As a police force, the Guardia Civil is comparable today to the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri and the...
in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Native American mythology and folklore
Many Native American peoples are reported to worship deities named after the Aztec ruler, and often a part of the myth is that someday the deified Moctezuma shall return to vindicate his people. In Mexico the modern day
PameThe Pame are an indigenous people of central Mexico living in the state of San Luis Potosí. They call themselves Xi'úi. They speak the Pame language, which belongs to the Oto-Pamean group of the Oto-Manguean language family....
s, the
OtomiThe Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...
, Tepehua,
TotonacThe Totonac people resided in the eastern coastal and mountainous regions of Mexico at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519. Today they reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the Pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained...
and Nahua peoples are reported to worship earth deities named after Moctezuma. The name also appears in Tzotzil Maya ritual in
ZinacantánSan Lorenzo Zinacantán is a municipio in the southern part of the Central Chiapas highlands in the Mexican state of Chiapas. About 98% of its population are Tzotzil Maya, an indigenous people with linguistic and cultural ties to other highland Maya peoples.Zinacantán literally means "land of bats"...
where dancers dressed as a raingod are called "Moctezumas"
A mythological figure of the
Tohono O'odhamThe Tohono O'odham are a group of Native American people who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert of the southeastern Arizona and northwest Mexico...
people of Northern Mexico and some
Pueblo peopleThe Pueblo people are a Native American people in the Southwestern United States. Their traditional economy is based on agriculture and trade. When first encountered by the Spanish in the 16th century, they were living in villages that the Spanish called pueblos, meaning "towns". Of the 21...
of New Mexico and Arizona by the name
MontezumaMontezuma was the name of a heroic-god in the mythology of certain Amerindian tribes of the Southwest United States, notably the Tohono O'odham and Pueblo peoples — not to be confused with the two historical Aztec Emperors of the same name in Mexico, Moctezuma I and Moctezuma II.-Tohono O'odham...
, can possibly be traced back to the Aztec ruler.
Hubert Howe BancroftHubert Howe Bancroft was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote and published works concerning the western United States, Texas, Mexico, Central America, British Columbia and Alaska.-Biography:...
, writing in the 19th century (
Native Races, Volume #3), speculated that the name of the historical Aztec Emperor Moctezuma had been used to refer to a combination of different cultural heroes who were united under the name of a particularly salient representative of Native American identity.
Symbol of indigenous leadership
As a symbol of resistance towards Spanish the name of Moctezuma has been invoked in several indigenous rebellions.
One such example was the rebellion of the Virgin Cult in
ChiapasChiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
in 1721, where the followers of the Virgin Mary rebelled against the Spanish after having been told by an apparition of the virgin that Moctezuma would be resuscitated to assist them against their Spanish oppressors. In the Quisteil rebellion of the Yucatec Maya in 1761 the rebel leader
Jacinto CanekJacinto Canek, or Jacinto Uc de los Santos was an 18th-century Maya revolutionary who fought against the Spanish in the Yucatán Peninsula of New Spain....
reportedly called himself "Little Montezuma".
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