Moctezuma II

Moctezuma II (also Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin) (C. A.D.1466-1520) was an Aztec ruler or "huey tlatoani", c.1502–1520. He was the ruler when the Spanish conquest of Mexico began.

Name

The original Nahuatl form of his name was pronounced . It is a compound of a noun meaning "lord" and a verb meaning "to frown in anger", and so is interpretted as "he is one who frowns like a lord" or "he who is angry in a noble manner". It has been written with a wide variety of different spellings, the most common of which today are Montezuma and Moctezuma.

The use of a regnal number is only for modern distinction from the first Moctezuma, referred to as Moctezuma I. The Aztec chronicles called him Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, while the first was called Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina or Huehuemotecuhzoma "Old Moctezuma". Xocoyotzin, pronounced , means "honored young one".

Moctezuma becomes tlatoani

Moctezuma II, heir of Auitzotl, was the ruler of the city of Tenochtitlán.

The life of Moctezuma is full of contradictions. The personality of Moctezuma was more that of a scholar (tlamatini) than a warrior. He was a priest and the head of the Calmecac, the school of the upper classes. Before being Tlatoani, Moctezuma had lived a humble life.

Legend says he did not want to be a tlatoani. After he was elected in 1502, messengers were sent everywhere to look for him. They found him cleaning a temple, hiding from the messengers.

After being elected, Moctezuma created an elaborate ritual, so all the proscriptions and prohibitions regarding Moctezuma and his people, had been established by Moctezuma, and were not part of the traditional Aztec customs.

From the beginning, Moctezuma asserted his own personality. He dismissed most of the authorities, replaced them with his former students, and continued to give them lessons as if they were still his students. His general dislike of people led him to create an elaborate ritual to separate him from common people. Those prohibitions had already caused friction between Moctezuma and the pillis (upper classes).

In another tale, when Moctezuma took some corn from a field, an angry peasant reminded him, that he had forbidden that. Surprised by this, Moctezuma decided to elevate the macechualli to the rank of Tlatoque. The treatment he gave to a macehuialli (worker), contrasts with the prohibitions he had to the other pillis (upper classes). Most of the Aztec stories about Moctezuma, have one thing in common, he had a fear of the newcomers.

During his reign, Moctezuma increased Tenochtitlán's power to utterly dominate its sister cities of Texcoco and Tlatelolco. He created a special temple, dedicated to the gods of the conquered towns, inside the temple of Huitzilopochtli. He also built a monument dedicated to the tlatoani Tízoc, a ruler regarded as weak and inept, who may have been poisoned.

Portilla reminds us, that Sahagun's original text was written in Nahuatl by Aztecs and then censored in the Spanish version he wrote. For this reason, Portilla considered that the account written in the original Nahuatl has the greatest credibility.

Omens of Impending Destruction

In Mesoamerican beliefs, the world is always at the border of destruction after each calendar round cycle of 52 years, called "the tying of years"; at these times, they believed there was the possibility the world would end. The Spaniards arrived just at the end of one of these cycles. Bernardino de Sahagún (1499-1590) also recorded eight signs that appeared in Tenochtitlan the ten years prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and were interpreted as sign of a possible disaster:

A comet appeared in the sky during the day.
A pillar of fire (possibly the comet) appeared in the night sky.
The temple of Huitzilopochtli was destroyed by fire.
A bolt of lightning struck the Tzonmolco temple.
Tenochtitlan was flooded.
Strange people with many heads but one body were seen walking through that city.
A woman was heard weeping a dirge for the Aztecs.
A strange bird was caught. When Moctezuma looked into its mirror-like eyes, he saw unfamiliar men landing on the coast.

An account by Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc (1598) records a story of how Moctezuma sent emissaries to find the legendary wizard and prophet, Huemac, who, according to the legend had predicted the arriving of Quetzalcoatl one thousand years before. Moctezuma wanted to ask Huemac for protection and be his servant, so that he could avert the catastrophe predicted by these omens. Three times Moctezuma sent emissaries, and three times Huemac refused. Huemac recommended instead that Moctezuma abandon all luxuries, the flowers and the perfumes, make penance and eat the same food as the the macehualli (workers), and drink only boiled water, and maybe he would help him. To his anguish, Moctezuma was unable to obey the commandment. This is only a legend, but it reflects the inner fears of Moctezuma.

Contact with the Spanish

Also see: Hernan Cortés, Spanish Conquest of Mexico and Siege of Tenochtitlan

Moctezuma sends emissaries to the Spanish

In the spring of 1519, he received the first reports of aliens landing on the east coast of his empire. According to Aztec sources recorded by Sahagun, Moctezuma sent an ambassador with two costumes, one of Tlaloc, and another of Quetzalcoatl. Each Aztec god had his own attributes: Tlaloc had a mask that looks like it is wearing eye glasses; Quetzalcoatl had a mask with a beard. The Aztec ambassador, upon meeting the Spaniard Hernán Cortés, decided that the conquistador had the attributes of Quetzalcoatl, and dressed him like the god, then informed Moctezuma about it.

Cortés decided to march to Tenochtitlán. Moctezuma tried to prevent his approach, sending more gifts, but the lure of gold was irresistible to the Spaniards. Moctezuma also sent wizards, priests, and even one of his ambassadors, Tzihuacpopoca, who pretended to be the emperor. Moctezuma sent yet more presents when Cortés arrived near Tenochtitlán.

During his travel to Tenochtitlán, Cortés arrived at Tlaxcala where, thanks to Malintzin, he learned of the struggle between Tlaxcala and Tenochtitlan. Tlaxcala was a coalition of cities, and they were spared from being conquered by the Aztec, with the condition that they participate in the Flowery wars, also they had to pay heavy tributes, and they also suffered a commercial blockade. Because of this, the Tlaxcalteca leaders decided to become allies of the Spaniards and traveled with them to Tenochtitlán.

The massacre of Cholula

Cortés continued his journey. He arrived at Cholula, one of the most important prehispanic cities and allies to Moctezuma. Moctezuma had asked them to convince Cortez to not continue, but Cortés was conviced that there was a trap. Cholula was a sacred city and they believed their small army would defeat the Spaniards. Cortés, with the people of Tlaxcala took over Cholula and reportedly massacred about 5,000 people. As expected, the chronicles from the Tlaxcalteca and the Aztec differ on how it all started.

As the news of the massacre of Cholula spread, the people of most pre-Hispanic cities were terrified. On November 8, 1519, Moctezuma met Hernán Cortés, whom he believed to be Quetzalcoatl, either the god, or his priest Ce Acatl Topiltizin. When Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlán, Moctezuma honored him with flowers from his own garden, which was the greatest honor he could offer.

Moctezuma surrenders to Cortés

According to Aztec informants, recompilated by Sahagun after the conquest, Moctezuma surrendered all his command to Cortés: "My lord, you are weary: to the land you have arrived. You have come to your city: México, here you have come to sit on your place, on your throne. Oh, it has been reserved to you for a small time, it was conserved by those who have gone, your substitutes... This is what has been told by our rulers, those of whom governed this city, ruled this city. That you would came to ask for your throne, your place, that you would come here. Come to the land, come and rest: take possession of your royal houses, give food to your body. " Anomomous informants of Sahagún, Florentine codex, book XII, chapter XVI, translation by Angel Ma. Garibay

Cortés brings Aztec religious practices to a halt

When Cortés first saw the Sacrificial Chamber he asked if he could place a Cross and a picture of the Virgin Mary inside the chamber. Cortés ordered a halt to all human sacrifices: Moctezuma complied, the blood of the temple was scrubbed away, and the images of the Aztec gods were replaced with Christian icons. Moctezuma even agreed to be baptized and declared himself a subject of the Spanish king Charles I of Spain. Moctezuma received Cortés in the Axayacatl palace with all his men and 3,000 Indian allies.

Much speculation surrounds this subject: writers like León Portilla and Laurette Séjourné think that the Aztec upper classes were aware that they had betrayed the ideals of the religion of Quetzalcoatl. The levels of human sacrifice among the Aztecs were a result of the reforms of Tlacaelel. Moctezuma was a scholar (tlamatini) and certainly knew all this. Moctezuma was not a coward — in Aztec society he would not have risen to the position of tlatoani had he not demonstrated bravery — yet he acted with fear in the presence of Cortés. He submitted willingly to all the Spaniard's requests.

The Massacre in the Main Temple

See Main article: The Massacre in the Main Temple, Tenochtitlán

Cortés received news from the coast that a much larger party of Spanish under the command of Pánfilo de Narváez had arrived. Narváez had been sent by Governor Velázquez not only to supersede Cortés, but to arrest him and bring him to trial in Cuba for insubordination, mutiny and treason. Cortés left to deal with this threat. During Cortés's absence, deputy governor Pedro de Alvarado interrupted the Aztec celebration of Toxcatl, killing the most prominent people of the Aztec upper classes in what is known as "The Massacre in the Main Temple"; estimates of the death toll range from 350 to 1,000. Led by the Aztec nlobles, the Aztec people rose up in revolt. In response, the Spanish seized Moctezuma as a captive.

The Death of Moctezuma

On July 1, 1520, in an effort to assuage the raging mob, Moctezuma appeared on the balcony of his palace, appealing to his countrymen to retreat. The people were appalled by their emperor's complicity with the Spanish and pelted him with rocks and darts. He died a short time after the attack, but there are differing accounts of precisely how he died. According to Father Sahagun's Aztec informants, Alvarado "garrotted all the nobles he had in power", and they also reported, they found the body of Moctezuma in the street, three days after the killings, with sword wounds. Cortés reported he died wounded by a stone (in some history books, Cuautemoc was the culprit, but the source is not reported). In the Ramirez Codex, by an anonymous Christianized Aztec, he criticizes the Spanish priests, because instead of administering the last sacraments to Moctezuma, they were busy searching for gold.

Aftermath

The Spaniards had to flee from the city; they took refuge in Tlaxcala, and signed a treaty with them to conquer Tenochtitlan, offering to the Tlaxcalans to be free from any kind of tribute and the control of Tenochtitlan.

Moctezuma was then succeeded by his brother Cuitláhuac, who died shortly after from smallpox and was replaced by his adolescent nephew, Cuauhtémoc. By the following year, the Aztec empire had entirely succumbed to the Spanish. During this time of conquest, Moctezuma's daughter, Techichpotzin, became the heiress to the king's wealth with the name "Isabel," and would eventually marry several Spanish men. The title Moctezuma still is the name of a Spanish house.

References

External links

A reconstructed portrait of Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, based on historical sources, in a contemporary style.

Trivia

Montezuma's Revenge is the colloquial term for any episodes of travelers' diarrhea or other sicknesses contracted by tourists visiting Mexico.
The Mexico City metro system has a station named Metro Moctezuma in honour of the tlatoani.
Antonio Vivaldi also wrote an opera called "Motezuma"; it has little to do with the historical character.
The Conquerors has a campaign about his time period. Although the game's campaign is named "Montezuma", it's clear from the narration and action that Cuauhtémoc is the real protagonist, though he isn't a special character like El Cid or Joan of Arc.
Moctezuma II is a character in both the computer games Civilization IV and its predecessor, Civilization III, in both of which he is the leader of the Aztec civilization.
Moctezuma was not allowed to be looked at unless it was a festival. A person that looked at him would receive the death penalty.
He was so holy that he was carried around everywhere so that his feet would not touch common ground.
This Emperor Moctezuma may possibly have influenced the semi-divine figure of Montezuma common to the 19th century folklore of native tribes living in Arizona and New Mexico.
There is a reference to Montezuma in the song Cortez The Killer by Neil Young and Crazy Horse off of the Album Zuma(1975). The verse is as follows: "On the shore lay Montezuma, With his coca leaves and pearls, In his halls he often wandered with the secrets of the world."

Aztec people | 1466 births | 1520 deaths | Murdered monarchs | Mexican emperors

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