Moctezuma Xocoyotzin . ( – 29 June 1520), retroactively referred to in European sources as Moctezuma II, and often called Montezuma,Other variant spellings include Motekwsomah, Moteksomah, Motecuhzomahtzin, Moteuczomah, Motecuhzomah, Motēuczōmah, Moctezuma and Mutecçuma was the ninth emperor of the Aztec Empire (also known as the Mexica Empire), reigning from 1502 or 1503 to 1520. Through his marriage with Queen Tlapalizquixochtzin of Ecatepec, one of his two wives, he was also the king consort of the altepetl.
The first contact between the indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during Moctezuma's reign. He was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire when Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador, and his men seized the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. During his reign, the Aztec Empire reached its greatest size. Through warfare, Moctezuma expanded the territory as far south as Xoconosco in Chiapas and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and incorporated the Zapotec and Yopi people into the empire. He changed the previous meritocratic system of social hierarchy and widened the divide between pipiltin (nobles) and macehualtin (commoners) by prohibiting commoners from working in the royal palaces.
Though two other Aztec rulers succeeded Moctezuma after his death, their reigns were short-lived and the empire quickly collapsed under them. Historical portrayals of Moctezuma have mostly been colored by his role as ruler of a defeated nation. The Spanish have described him as weak-willed, superstitious, and indecisive. However, authentic depictions of his person among his contemporaries are divided; some depict him as one of the greatest leaders Mexico had, a great conqueror who tried his best to maintain his nation together at times of crisis, while others depict him as a tyrant who wanted to take absolute control over the whole empire. Accounts of how he died and whether Spaniards or natives killed him differ. The story of the Aztecs remains one of the most well-known conquest narratives from the history of European contact with Native Americans, and Moctezuma has been mentioned or portrayed in numerous works of historical fiction and popular culture.
Name
The Classical Nahuatl pronunciation of his name is . It is a compound of a noun meaning 'lord' and a verb meaning 'to frown in anger', and so is interpreted as 'he frowns like a lord' or 'he who is angry in a noble manner'. His name glyph, shown in the upper left corner of the image from the Codex Mendoza below, was composed of a diadem () on straight hair with an attached earspool, a separate nosepiece, and a speech scroll.British Museum Exhibition Guide for Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler (2009)
Regnal number The Aztecs did not use regnal numbers; they were given retroactively by historians to more easily distinguish him from the first Moctezuma, referred to as Moctezuma I. The Aztec chronicles called him , while the first was called or ('Old Moctezuma'). () means 'honored young one' (from 'younger son' + suffix added to nouns or personal names when speaking about them with deference).
Biography
Ancestry and early life
Moctezuma II was the great-grandson of Moctezuma I through his daughter Atotoztli II and her husband Huehue Tezozómoc (not to be confused with the Tepanec leader). According to some sources, Tezozómoc was the son of emperor Itzcóatl, which would make Moctezuma his great-grandson, but other sources claim that Tezozómoc was Chimalpopoca's son, thus nephew of Itzcóatl, and a lord in Ecatepec. Moctezuma was also Nezahualcóyotl's grandson; he was a son of emperor Axayácatl and one of Nezahualcóyotl's daughters, Izelcoatzin or Xochicueyetl. Two of his uncles were Tízoc and Ahuizotl, the two previous emperors.
As was customary among Mexica nobles, Moctezuma was educated in the calmecac, the educational institution for the nobility. He would have been enrolled into the institution at a very early age, likely at the age of five years, as the sons of the kings were expected to receive their education at a much earlier age than the rest of the population. According to some sources, Moctezuma stood out in his childhood for his discipline during his education, finishing his works correctly and being devout to the Aztec religion.
Moctezuma was an already famous warrior by the time he became the tlatoani of Mexico, holding the high rank of tlacatecuhtli (lord of men) and/or tlacochcalcatl (person from the house of darts) in the Mexica military, and thus his election was largely influenced by his military career and religious influence as a priest, as he was also the main priest of Huitzilopochtli's temple.
One example of a celebrated campaign in which he participated before ascending to the throne was during the last stages of the conquest of Ayotlan, during Ahuizotl's reign in the late 15th century. During this campaign, which lasted 4 years, a group of Mexica pochteca merchants were put under siege by the enemy forces. This was important because the merchants were closely related to Ahuizotl and served as military commanders and soldiers themselves when needed. To rescue the merchants, Ahuizotl sent then-prince Moctezuma with many soldiers to fight against the enemies, though the fight was brief, as the people of Ayotlan surrendered to the Mexica shortly after he arrived.
Approximately in the year 1490, Moctezuma obtained the rank of tequihua, which was reached by capturing at least 4 enemy commanders.
Coronation
The year in which Moctezuma was crowned is uncertain. Most historians suggest the year 1502 to be most likely, though some have argued in favor of the year 1503. A work currently held at the Art Institute of Chicago known as the Stone of the Five Suns is an inscription written in stone representing the Five Suns and a date le 11 reed, which is equivalent to 15 July 1503 in the Gregorian calendar. Some historians believe this to be the exact date on which the coronation took place, as it is also included in some primary sources. Other dates have been given from the same year; Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl states that the coronation took place on 24 May 1503. However, most documents say Moctezuma's coronation happened in the year 1502, and therefore most historians believe this to have been the actual date.
Reign
After his coronation, Moctezuma set up thirty-eight more provincial divisions, largely to centralize the empire. He sent out bureaucrats, accompanied by military garrisons, who made sure tax was being paid, national laws were being upheld and served as local judges in case of disagreement.
Internal policy Natural disasters Moctezuma's reign began with difficulties. In the year 1505, a major drought resulted in widespread crop failure, and thus a large portion of the population of central Mexico began to starve. One of the few places in the empire not affected by this drought was Totonacapan, and many people from Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco sought refuge in this region to avoid starvation. Large amounts of maize were brought from this area to aid the population. Moctezuma and the lords of Texcoco and Tlacopan, Nezahualpilli, and Totoquihuatzin, attempted to aid the population during the disaster, including using all available food supplies to feed the population and raising tributes for one year. The drought and famine ultimately lasted three years, and at some point became so severe that some noblemen reportedly sold their children as slaves in exchange for food to avoid starvation. Moctezuma ordered the tlacxitlan, the criminal court of Tenochtitlan (which aside from judging criminals also had the job of freeing "unjustified" slaves), to free those children and offer food to those noblemen. Another natural disaster, of lesser intensity, occurred in the winter of 1514, when a series of dangerous snowstorms resulted in the destruction of various crops and property across Mexico.
Policies and other events during his reign During his government, he applied multiple policies that centered the government of the empire on his person, though it is difficult to tell exactly to which extent those policies were applied, as the records written about such policies tend to be affected by propaganda in favor of or against his person.
According to Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, among Moctezuma's policies were the replacement of a large portion of his court (including most of his advisors) with people he deemed preferable, and increasing the division between the commoner and noble classes, which included the refusal to offer certain honors to various politicians and warriors for being commoners. He also prohibited any commoners or illegitimate children of the nobility from serving in his palace or high positions of government. This was contrary to the policies of his predecessors, who did allow commoners to serve in such positions.
Moctezuma's elitism can be attributed to a long conflict of interests between the nobility, merchants, and warrior class. The struggle occurred as the result of the conflicting interests between the merchants and the nobility and the rivalry between the warrior class and the nobility for positions of power in the government. Moctezuma likely sought to resolve this conflict by installing despotist policies that would settle it. However, it is also true that many of his elitist policies were put in place because he did not want to "work with inferior people", and instead wanted to be served by and interact with people he deemed more prestigious, both to avoid giving himself and the government a bad reputation and to work with people he trusted better. However, some of his policies also affected the nobility, as he had intentions of reforming it so that it would not pose a potential threat to the government; among these policies was the obligation of the nobility to reside permanently in Tenochtitlan and abandon their homes if they lived elsewhere.
Regarding his economic policies, Moctezuma's rule was largely affected by natural disasters in the early years. As mentioned before, the famine during his first years as tlatoani resulted in a temporary increase in tribute in some provinces to aid the population. Some provinces, however, ended up paying more tribute permanently, most likely as the result of his primary military focus shifting from territorial expansion to stabilization of the empire through the suppression of rebellions. Most of the provinces affected by these new tributary policies were in the Valley of Mexico. For example, the province of Amaquemecan, which formed part of the Chalco region, was assigned to pay an additional tribute of stone and wood twice or thrice a year for Tenochtitlan's building projects. This tributary policy eventually backfired, as some of the empire's subjects grew disgruntled with Moctezuma's government and launched rebellions against him, which eventually resulted in many of these provinces—including Totonacapan (under the de facto leadership of Chicomacatl), Chalco and Mixquic (which were near Tenochtitlan)—forming alliances with Spain against him.
The famine at the beginning of his rule also resulted in the abolishment of the huehuetlatlacolli system, which was a system of serfdom in which a family agreed to maintain a tlacohtli (slave or serf) perpetually. This agreement also turned the descendants of the ones who agreed into serfs.
During his campaign against Jaltepec and Cuatzontlan (see below), he made negotiations with the Tlatelolca to obtain the weapons and resources needed. As a result of these negotiations, Tlatelolco was given more sovereignty; they were permitted to rebuild their main temple which was partially destroyed in the Battle of Tlatelolco in a civil war during Axayácatl's reign, act largely independently during military campaigns, and be absolved from paying tribute.