The death of Moctezuma (3)

24th Jul 2010

This is the concluding part of an article written specially for us by Professor Patrick Johansson (Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, UNAM, Mexico City). We’re delighted to be able to offer it in both Spanish and English versions. At the bottom of this page are the details of image sources for the complete article.

4. Table of comparison

The parallels and connections between Huémac’s heroic deed, the story of Motecuhzoma’s ‘flight’, and the accounts of historical events, establish in what ‘should have been’ a fully indigenous approach to what ‘was’. The arrival of the Spanish and Motecuhzoma’s end become entwined in a single text with its own essential truth, the only truth that can bridge random historical fate with the profound intensity of a human being and his soul. What follows is an attempt to compare the key elements that link the fates of Motecuhzoma and Huémac.

Motecuhzoma / Huémac

• Takes Quetzalcóatl’s seat in México-Tenochtitlan / Takes Quetzalcóatl’s seat in Tollan
• Tricked by the Spanish / Tricked by women-demons
• Accused of being the ‘mistress’ of the Spanish / Has relations with the women-demons
• The Spanish arrive from the East / The ‘demons’ come from the South (place of the soft fruit)
• Seats of zapote (soft fruit tree) leaves / ‘Place of the soft fruit’
• Ceases to be tlahtoani - replaced by Cuitláhuac and Cuauhtémoc / Ceases to play role of ‘Quetzalcóatl’ – replaced by Cuautli
• Cruel king / Introduces human sacrifice
• Haughty; loves riches / Haughty; scorns foods, preferring riches
• Cannot enter Cincalco / Cannot enter Cincalco
• Omens predicting the end of México / Omens predicting the end of Tollan
• Becomes anxious / Despairs
• Ends his kingdom / Ends his kingdom
• Wants to enter Cincalco / Enters Cincalco
• Wants to hang himself / Hangs himself

The essential difference between the two protagonists is that, While Moctezuma’s desire to enter Cincalco and commit suicide remains just a whim, Huémac fully succeeds.

In contrast to the uncertainty behind the historical facts, the myth only serves to strengthen the accounts suggesting that Motecuhzoma let himself die from his wounds. The fact that his cremation and burial should have taken place, according to Cervantes de Salazar, at Chapúltepec – that is, at Hueymacco, ‘place of Huémac’, in the cave of Cincalco – tends to confirm this hypothesis.

The intervention of the Tzoncoztli, Huizilopochtli’s image who prevents his suicide, could also be a mythical expression of what actually happened: Motecuhzoma intended to allow himself to die from his wound – a ‘passive’ suicide inspired by example – but the Spanish stopped him, stabbing him before fleeing México.

As the wheel of history moved inexorably on, the story that would give meaning to Moctecuhzoma’s death was slowly being woven, knitted to existing mythical sketches. Perhaps we’ll never know, with certainty, the exact circumstances in which the Mexica king died, but the documents we’ve referred to paint a picture of an indigenous death fit for the tragic life of the last tlahtoani of an empire in its death throes.

Very probably Motecuhzoma II is now wandering through the heavenly spaces of Cincalco, and each harvest of corn contains, in every ear, a little of his spirit. If he isn’t, then the Conquistadors robbed him, not only of his life and kingdom, but also of his own death.

Bibliography

• Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Fernando de, Obras Históricas I y II, México, U.N.A.M, I.I.H, 1975.
• Cervantes de Salazar, Francisco, Crónica de la Nueva España, prólogo de Juan Millares Ostos, México, Editorial Porrúa, 1985.
• Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo, Memorial breve acerca de la fundación de la Ciudad de Culhuacan. Estudio introductorio y edición de Victor Castillo, México, U.N.A.M., 1991. - Annales de Chimalpahin en Rémi Siméon, Sixième et Septième Relations (1258-1612), Maisonneuve et Ch. Leclerc Editeurs, París, 1889.
• Clavijero, Francisco J. Historia antigua de México, México, Editorial Delfín, 1944.
• Cortés, Hernán, Cartas y Documentos, México, Editorial Porrúa, 1963.
• Códice Chimalpopoca (Anales de Cuauhtitlan y Leyenda de los Soles), traducción del náhuatl de Primo Feliciano Velázquez, tercera ed., México, UNAM, 1992.
• Códice Florentino, (Testimonios de los informantes de sahagún). Facsímile elaborado por el Gobierno de la República Mexicana, México, Giunte Barbera, 1979.
• Códice Tudela, Madrid, Ediciones Cultura Hispánica del Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana, 1980
• Durán, Diego, Historía de las Indias de Nueva España e islas de Tierra Firme. (dos tomos), México, Editorial Porrúa, 1967.
• Glass, John B., Catálogo de la Colección de Códices, México, Museo Nacional de Antropología, 1964.
• Graulich, Michel, Montezuma, Paris, Fayard, 1994.
• Johansson, Patrick, Xochimiquiztli “la muerte florida”. El sacrificio humano entre los antiguos nahuas (dos tomos), México, Editorial McGraw-Hill, abril 2005.
• ------- “Motecuhzoma II. Crónica de una muerte anunciada” en Caravelle, Vol. 70, Toulouse, Université de Toulouse Le Miral, 1998.
• Sahagún, fray Bernardino de, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, México, Editorial Porrúa, 1989.
• Tezozómoc, Alvarado Hernando, Crónica Mexicana, México, Editorial Porrúa, 1980.

Image sources (complete article):-

• ‘The death of Moctezuma (1)’: all photos by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore, except Pic 8 - photo by Ana Laura Landa/Mexicolore
• Scans from the Codex Mendoza (original in the Bodleian Library, Oxford) taken from our own copy of the 1938 James Cooper Clark (London) facsimile edition
• Scans from the Florentine Codex (original in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence) scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994
• ‘The death of Moctezuma (2)’: Pic 1 from Wikipedia
• Scan from the Codex Borbonicus (original in the Bibliotheque de l’Assembée Nationale, Paris) taken from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition, Graz, Austria, 1974
• ‘The death of Moctezuma (3)’: all photos by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore

Comments (5)

Moctezuma Daniel

26th Aug 2020

I made it this far in my search. There is so much I want to say & feel.
I’m an American-Mexican with the last name in Southern California. I was born on the day of the Ocelotl. I have gone back & time again to the homeland : D.F. , Tepeyac, Michoacán, Hidalgo, Acapulco...to visit what there is left of family but only now am I appreciating things in context. I’m doing my best, without the help of my distant family to regain everything I can before it’s more late. I am learning Náhuatl, studying any & all organically sourced lectures on our history & people. I am a musician & teacher of children. I am an activist & community leader in my city of Santa Ana.
All my life...I give myself entirely to the preservation of this vision. To spread the positivity I can & shed light to those listening about the history of our people. We will never be forgotten. My heart bleeds for the old spirits.
—MA XIPAHTINEMI MEXICATLACA. TLAZOHTLA !

Mexicolore

We can feel your energy and commitment! Keep it up and good luck in your quest... Thanks for writing to us.

andrea wasson

12th Jul 2017

As a Mexican i.e. mestiza, I will cry for his death, which was more than cruel. I will cry for Montezuma till the end of my life .Mil gracias.

YOLQUIAHUITL

18th Nov 2014

We know from our oral traditions that Moctecuhzoma Xocoyotzin Chimalpopoca was killed by the spaniards.
In the picture concerning his supposed ‘shackling’ by the spaniards it is his feet being nailed together. This was a common practice carried out by the spaniards especially on the women they were going to rape. We had been waiting and wondering on the absence of his presence and we began to question and become angry.
Our tlahtoahni was already dead when his body was presented to us from the temple to speak. He was propped up with a pole that the spaniards forced into his rectum as a final attempt to control the anger of the people who had demanded to see our tlahtoani.
We clearly saw that he was dead and began to hurl stones and the spaniards. They were able to escape the city at night. The body of our tlahtoani was carried out for the funeral ritual. He is still loved to this day for his directness and firm tenacity to uplift justice.
We have oral traditions that can never be overcome by investigative research. The truth resides with the people macehua’litzli. Thank you.

Xochitl

21st Oct 2013

Great article! I think that Montezuma was seriously wounded by the Aztecs, but the Spaniards finished him off.

tecpaocelotl

27th Jul 2010

Great article.
What I believed happened was the Mexica people threw stones at Moctezuma, but the Spanish killed him.