Cuacuauhtzin (c. 1410–1443) was an

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, composing in the

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

language, and lord of Tepechpan. Born around the year 1410, Cuacuauhtzin became lord when his father, Tencoyotzin died at a young age. As lord, he led his people to battle several times. The spoils from these exploits increased the prosperity of his town and were used to decorate his palace more lavishly. After giving a large gift to an important Mexica named Temictzin, Cuacuauhtzin married that man's daughter, Azcalxóchitzin, in the year 12-Flint (1440). Because Azcalxóchitzin was so young, Cuacuauhtzin did not immediately

consummate In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage to ...

their marriage. After their marriage,

Nezahualcoyotl Nezahualcoyotl may refer to: * Nezahualcoyotl (tlatoani), the ruler of Texcoco * Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, a city in the State of Mexico * Nezahualcóyotl metro station, in Mexico City * The Nezahualcóyotl Award, a literary prize in Mexico * Nezah ...

, ''

tlatoani ''Tlatoani'' ( , "one who speaks, ruler"; plural ' or tlatoque) is the Classical Nahuatl term for the ruler of an , a pre-Hispanic state. It is the noun form of the verb "tlahtoa" meaning "speak, command, rule". As a result, it has been various ...

'' of Texcoco, fell in love with Azcalxóchitzin and sent Cuacuauhtzin to the war against

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

. At Nezahualcoyotl's command, Cuacuauhtzin was ordered into the midst of the most dangerous fighting, so that he would be killed and Nezahualcoyotl could marry Azcalxóchitzin. Cuacuauhtzin found out this plot before he left for war and composed what is known as the "Song of Sadness" or "Sad Song." Addressed to a gathering of close friends, the poem deals with the betrayal of his lord and friend, Nezahualcoyotl, and the certainty of death: "Where would we go/that we never have to die?" He makes

apostrophe The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes: * The marking of the omission of one o ...

to Nezahualcoyotl by means of an

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

, Yoyontzin or "Panting One". He died in the year 3-Reed (1443) in battle against the Tlaxcalans. His biography is given by Ixlilxochitl. His songs appear in three different places in extant collections of

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

work.

References

1410 births 1443 deaths Aztec nobility Nahuatl-language poets {{Mexico-poet-stub Nobility of the Americas