Xicotencatl I or Xicotencatl the Elder (c. 11 House (1425) – c. 4 Rabbit (1522)) was a long-lived '' tlatoani'' (king) of

Tizatlan Tizatlan, in pre-Columbian Mexico, was one of the four independent altepemeh (polities, sing. altepetl) that constituted the confederation of Tlaxcallan. Today Tizatlan is a part of the modern city of Tlaxcala, and the Pre-Columbian city is visi ...

, a Nahua ''

altepetl The (, plural ''altepeme'' or ''altepemeh'') was the local, ethnically-based political entity, usually translated into English as "city-state," of pre-Columbian Nahuatl-speaking societiesSmith 1997 p. 37 in the Americas. The ''altepetl'' was co ...

'' within the

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 ...

confederacy of

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 ...

, in what is now

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Etymology

His

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 ...

name, pronounced , is sometimes spelled Xicohtencatl. In 1519 he was baptized as Lorenzo Xicotencatl or Don Lorenzo de Vargas.

Biography

At the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire he was very old and of poor health. He was instrumental in aligning the Tlaxcala with

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

' Spaniards.Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, Tlaxcalan historian Diego Muñoz Camargo wrote of him that he was more than 120 years old and that he could only see Cortés if he had someone lift his eyelids for him. He also writes that he had more than 500 wives and concubines and consequently a large number of children, including Xicotencatl II and the wife of

Jorge de Alvarado Jorge de Alvarado y Contreras (born c.1480 Badajoz, Extremadura, Spaindied Madrid 1540 or 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, brother of the more famous Pedro de Alvarado.Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, Biograph ...

- Doña Lucía. His great-grandson Captain Don Joaquin Buenaventura de la Paz was the founder of the Tlaxcalan settlement of San Esteban de Nueva Tlaxcala near Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico in the year 1591. When his son plotted to seize Tlaxcala in Chichimecatecle's absence during the

Siege of Tenochtitlan The Fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, was a decisive event in the Spanish conquest of the empire. It occurred in 1521 following extensive manipulation of local factions and exploitation of pre-existing political divisions ...

, Xicontencatl I told Cortés that "his son was wicked and he would not vouch for him, and begging Cortés to kill him." This Cortés ordered and Xicotencatl II was hanged.

Poetry

One song or poem attributed to Xicotencatl is known. It is recorded in the '' Cantares mexicanos'' (fols. 57v.–58r.), a collection of

songs probably compiled in the last third of the 16th century for Bernardino de Sahagún,León-Portilla (1992): pp. 25–26. and concerns the

flower war A flower war or flowery war ( nah, xōchiyāōyōtl, es, guerra florida) was a ritual war fought intermittently between the Aztec Triple Alliance and its enemies from the "mid-1450s to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519." Enemies included the ...

s conducted between Tlaxcala and the states of the Aztec Triple Alliance.

Notes

References

* 1420s births 1520s deaths Longevity myths Tlatoque Nahuatl-language poets Tlaxcaltec nobility {{Mexico-bio-stub Nobility of the Americas

Etymology

Biography

Poetry

See also

Notes

References