Don Andrés de Tapia Motelchiuh Huitznahuatlailótlac, also known as Motelchiuhtzin, was the ruler of Tenochtitlan (1525–1530).
After the death of Don
Juan Velázquez Tlacotzin in Nochixtlan in 1525,
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...
chose Don Andrés Motelchiuhtzin as the new ruler of
Tenochtitlan
, also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...
.
Motelchiuhtzin was not of the upper classes; he was born as a "
macehualli" or working commoner, but he had gained renown as a warrior captain. He was captured together with
Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler ('' tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, and the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle", an ...
, and
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
d along with him to reveal the location of the
Aztec
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...
s'
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
. Eventually he was freed and he returned to his lands.
Because Tenochtitlan was in ruins, he stayed in Nochixtlan. In the three years of Cortés expeditions, he had been ruling Tenochtitlan as ''cuauhtlatoani''. He would not be
tlatoani
''Tlahtoāni'' ( , "ruler, sovereign"; plural ' ) is a historical title used by the dynastic rulers of (singular ''āltepētl'', often translated into English as "city-state"), autonomous political entities formed by many pre-Columbian Nahuatl- ...
, but he would stayed as ''cuauhtlatoani'' two years more.
During his rule, the Aztec titles and decorations were suppressed by the Spanish rulers.
In 1530, Motelchiuhtzin went with the Spaniards to an expedition to Teocolhuacan, against the
Chichimeca
Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajío region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the same meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" tha ...
and in Aztatlan was wounded by a Chichimecan arrow while he was bathing, and died of the wound.
He left a son called Hernando de Tapia.
(Bowditch 1904) identifies this person simply as Motelchiuh, and says he was named for "his godfather, Don Andrés de Tapia Motelchiuh". This presumably refers to the Spanish conquistador Don
Andrés de Tapia, and probably should read "his godfather, Don Andrés de Tapia".
See also
*
List of Tenochtitlan rulers
This is a list of Mesoamerican rulers of the ''altepetl'' of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City) from its foundation in 1325 until the end of the line of indigenous rulers. From onwards, the rulers of Tenochtitlan were monarchs and used the title ' ...
References
*''
Anales de Tlatelolco'' (1540)
External links
Tenochca tlatoque
16th-century monarchs in North America
16th-century indigenous leaders of the Americas
16th-century Mexican people
Year of birth missing
1530 deaths
Spanish Indian auxiliaries
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