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Chapter 15
Moteuczomah Xocoyotl ''He-frowned-like-a-lord The-younger'' (Ruled 15021520) |
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News of Ahuitzotl's death in 1502 was sent by messengers throughout the empire.
1 Moteuczomah Xocoyotl, who was to be chosen as Ahuitzotl's successor, was in the valley of Tolocan, nine leagues (38 km. or 23 mi.) to the west, when he learned of the king's death (see fig. 30).2 |
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As was traditional, Moteuczomah Xocoyotl engaged in an early war. The targets were Nopallan and Icpatepec,3 which had refused to pay tribute to the Aztecs: Moteuczomah Xocoyotl gathered an army and marched to conquer them and take captives for his coronation (see map 19).4 There were other, undated, conquests in the area, but these probably occurred later, since this was a preinaugural raid with a specific and circumscribed purpose. |
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Messengers were sent two days ahead of the army to advise towns along the route of its coming so that supplies could be gathered.5 In advance of the battle soldiers entered the enemy towns at night to scout their fortifications and military preparations.6 The army was ordered to take the captives to Tenochtitlan rather than to kill them, but in the heat of battle the soldiers began killing everyone in Nopallan, and they burned the houses and temple. When the people called for mercy, Moteuczomah Xocoyotl ordered that the destruction cease and that the Nopaltecs and Icpatepecas bring tribute.7 Following the successful prosecution of this campaign Moteuczomah Xocoyotl was crowned in Tenochtitlan. The kings of Tlaxcallan, Huexotzinco, Cholollan, Tliliuhqui-Tepec, Michhuacan, Metztitlan, and the Huaxtecs secretly attended the coronation.8 Once in power, Moteuczomah Xocoyotl instituted major changes in Aztec society. Some of these may have been an attempt to absorb the grow- |
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