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the economic disruptions this would have caused. Thus Cortés was able to approach and enter the capital without serious opposition. |
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Within a week of entering the city, the Spaniards seized Moteuczomah Xocoyotl and held him prisoner.
25 Instead of resisting, the king submitted and even remained on friendly terms with the Spaniards, but the Aztecs saw this behavior as a sign of weakness. Moteuczomah Xocoyotl also ordered gold given to the Spaniards, and he imprisoned one of his close kinsmen in a nearby province who had refused to bring it.26 Criticism of the king began to mount, but too-vigorous denunciation was dangerous. King Cacama of Tetzcoco was both vocal and premature in his, and Moteuczomah Xocoyotl still wielded considerable power. He imprisoned Cacama and replaced him on the throne with Cuicuitzcatl.27 |
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Perhaps Moteuczomah Xocoyotl was biding his time, trying to find a way to bind the Spaniards to him politically and break their potentially dangerous alliance with Tlaxcallan. One traditional means of securing alliances was through marriages with Aztec nobles, and perhaps this was the reason Moteuczomah Xocoyotl offered Cortés one of his daughters in marriage. However, Cortés declined on the basis that he was already married.28 Whatever the truth of the matter, the king's internal support was crumbling. Even the priests grew opposed, declaring that the gods Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatl-Ihpoca had told them that the Spaniards were to be killed. Perhaps in an effort to sway him, Moteuczomah Xocoyotl warned Cortés of the threat and told him to leave, but in vain.29 |
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While holding Moteuczomah Xocoyotl prisoner, Cortés received word that another party of Spaniards had landed in Veracruz intent on arresting him, so Cortés left to deal with that threat. In his absence Pedro de Alvarado provoked a crisis that led to the Spaniards' expulsion from the city. During a festival to Huitzilopochtli the Spaniards attacked and massacred the noble celebrants, provoking a major battle.30 Despite Cortés's return, the fight was going badly for the Spaniards, so Moteuczomah Xocoyotl was brought before the people to order them to desist. But the king had appeared too weak for too long to have any remaining credibility, and in fact the ruling nobles had already replaced him as tlahtoani with another lord, Cuitlahuah (''Excrement-owner''),31 king of Ixtlapalapan. Moteuczomah Xocoyotl's orders were spurned, and in the ensuing fight he was killed. Spanish accounts contend that he was struck by stones thrown by the Aztecs;32 Indian accounts maintain that he was killed |
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