SUCCESSION TO THE QUICHÉ THRONE.
Respecting the order of succession to the Quiché throne Torquemada and Juarros state that the king's brother was the king elect, and the direct heir to the throne; the king's oldest son was the senior captain and the next heir; and the latter's first cousin, the nephew of the king, was junior captain and third heir. When the king died each heir was promoted one degree, and the vacant post of junior captain was filled by the nearest relative—whose nearest relative the authors neglect to say. Whoever may have been elevated to the vacant position the whole system as a regular order of succession would be a manifest absurdity. Brasseur de Bourbourg agrees with the authors cited and gives to the king, the elect, and the two captains the titles of Ahau Ahpop, Ahau Ahpop Camha, Nim Chocoh Cawek, and Ahau Ah Tohil, respectively; but when the last position was left vacant by the death of the king, the Abbé tells us that "it was conferred upon the eldest son of the new monarch,"—that is, upon the same man who held it before! Padre Ximenez implies perhaps that the crown descended from brother to brother, and from the youngest brother to a nephew who was a son of the oldest brother. I have no authorities by the aid of which to throw any light upon this confused subject; it is evident, however, that if the last-mentioned system, identical with that which obtained among some of the Nahua nations, be not the correct one, nothing whatever is known of the matter in question.[912]
All the authorities state that this remarkable system of succession was established to prevent the power from coming into the hands of young and inexperienced men; and that an incompetent person in the regular line could not succeed to the throne, but retained throughout his life the rank to which he was born. It is not clearly explained how the heir's competency was decided upon, but it seems probable that the matter was settled by the reigning king with the advice of his council of princes. The king's children by his first wife were preferred above the rest, though all received high honors. At Rabinal the Ahau, or ruling prince, was regularly chosen by the nobles, from the royal family, but was not necessarily a son or brother of the last ruler. Among the Cakchiquels the succession alternated between two royal families. The king's title was Ahpozotzil; the next heir from the other branch bore the title Ahpoxahil; their eldest sons, the elder of which became Ahpoxahil on the king's death, had the titles Ahpop Qamahay and Galel Xahil. Inferior titles were Galel Qamahay, Atzih Winak, and Ahuchan Xahil, the bearers of which succeeded to the throne in default of nearer heirs. It will be noticed that this plan of succession is but little clearer than that attributed to the Quichés.[913]
CORONATION IN GUATEMALA.
The ceremonies of coronation in the kingdom of Rabinal, and, so far as can be known, in the other kingdoms of Guatemala, consisted of an assemblage of all the nobles at the capital,—each being obliged to attend or send a representative—the presentation of gifts and compliments to the new king, a discourse of congratulation and advice addressed to him by one of the ancients, and finally a splendid feast which lasted several days and usually degenerated into a drunken orgy. The Quichés and Cakchiquels also bathed the new king and anointed his body with perfumes before seating him on the throne, which was a seat, not described, placed on a carpet or mat, and surmounted by four canopies of feather-work placed one above another, the largest at the top; the seats of the three lower princes already mentioned were also shaded by canopies, three, two, and one, respectively. Whenever he appeared in public the monarch was borne in a palanquin on the shoulders of the nobles who composed his council.[914]
The machinery of government was carried on in the provinces by lieutenants of the king's appointment, and the monarch was advised in all matters of state by a council of nobles. Juarros tells us that the supreme Quiché council was composed of twenty-four grandees, who enjoyed great privileges and honors, personally attended the king, and managed the administration of justice and the collection of the royal revenue, but were liable to severe punishment if they committed crime. Brasseur de Bourbourg speaks of a supreme council, giving the names of the princes that composed it, and also of an ordinary council whose members were called alchaoh, or 'judges,' and were entrusted with the collection of tribute. The other authorities, Torquemada and Ximenez, state that the councils were not permanent, but were summoned by the king and selected for their peculiar fitness to give advice upon the subject under consideration. The lieutenants had also their provincial councils to advise them in matters of local importance, but all cases of national import, or affecting in any way the nobles of high rank, were referred to the royal council. So great was the power of the nobles assembled in council, that they might, under certain conditions, depose a tyrannical sovereign and seat the next heir on the throne. No person unless of noble blood could hold any office whatever, even that of doorkeeper to the council-chamber, if we may credit Juarros; consequently the greatest pains was taken to insure a lineage free from any plebeian stain. A noble marrying a woman of the common people was degraded to her rank, took her name, and his estate was forfeited to the crown. Ximenez states that traveling officials visited from time to time the different provinces, to observe the actions of the regular judges, and to correct abuses.[915]
THE QUICHÉ NOBILITY.
The following is the Abbé Brasseur's account of the grades of nobility taken from the Quiché manuscript published under the title of Popol Vuh: "Three principal families having a common origin constituted the high nobility of Quiché, modeled on the ancient imperial family of the Toltecs. The first and most illustrious was the house of Cawek, the members of which composed the royal family proper; the second was that of Nihaïb; and the third that of Ahau Quiché. Each of these houses had its titles and charges perfectly distinct and fixed, which never left it, like the hereditary offices of the English court at the present time; and to each of these offices were attached fiefs, or particular domains, from which the titularies drew their revenue, their attendants, and their vassals, and a palace where they lived during their stay in the capital. The house of Cawek, or royal house proper, included only princes of the blood, like the eldest branch of the Bourbons in France. It was composed of nine chinamital, or great fiefs, whose names corresponded to those of the palaces occupied by these princes in the capital, and whose titles were as follows:—I. Ahau Ahpop, or 'lord of the princes,' title of the king, corresponding nearly to 'king of kings,' whose palace was called cuha; II. Ahau Ahpop Camha, or 'lord of the princes and seneschal' (camha, he who cares for the house, majordomo), whom the Spaniards called the second king, and whose palace was called tziquinaha, or 'house of birds;' III. Nim Chocoh Cawek, or 'grand elect of Cawek;' IV. Ahau Ah Tohil, or 'lord of the servants of Tohil,' priests of Tohil, the principal Quiché god; V. Ahau Ah Gucumatz, or 'lord of the servants of Gucumatz,' (priests of Quetzalcoatl); VI. Popol Winak Chituy, or president of the counsellors; VII. Lolmet Quehnay, the principal receiver of royal tributes, or minister of finance; VIII. Popol Winak Pahom Tzalatz Xcaxeba, or 'grand master of the hall of the council of the game of ball;' IX. Tepeu Yaqui, 'chief or lord of the Yaquis' (Toltecs, or Mexicans).
"The house of Nihaïb, the second in rank, had also nine chinamital, with names corresponding to their palaces, and titles as follows: I. Ahau Galel, 'lord of the bracelets,' or of those who have the right to wear them, and chief of the house of Nihaïb; II. Ahau Ahtzic Winak, 'lord of those who give,' or of those who made presents (especially to ambassadors, who were introduced by him); III. Ahau Galel Camha, 'lord of the bracelets, and seneschal;' IV. Nimah Camha, 'grand seneschal;' V. Uchuch Camha, 'mother of the seneschals;' VI. Nima Camha Nihaïb, 'grand seneschal of Nihaïb;' VII. Nim Chocoh Nihaïb, 'grand elect of Nihaïb;' VIII. Ahau Awilix, 'lord of Awilix' (one of the gods of the Quiché trinity); IX. Yacol Atam, 'grand master of feasts.'