TENANCACALTZIN USURPS THE THRONE.
Acolnahuacatl, the Tepanec king, seems to have supported the usurpation of Tenancacaltzin not from any feelings of friendship, but from ambitious motives for his own interests. He took no steps to accomplish the conquest of Tezcuco, but on the contrary soon began to plot against the usurping emperor. He made use of the Mexicans, who had suffered much from the people of Tenayocan and were eager for vengeance, to accomplish his purpose. Reinforced by some Tepanec troops in Aztec dress, they made several raids for plunder against Tenayocan and the adjoining towns. Thus provoked, Tenancacaltzin marched with an army to punish the robbers, but was met at Tepeyacac, where now the church of Guadalupe stands, by the Mexicans and Tepanecs combined, and utterly defeated. The conquered emperor fled to Xaltocan, expecting aid from the enemies of the Mexicans, but the princes of Xaltocan were also friends of Quinantzin, to whom they delivered Tenancacaltzin, but who refused to revenge his wrongs upon his uncle, and permitted him to leave the country. The Tepanec king took possession of Tenayocan and had himself declared emperor of the Chichimecs, Quinantzin apparently making at first no opposition, but awaiting a more favorable opportunity to regain his power.[VI-21]
QUINANTZIN CHICHIMEC EMPEROR.
I now come to the chain of events by which Quinantzin regained the imperial throne and a power surpassing that of any preceding monarch. The northern provinces of Meztitlan, Tulancingo, and Totoltepec, excited by the rebels Icuex and Ocotox, formerly banished by Quinantzin, raised the standard of revolt and marched to attack the capital. They were even joined by the four eldest sons of the king, according to Brasseur and Ixtlilxochitl, although other authorities make this rebellion a distinct and later affair, and disagree somewhat as to the time of the northern rebellion. Dividing his available force into four divisions, Quinantzin took command of one division, entrusting the others to his brothers Tochintzin, or Tochintecuhtli, and Nopaltzin, and to Huetzin II. of Coatlichan, while his son Techotl remained in command at Tezcuco. All the divisions were equally successful and the rebels were driven back with great loss. Nopaltzin killed Ocotox in personal combat but was himself killed later in the battle. The king's rebel sons had not actually taken part in the fight, and on offering their submission were, at the intercession of their mother, pardoned, on condition of leaving Anáhuac and joining the Teo-Chichimecs on the eastern plateau. This success in the north was not without its effect in the valley. Many cities that had declared their independence, or had become subjects of Acolnahuacatl, now offered anew their allegiance to the monarch of Acolhuacan at Tezcuco. Congratulations flowed in from Culhuacan and other friendly powers, with various plausible excuses for not having aided Quinantzin in his time of trouble. Prisoners taken during the war were released, and some of the lords of the northern provinces were even restored to their former positions on promise of future loyalty. Thus the wise king laid the foundations of future success. The pardoned sons of Quinantzin, before proceeding to Tlascala and Huexotzinco, joined the Teo-Chichimecs at Poyauhtlan. This people, by their encroachments, had made enemies of all the nations of Anáhuac; it is even said that they had instigated the northern revolt in the hope that the formation of a league against themselves might be prevented. But this hope was vain, and soon after Quinantzin's victory, they were attacked before their city by the united forces of the Tepanecs, Culhuas, Xochimilcas, and Mexicans. A battle ensued described as the most terrible ever fought in the valley, in which the Teo-Chichimecs held their ground, but which so exhausted the forces on both sides that it was long before any nation concerned was in condition to renew hostilities. The king of Acolhuacan seems not to have taken part in this struggle, perhaps because of the presence of his sons at Poyauhtlan and the fact that his relatives were ruling the Teo-Chichimecs in Tlascala. The state of affairs was now altogether favorable to Quinantzin, and after, as some authors state, another campaign against the northern provinces, he began to turn his attention toward his lost dominions about the lakes. The emperor Acolnahuacatl, at Tenayocan, seems to have clearly perceived that fortune favored his rival, and that in his exhausted condition since the battle at Poyauhtlan, he could not possibly defend either the imperial crown or even that of Azcapuzalco, and craftily resolved to voluntarily abandon his claims to the former in the hope of retaining the latter. His plans, as usual, were successful; Quinantzin accepted his proposition without any manifestation of ill-will, and was crowned emperor with the most imposing ceremonies in 1272, forming a friendly alliance with the kings of Culhuacan and Azcapuzalco, and becoming practically the master of Anáhuac. The Teo-Chichimecs soon after, by the advice of their god, and with the consent of the emperor, migrated eastward to Tlascala.[VI-22]
In his efforts to embellish his capital, and to restore his empire to the glory and his subjects to the culture of the ancient times, it has been stated that Quinantzin called in the aid of many Toltecs, showing them great favor. A few years after his accession, two of the Toltec tribes that had left the valley at the fall of the empire and settled on the coast of the Pacific in Oajaca, the Tailotlacs and Chimalpanecs, are said to have returned and to have been received by the emperor and granted lands in Tezcuco, after having stayed some time in Chalco. The new chiefs were even allowed to become allied by marriage to the royal family. The new-comers seem to have belonged to the partisans of Tezcatlipoca. Additional bands of Huitznahuacs, Tepanecs, Culhuas, and Mexicans, from distant lands, are also vaguely alluded to as having settled in Tezcuco, Azcapuzalco, and Mexico.[VI-23] About the same time the northern province of Tepepulco revolted, according to Torquemada,[VI-24] and was conquered by Quinantzin, spoken of as Tlaltecatzin by this and several other writers. The province was joined to the dominions of Tezcuco under a royal governor, its lord having been put to death. Another source of prosperity for Tezcuco seems to have been a fresh out-burst in Culhuacan of the old religious dissensions between the partisans of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, causing many of the inhabitants to make their homes in the Acolhua capital where they were gladly received; although Ixtlilxochitl tells us that Quinantzin erected no temples in his capital, and permitted the erection of none, being content, and obliging all the citizens to be so, with the simple religious rites of his Chichimec ancestors.[VI-25] Xihuiltemoc, a descendant of Acxitl, the last king of Tollan, was on the throne of Culhuacan at this time, and seems to have formed some kind of an alliance with the Mexicans at Chapultepec, and to have admitted to his city the worship of Huitzilopochtli—a fact that leads Brasseur to think that the Culhua king was a partisan of Tezcatlipoca, almost identical with Huitzilopochtli so far as the bloody rites in his honor are concerned.[VI-26] In the last years of the thirteenth century, about 1281, Xihuiltemoc was succeeded by Coxcoxtli whose mother is said to have been a Mexican, but who was a devoted partisan of Quetzalcoatl.[VI-27]
THE AZTECS LEAVE CHAPULTEPEC.
The Aztecs had, in the meantime, gained much in power, and although few in numbers, compared with the other nations, had, by their skill as warriors and the ferocity of their character, made themselves hated by all, becoming, indeed, the pests of Anáhuac, although nominally the allies of the Culhuas and Tepanecs. The story of their overthrow at Chapultepec is a brief one, as told by the Spanish writers. Copil, son of Huitziton's sister, the sorceress Malinalxochitl, had, as has been already related,[VI-28] been sworn by his mother to vengeance on the Mexicans. He now came to the lake region and used all his influence to excite the surrounding nations against his enemies, denouncing them as everything that is bad, and urging their extermination. Hearing of his plots, the priest Quauhtlequetzqui went with a party to Tepetzingo, where Copil was, killed him, tore out his heart and threw it into the lake. The place was known as Tlalcocomocco, and here afterwards sprang up the tunal which guided the Aztecs in founding their city; here was also a hot spring, called Acopilco. Immediately after this the Aztecs were attacked by many nations, chiefly the Culhuas and Chalcas, driven to Acoculco, amid the reeds of the lake, and many of their number carried captives to Culhuacan, among whom was their chief, Huitzilihuitl, who was sacrificed. Afterwards they were given, by the Culhuas, the district of Tizaapan, which abounded in snakes, lizards, etc., on which chiefly they lived, paying heavy tribute to the king of Culhuacan, and leading a very hard life for many years.[VI-29]
Brasseur throws much light upon the events of this period. It seems that the Aztecs provoked Copil's efforts for their destruction by two raids against Malinalco, which belonged to Culhuacan, and that the Mexicans treacherously drew the son of Malinalxochitl into their power by offering him the position of high-priest, according to a pretended revelation of Huitzilopochtli's will. His daughter, Azcaxochitl, was forced to become the mistress of Quauhtlequetzqui; all his nobles were taken prisoners, and a band of Culhuas who came to Tlalcocomocco soon after, were massacred. All the rulers of the valley, save, perhaps, Quinantzin, were soon leagued together for the destruction of these marauders and butchers. Huitzilihuitl made a valiant and long-continued defence, defeating the Tepanecs in a fierce battle, but exciting renewed horror by murdering and cutting in pieces Acolnahuacatl, king of Azcapuzalco, and formerly emperor. They were at last conquered through their rash bravery, since, while their army was fighting the Culhuas whom they had been challenged to meet, another body of the enemy took and burned Chapultepec, carrying off the surviving inhabitants as prisoners. The Mexican army was then defeated, nearly exterminated, and the remnants scattered in the lake marshes, while Huitzilihuitl was taken, and, with his daughter and sister, put to death in revenge for the murder of Copil and the Tepanec king. These events occurred about 1297. For two years the scattered Mexican remnants were subjected to every indignity, but in 1299, perhaps through the influence of Acamapichtli, his son and heir, Coxcoxtli was induced to grant this unfortunate people the small, barren, and serpent-infested isle of Tizaapan.[VI-30]
WAR WITH THE XOCHIMILCAS.
The Spanish writers do not imply that Acolnahuacatl, king of the Tepanecs, was killed by the Aztecs, or that he even fell in battle. His son, Tezozomoc, was heir to the throne, but as he was very young, his mother seems to have ruled as regent during his minority, and as she was the wife of Coxcoxtli, the power was practically in the hands of the Culhua monarch.[VI-31] Coxcoxtli thus saw his power in Anáhuac largely increased, but he was continually annoyed with petitions from the Mexicans for larger territory and permission to settle at various points in his dominions, and at the same time harassed by the encroachments of the Xochimilcas, particularly in the lake fisheries. He at last proposed to grant the requests of the Aztecs on condition that they would aid him in chastising the insolent and powerful Xochimilcas. The services of the followers of Huitzilopochtli were always in demand when there was fighting to be done. The secret plan of the king was to place the new allies in the front to receive the force of the attack; the heavier their loss the better, for his troops would have an easy victory, and a dead Aztec was a much less troublesome neighbor or subject than a live one. No arms were supplied to the allies, but their priests taught them to make shields of reeds, and arm themselves with clubs and obsidian knives. By a strange freak of fancy they resolved to retain no captives, though a reward was offered for them, but to disarm and release all they captured after having marked them by cutting off the right ear of each. The fury of their attack and their novel method of warfare struck terror into the hearts of the enemy, who were defeated and driven back to their capital in confusion, the Mexicans obtaining much plunder, and the Culhuas an extraordinary number of prisoners. Returning to Culhuacan, the Culhua braves proudly displayed their captives, ridiculing their allies, until the latter pointed out the lack of ears among the victims of Culhua valor, and calmly produced the missing features from their sacks; the effect was complete, and they carried off the honors of the day. Coxcoxtli was proud of such allies, their petitions were granted, and the two nations were also connected by intermarriage.[VI-32]