It is now time to return to Juarros' version of Quiché history during the reigns of the first kings, although there is little hope of connecting it at any point with the versions already presented. Nima Quiché, who directed the people in their migration to these Guatemalan regions, ceded to his brother the command of the Mames and Pokomams, and at his death left his son Acxopal, or Acxopil, king of the Quiché tribes. This monarch, either by the increase of his people or by his conquests among the aboriginal tribes soon found himself master of the provinces now called Sololá, Chimaltenango, and Sacatepeques, with a part of Quezaltenango and Totonicapan. In his old age his empire seemed to him too vast and the duties of government too burdensome for his failing strength. He consequently divided his empire into three domains, keeping for himself that of the Quichés, giving that of the Cakchiquels to his oldest son Xiuhtemal, or Jiutemal, and that of the Zutugils to his second son Acxoquauh, or Acxiquat; the brother who ruled over the Mames and Pokomams is not named here. The bounds given by Juarros to the three kingdoms of the empire are substantially the same as those of the peoples speaking the same languages at the time of the Conquest, and were doubtless ascertained from the condition of affairs in the sixteenth century rather than from ancient records or traditions.
After the division it was not long before ambition began to produce what Juarros terms its usual results. Acxoquauh, king of the Zutugils, found his domain too small and wished to extend its limits to the detriment of his brother, Xiuhtemal. With this intent he marched at the head of a large army to the Cakchiquel frontiers, but was forced to retire to his fortified stronghold on Lake Atitlan, where the contest raged for many days until a truce was brought about by the aged Acxopal. Xiuhtemal took advantage of the peace to fortify his capital at Tecpan Guatemala, but during the extreme old age of his father he was called to direct affairs at the Quiché capital, and succeeded to the imperial throne at his father's death, putting his own eldest son on the Cakchiquel throne. Still fearful of his brother, his first care was to fortify the Quiché capital,—which Juarros represents as having been Utatlan from the first—building, among other extensive works, the castle of Resguardo.[XI-39] His precautions seem not to have been unnecessary, for Acxoquauh soon recommenced the war, fighting particularly for the possession of the whole territory about the lake, which seems to have been in some way divided between the three monarchs. The war continued, with but brief intervals, throughout the reign of Xiuhtemal and during a part of that of Hunahpu, his son, who succeeded him. Nothing further is recorded of Hunahpu's reign, save that he distinguished himself by introducing the cultivation of cacao and cotton.[XI-40]
Except in the general statement that the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Zutugil kingdoms formed a kind of alliance at this early period, a conclusion to which the other records have also led us, the version given by Juarros, from Fuentes, has apparently nothing in common with the others; and I shall not attempt to conjecture what may have been the source whence the names of kings given by these authors were derived. There is no room for hesitation in deciding which records are the more reliable. Brasseur in one place, after narrating the foundation of Izmachi, suddenly declares that with Qocavib and Nima Quiché the symbolic recitals cease and history begins, and then goes on for a few pages with an account of Acxopal and his division of the empire between his two sons, apparently accepting the version of Juarros, except in the name of the capital at the foundation of the empire. But shortly after, he abandons this for the other version, as follows: "The first king of Toltec race who appears after Acxopal is Xiuhtemal, who in his turn seems to have placed his son on the throne of Quauhtemalan, (Tecpan Guatemala, the Cakchiquel capital). According to more authentic documents, it is Balam II. of the house of Cawek, who succeeds Qocavib. Except the struggles mentioned by Fuentes, we find nothing about this prince or his predecessor, after the foundation of Izmachi," etc. Thus he implies that Qocavib was identical with Acxopal, and Balam Conache with Xiuhtemal. We hear no more of the names given by Juarros until we have the statement by the same author respecting Hunahpu that "everything favors the opinion that he is the same who reigned under the glorious name of Gucumatz," without any attempt to account for the intermediate kings of the Quichés, Cotuha and Iztayul. Consequently as I am inclined to suspect, "everything favors the opinion" that the worthy abbé has introduced the names Acxopal, Xiuhtemal, and Acxoquauh, from Fuentes solely because they are apparently Nahua names and therefore may add some force to his Toltec theory, and has then got rid of them as expeditiously as possible.[XI-41]
GUCUMATZ AT UTATLAN.
The first care of Gucumatz was to restore the ancient buildings of Utatlan and to add to the city's old-time splendor by the erection of new and magnificent temples in honor of the gods. "There they built their houses in great numbers, and there also they built the house of the god in the centre of the city at the most elevated point, where they placed it when they came to establish themselves in that place. Then their empire was much enlarged, and when their numbers were already considerable, their great families took counsel together, and were subdivided." When the quarrels which had formerly threatened their empire were at last terminated "they carried into effect what had been resolved upon, and the royalty was divided among twenty-four grand houses or families." "There they increased in greatness, having thus gloriously united their thrones and their principalities; the titles of all their honors having been distributed among the princes, there were formed nine families with the nine princes of Cawek, nine with the princes of Nihaïb, four with the princes of Ahau Quiché, and two with the lords of Zakik. They became very numerous, and numerous were those that followed each of the princes; they were the first at the head of their vassals, and many families belonged to each of the princes. We shall now tell the titles of these princes and of each of the great houses." Then follows a list of titles, substantially the same that I have given in a preceding volume, when treating of the Quiché governmental system.[XI-42]
"Thus were completed the twenty-four princes and the twenty-four great houses; then was multiplied the power and majesty in Quiché; then was strengthened and extended its grandeur, when the city and its ravines were built up with stone and mortar and covered with cement. Both great and little nations came under the power of the king, contributing to the Quiché glory; power and majesty sprang up, and the house of the god was built as well as the houses of the princes. But it was not they who built them; they did no work, neither constructing the temple of their god, nor their own buildings, for all was done by their vassals, whose numbers were multiplied. It was not by stratagem nor by force that these vassals were brought in; for truly each one belonged to some one of the princes, and great was the number of their brothers and relatives who gathered to hear what the princes commanded. Truly were they loved and esteemed, and great was the glory of the princes. Veneration kept pace with their renown, and with the lords were multiplied the dwellers in the ravines round about the city. Thus nearly all the nations surrendered themselves, not through war and force directed against them in their ravines and cities, but by reason of the marvels wrought by their kings, Gucumatz and Cotuha.
REIGN OF GUCUMATZ.
Verily, this Gucumatz became a most marvelous king. In seven days he mounted to the skies—ascended the mountain heights—and in seven days he descended to the region of Xibalba.[XI-43] In seven days he took upon himself the nature and form of a serpent, and again of an eagle, and of a tiger; and in seven days he changed himself into coagulated blood. Truly the existence of this wonderful prince filled with terror all the lords that came before him. The knowledge thereof was spread abroad; all the nations heard of this prodigious king. And this was the origin of the Quiché grandeur, when the king Gucumatz wrought these signs of his power. The remembrance of his grandsons and sons was not lost—or, as Ximenez renders it, he did not lack descendants, both sons and grandsons. He had not done these things merely that there might be a royal worker of miracles, but as a means of ruling all nations, and of showing himself to be the only chief of the peoples. This prodigious king Gucumatz was of the fourth[XI-44] generation of kings, Ahpop and Ahpop Camha. He left descendants who also reigned with majesty and begat children who did many things. Thus were begotten Tepepul and Iztayul, whose reign made the fifth generation. They were kings, and each generation of these princes begat sons."[XI-45]
It is seen by the preceding account of Gucumatz' reign that this king fully accomplished his object in transferring the capital to Utatlan. By removing his court to this ancient city he aroused the pride of all the tribes of Quiché race, and revived their traditional recollections of a glorious past; by restoring the ancient temples and by erecting new ones he enlisted the religious enthusiasm of the whole country in his favor. The universal interest in the new enterprise caused the former dissensions between rival nobles to be for a time forgotten. All these circumstances combined to create for Gucumatz a higher degree of popularity than he had ever before enjoyed; and when he felt sufficiently strong with the people, he still further fortified his position by a partial reconstruction of his empire. By the establishment of twenty-four houses of nobility he not only made partisans of those who were the recipients of new honors, but effectually checked the ambition of the leading nobles, whose quarrels had at one time threatened his sovereignty. Two of the new dignities were given to the family of Zakik, to which belonged the priest of the ancient temple of Cahbaha at Utatlan; and he gave the titles Ahau-Ah-Tohil and Ahau-Ah-Gucumatz, or high-priests of Tohil and Quetzalcoatl, to members of his own family, thus firmly attaching the priesthood to his own interests. Each of the newly created princes was required to have a palace in the capital and to reside there during a certain part of each year; in fact the policy pursued by Gucumatz resembles in many points that which we have seen pursued by the Chichimec emperor Techotl in Anáhuac as noted in a preceding chapter. There are no data from which to determine the extent of Gucumatz' domain; the descent to Xibalba may indicate that the Palenque region was subjected to his power, or simply that he was wont to spend in the tierra caliente a portion of each year. Brasseur believes that from this period the Ahpop Camha of the Quichés spent his time chiefly in the Zutugil capital at Atitlan.[XI-46]
CAKCHIQUEL HISTORY.