Year of 7-House (1473), month of Tecuilhuitontli, day of 5-Rain. The Great Temple of Tlatelolco. Tlatoani Moquihuix made his last stand against the Tenochca army.
The death of Moquihuix and subsequent defeat of Tlatelolco was one of the pivotal moments in Mexica history. Dozens of chronicles and codices, written by both Spanish and indigenous authors, recount the event. Although details often vary, one thing is consistent: Moquihuix’s fall from the Great Temple.
Axayacatl’s army advanced fast through Tlatelolco before any of the promised assistance for Moquihuix from the other cities arrived. In less than a day, the king and his closest advisors were forced to take their final stand on the Great Temple of Tlatelolco. Then Moquihuix died after falling from the top of the temple. However, the sources make it nearly impossible to reconcile the further details.
According to Diego Duran and Alvarado Tezozomoc, who used Tenochca sources, it was Axayacatl himself who threw Moquihuix from the temple. Juan de Torquemada, who primarily relied on Tetzcoca accounts, claimed that Moquihuix was barely clinging to life after being fatally wounded in the fall. Tenochca soldiers brought him to Axayacatl to offer him as a sacrificial victim. However, Moquihuix died before Axayacatl could open his chest. On the other hand, several sources state that the unfortunate Tlatelolca ruler threw himself from the temple.
These discrepancies show that the culprit of Moquihuix’s fall was a secondary issue for indigenous historians. It was the fall itself that was paramount. So, why was his fall so important in Mexica history? It’s because the entire story is designed to invoke their founding myth.
According to the Codex Florentine, a woman named Coatlicue miraculously became pregnant after a ball of feathers fell on her at the temple of Coatepec (‘Mountain of Serpents’). Her daughter Coyolxauhqui, along with her 400 brothers, saw this as a disgrace and vowed to kill her. They armed themselves one night and marched toward the summit of Coatepec. However, when they arrived at the top, Huitzilopochtli emerged fully armed from his mother’s womb. He defeated all of his siblings and threw their bodies off the mountain. They landed at the bottom, dead and dismembered. In this allegory, Huitzilopochtli is the sun rising from the earth in the morning, obliterating the moon (Coyolxauhqui) and stars (brothers).
Many historians interpret the legend of Coatepec as a model for the historical narrative of the conquest of Tlatelolco. It’s easy to see the parallel. Moquihuix and Coyolxauhqui both fell from the temple/mountain. Furthermore, Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco both saw their main temple as another Coatepec. They reenacted their patron deity’s first victory by the ritual execution of prisoners at the summit of the temple/sacred mountain.
Although the Mexica civil war and death of Moquihuix were real, indigenous authors chose to heavily mythologize them. In Mesoamerican historiography, the distinction between history and myth was blurry. Historians frequently resorted to mythical structures to fill gaps in their information. They also believed that history is cyclical, so the same events were expected to occur again. However, the first and foremost factor to the ‘rewriting’ of Moquihuix’s fall was propaganda.
The primary role of indigenous historians was to extol their city’s accomplishments. Extreme bias and ethnocentrism were the norm, so each city-state had its own version of history. In this context, Tenochca historians intentionally compared Axayacatl and Moquihuix to Huitzilopochtli and Coyolxauhqui. Therefore, Moquihuix’s defeat was made to be foreshadowed in the timeless story that every Mexica knew.
However, that doesn’t mean that Moquihuix had no reason to ascend the temple in real life. The temples were the most heavily fortified sites in the city, so the strongest resistance was often concentrated around the temple precinct. The temple precincts also housed the armories, so for the defending army it was crucial to secure them for extra supplies. This is why in Mesoamerica, setting a fire on the town's main temple was the ultimate sign of victory. Adding to this, Moquihuix had no time to flee the city due to the Tenochca forces’ rapid advance on the second battle. So his only option was to cling to the city’s tallest structure, the Huey Teocalli.
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The Great Temple of Tlatelolco was almost identical to Tenochtitlan. The left shrine was dedicated to Tlaloc, while the right shrine was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. The details of the shrine in the drawing are largely based on the Codex Telleriano-Remensis.
Codex Cozcatzin provides the most vivid depiction of the fight between Axayacatl and Moquihuixtli. Axayacatl is wearing a Xipe Totec battle suit, which is typical war attire of the Tenochca emperors. Moquihuix is wearing a blue-green feather suit with an avian helmet. Although some early scholars interpreted it as an eagle, the Nahuatl text of the codex reveals that he is wearing a quetzalhuexolotl, the ‘precious turkey’ or ‘quetzal-colored turkey.’
Codex Chimalpahin mentions that Moquihuix wore a quetzalpatzactli banner to the final battle. It was the banner that Axayacatl gave him when they defeated Metztitlan together. The quetzalpatzactli in the drawing is based on Codex Matritenses.
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Bibliography
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Codex Cozcatzin, 1572
Codex Matritenses, 1558~1561
Codex Mendoza, 1542
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