Xicomecoatl (Chicomacatl), popularly known as ‘Cacique Gordo (Fat King),’ was the ruler of the city-state of Cempoala when Cortés arrived in 1519. As an astute politician, he saw the arrival of the Spanish as an opportunity to establish hegemony in the region. On July 1519, he became the first ruler in Mesoamerica to form an alliance with the Spaniards. Despite some conflicts, such as Cortés destroying the idols of the temple, the alliance remained firm.
Later in May 1520, Xicomecoatl and his city caught up in the battle between Cortes and Pánfilo de Narváez, who came to arrest Cortes following the order of the governor of Cuba. During the battle, a Spanish soldier stabbed Xicomecoatl, but he survived and continued to support Cortes.
The last time Xicomecoatl appears in the records is in July, when Cortés and his army fled to Tlaxcala after the battle in Tenochtitlan and Otompan (so-called La Noche Triste and Otumba). After learning about the Spaniards’ heavy casualties, Xicomecoatl sent reinforcements to them. What happened to him after 1520 is unknown, likely because Cempoala itself was decimated by smallpox shortly after the conquest. The city was completely abandoned by the late 16th century.
Despite being one of the key players in the Cortes’ invasion of Mesoamerica, we know very little about Xicomecoatl himself. Even his name doesn’t appear in any of the early Spanish sources. Cortes barely mentions him, despite residing in Cempoala for about a month. López de Gómara, who wrote the more detailed account with Cortés, just calls him the ‘lord of Cempoala.’ Bernal Diaz, another conquistador, is the one that gave him the nickname "the Fat King": “He was, indeed, excessively fat; therefore, I will always call him that."
The oldest known mention of this king’s name, ‘Chicomacatl’, is by the Tetzcoca historian Alva Ixtlilxochitl. However, even this differs depending on the source, from ‘Xicomecoatl’ to ‘Cicomacatl’. Agustín García Márquez suggested that this name could be a variation of Chicome Acatl, or ‘Seven Reed,’ in standardized Nahuatl.
According to Gomara and Diaz, Xicomecoatl was so fat that he couldn’t even come out to greet Cortes, who was a few kilometers outside the city. Later, he was seen being carried in a sedan supported by number of distinguished courtiers.
Aside from his obesity, other characteristics of Xicomecoatl are absent in the accounts. Some claim that Xicomecoatl was homosexual. Bernal Díaz mentions that cross-dressing and homosexuality were widespread among Cempoalteca—especially the priests—, but he doesn’t explicitly mention the king in that context. Wikipedia article of Xicomecoatl claims that he "had in his court 50 men, who were around the ages of 20, and served him for his sexual pleasure", but it is an unverified claim with a wrong citation as of May 2026.
Surviving sources say nothing about the attire of Xicomecoatl, so this illustration is highly speculative. The first step was to determine the culture he is from. It is commonly said that Cempoala was a ‘Totonac’ city. However, this notion oversimplifies the complex ethnic groups that lived in Cempoala and the Gulf Coast as a whole.
Although Cempoala was located in the region of Totonacapan, the ruling class of the city was Nahua, or at least highly assimilated to Nahua culture. This phenomenon was common in Postclassic Veracruz since they saw a massive migration from Central Mexico at least from the early Postclassic.
Written sources corroborate this. All names attached to Cempoala in the sources are Nahuatl. Cempoala (Cempohuallan) and Xicomecoatl (Chicome Acatl) are clear examples. Other Cempoalteca nobles in the sources (Tlacochcalcatl, Mamexi, Teoch, Tamalli, and Cuexco) are all in Nahuatl. Even the handful of words that are supposedly in ‘Totonaque’ as claimed by Bernal Diaz, such as ‘acale’ (acalli) and ‘tecle’ (tecuhtli), are undoubtedly Nahuatl. Furthermore, archeological evidence shows that the architecture of Cempoala was highly influenced by Central Mexico. Therefore, I felt it was appropriate to depict Xicomecoatl in Nahua-style regalia, with some minor details that allude to his coastal background.
He is wearing a xiuhuitzolli, a turquoise crown used by the Nahua—apart from the Tlaxcalteca. His earplugs and lip plug are from the description of the Cempoalteca by Bernal Díaz: “They had large holes bored in their under-lips, in which they wore pieces of blue speckled stone or thin plates of gold; the holes in their ears were still larger in size and adorned with similar ornaments.” The details of his jewelry and clothing are based on tribute items from the Totonac-Huastec region in the Codex Mendoza.
The item that distinctively links him to the coast is the anahuatl seashell pectoral. This kind of cut seashell necklace was commonly worn by Totonac and Huastec lords, therefore it was likely a symbol of power in the region. Although anahuatl is also a common iconographic element of Nahua deities such as Tezcatlipoca, it is almost exclusively used in religious context, unlike the coastal region.
Lastly, he is sitting on a low stool called an icpalli. Gomara describes that “Cortés and the lord [of Cempoala] sat on stools like tooled blocks, all in one piece, legs and all.”
The mural on the background is based on archaeological findings from Cempoala, specifically from Templo de las caritas.
Sources
Agustín García Márquez, Cempoala, un altépetl náhuatl del posclásico veracruzano. Seminario de Cultura Mexicana, 2017
Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, 1568
Codex Magliabecchiano, 1550s
Codex Mendoza, 1542
Codex Xicotepec, 1550s
Fernando Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Historia de la nación chichimeca, 1640
Francisco López de Gómara, Historia de las indias y conquista de México, 1552
Hernándo Cortés, Segunda carta de relación, 1520
Matrícula de Tributos, 1510s
Mesoamerican Clay Pipe, 1250~1500, Amsterdam Pipe Museum
Templo de las caritas, Cempoala, 1500s