Cuitlahuac

The briefest reign in the history of the Mexica royal house — roughly eighty days in 1520 — belonged to Cuitlahuac, the tenth tlatoani of Tenochtitlan and the commander who drove the Spaniards from the city. A son of Axayacatl and younger brother of Moctezuma II, he was born around 1476 into the dense web of the ruling lineage: grandson of Tezozomoc and Atotoztli, great-grandson of both Itzcoatl and Moctezuma I, and nephew of the rulers Tizoc and Ahuitzotl. Before his accession he served as tlatoani of Iztapalapa, one of the lakeside cities governed by members of the Tenochtitlan dynasty, and he sat among his brother's closest counselors.

When Hernan Cortes approached the Valley of Mexico in 1519, the chronicles report that Cuitlahuac argued against admitting the strangers to the capital, advice that Moctezuma II did not follow. After the Spaniards seized Moctezuma, Cuitlahuac was for a time held with him; released — by most accounts to calm the city after the massacre of celebrants at the festival of Toxcatl in May 1520 — he instead organized armed resistance. Following Moctezuma's death in late June, the Mexica leadership recognized Cuitlahuac as tlatoani.

His election was vindicated within days. On the night of 30 June 1520, remembered in Spanish tradition as the Noche Triste, the Mexica assault on the retreating invaders destroyed a large part of Cortes's force and expelled the survivors from the island. Cuitlahuac then worked to restore the city, reorganize its defenses, and hold together the tributary network, sending envoys to seek allies — with limited success, since states such as Tlaxcala remained with the Spaniards.

He had no opportunity to complete the task. Smallpox, introduced to the mainland with the European expeditions, swept Tenochtitlan in the autumn of 1520, and Cuitlahuac died of the disease around the end of November, after a rule conventionally counted at eighty days. The succession passed within the family once more, to his cousin Cuauhtemoc, a son of Ahuitzotl, who led the city through the final siege. Cuitlahuac's reign, though short, preserved for the dynasty its one clear victory over the invaders.