Huitzilihuitl

Diplomacy more than conquest characterized the reign of Huitzilihuitl, the second tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, who governed from about 1396 until his death in 1417. A son of the dynasty's founder Acamapichtli, he was elected by the Mexica nobility while the city still stood under the dominion of the Tepanec state of Azcapotzalco, and the central problem of his rule was managing that dependence. As with all early Mexica rulers, the dates of his birth, around 1379, and of his reign rest on post-conquest chronicles and pictorial annals whose chronologies vary, and they should be read as conventional rather than exact.

His most important act was a marriage. Huitzilihuitl obtained as a wife Ayauhcihuatl, a daughter of the Tepanec ruler Tezozomoc, and the chronicles report that the tribute demanded of Tenochtitlan was afterward reduced to token payments. The son of this union, Chimalpopoca, enjoyed his Tepanec grandfather's favor and would succeed Huitzilihuitl as the third tlatoani. A second notable marriage linked the Mexica ruler to Miahuaxihuitl, a noblewoman of Cuauhnahuac in the warm lands to the south; tradition makes her the mother of the future Moctezuma I and credits the connection with bringing cotton goods into common use among the Mexica elite.

As a Tepanec ally and tributary, Huitzilihuitl committed Mexica forces to the wars of Azcapotzalco, most significantly the long campaign against Texcoco on the eastern shore of the lake, as well as expeditions toward Cuauhtinchan and the southern valleys. These wars enlarged the military reputation of the Mexica while the city itself grew, and the sources also associate his reign with improvements in canoe-borne commerce and the elaboration of court ritual and law.

Huitzilihuitl died in 1417, leaving the succession to the young Chimalpopoca. His half-brother Itzcoatl, who had served as a military commander, would take the throne a decade later after Chimalpopoca's death, and his son Moctezuma I would rule after that. The reign thus occupied a middle place in the family chain running from Acamapichtli through brothers, sons, and nephews — the characteristic pattern of succession within the Mexica royal house.