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The Queens of Cuauhtitlán
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Featured March 17 , 2007
Three female Aztec rulers
Although women in the Aztec empire and early civilizations of the Mexico Valley generally enjoyed a better status and higher regard than their European contemporaries, their role seems to have been predominantly domestic and religious, or in the forging of political alliances by marriage. I was quite surprised therefore to come across references to three women who were named as actual 'rulers' of Cuauhtitlán ("Place of the Eagle" - situated in the Aztec empire about 15 miles northwest of Tenochtitlán):
1. Xiuhtlacuilolxochitzin (or Xiuhtlacuilohlotzin) ruled Cuauhtitlán for twelve years from c. 866 CE before being succeeded by her son Ayauhcoyotzin: "10 House: this was the year of the death of Cuauhtitlan’s king who was Huactli; for sixty-two years he had ruled. This was the king who did not know how to plant edible corn. Nor could his subjects weave robes. As yet they dressed only in hides. As yet their food was but birds, snakes, rabbits, and deer. As yet they were homeless. Rather they wandered from place to place.2. Iztacxilotzin (Iztacxochitzin) ruled Cuauhtitlán c. 1024 - 1035 CE. I can find no other details about her except to guess she may have been a daughter or widow of the previous tlatoani, Tzihuacpapalotzin (ruled c. 982 - 1023). She was succeeded by Eztlaquencatzin. 3. Ehuatlicuetzin, wife of the tlatoani of Cuauhtitlán, Iztactototl (ruled 1349 - 1367), succeeded him and ruled from c. 1368 to c. 1372, when she was put to death at Callacôhuayân for 'having sexual relations with the Colhua'. Again sadly, no other information found! Sources: 1. "A Cycle of Transformations" ("Annals of Cuauhtitlan") fragment from Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature: Quetzalcoatl, The Ritual of Condolence, Cuceb, The Night Chant. Edited with commentaries and new translations by John Bierhorst, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1984 2 & 3. Die Geschichte der Königsreiche von Colhuacan und Mexico, by Walter Lehmann, Stuttgart und Berlin. 1938. |
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