Isabel Moctezuma

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Doña Isabel Moctezuma (d. 1550 or 1551) was a daughter of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II. After the Spanish conquest, doña Isabel was recognized as Moctezuma's legitimate heir, and became one of only three Indians granted an encomienda (the others being her sister Leonor Moctezuma, and Juan Sánchez).[1]

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[edit] Conversion to Christianity

Named Tecuichpo(ch)tzin ("lord's daughter") in Nahuatl, doña Isabel was baptized with her Spanish name after converting to Catholicism. Doña Isabel gave generously in alms to the Augustinians, to the point that she was asked to stop.[2]

[edit] Marriages and children

Doña Isabel had first been married to Cuauhtemoc. After his execution by Hernán Cortés in 1525, she was briefly married a Spaniard, Alonso de Grado, who died in 1526 or 1527. Cortés granted Isabel the encomienda of Tacuba on the occasion of this marriage. She subsequently married Pedro Gallego, by whom she had a son, Juan de Andrade Moctezuma. Gallego died circa 1531, and doña then married Juan Cano, by whom she had three sons and two daughters. She also had one daughter, out of wedlock, by Cortés.[3]

[edit] Death

Doña Isabel died in 1550 or 1551. The inheritance of her encomienda was disputed between her widower, Juan Cano; Juan de Andrade, her eldest son from her previous marriage; and Diego Arias de Sotelo, son-in-law of doña Leonor Moctezuma, whom he claimed was Moctezuma's true heir. The result was that Arias de Sotelo's claim was dismissed, and Tacuba divided between Cano and Andrade.[4]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Himmerich y Valencia [1991]: p. 27.
  2. ^ Gibson [1964]: p. 124.
  3. ^ Gibson [1964]: p. 423.
  4. ^ Gibson [1964]: pp. 423–424.

[edit] References

Chipman, Donald E. (1981). "Isabel Moctezuma: Pioneer of Mestizaje", in David G. Sweet & Gary B. Nash: Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04110-0. OCLC 6250866. 
Chipman, Donald E. (2005). Moctezuma's Children: Aztec Royalty Under Spanish Rule, 1520–1700. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70628-6. OCLC 57134288. 
García Granados, Rafael [1952] (1995). "4744 Moctezuma, doña Isabel", Diccionario biográfico de historia antigua de Méjico. México: UNAM, vol. 3, pp. 148–150. ISBN 968-36-4291-8. OCLC 33992435. 
Gibson, Charles [1964] (1983). The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule: A History of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519–1810. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0912-2. 
Himmerich y Valencia, Robert [1991] (1996). The Encomenderos of New Spain, 1521–1555. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-73108-6. OCLC 36279278. 
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