Tezozomoc (Azcapotzalco)

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Tezozomoc
Tlatoani of Azcapotzalco
Tezozomoc in the Codex Xolotl, with his name glyph (top) and the glyph for Azcapotzalco (right)
Reign	1367 or 1370 – 1426
Died	1426
Predecessor	Aculhuacatl
Successor	Maxtla
Issue	Aculnahuacatl Tzaqualcatl Quaquapitzahuac Epcoatl Tzihuactlayahuallohuatzin Maxtla

For other persons of the same name, see Tezozomoc.

Tezozomoc (also Tezozómoc, Tezozomoctli, Tezozomoctzin) was a Tepanec leader who ruled the altepetl (ethnic state) of Azcapotzalco from the year Five Reed (1367)^[1] or Eight Rabbit (1370)^[2] until his death in the year Twelve Rabbit (1426).^[3] Histories written down in the early colonial period portray Tezozomoc as a military and political genius who oversaw an expansion of Tepanec influence, bringing about Azcapotzalco's dominance in the Valley of Mexico and beyond.^{[citation needed]}

He is described by Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl as a tyrant and: "the most cruel man who ever lived, proud, warlike and domineering. And he was so old, according to what appears in the histories, and to what elderly princes have told me, that they carried him about like a child swathed in feathers and soft skins; they always took him out into the sun to warm him up, and at night he slept between two great braziers, and he never withdrew from their glow because he lacked natural heat. And he was very temperate in his eating and drinking and for this reason he lived so long."^{[citation needed]}

According to the Crónica mexicáyotl, Tezozomoc had five sons, all of whom he made tlatoque (rulers):

Aculnahuacatl Tzaqualcatl, who was installed as ruler of Tlacopan.
Quaquapitzahuac, who was installed as ruler of Tlatelolco.
Epcoatl, who was installed as ruler of Atlacuihuayan.
Tzihuactlayahuallohuatzin, who was installed as ruler of Tiliuhcan.
Maxtla, who was installed as ruler of Coyoacan.^[4]

Upon Tezozomoc's death in the year Twelve Rabbit (1426), Maxtla seized power at Azcapotzalco, leaving the rulership of Coyoacan to his son Tecollotzin.^[5]

[edit] Notes

^ Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 228–229.
^ Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 210–211
^ Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 126–127, 230–231.
^ Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 126–129.
^ Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 128–129, 230–231.

[edit] References

Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón (1997). Codex Chimalpahin: society and politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and other Nahua altepetl in central Mexico: the Nahuatl and Spanish annals and accounts collected and recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, edited and translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder, The Civilization of the American Indian Series, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2921-2.