Barbara_E._Mundy]_The_Death_of_Aztec_Tenochtitlan

100 • The deaTh of azTec TenochTiTLan, The Life of mexico ciTy

few. So instead, this chapter focuses on the first descendant
of the Mexica huei tlatoque to be seated as gobernador, don
Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin (r. 1537/1538–1541). Born
before the Conquest, this Mexica princeling would have
been imbued with Mexica conceptions of divine kingship,
raised within a culture of noblesse oblige, where the ruler
was father to his people, shading them like a great ahue huetl
tree. We find aspirations for Huanitzin’s city expressed
in two somewhat surprising formats: a manuscript page
documenting the reign of his predecessor Moteuczoma
and a religious feather painting, and these works will be
the focus of this chapter.

The eLecTion of huaniTzin

Huanitzin, unlike the rulers who had immediately pre-
ceded him, had impeccable Mexica credentials: he was the
grandson of the emperor Axayacatl and son-in-law and
nephew of Moteuczoma. 1 The Humboldt Fragment II
underscores his legitimacy by showing him wearing the
xiuhhuitzolli, the miter-like headdress that symbolized high
authority, and sets him in contrast to the other rulers who
followed Cuauhtemoc, who lack the headdress (see fig-
ure 4.6). Similarly, the Codex Aubin shows him dominat-
ing an entire page, folio 76v, wearing the appropriate cloak

and miter (figure 5.1). A count of his years in office, four

turquoise disks, is set in front of him. In the Beinecke Map,

which shows a line of five colonial-era rulers, Huanitzin

begins the list, set at the top of figure 5.2, and the map’s

artists were careful to present him conservatively, wearing

the traditional xiuhhuitzolli. A finely woven white cotton

mantle wraps around his figure, and he is seated on the

tepotzoicpalli, the high-backed reed seat of the huei tlatoque.

Immediately above his figure are the four turquoise disks to

show the length of his rule, similar to the depiction in the

Codex Aubin. He does not appear in the Codex Mendoza,

because this manuscript shows only the pre-Hispanic huei

tlatoque along with the year count pertaining to their rule;

however, a comparison to figure 1.4 shows how similar

Huanitzin’s portrayals are, in pose and dress, to those of

Moteuczoma, his pre-Hispanic forebear.

While Huanitzin seems to first have been an advisor to

the second audiencia, 2 or royal court, his later fortunes are

intimately associated with those of another grandee, Vice-

roy Antonio de Mendoza, both men rising as the politi-

cal fortunes of Hernando Cortés fell. Mendoza, a trusted

figuRe 5.1. Unknown creator, the reigns of don Diego Huanitzin and

don Diego Tehuetzquititzin, Codex Aubin, fols. 76v–77r, ca. 1576–1608.

© Trustees of the British Museum.