28 CHAPTER 1 ANCIENT AMERICA
transactions; a merchants’ court sat to hear and
settle disputes between buyers and sellers.
As the preceding account implies, by the time
of the Conquest, division of labor among the Az-
tecs had progressed to the point where a large class
of artisans no longer engaged in agriculture. The
artisan class included carpenters, potters, stone-
masons, silversmiths, and featherworkers. In the
same category belonged such specialists as fi sher-
men, hunters, dancers, and musicians. All these
specialists were organized in guilds, each with its
guildhall and patron god; their professions were
probably passed from father to son. The artist and
the craftsman enjoyed a position of high honor and
responsibility in Aztec society. Assigning the origin
of all their arts and crafts to the Toltec period, the
Aztecs applied the name Toltec to the true or master
painter, singer, potter, or sculptor.
Advances in regional division of labor and the
growth of the market for luxury goods also led to
the emergence of a merchant class, which was
organized in a very powerful guild. The wealth of
this class and its important military and diplomatic
services to the Aztec state made the merchants a
third force in Aztec society, ranking only after the
warrior nobility and the priesthood. The wealth of
the merchants sometimes aroused the distrust and
hostility of the Aztec rulers and nobility. Popular
animosity toward the merchants is refl ected in the
words of a native account: “The merchants were
those who had plenty, who prospered; the greedy,
the well-fed man, the covetous, the niggardly, the
miser, who controlled wealth and family... the
mean, the stingy, the selfi sh.”
The priesthood was the main integrating force
in Aztec society. Through its possession of a sa-
cred calendar that regulated the performance of
agricultural tasks, it played a key role in the life of
the people. The priesthood was also the repository
of the accumulated lore and history of the Aztec
tribe. By virtue of his special powers of intercession
with the gods, his knowledge, and his wisdom, the
priest was called on to intervene in every private
or collective crisis of the Aztec. Celibate, austere,
continually engaged in the penance of bloodlet-
ting, priests wielded an enormous infl uence over
the Aztec people.
The priesthood shared authority and prestige
with the nobility, a class that had gained power
through war and political centralization. In addi-
tion to many warriors, this class consisted of a large
bureaucracy made up of tribute collectors, judges,
ambassadors, and the like. Such offi ceholders were
rewarded for their services by the revenue from pub-
lic lands assigned to support them. Their offi ces were
not hereditary but were usually conferred on the
sons of fathers who had held the same positions.
The wealth of the warrior nobility consisted
chiefl y of landed estates. Originally granted for life,
these lands eventually became private estates that
were handed down from father to son and could
be sold or exchanged. The formerly free peasants
on these lands were probably transformed into
mayeque, farm workers, or tenant farmers tied to
the land. With the expansion of the Aztec Empire,
the number of private estates grew steadily.
On the margins of Aztec society was a large
class of slaves. Slavery was the punishment for a
variety of offenses, including failure to pay debts,
and some people voluntarily became slaves in ex-
change for food. Slave owners frequently brought
their chattels to the great market at Azcapotzalco
for sale to rich merchants or nobles for personal
service or as sacrifi cial offerings to the gods.
The Aztec political system was a mixture of
royal despotism and theocracy. Political power was
concentrated in a ruling class of priests and nobles,
over which presided an absolute ruler. Originally,
the ruler had been chosen by the whole Aztec com-
munity, assembled for that purpose. Later, he was
chosen by a council or electoral college that was
dominated by the most important priests, offi cials,
and warriors, including close relatives of the king.
The council, in consultation with the kings of Tex-
coco and Tlacopan, selected the monarch from
among the sons, brothers, or nephews of the previ-
ous ruler. The new ruler was assisted by a council
of four great nobles. At the time of the Conquest,
the emperor was the luckless Moctezuma II, who
succeeded his uncle, Ahuitzotl.
Great splendor and intricate ceremonies pre-
vailed in Moctezuma’s court. The great nobles of
the realm would remove their rich ornaments of
feather, jade, and gold before they appeared be-