Atotoztli II

Atotoztli II Huitzilxochtzin
Fragmento de genealogía de los príncipes mexicanos showing "Lady Atotoztli" (subtitled Çihuapilli Atotoztli in Latin alphabet)
Tlatoani or regent of Tenochtitlan (disputed)
Rule	1466–1472[1][2][3][4] (probably regent for her son Axayacatl)[5]
Predecessor	Moctezuma I (as tlatoani)
Successor	Axayacatl (as tlatoani)
Spouse	Tezozomoc
Issue	Axayacatl Tizoc Ahuitzotl
Father	Moctezuma I
Mother	Chichimecacihuatzin I

Atotoztli (Classical Nahuatl: Atotoztli [atoˈtostɬi]) or Huitzilxochtzin (Classical Nahuatl: Huitzilxōchtzin [witsiɬˈʃoːtʃtsin]) was an Aztec princess and possible regent. She was a daughter of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma I and Chichimecacihuatzin I, the daughter of Cuauhtototzin, the ruler of Cuauhnahuac.

Life

She married Tezozomoc, son of the previous emperor Itzcoatl, and gave birth to three sons who would later become emperors themselves: Axayacatl, Tizoc, and Ahuitzotl.^[6]

Some sources indicate she served as tlatoani herself. The Anales de Tula and Relación de la Genealogía state she ruled the Triple Alliance herself, possibly for as long as 30 years.^[1] If true, the records of the Mexica may have omitted her from the records because she was a woman.

On the other hand, the documents supporting these claims were not contemporary, and made on request of Juan Cano de Saavedra to support the claims of his wife Isabel Moctezuma as heiress to Tenochtitlan.^[7]

She may have acted as regent for her son Ahuitzotl, who may have been too young to act as a ruler upon his grandfather's death.^[8] It seems likely she was the tlatoani without the ordinal number, or she held authority along the lines Europeans would describe as a king's regent, because the next ruler after Moctezuma I was her son Axayacatl.^[9]

See also

• List of Tenochtitlan rulers
• Aztec emperors family tree

References

1. Klein, Cecelia F. (2001). Gender in Pre-Hispanic America: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 12 and 13 October 1996. Dumbarton Oaks. pp. 330–334. ISBN 978-0-88402-279-4.
2. Prem, Hanns J. (2015-02-06). Geschichte Altamerikas (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 143. ISBN 978-3-486-82442-1.
3. Borboa, Martín (1997). Itzcóatl, emperador mexica (in Spanish). Plaza y Valdes. p. 108. ISBN 978-968-856-535-3.
4. Estudios de cultura nāhuatl (in Spanish). Vol. 12–13. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 1976. p. 93.
5. Werner, Michael (2015-05-11). Concise Encyclopedia of Mexico. Routledge. p. 879. ISBN 978-1-135-97377-3.
6. Schroeder, Susan (2016-11-16). Tlacaelel Remembered: Mastermind of the Aztec Empire. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-8061-5765-8.
7. Pellizzi, Francesco (2005-09-30). Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 47: Spring 2005. Harvard University Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-87365-856-0.
8. Diel, Lori Boornazian (2020-03-26). Aztec Codices: What They Tell us About Daily Life. ABC-CLIO. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-4408-5181-0.
9. Ward, Thomas (2018-10-25). The Formation of Latin American Nations: From Late Antiquity to Early Modernity. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-8061-6285-0.