Xicoténcatl the Younger

Xicohtencatl Axayacatzin (the younger)

Xicoténcatl the Younger († 1521 near Texcoco , Valley of Mexico ) was a high military leader of the Tlaxcaltecs at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico . He was the son of the eponymous cacique Xicoténcatl .

After arriving in Mexico in 1519, the Spaniards under Hernán Cortés marched inland to Tenochtitlán . When they came to the Tlaxcalc-controlled area, they were attacked by them on September 4th, under the command of Xicoténcatl the elder and his son. The fighting hit the Spaniards very hard, which is why they asked for peace several times. In addition, they sought an alliance with the Tlaxcalc against the Aztecs. Because from their allies the Spaniards had learned of the deep enmity between the Tlaxcalc and the Aztec.

Finally the caciques of Tlaxcala agreed to receive Spanish ambassadors. The peace that was finally concluded there met with stubborn resistance from Xicoténcatl the Younger, as he believed that victory was certain. He defied his father's instructions to obey and withdrew with a group of warriors to plan another attack on the Spaniards.

A few days after the peace agreement, Xicotencátl the Younger sent porters with gifts, but they were instructed to scout out the Spanish camp. But since the spies stayed in the camp for a relatively long time, Hernán Cortés became suspicious. He had the spies arrested and interrogated as to what they were told to do. Then he had some of them mutilated and sent them back to Xicoténcatl, who had no choice but to obey his father's instructions for the time being. This then even concluded an alliance with the Spaniards against Moctezuma II .

While his father repeatedly supported the Spaniards with warriors, Xicoténcatl the younger remained inactive. After the Spaniards had to flee Tenochtitlán after several months in the Noche Triste with heavy losses and retreated to Tlaxcala, Xicoténcatl began to offer resistance again. He openly called on the residents of Tlaxcala to fight, but at the instigation of his father and some other caciques he was arrested, tied up and brought before him. Although the incident ended in heated dispute, he was later released again.

In the spring of 1521, the Spaniards, who had received reinforcements, launched a campaign on Lake Texcoco . A warrior group from Cholula and one from Tlaxcala also came to support them , the latter under the command of Xicoténcatl the Younger. But when the corps reached the Spaniards, they found that he had secretly gone to Tlaxcala that night. After a final unsuccessful trial, Cortés had him arrested and taken to a town near Texcoco, where he was executed. According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the older Xicoténcatl is said to have even advised Cortés to do so himself.

literature

• Bernal Díaz del Castillo : History of the conquest of Mexico (edited and edited by Georg A. Narcissus, Spanish original title: Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España ). Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-458-32767-3 .