Nezahualcoyotl (tlatoani)

This article is about the ruler of Texcoco. For the present-day city, see Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl.

Nezahualcoyotl as depicted in the Codex Ixtlilxochitl (fol. 106r), painted roughly a century after his death.

Nezahualcoyotl (Classical Nahuatl: Nezahualcoyōtl IPA: [nesawaɬˈkojoːtɬ], (meaning "Coyote in fast" or "Coyote who Fasts")(April 28 1402 - June 4 1472) was ruler (tlatoani) of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian Mexiko. Unlike other high-profile Mexican figures from the century preceding the Spanish Conquest, Nezahualcoyotl was not a Mexica; his people were the Acolhua, another Nahuan people settled in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico, settling on the eastern side of Lake Texcoco.

According to his descendants and biographers, Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl and Juan Bautista de Pomar, who lived a century after Nezahualcoyotl, he was something of a monotheist, honoring his god in a 10-level pyramidal temple. The roof of this shrine was gem-encrusted and no human sacrifices were permitted, only the offering of flowers and incense. Some researchers, however, believe that Ixtlilxochitl and Pomar were attempting to cast Nezahualcoyotl in a light more favorable to the Spanish colonial authorities.

Early life

Acolmiztli Nezahualcoyotl was the son of Ixtlilxochitl I and Matlalcihuatzin, the daughter of Huitzilihuitl. Though born heir to a throne, his youth was not marked by princely luxury. His father had set Texcoco against the powerful city of Azcapotzalco and its ruling tribe, the Tecpanec. In 1418, when the young prince was fifteen, the Tecpanecs of Azcapotzalco, led by Tezozomoc, conquered Texcoco and Nezahualcoyotl had to flee into exile in Huexotzinco, returning to stay in Tenochtitlan in 1422. After Tezozomoc's son Maxtla became ruler of Azcapotzalco, Nezahualcoyotl returned to Texcoco, but had to go into exile a second time when he learned that Maxtla plotted against his life.

The reconquest of Texcoco

Meanwhile the tenochca Tlatoani Itzcoatl requested help from the Huexotzincans against the tepanecs, Nezahualcoyotl visioned the opportunity to join a single military force in order to fight the mighty kingdom of Atzcapotzalco. After being offered support from insurgents inside Acolhuacan and rebel Tepanecs from Coyohuacan, Nezahualcoyotl joined the war. He called for a coalition composed by most of the most importants pre-Hispanic cities of the time: Tenochtitlan, Tlacopan, Tlatelolco, Huexotzingo, Tlaxcala and Chalco. Once declared a shared war and a single effort, the coalition army of more than 100,000 men under the command of Nezahualcoyotl and other important tlatoanis headed towards Azcapotzalco from the city of Calpulalpan. A military offensive that in 1428 would reconquer Acolhuacan, capital city of the kingdom of Texcoco.

The gigantic army was divided into three parts. One army attacked Acolman to the north and the second Coatlinchan to the south. A contingent led by Nezahualcoyotl himself was intended to attack Acolhuacan, just after providing support upon request by any of the first two armies. The coalition conquered Acolman and Otumba, sacking them only due to the sudden Tepanec siege of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. In an tactical move, the split armies united again and then divided into two. One of them, under Nezahualcoyotl again, headed towards Texcoco laying siege over Acolhuacan on its way, while the other attacked and destroyed Azcapotzalco. At the time the armies met again, Nezahualcoyotl reclaimed Texcoco and decided to conquer Acolhuacan, enteering from the North while the Tenochca and Tlacopan allies coming from Azcapotzalco attacked from the south. The two armies simultaneously attacked the north and south of Acolhuacan until they gained dominance of the city's main square. After their victory, the coalition began a series of attacks to isolated Tepanec posts throughout the territory of Texcoco. The defeat of the Tepanecs, and the cease of existence of the kingdom of Azcapotzalco gave rise to the Aztec Triple Alliance between Texcoco, Tenochtitlan and Tlacopan. Nezahualcoyotl, the wisest ruler that had ever ruled over Anahuac Valley -as he was known at that time- was finally crowned Tlatoani of Texcoco in 1431.

Achievements

Monument to Nezahualcoyotl in the city of the same name

Revered as a sage and poet-king, Nezahualcoyotl drew a group of followers called the tlamatini, generally translated as "wise men". These men were philosophers, artists, musicians and sculptors who pursued their art in the court of Texcoco.

Nezahualcoyotl is credited with cultivating what came to be known as Texcoco's Golden Age, which brought the rule of law, scholarship and artistry to the city and set high standards that influenced other cultures. Nezahualcoyotl designed a code of law based on the division of power, which created the councils of finance, war, justice and culture (the last actually called the council of music). Under his rule Texcoco flourished as the intellectual centre of the Triple Alliance and it possessed an extensive library that, tragically, did not survive the Spanish conquest. He also established an academy of music and welcomed worthy entrants from all regions of Mesoamerica.

Texcoco became known as "the Athens of the Western World" -- to quote the historian Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci. Indeed, the remains of hilltop gardens, sculptures and a massive aqueduct system show the impressive engineering skills and aesthetic appreciation of his reign.

Many believe, however, that of all the creative intellects nurtured by this Texcocan "Athens," by far the greatest belonged to the king himself. He is considered one of the great designers and architects of the pre-Hispanic era. He is said to have personally designed the "albarrada de Nezahualcoyotl" ("dike of Nezahualcoyotl") to separate the fresh and brackish waters of Lake Texcoco, a system that was still in use over a century after his death.

Legacy

The date of Nezahualcoyotl's death is recorded as being June 4, 1472, survived by many concubines and an estimated 110 children. He was succeeded by his son Nezahualpilli as tlatoani of Texcoco. His great-grandson Juan Bautista de Pomar is credited with the compilations of a collection of Nahuatl poems. Romances de los señores de la Nueva España, and with a chronicle of the history of the Aztecs. A variant of the Xiphophorus fish is named after Nezahualcoyotl.

Poetry

Nezahualcoyotl has been remembered as a poet. This is because a number of poems in the Classical Nahuatl language written in the 16th and 17th centuries have been ascribed to him. In fact this attribution is somewhat doubtful since Nezahualcoyotl died almost 50 years before the conquest and the poems were written down another fifty years after that. One of the writers who put Aztec Poems in writing, Juan Bautista de Pomar was a grandson of Nezahualcoyotl, and he may have attributed the poems to his grandfather.

Poems attributed to Nezahualcoyotl's include:

• In chololiztli (The Flight)
• Ma zan moquetzacan (Stand Up!)
• Nitlacoya (I Am Sad)
• Xopan cuicatl (Song of Springtime)
• Ye nonocuiltonohua (I Am Wealthy)
• Zan yehuan (He Alone)
• Xon Ahuiyacan (Be Joyful)

The poem that begins "All the earth is a grave and nothing escapes it" is widely attributed to Nezahualcoyotl. However, the consensus opinion among historians is that he was almost certainly not the author as it contains ideas and language that were totally alien to his period.

One of his poems appears in tiny print on the face of the 100 peso note.

Amo el canto de zenzontle

Pájaro de cuatrocientas voces,

Amo el color del jade

Y el enervante perfume de las flores,

Pero más amo a mi hermano: el hombre.

I love the song of the mockingbird,

Bird of four hundred voices,

I love the color of the jadestone

And the enervating perfume of flowers,

But more than all I love my brother: man.

References

• Leon-Portilla, Miguel; Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World University of Oklahoma Press, October 2000.
• Prescott, William; The History of the Conquest of Mexico, Book 1, Chapter 6.
• Lee, Jongsoo; "A reinterpretation of Nahuatl poetics: Rejecting the image of Nezahualcoyotl as a peaceful poet" in Colonial Latin American Review, December 2003, Vol. 12 Issue 2, p 233-249.
• Curl, John; Ancient American PoetsThe Flower Songs of Nezahualcoyotl , Bilingual Press, 2005, ISBN 1-931010-21-8

External links

• http://www.ku.edu/~hoopes/506/Lectures/Aztecs.html
• http://www.economist.com/diversions/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2281561
• http://www.nndb.com/people/773/000095488/
• http://red-coral.net/Hungry.html