Nezahualcoyotl (tlatoani): Difference between revisions

Tlatoani of Texcoco

Nezahualcoyotl (Classical Nahuatl: Nezahualcoyōtl [nesawalˈkojoːtɬ], modern Nahuatl pronunciation^ⓘ), “Fasting Coyote”^[1] (April 28, 1402 – June 4, 1472)^{[citation needed]} was a scholar, philosopher (tlamatini), warrior, architect, poet and ruler (tlatoani) of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian era Mexico. Unlike other high-profile Mexican figures from the century preceding the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Nezahualcoyotl was not fully Mexica; his father’s people were the Acolhua, another Nahuan people settled in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico, on the coast of Lake Texcoco. His mother, however, was the sister of Chimalpopoca, the Mexica king of Tenochtitlan.

King Nezahualcoyotl is best remembered for his poetry; for his Hamlet-like biography as a dethroned prince with a victorious return, leading to the fall of Azcapotzalco and the rise of the Aztec Triple Alliance; and for leading important infrastructure projects, both in Texcoco and Tenochtitlan;^[2] and exceptional intelligence. According to accounts by his descendants and biographers, Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl and Juan Bautista Pomar, he had an experience of an “Unknown, Unknowable Lord of All”. Nezahualcoyotl built an entirely empty temple to this God, in which no blood sacrifices of any kind were permitted, while allowing the standard sacrifices to continue elsewhere.

The Nahuatl name Nezahualcoyotl is commonly translated as “hungry coyote” or “fasting coyote”. However, more accurately, it means “coyote with a fasting collar”, from nezahualli, a collar made out of bands of paper twisted together. It was worn by those fasting to show others that they should not be offered food.^[4]

One of the most important primary sources we possess to understand the history of pre-Columbian Texcoco is a manuscript painted sometime in the early 1540s, during the early Colonial period in Mesoamerican history, known as the Codex Xolotl. It is a cartographic history document made in Texcoco, described by historian Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci as “a map of exquisite delicacy,” as it is the most extensive of three Texcocan cartographic histories known to exist, the other two being the Quinatzin Map and the Tlohtzin Map, both of which were also made in the 1540s. An annotation in Spanish attributes the ownership of the Tlohtzin Map to a certain don Diego Pimentel, who was a descendant of Nezahualcoyotl.

Codex Xolotl probably adapted or copied from an early 15th-century manuscript which would have been commissioned by Nezahualcoyotl himself as a document to legitimize his rule “through stories about migrations, marriages, births, deaths, dynastic successions, usurpation, battles, treason, ambushes, murders, imprisonment, and so forth.” All three of the mentioned documents (Xolotl, Quinatzin and Tlohtzin) are characterized for being written “without words,” i.e., in iconic script, though this does not imply they cannot be read, as, while words are not recorded as they would be using an alphabet, they communicate meaning through the textual traditions of the people who made them, as Douglas (2010) finds in his study.

These manuscripts were used by historians such as Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl in the 17th century and continued changing hands following Ixtlilxóchitl’s death, until ultimately arriving at Europe in the 1840s while under the possession of a French scientist profoundly interested in Mexico’s past, Joseph Aubin [es; fr]. All three of these manuscripts are currently housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

The analysis of Codex Xolotl requires careful examination, however, as it was made with the intent of glorifying the descendants of King Xolotl, that is, the dynasty which ruled Texcoco, thus underestimating the merit of other peoples who inhabited the Valley of Mexico who are described in the codex.

Other pictoral manuscripts depicting some of Nezahualcoyotl’s deeds include the Codex en Cruz (a Texcocan source), Codex Azcatitlan (a Mexica source), and the Códice de Xicotepec (another Texcocan source). These three documents in particular depict some of Nezahualcoyotl’s conquests and his participation in Mexica conquests, during the reign of Moctezuma I.

An enormous number of pre-Columbian manuscripts were destroyed in book burnings on two occasions. The first occurred approximately in 1430, when the ruling elite of Mexico-Tenochtitlan consolidated its power and destroyed old histories, for containing “falsehoods” that “could have undermined the realm.” The second, more infamous occasion occurred following the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1521. Spanish missionaries gave themselves the objective of destroying any record that could remind the indigenous peoples of their pre-Christian past, burning the ancient texts in autos-da-fé. Chroniclers after the conquest, however, created new manuscripts which were painted with a pre-Columbian style and adapted from the few ancient books that survived these book burnings.

Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, a 17th-century historian who spent much of his life documenting the pre-Columbian history of Texcoco, was a direct descendant of Nezahualcoyotl through his mother’s side of his family, and had access to and possession of several pictoral manuscripts documenting the city’s history, including Codex Xolotl, the Quinatzin Map and the Tlohtzin Map, which he likely inherited from his maternal family. He used these documents to write his Spanish-language accounts on Texcoco’s history. In addition to these pictoral manuscripts, Ixtlilxóchitl cited, in his History of the Chichimec people (Historia de la nación chichimeca), “the [historical] reports that the infantes [princes] of Tetzcoco, don Pablo, don Toribio, and don Hernando Pimentel [Nezahualcoyotzin], and Juan de Pomar, sons and grandsons of Nezahualpiltzintli, wrote.”

Ixtlilxóchitl has been a controversial historian for centuries due to his notorious biases in favor of Texcoco’s monarchy. As early as the 17th century, Mexican antiquarian Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, who had access to the pictoral manuscripts and to Ixtlilxóchitl’s works through the historian’s son, had written an annotation on one of Ixtlilxóchitl’s manuscripts (Codex Chimalpahin, volume 2) which read:^[13]

The author of this Historical Compendium of the Kings of Tetzcoco is Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, and it should be read with great caution, because in his intention to glorify his ancestor Don Fernando Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl, lord of Tetzcoco, it lacks truth in many things.^{[note 1]}

Notably, Ixtlilxóchitl insisted that Nezahualcoyotl was a one of the foremost philosophers in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, and describes him as an “open antagonist” of indigenous religion, opposing the practice human sacrifice which existed at the time and was commonly practiced in the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, and being skeptical about the indigenous gods. He, along with another direct descendant of Nezahualcoyotl named Juan Bautista Pomar, claims that such religious and philosophical ideas were represented in the poems attributed to the monarch. Furthermore, Pomar compiled, in the 1580s, many of Nezahualcoyotl’s poems in his Romances de los señores de Nueva España as evidence for this claim.^[14] Modern historians agree that such ideas described by Pomar and Ixtlilxóchitl are of obvious European origin, and that some poems that were historically attributed to the monarch could not have been produced by him, due to having a nature of thought that is completely foreign to pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.^[15] As a consequence of this portrayal of Nezahualcoyotl as a skeptic philosopher, future historians had the tendency of writing about Nezahualcoyotl as a peaceful monarch whose ideas contrasted with the “barbarous” Mexica. Today, it is well understood that Nezahualcoyotl was a powerful warrior king who greatly expanded his kingdom’s territory through conquest.

Nevertheless, the importance of Ixtlilxóchitl’s work in reconstructing the pre-Columbian past is beyond doubt, and as biased as his points of view were with respect to Texcoco’s monarchy, the relevance of his work has been acknowledged by researchers for centuries, such as 19th-century historians José Fernando Ramírez and Alfredo Chavero, even if the latter believed the praise his works received was “exaggerated.” Ixtlilxóchitl’s work remains as the most extensive source of information about Texcoco’s history, describing its conflicts and the succession of its rulers over the course of centuries.^[13]

Another notable work from this era is the Codex Chimalpopoca, particularly one of the three sections it contains: the Annals of Cuauhtitlan, dated 1570. The Annals were written in Nahuatl by an anonymous author who went beyond just writing about his own nation (Cuauhtitlan), and built a comprehensive history of the Valley of Mexico. The text is notable for this reason, for the rare histories of several cities, and for its lengthy description of the Tepanec War, with a saga largely dedicated to Nezahualcoyotl. The sources used by the author included oral tradition tales from various informants, as well as pictoral documents in addition to them. He used these sources critically, dismissing those he found unreliable and adding disclaimers when necessary.

The three sections of the manuscript were originally written by different authors, but the whole manuscript was written by a single hand, approximately in the early 17th century, which has long been suspected to be that of Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl himself, despite not demonstrating familiarity with the codex in any of his own works. The original manuscript has unfortunately been lost since 1949, forcing modern historians analysing it to rely on a photographic facsimile published in 1945 by Primo Feliciano Velázquez, and a copy produced by Antonio de León y Gama in the 18th century, currently housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (identified at this library as ms. Mexicain 312).^[19]

Born Acolmiztli, on the morning of April 28, 1402,^{[note 2]} he was the son of the king of Texcoco, Ixtlilxochitl Ome Tochtli, better known as Ixtlilxochitl I, who held the title of 6th Chichimec lord, and Matlalcihuatzin, the daughter of Huitzilihuitl and sister of Chimalpopoca, both of whom were tlatoque (kings) of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.^[20] According to Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Nezahualcoyotl had a younger legitimate sister named Atotoztzin, as well as several siblings who were “illegitimate” due to being born out of concubines. Yet, in spite of being “bastards,” some managed to obtain high positions in Texcoco’s society. Soon after being born, he was assigned several tutors to educate him during the early years of his life, including one Huitzilihuitzin, “who at the time was a great philosopher,” as Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl describes.

Since the times of Ixtlilxochitl’s coronation, there had been an ambient of tension between the Tepanecas of Azcapotzalco and the Acolhua of Texcoco, particularly due to the former people’s intention of asserting their dominance over the Valley of Mexico. In spite of the tension, there was no war between Texcoco and Azcapotzalco during much of Ixtlilxochitl’s reign, until Azcapotzalco launched a surprise attack on Iztapallocan, approximately on August 6, 1415,^{[note 3]} with the intention of taking over this territory and then attacking the court of Texcoco. The inhabitants of Iztapallocan successfully repelled the violent attack, but the site’s provisional ruler was assassinated in an act of treason by a Tepanec sympathizer. Ixtlilxochitl received the news of the attack that same day, and personally marched with an army of 4,000 to come to the aid of the Iztapallocans in case of a second attack. The invading army, however, had retreated back to Azcapotzalco to request reinforcements. Upon being informed of the failure of the attack, Tezozomoc, king of Azcapotzalco and lord of the Tepanecas, ordered for the Mexica armies of Tenochtilan and Tlatelolco, among other allies of his, to join the war.

After these events that same year, Ixtlilxochitl organized a meeting with his military commanders the lords of his domains at Huexotla. Following the meeting, the monarch concluded that his son Nezahualcoyotl should be declared as crown prince, when he would have been 13 years old, and that war must be waged against the Tepanecas, laying siege to the city of Mexico via Lake Texcoco, and assaulting Azcapotzalco by land and the lake, with the army marching on land having to march through enemy Tepanec territory.^{[note 4]}

The lake assault ended in failure rather quickly. Tlacateotl, king of Tlatelolco, intercepted the Acolhua troops before they reached either Mexico or Azcapotzalco, forcing them to retreat back to Texcoco’s shore. The war against the Tepanecas lasted four years, during which neither side had a notable advantage. Tezozomoc, observing this situation, took a cruel decision: to assassinate Ixtlilxochitl and his family by pretending to make a truce with Texcoco. The unsuspecting Ixtlilxochitl accepted the truce offer and lifted the siege of Azcapotzalco, ordering his troops to return to their homeland.

On the morning of September 24, 1418,^{[note 5]} Ixtlilxochitl was informed that Tepanec warriors were approaching his location. The monarch understood what this meant: his death at the hands of these warriors was unavoidable. Upon realizing this, just prior to his death, the monarch ordered for his sons to be taken the woods to go into hiding. Three men took this task, named Huahuantzin, Xiconocatzin and Cuicuitzcatzin. Thus Nezahualcoyotl, along with his older brother Tzontecochatzin, escaped from the tragedy.^[31] According to Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, a lineal descendant of Nezahualcoyotl, the king addressed his son just before they were separated for the last time. In his last words, Ixtlilxochitl urged his son to not abandon his subjects, nor to forget about his Chichimec heritage, and finally, encouraged him to reclaim his kingdom and avenge him by fighting the Tepanecas. As Nezahualcoyotl remained hidden among the branches of a tree, he was able to see, to his horror, his father being butchered by the Tepanecas using spears, despite his initial resistance. The prince was 16 years old when this occurred.^[32]

Tezozomoc replaced Ixtlilxochitl with two lords to rule over Texcoco: a Toltec ruler named Tlotzin and a Chichimec ruler named Chicatzin, also known as Quinatzin.

Following his father’s assassination, Nezahualcoyotl and his brother spent the following days fleeing, under the care of the three men, while seeking refuge throughout the local crags and gorges to avoid any potential assassins. According to the Annals of Cuauhtitlan, while hiding at Acalhuacan during one night, a companion named Coyohua encountered a boat with men sent by the future tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, Itzcoatl. He had sent a scouting party, composed of his own sons, to find and rescue the orphaned princes, as, through their mother, they were also members of the Mexica royal family, in spite of the war between the Mexica and Ixtlilxochitl. Coyohua informed the party that the princes were still alive, though their father was dead. Then they got onto the boat and sailed for Tenochtitlan.^[34]

Adding onto this story, historian Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci describes that Nezahualcoyotl was fleeing with the intention of taking refuge in Tlaxcallan, whose rulers had ties with the kings of Texcoco by sharing a common ancestor (Emperor Tlotzin [es; nah]). Along the way, Nezahualcoyotl managed to encounter some family members, two of his natural brothers and two of his nephews, as well as several loyal subjects who were taking refuge. When he finally arrived at Tlaxcallan, entering via Huejotzingo, accompanied by these family members and the men taking care of him, he was happily received by the local rulers, but he was advised to keep his identity undisclosed and to remain hidden, so that Tezozomoc and his powerful army did not find his location. He remained in Tlaxcallan for several days, but decided to return to his former domains while disguised to gather as much information as possible.

During this time, as part of his actions to assert his dominion, Tezozomoc ordered for all of Ixtlilxochitl’s former vassals to congregate at the plains of Cuauhyacac, a site located between Texcoco and Tepetlaoztoc. Once all the lords of Ixtlilxochitl’s former domains congregated, one of Tezozomoc’s military commanders climbed up to the summit of an ancient Toltec temple, to inform them all that Tezozomoc was their new lord. The commander then added that whoever managed to capture Nezahualcoyotl, dead or alive, and brought him before the king would be rewarded. As Codex Xolotl illustrates, Nezahualcoyotl at the time was hiding on the hill of the site, along with his servant Huitziltetzin,^{[note 6]} where he was able to observe and hear the announcement. Nezahualcoyotl then understood his life was truly in danger, and became more careful thereafter to avoid being identified, while still blending in with the common people to hear any rumors and news about himself.^[38]

In 1419,^{[note 7]} it is recorded that Nezahualcoyotl, disguised and travelling across Chalco to gather information on the site, which was allied with Tezozomoc, killed a woman named Citlamiyauh (or Tziltomiauh) while she was attending her agave plantation, to produce aguamiel. Two versions of this story are told. One story, told by Boturini and Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, claims that Nezahualcoyotl became exhausted and thirsty during the travel, and upon encountering the plantation and the woman attending it, he begged her for her aguamiel. Citlamiyauh immediately recognized Nezahualcoyotl under his disguise, and attempted to alert the locals of his presence. Nezahualcoyotl failed to talk his way out of the situation, and fearing that he would be killed or captured if she continued further, and that he’d be chased if he attempted to flee, he hastily grabbed a macuahuitl and decapitated her. The second story, told by Fray Juan de Torquemada (found dubious by Boturini), claims that the woman gave refuge to Nezahualcoyotl in her own home. The woman, a wealthy plantation owner in this version of the story, was supposedly using her agave to illegally produce and sell large quantities of pulque, an alcoholic beverage. Nezahualcoyotl quickly noticed this, and knowing the laws imposed by his predecessors, he became enraged. He exclaimed that, while he was certainly fleeing from the powerful Tezozomoc, he could not tolerate those who broke the laws established to keep society stable, considering alcohol to be one of the greatest threats to society. Thus, he killed her, and fled from the scene right after, fearing that the ruler of Chalco would put him to death despite his justification.^[40]

For the reasons stated earlier, the Mexica nobility and royalty of Tenochtitlan was sympathetic towards Nezahualcoyotl in spite of having contributed to his father’s death. According to Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, in 1423,^{[note 8]} his aunts in Tenochtitlan proved vital for the young prince’s survival, coming up with a plan to bring him to Tenochtitlan without putting his life at risk. They would enter the city of Azcapotzalco, accompanied by the female nobility of both cities, with gifts of jewels and precious feathers, to bribe and personally convince Tezozomoc to pardon Nezahualcoyotl. Tezozomoc, who was taken by surprise by this visit, accepted to have a dialogue with these nobles. After offering their gifts, they argued that Nezahualcoyotl, as a crown prince of a great kingdom, did not deserve the treatment he was undergoing; they informed the monarch of the miserable conditions under which the prince lived since his father was killed, being forced to constantly escape from death’s grasp, unable to rest no matter where he went, a lifestyle unworthy of a member of royalty. Tezozomoc thus agreed to spare Nezahualcoyotl’s life, but under the condition that he would remain at house arrest in the city of Tenochtitlan, strictly under his watch.^[41]

Nezahualcoyotl gladly took the opportunity to move in Tenochtitlan as soon as possible. During the years he spent in Tenochtitlan, Nezahualcoyotl most likely received a Mexica-styled education. He was probably educated at the Calmecac, whose students were usually enrolled when they were 15 years old. His exposure to Mexica culture and education would later influence Texcoco’s legal system, using Tenochtitlan as a model for his own city. During Nezahualcoyotl’s stay in the city, a growing number of supporters for him began to appear, but they kept their support secret to avoid alerting the Azcapotzalco court. As part of the agreement, two years passed in which Nezahualcoyotl did not set foot outside Tenochtitlan, but the diplomatic actions of his aunts gradually contributed to his freedom. Subsequently, he was allowed to exit Tenochtitlan to return to his home city of Texcoco, where he was allowed to stay in the palace of Cilan, which belonged to his parents, the kings of Texcoco.

A legend written in the Annals of Cuauhtitlan, likely from around the time the orphaned princes were in Tenochtitlan, claims that one day, when Nezahualcoyotl fell into the water while he was playing, sorcerers seized him and brought him to the summit of the Poyauhtecatl, the “hill of subtle mists.” There, they anoited him ceremoniously with “flood and blaze,” that is, with the spirit of war, and told a prophecy: “You shall be the one. We ordain your fate, and by your hand a nation [Azcapotzalco] shall be destroyed.” Then, he was brought back to the very spot he was taken from.^[44]

Another legend, attributed to a colonial-era indigenous noble named don Alonso Axayaca, tells a story of Tezozomoc having two nightmares about Nezahualcoyotl in late 1426 or early 1427. In the first nightmare, Nezahualcoyotl transformed into a golden eagle, which devoured his entrails and his heart. In the second nightmare, he transformed into a jaguar, which butchered his feet. Horrified by these nightmares, Tezozomoc consulted his priests to understand their meaning. Subsequently, Tezozomoc gathered three of his sons—Maxtla, Tayauh and Atlatocaycpaltzin—and explained to them that his death was rapidly approaching due to his extraordinary age, and then added that in order to rule the land without interference, they had to kill Nezahualcoyotl, quickly and without difficulty, because if they let him live, he would rule the whole land and destroy their empire.^[45]

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.

As the tlatoani Itzcoatl of Tenochtitlan requested help from the Huexotzincans against the Tepanecs, Nezahualcoyotl envisioned a single military force in order to fight the mighty kingdom of Azcapotzalco. After being offered support from insurgents inside Acolhuacan and rebel Tepanecs from Coyohuacan, Nezahualcoyotl joined the war. He called for a coalition consisting of many of the most important pre-Hispanic cities of the time: Tenochtitlan, Tlacopan, Tlatelolco, Huexotzingo, Tlaxcala and Chalco.

The war was declared a shared and single effort, and the coalition army of more than 100,000 men under the command of Nezahualcoyotl and other important tlatoque headed towards Azcapotzalco from the city of Calpulalpan. This began the military offensive that would reconquer Acolhuacan in 1428.

The campaign 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, only after providing support, upon request, to the first two armies. The coalition conquered Acolman and Otumba, sacking them only due to the sudden Tepanec siege of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco.

In a tactical move, the three armies united again and then divided into two. One of them, under Nezahualcoyotl, headed towards Texcoco, laying siege to 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, entering from the north while the Tenochca and Tlacopan allies coming from Azcapotzalco attacked from the south. The two armies simultaneously attacked Acolhuacan from two directions until they controlled the city’s main square.

After their victory, the coalition began a series of attacks on isolated Tepanec posts throughout the territory of Texcoco. The defeat of the Tepanecs and the total destruction of the kingdom of Azcapotzalco gave rise to the Aztec Triple Alliance between Texcoco, Tenochtitlan, and Tlacopan. Nezahualcoyotl was eventually crowned Tlatoani of Texcoco in 1431.

A decade later, eager to produce a noble heir, Nezahualcoyotl married Azcalxochitzin after the death of her first husband, King Cuahcuauhtzin of Tepechpan.^[46]

According to Motolinia, Nezahualcoyotl practiced his strict laws judiciously and imposed them on all his subjects. He purportedly killed four of his sons for their sexual relationships with his concubines. Cities conquered by the Aztec Empire paid tribute that was distributed among three kings. Fourteen cities in the region of Acolhuacan were under Nezahualcoyotl, including Otompan, Huexotla, Coatlichan, Chimalhuacan, Tepetlaoztoc, Chiauhtla, Tezoyucan, Teotihuacan, Acolman, Tepechpan, Chiconauhtlan, Xicotepec, Cuauhchinanco, and Tulantzino.^[14]

Nezahualcoyotl, himself half Mexica, adopted the Mexica religious and legal systems in Acolhuacan to help in the reconstruction of his city. Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl claims he enacted eighty laws addressing issues such as treason, robbery, adultery, homicide, alcohol abuse, misuse of inheritances, and military misconduct. The Mapa Quinatzin depicts the majority of crimes and punishments described by Ixtlilxóchitl, including the hanging of a robber for stealing or breaking into a house, as an example. It is recorded that Nezahualcoyotl enacted these laws with such severity that even some of his close family members were sentenced to death due to crimes of various types, including several of his own sons for crimes such as incest or adultery, regardless of their social status or wartime achievements.

He established several councils in Texcoco to deal with different legal and political matters, such as a Council of War (Tequihuacalli), which dealt with all military matters, including punishing military misconduct, presided by his eldest son Acapipioltzin and his son-in-law Quetzalmamalitzin (ruler of Teotihuacan, assigned by Nezahualcoyotl), who held the titles of Tlacochcalcatl or Hueytlacoxcatl; a Council of Government or Justice, which dealt with government officials and legal matters of both the nobility and commoners, presided by two of his brothers, Cuauhtlehuanitzin and Ichantlatocatzin; a Council of Music, which seemingly possessed two academies: one for poets and another for historians, astrologers and other arts, presided by his son Xochiquetzaltzin; and a Council of Hacienda, which dealt with the tribute that was given to Texcoco from subjugated cities, presided by his son Hecahuehuetzin.

Colonial era chroniclers from Texcoco such as Juan Bautista Pomar and Ixtlilxóchitl claimed that Nezahualcoyotl’s legal system was the most “civilized” in the Triple Alliance, linking his legal system with his supposed “peaceful and civilized” philosophical beliefs which contrasted with the “warlike and bloodthirsty” Mexica.^[14] These chroniclers insist that the Mexica of Tenochtitlan imitated Texcoco’s legal system, with many similarities being found between the legal systems of these two major cities.

Lee (2006) rejects this idea, finding that Pomar and Ixtlilxóchitl are the only writers who claim that Tenochtitlan imitated Nezahualcoyotl’s legal system, finding no evidence for this claim in other sources. While Ixtlilxóchitl’s description of Nezahualcoyotl’s laws is supported by other documents, such as the Mapa Quinatzin, other writers based in Texcoco, such as Fray Toribio de Benavente (also known as Motolinía) and Fray Juan de Torquemada, claim that such laws were widespread across the Triple Alliance and New Spain, finding little distinction between Texcoco’s and Tenochtitlan’s legal systems. Lee believes an idea contrary to Pomar and Ixtlilxóchitl, suggesting that Nezahualcoyotl used Tenochtitlan’s legal system as a model for his own. His conclusion comes from the fact that he lived in Tenochtitlan during his younger years while taking refuge from the Tepanecas, suggesting that he may have received a Mexica-styled education during this period, perhaps at the Calmecac, the school of the Mexica nobility. Furthermore, it is recorded in the Anales de Tlatelolco that Nezahualcoyotl required and requested the assistance of the Mexica under the leadership of Itzcoatl and Quauhtlatoa to rebuild Texcoco and its government after the Tepanec war.

Despite his skepticism and the exaggerations of colonial-period writers, Lee does acknowledge Nezahualcoyotl’s efforts in rebuilding Texcoco’s legal system after reconquering it, a system which had been lost due to the war against the Tepanecas, making him “an important legislator and legal system builder Texcocan history, but not in all of Anáhuac.” He concludes that “as a rebuilder of the city-state, his efforts were key to restoring and maintaining Texcocan social, political, and religious order.” The judges of Texcoco under the rule of Nezahualcoyotl and his son Nezahualpilli were highly respected by the Mexica, to the extent that, according to Motolinía, they sent legal cases to Texcoco with the purpose of letting them reach a verdict and declare sentences, except in cases related to warfare.

Revered as a sage and poet-king, Nezahualcoyotl gathered a group of followers called the tlamatini, generally translated as “wise men”. These men were scholars, 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 surrounding 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 center of the Triple Alliance and was home to an extensive library that did not survive the Spanish conquest. He also established an academy of music and welcomed worthy entrants from all regions of Mesoamerica.

During Nezahualcoyotl’s reign, Texcoco became an intellectual and cultural hub in Mesoamerica. Diego Durán described the people of Texcoco as “careful and political in everything, informed and rhetorical, their language is beautiful, elegant and clean.” Diego Muñoz Camargo, likewise, referring to their way of speaking Nahuatl, stated that “the Mexican language is taken as the mother tongue, and the Texcocan language is courtly and refined.” Texcoco has been called “the Athens of Anáhuac“, to quote the Italian-born historian Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci. Indeed, the remains of hilltop gardens, sculptures and a massive aqueduct system show the impressive engineering skills and aesthetic appreciation of his reign.

Centuries after his death, historians worldwide continued to write about Nezahualcoyotl’s achievements. 19th-century American historian William H. Prescott wrote, similarly to Boturini, that “Tezcuco claimed the glory of being the Athens of the Western world. Among the most illustrious of her bards was the emperor himself,—for the Tezcucan writers claim this title for their chief, as head of the imperial alliance.” This author also compared Nezahualcoyotl with Solomon and David, the wisest kings described in the Bible, though Lee (2006) finds that this comparison appears from an image of the monarch that was created by chroniclers such as Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl in an attempt to portray the culture of Texcoco as “peaceful and civilized” and make the Mexica seem “more powerful but barbarous” by comparison.

Nevertheless, Lee also recognizes Nezahualcoyotl’s achievements in rebuilding his kingdom following the Tepanec war:

Nezahualcóyotl was a great ruler in Texcocan history because he not only restored his lost nation, but also expanded Texcocan territory far beyond the area his ancestors had ruled. With the help of the Mexicas and his alliance with them, Nezahualcóyotl was able to quickly make his nation second only to Tenochtitlan.

The historical records claim that Nezahualcoyotl proposed and was even personally in charge of several impressive works of hydraulic engineering during his reign, having executed some of the most important works of this time during the 15th century. These works were not limited to his own kingdom, but to the territories of the Triple Alliance in general, and they served to benefit the general population by solving problems which affected the lives of the people living within this territory. The population continued to enjoy the results of his work decades after his death.

The Dike of Nezahualcoyotl (Albarradón de Nezahualcóyotl), also known as the “Dike of the Indians” (Albarrada de los Indios), was a major work of hydraulic engineering which divided the waters of Lake Texcoco in two, built around 1445 or 1449, when Moctezuma I, tlatoani of Mexico-Tenochtitlan (a city built in the middle of the lake), asked for his assistance to create a system to prevent his city from flooding due to the occasional overflow of lake, in response to a major flood which is recorded to have occurred in 1442 or 1446, the first major flood in the recorded history of the city. Nezahualcoyotl’s response to Moctezuma’s request was to “build an immense dike, which starting from Atzacoalco, reached Iztapalapa.”^[58]

The resulting dike was built with the assistance of workers from various parts of the Valley of Mexico. Francisco Javier Clavijero records that the inhabitants of Azcapotzalco, Coyohuacan and Xochimilco were tasked with bringing “several thousands” of thick wooden logs, while other locations provided the necessary rocks for the construction, and that the contruction itself was executed by the inhabitants of Tacuba, Iztapalapa, Colhuacan and Tenayuca. He also claims that the monarchs and the “magnates” themselves “set an example of hard work” to motivate the workers, with the goal of finishing construction faster, “in what otherwise would have taken many years to finish.”^[60]

The dike was approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) long, 8 metres (26 ft) tall and 3.5 metres (11 ft) wide (sources vary on its exact measurements. Some sources claim its length was approximately 14.5 kilometres (9.0 mi) and its height was 4 metres (13 ft), while measurements of its width vary significantly. It is difficult to analyse the mechanics and measuments of the structure because it has not existed since the late 16th or early 17th centuries). According to the historical sources, the “thick wooden piles were stuck to the ground forming a hollow fence, inside the fence, big rocks and sand were deposited between the piles.” Torres-Alves & Morales-Nápoles (2020) concluded in their study on the reliability of the dike, based on the historical descriptions (using the aforementioned measurements) and environmental information, that its probability of failure was approximately 1 every 333 years provided specific initial conditions, including that the water level at the foot of the dike, at the beginning of the wet season, did not exceed 1 metre (3 ft 3 in). This probability, however, is sensitive to this initial water level, and becomes 8 times larger if the initial water level is 2 metres. There is, however, much uncertainty regarding both the lacustrine system and the dike, which makes it difficult to make a precise analysis on the reliability of the structure, and unfortunately, significant factors, such as the initial water level and the amount of area of the Lake Texcoco sub-basin which acted as a tributary area, are unknown to us.^{[note 9]} Nevertheless, the results of the study show that the indigenous engineers who worked on this project “had a deep understanding of the lacustrine system” and that “the Aztecs were known as the great hydraulic engineers of pre-Hispanic Mexico.”^[61]

This dike is considered the most important and impressive flood-preventing work in the history of Tenochtitlan. However, its destruction began in the year of 1521 due to the beginning of the Siege of Tenochtitlan, as Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés ordered its destruction to give way to the brigantines that besieged the city. Because the Spanish did not possess the indigenous knowledge on the workings of the city built in the middle of Lake Texcoco, major floods in Mexico City due to lake overflow became an issue throughout the following centuries, starting in the year 1553.^[58] The historical record claims that the dike never failed during its approximately 70 years of operation, a claim which seems to be supported by recent analysis of its reliability from an engineering perspective.^[61]

The last major work of hydraulic engineering in Tenochtitlan built under orders of Nezahualcoyotl was the Chapultepec aqueduct, which was intended to bring the fresh waters of Chapultepec to Tenochtitlan, to the comfort of his uncle Moctezuma I. This project began construction, according to Chimalpahin, in the year 1454 (1 Rabbit in the Aztec calendar) and concluded in 1466 (13 Rabbit), though the Annals of Cuauhtitlan claim its construction began much sooner, in 1463 (12 House). Chimalpahin recorded the opening as follows:

Year 13 Rabbit, 1466. It was then when the water came to Mexico City, taken from Chapoltépec, a work which the Tetzcucas had been contracted for under orders of Nezahualcoyotzin. The works took 13 years to be concluded.

This was actually the second aqueduct in the city’s history built for this purpose. The first began construction around the year 1418, during the reign of Chimalpopoca. However, this first aqueduct was built out of mud mounds supported by wooden stakes, on top of various artifical islands 3 to 4 metres (9.8 to 13.1 ft) apart, thus it gradually worn away by the water it carried, and it was finally destroyed in the great flood of the 1440s some 30 years after its creation.^[62][63]

The aqueduct built by Nezahualcoyotl solved the issues which the first aqueduct had. His aqueduct was built higher to make it flood resistant; had two parallel channels, each of which, according to Hernán Cortés himself, was “two paces broad and about as high as a man,” to ensure it could deliver clean water, even if either of the two channels required maintenance and cleanup; and it was built using resistant materials such as lime and stone, on top of a sand, lime and rock foundation. A project of such a scale was highly ambitious and required careful planning, and when a similarly ambitious project was carried out during the reign of Ahuitzotl in 1499 (decades after Nezahualcoyotl’s death), to build an aqueduct fed by the springs of Coyoacán, it resulted in catastrophic failure the following year, creating a major flood which possibly led to the monarch’s death, despite being worked on by “the best masons to be found in the provinces.”^[62][63]

In what is now the town of San Nicolás Tlaminca, in Texcoco, State of Mexico, the remains of the botanical gardens of Texcotzingo (alternatively spelled as Tetzcotzinco) are to be seen. They are some of the best-preserved remains of monumental Aztec architecture.^[64] According to the Annals of Cuauhtitlan, Nezahualcoyotl designed his palace on the hill of Texcotzingo around the year 1456 (1 Rabbit) and took 13 years to finish, a year after the Chapultepec aqueduct was finished. Evans (2010) wrote regarding this work that:

the great achievement substantiating Nezahualcoyotl’s multiple talents as political manipulator, sensitive intellectual, civil engineer, and designer of monumental gardens is Texcotzingo, offering evidence as solid as the rock into which his pools and reception rooms were built.

The water management system of the gardens was built using a complex of canals, aqueducts and reservoirs carved in rock, which brought water from several springs located around Cerro Tláloc, with a particular spring located at Cerro Yeloxochitl acting as the source of the entire system, in addition to another possible source from the spring of Texapo, south of the town of Santa Catarina del Monte [es].^[64] The water was delivered at an elevation of about 55 metres (180 ft) below the summit of the hill.^[66] The complex has several circular-shaped reservoirs, three are known to exist at the hill of Texcotzingo and one at the hill of Metecatl. At least one of them, almost entirely monolithic, is suspected to have been used exclusively by the ruler as a ritual or recreational bath, due to its relatively small size (its volume capacity is 1,016 litres, compared to the 12,601 litres the largest reservoir can hold) and due to a seat carved inside of it,^[64] though not all researchers agree that it functioned as a bath, some arguing that it probably functioned as part of an irrigation system for the garden.^[67] This reservoir is popularly called the “Tenayuca Bath” (Baño de Tenayuca) or “King Nezahualcoyotl’s Bath” (Baño del Rey [Nezahualcóyotl]). The largest reservoir, due to its size, is called the “Queen’s Bath” (Baño de la Reina), which used to be decorated with three frog sculptures, each representing a member of the Triple Alliance, but they have been stolen.^[66][67]

The largest remaining aqueduct in the site, connecting the hills of Texcotzingo and Metecatl, has a length reaching 170 metres (560 ft), a width of 3 metres (9.8 ft) and a maximum height of 3 metres, and it is known that it was gradually raised and expanded during the pre-Hispanic period. The water of the aqueduct splits into two smaller canals at the western end. These canals circle the central part of Texcotzingo hill. Prusaczyk, Juszczyk & Martínez Garcida (2023) were able to estimate the average water velocity of these aqueducts and canals. They estimated that the water at hill of Metecatl traveled at a velocity of about 3.84 metres (12.6 ft) per second (m/s), on the aqueduct that connects the two hills the flow velocity was about 1.02 m (3+1/3 ft)/s and in the main canal of Texcotzingo it was about 0.85 m (2+3/4 ft)/s. The extremely high flow velocity at Metecatl prompted the creation of a water control mechanism. A structure known as Fuente A consisting of at least three uneven floor levels and three shallow reservoirs, which is located at the eastern end of the aqueduct and covers an area of about 1,065 m² (11,460 sq ft), may have been used to reduce the slope of the canals and dispose of excess water via drainage.^[64]

Besides the engineering marvel, the gardens of Texcotzingo located on the terraces which surrounded (and still surround) the hill were decorated with flowers and trees of many sorts, which were brought from areas conquered by the Acolhua in the form of tribute. These plants were frequently used for religious and medicinal purposes, and were notable for the smell of their flowers. Species included: macpalxochitl (also known as Mexican hand tree), yolloxochitl (Mexican magnolia), eloxochitl (Magnolia dealbata), cacaloxochitl (Plumeria rubra), cacaoxochitl (Theobroma cacao) cacahuaxochitl (Quararibea funebris), tzompancuahuitl (colorines), and many more. Because these exotic species required human attention and care, most of them disappeared from Texcotzingo following the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Only native species and macpalxochitl specimens which have adapted to their environment can still be seen. This, however, is not to say that the site has lost its natural diversity, because the natural habitat of Texcotzingo is still home to many species of plants and flowers which bloom across the seasons of the year.^[68]

The date of Nezahualcoyotl’s death is recorded as being June 4, 1472. He was 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 Pomar is credited with the compilation of a collection of Nahuatl poems, Romances de los señores de Nueva España, and with a chronicle of the history of the Aztecs. The freshwater fish Xiphophorus nezahualcoyotl is named after Nezahualcoyotl. Nezahualcoyotl appears on the former 100 peso banknote of Mexico.^[69]

One of Nezahualcoyotl’s historical legacies is as a poet, with a number of works in Classical Nahuatl written in the 16th and 17th centuries ascribed to him. These attributions are testament to the long lifespan of oral tradition, since Nezahualcoyotl died almost 50 years before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and the poems were written down another fifty years after that. Juan Bautista de Pomar was a grandson of Nezahualcoyotl and likely wrote them from memory of the oral tradition.
Poems attributed to Nezahualcoyotl include:

• In chololiztli icuic (Song of the Flight)
• Ma zan moquetzacan (My Friends, Stand Up!)
• Nitlacoya (I Am Sad)
• Xopan cuicatl (Song of Springtime)
• Ye nonnocuiltonohua (I Am Wealthy)
• Zan yehuan (He Alone)
• Xon Ahuiyacan (Be Joyful)

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