Moctezuma II
Moctezuma II was the ninth Aztec ruler, presiding over the empire at its greatest extent when Hernán Cortés arrived, and died a prisoner in his own capital. Born around 1466, he was elected tlatoani in 1502 by the council of nobles, as Aztec succession was not strictly hereditary. He had been a priest and a successful commander, and as ruler he expanded tribute-paying territory into Oaxaca and towards the Gulf while fighting inconclusive flower wars with Tlaxcala, which remained independent and bitterly hostile. He centralised the court sharply, replacing officials appointed by his predecessor, restricting access to his person, and reserving offices for the hereditary nobility rather than commoners who had earned rank in war. This consolidated his authority and cost him support among exactly the people whose loyalty later mattered. Cortés landed in 1519 with about 500 men. Moctezuma sent gifts and embassies, and the Spanish reached Tenochtitlan in November, a city of perhaps 200,000 built on a lake and larger than any in Spain. He received them in the city, and within days they seized him and held him under guard while he continued to govern nominally. The claim that he believed Cortés to be the returning god Quetzalcoatl appears in later Spanish and colonial sources and is now widely doubted as a justification composed after the fact. In May 1520 Pedro de Alvarado massacred nobles at a festival while Cortés was away, and the city rose. Moctezuma was brought out to calm the crowd and was struck by stones, dying in June 1520 — Spanish accounts blame the crowd, indigenous accounts blame the Spanish.
- Lived: 1466 CE – 1520 CE
- Nationality: Aztec
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
