Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World

Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World Insignia of Rank in the Nahua World From the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century Justyna Olko UNIVER S I T Y PR ESS OF COLOR A D O Boulder © 2014 by University Press of Colorado Published by University Press of Colorado 5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C Boulder, Colorado 80303 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of the Association of American University Presses. The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State University, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, Utah State University, and Western State Colorado University. This paper meets the requirements of the ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Olko, Justyna. Insignia of rank in the Nahua world : from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century / Justyna Olko. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60732-240-5 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-60732-241-2 (ebook) 1. Aztecs—Clothing. 2. Aztecs—Jewelry. 3. Clothing and dress—Symbolic aspects—Mexico. I. Title. F1219.76.C68O53 2013 391.0089952—dc23 2013024352 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Codex Ixtlilxochitl illustrations of Neçahualpilli (front, from fol. 108r) and Neçahualcoyotl (back, from fol. 106r), courtesy, Bibliothèque nationale de France. 1 For my mentors, Jerzy Axer and James Lockhart Contents List of Figures Preface 1. Introduction The Focus and Organization of This Book xi xix 1 2 Literature and Sources Written Sources in Nahuatl Written Sources in Spanish Preconquest Monuments Pictorial Manuscripts 6 8 10 12 13 The Nahua Background The Nahua World before Contact The Imperial Perspective Rulers and Lords Postcontact Rearrangements 17 17 20 24 27 2. The Repertory of Elite Apparel and Insignia of Rank 33 Hairstyles 34 Headdresses 37 vii viii CONTENTS Xiuhhuitzolli Other Elite Headdresses 37 54 Ear Adornments 70 Nose Ornaments 73 Lip Ornaments 76 Neck and Chest Ornaments 79 Capes 84 Xicolli 105 War Gear for the Upper Body Tlahuiztli Shields and Weapons 106 109 132 Hand Attributes 139 Apparel for the Lower Body Loincloths Leg Bands Sandals 143 143 144 145 Female Garments 146 Seats 148 Summary 152 3. Images of Rank by Region 187 The Imperial Core: Mexico-Tenochtitlan and Surroundings Preconquest Sculpture Monuments Mexica Royal Imagery in Colonial Pictorial Manuscripts Tlatelolco Tetzcoco 188 188 203 219 222 Beyond the Valley of Mexico: Northern Regions 242 Beyond the Valley of Mexico: Southern Regions 245 Beyond the Valley of Mexico: Southeastern Regions 261 Toward the Gulf Coast: Eastern Regions 271 A Case of Resistance: Tlaxcala and Its Iconography of Rank 276 Regional Conventions and Imperial Impact 284 Postconquest Strategies in Images of Rank 288 Convergence of Form and Meaning 291 CONTENTS 4. Functions and Meanings of Precontact Costume and Status Items 309 Insignia as Vehicles of Transformation 315 Clothes and the Notion of Civility 322 Inspiring Terror and Pride: Battle Costumes 324 5. Postcontact Survivals and Adaptations 335 Changes in Costume Repertory 335 Survival of Native Dress and Status Symbols 340 6. Summation 359 Appendix: Dictionary of Insignia and Accouterments 367 Abbreviations Used 445 References 447 Index 473 ix INTRODUCTION Figure 1.3. Members of native nobility, Primeros Memoriales, fols. 55v, 56r (courtesy of Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid) more scarce are insights provided by extant documents relating to other ethnic groups, including those in the localities subject to the impact of the Triple Alliance. Nahua nobles, or pipiltin (sing. pilli), were grouped into noble houses, headed by a lord titled teuctli. These entities were called tecpan in western regions, especially the Valley of Mexico, and teccalli in the east, including the Valley of Puebla (Hicks 1986, 38), where this feature had particular importance. The position of teuctli was a mixture of social rank and hereditary political office. Every teuctli was the holder of a specific lordship including lands, subordinate nobles, and commoners, and he was entitled to a special lordly title identifying him as head of a given tecpan or teccalli (Lockhart 1992, 103, 109). A nobleman was elevated to the teuctli rank with the formal acquiescence of the supreme lord, the tlatoani, in an elaborate ceremony of investiture (Carrasco 1966, 134–38; Motolinía 1970, 151–56; Muñoz Camargo 2002, 25 26 INTRODUCTION 94–95). Other members of such units included junior kin who were nobles of pilli rank. Although it is generally believed that pipiltin acquired their rank by descent from a tlatoani or teuctli (Carrasco 1971, 354), it seems improbable that only the first generation of their offspring belonged to the nobility; also collateral relatives must have maintained their noble status for some time (Lockhart 1992, 102–103). The tlatoani was a teuctli at the altepetl level, occupying the highest position in the Nahua world and receiving services from the entire domain. The tlatoani had a title specific to that particular altepetl, such as Chichimecateuctli in Tetzcoco, and it always incorporated the word teuctli; it was usually also based in a specific subunit of the altepetl (Lockhart 1992, 109). Like teteuctin, tlatoque possessed rights to lands and macehualtin (commoners); to receive tribute, perform military, judicial, and religious roles; to wear clothing and paraphernalia expressing their rank; and to live in residences of palatial dimensions. These palaces were focal points of the economic, political, and social life of the altepetl, whose lords and nobles sought opportunities for enhancing their prestige through kinship ties and service to the tlatoani while competing for administrative, military, religious, and judicial offices. Although rulers of Nahua altepetl sat at the top of the regional social hierarchy, they could be subordinated to other tlatoque, as was the case with the domains controlled by the Triple Alliance. Across central Mexico particular tlatocayotl, or rulerships, were often small, and their hereditary leaders continuously engaged in competition and conflicts with their peers. The rank of the sovereign of Tenochtitlan was highlighted by his title of huei tlatoani (“great ruler”), claiming superiority vis-à-vis other tlatoque. By the time of the Spanish conquest he enjoyed incomparably high status in the Nahua world, his position being enveloped in esoteric lore expressed by elaborate ceremonies, sophisticated courtly etiquette, and precious insignia. Although the huei tlatoani was elected by a council of high lords, it was believed that his accession had been predetermined by the sign under which he was born (Sullivan 1986, 11). He was conceived as the source of light and heat: at his death, it was said that the torch had been extinguished, the sun had gone down (FC VI, 22). Possessing a special relationship to one of his patron gods, the powerful Tezcatlipoca, the huei tlatoani was called his lips, jaws, tongue, eyes, and ears, as well as a flute through which this deity spoke (FC VI, 48, 52). To understand this metaphor we have to remember the ceremony of Toxcatl, in which the impersonator (-ixiptla) of Tezcatlipoca acted as a substitute for the ruler, and the flute he was playing ensured communication with the god. Thus, as the image and interpreter of Tezcatlipoca, the king received from him not only special faculties but also messages that he had to convey to his people (Olivier 2002, 122–23). He was also strongly associated with Xiuhteuctli, the god of fire and time, who was a manifestation of the creator god Ometeuctli, INTRODUCTION and on numerous occasions donned costumes and insignia of his divine patrons (see chapters 2–4). Postcontact Rearrangements The position and customary style of life of the Nahua nobility continued after the arrival of the Europeans on the scene. To ensure their survival, native elites developed effective strategies and adaptations to deal with the numerous challenges and difficulties that faced them. Although only a few elements of the Aztec imperial organization persisted after the Spanish conquest, the fundamental feature of preconquest sociopolitical organization—the altepetl—continued in essentially the same shape, only apparently transformed under the guise of the new municipal order. The Spanish government in early New Spain was represented by the viceroy; the members of the high court, or Real Audiencia, residing in MexicoTenochtitlan; corregidores, or judicial and administrative officers in charge of larger districts encompassing several altepetl (corregimientos); as well as additional ad hoc review judges called jueces de residencia, who could be either Spaniards or natives. Initiating their rule, Spaniards usually dealt directly with particular altepetl, just as the Triple Alliance did before the conquest. This reliance on indigenous organization reinforced the unity of precontact entities, enhancing their importance in the early colonial period (Gibson 1964, 63–74; Lockhart 1990; 1992, 28–29; Horn 1997, 19). In most cases they followed preexisting political-territorial units and divisions when introducing the most important institutional forms that affected and transformed the native world. Thus, a single altepetl, with its borders and constituent parts, could successively become an encomienda (a grant of Indian tribute and labor to a Spaniard), a parish, and then, starting in the 1530s, a Spanish-style municipality, acquiring in that way the status among Spaniards of a cabecera, or head town (Lockhart 1992, 29). Across the sixteenth century native altepetl continued as the seats of Indian municipal government based on European models organized as cabildos, or town councils, as well as centers of tribute collection and the organization of labor in the traditional manner. Thanks to the Spanish recognition of local ruling dynasties, in the formation of municipal councils the tlatoani was frequently appointed to the office of the first governor, or cabildo chief.11 In many cases the office of the gobernador preceded the establishment of other cabildo functions by a decade or more, being filled by native tlatoque who tended to hold it for life, although the Spaniards increasingly tried to make it rotational (Gibson 1960, 188; Lockhart 1992, 30–32). This dual role indigenous lords often managed to play was often described as cacique y gobernador, that is, a native ruler and municipal officer. At some places the 27 28 INTRODUCTION direct relationship between the tlatoani and the office of governor continued well into the seventeenth century, as is the case of Coyoacan, where in 1633 don Alonso de Guzmán, declared in the written sources to be the tlatoani, also became a governor (Horn 1997, 55). But already in the second half of the sixteenth century the Spaniards, trying to undermine the strong position of the local nobility, resorted to appointing citizens of outside altepetl to assume control, especially at critical moments. Such persons were frequently titled jueces gobernadores and occupied the post during a fixed period of time. However, even this function had preconquest analogies, for non-tlatoani governors may have been perceived as counterparts of quauhtlatoque, or interim rulers in an established tlatocayotl, often reaching their office through merit in war (Lockhart 1992, 33). The domestication of the new system also entailed its adjustment to the traditional structure of the native altepetl. This is well attested in Chalco Amaquemecan, where the rotational governorship followed strictly the preconquest pattern: in 1563 the office began to rotate among the rulers of the five tlayacatl, constituent parts of the complex altepetl (Schroeder 1991, 187). Similar adjustments are mirrored by other posts in native cabildos. In addition to assuring the continuation of native tlatocayotl and lending much of its aura to the postconquest governorship, sixteenth-century municipal organization also provided room for numerous members of the Nahua nobility. A full complement of officials in major altepetl developed by the 1550s, including the posts of alcaldes (judges) and regidores (councilmen), who assumed over time most of the internal affairs of the municipality under the leadership of the governor, acting as first-instance judges and supervising the delivery of tribute, organization of public labor duties, and the management of land. They were recruited from among the group of noblemen close to the tlatoani, representing the main divisions of the altepetl and its major lineages much as in preconquest times. Following this precedent and substantially deviating from the original Spanish model, Nahua alcaldes and regidores tended to represent specific subjurisdictions of the indigenous sociopolitical organization.12 Among minor officeholders were notaries, or escribanos, whose relatively high position probably drew upon the preconquest prestige of the amatlacuilo (scribe and painter of native manuscripts); provincial lieutenants (tenientes); constables (alguaciles); and majordomos (mayordomos). The Nahua category for the intermediate functionaries was often topile, or “holder of a staff.” While in the Spanish cabildo there was a strict distinction between nobles’ and commoners’ offices, a salient characteristic of Nahua municipalities was that many more posts became associated with the noble class (Lockhart 1990, 100; 1992, 36–43; Horn 1997, 57). The strong affinity between preconquest and postconquest sociopolitical structure and officeholding is also reflected in the persistence of native titles, such as INTRODUCTION teuctlatoque, or calpolli heads and judges, equated with alcaldes. The range of survival of ancient terminology of rank extended especially to the domains of hereditary lords, their lands, and their status items, revealing the persistence of certain traditional concepts well into the seventeenth century. Perceived correspondences were often based on cultural misunderstandings between the two sides, helping the indigenous elite to take advantage of the Spaniards’ small acquaintance with native organization. They also benefited from the formal recognition of the local hereditary nobility and its rights by the Spanish crown, successfully maintaining their privileged position within the new political and economic reality. The power of the Indian ruling class remained based on their land possessions and on maneuvering the relationships and obligations imposed on them. For example, during the entire first generation of the encomienda, when its Spanish holders received tributes directly from the Nahua rulers, the latter were able to make extreme demands upon tributaries and to deliver only a portion of the yield to the Spanish recipient (Gibson 1964, 196–97), a strategy that may have had earlier precedents under tribute obligations to the Triple Alliance. Indeed, it has become increasingly clear to modern scholars exploring the Nahua world through its own sources that the results of ongoing cross-cultural transfers as well as the nature of transformations were strongly influenced by precontact sociopolitical structures and key cultural concepts. Many of the sixteenth-century rulers enjoyed the traditional rights and privileges of pre-Hispanic lords: they received tribute and labor from their subjects and crops from lands worked by dependent laborers; they also cultivated traditional networks of elite relationships including strategic marriage alliances. But at the same time they often appealed to Spanish authorities for the confirmation of rights and privileges and for grants of land, coats of arms, or the right to ride a horse and carry a sword. It must be borne in mind, however, that the indigenous population as a whole was also heavily affected by catastrophic epidemics and taxation demands that became increasingly excessive in view of the huge population loss. It has been observed that after 1550 the economic base of the tlatoque was progressively reduced (Gibson 1960, 180; 1964, 197; Horn 1997, 53–54). On the other hand, however, we also find many members of the native nobility successfully undertaking profitable enterprises through the colonial period (Spores 1993, 97–98; Rojas 2010, 250–63). The cultural and economic survival of descendants of pre-Hispanic elites required considerable skills and flexibility, involving the application of diverse strategies in an ongoing process of adaptation to the new reality and its changing circumstances. Although the postconquest Nahua nobles became gradually Hispanized and material prosperity and political status in postconquest terms were among their primary goals, much preconquest lore and behavior identified with elite culture survived, 29 30 INTRODUCTION often merging with new models and customs. As shown throughout this book, this is particularly true in an important domain of nobles’ life: their external status symbols and iconography of rank. Notes 1. “Y no le parezca a Vuestra Alteza fabuloso lo que digo, pues es verdad que todas las cosas criadas ansí en la tierra como en la mar de que el dicho Muteeçuma pudiese tener conoscimiento tenía contrahechas muy al natural así de oro y de plata como de pedrería y de plumas, en tanta perfición que casi ellas mesmas parescían. . . . Demás desto me dio el dicho Muteeçuma mucha ropa de la suya, que era tal, que considerada ser toda de algodón y sin seda, en todo el mundo no se podía hacer ni tejer otra tal ni de tantas ni tan diversas y naturales colores ni labores, en que había ropas de hombres y de mujeres muy maravillosas” (Cortés 1993, 229–31). 2. There have been some important exceptions, such as, for example, Berdan 2007a; Boone 2000; Chance and Stark 2007; or Diel 2008. 3. The so-called Primeros Memoriales form part of the Códices Matritenses, manuscripts of complex origin made by different hands and probably at various moments. This topic has been recently reappraised by Ruz Barrio (2013a, b). 4. Anonymous manuscripts known collectively as the Anales de Tlatelolco contain the dynastic history and other accounts of Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan, and Azcapotzalco from the Mexica migration story till the first years of the colonial period. They are composed of two manuscripts, now in the National Library in Paris: MS 22, written between 1540 and 1550 by various copyists, and MS 22bis, dated much later, perhaps as late as the eighteenth or the beginning of the nineteenth century (Lockhart 1993, 42; Klaus 1999, 7–24). The Anales de Quauhtitlan were composed in 1563 with additions dated to 1570; they recount the history of the Quauhtitlan people as well as that of the Mexica and Acolhua (Bierhorst 1992, 2001, 198–99). 5. See Fash 1993, 136; Boone 2000, 24–27; a person bearing the title of tlacuiloteuctli (“painter lord” or “lord of painters”) reportedly ruled Tlalmanalco when its dynastic rulers were chased away (Chimalpahin 1997a, II: 60–61). 6. Thus, in addition to preconquest survivals, native pictorial documents have been classified as those made under Spanish patronage, native colonial (painted by Indians in perpetuation of older patterns), and mixed colonial (used in economic and mundane affairs of the colonial world or in relationship with Spaniards) (Glass 1975a, 12–17). However, the borders between the last three categories are often blurred. For example, manuscripts made under “Spanish patronage” were usually painted by native persons, who often copied local prototypes, including preconquest originals. Therefore, this division reflects the final destination and way of use, and not the form and content. INTRODUCTION 7. The tira may be folded or rolled, and may be read up, down, to the left, or to the right. A screenfold is a manuscript painted on a tira and folded, accordion-pleat fashion, like a screen. Most screenfolds are composed horizontally and many are read in the boustrophedon fashion. A lienzo, of which no preconquest examples survive, is a sheet of cloth, frequently of considerable size, usually made of narrow strips (of cotton, maguey fiber, or other material) sewn together (Glass 1975a, 9). 8. One of the first proposals was a typology made by Robertson, who divided native “histories” into three types: “time-oriented” histories like annals, where “history is a series of events ordered according to time”; “place-oriented” histories organized around geography; and “event-oriented” histories (Robertson [1959] 1994). Nicholson (1971) recognized five kinds of “historical” manuscripts: continuous year-count annals, sporadically dated or undated annals, cartographic histories, genealogies, and dynastic lists. Another typology, based on form and content, has been more recently proposed by Boone, who differentiated distinct “structures of history”: time-line presentations, res gestae presentations, cartographic presentations, and blended structures (Boone 2000, 65–82). 9. The first work to have analyzed systematically the geographical extent of the empire was Robert Barlow’s monograph The Extent of the Empire of the Culhua Mexica (Barlow 1949). The political organization and dynastic relationships were the focus of numerous studies (Carrasco 1984, 1996; Hicks 1986, 1992; Hodge 1994; Rojas 2002). Less research has been concentrated on the mechanisms of territorial expansion and its strategies and ideological background (Conrad and Demarest 1984; Hassig 1988). The imperial capital of Tenochtitlan frequently tended to serve as a model for reconstruction of Aztec imperial culture (Katz 1972; Davies 1974; Matos Moctezuma 1988; Rojas 1986; Zantwijk 1985). A more systematic interest in regional archaeological and ethnohistorical data and core-periphery relations began relatively late. The emphasis on archaeological surveys and excavations of Tenochtitlan’s hinterland (Hodge 1998; Smith 1992) has been accompanied by a trend in ethnohistorical studies toward area-specific investigations (Anderson, Berdan, and Lockhart 1976; Carrasco 1974; Hicks 1984, 1992; Schroeder 1991; Smith 1986, 1992, 2008). An important contribution to the studies on the Aztec empire was the collective work Aztec Imperial Strategies (Berdan et al. 1996), not only providing systematically presented extensive and up-to-date data, but also representing a well-defined and consistent approach to the topic. The authors analyze political, economic, and frontier strategies of the Aztec empire, differentiating also the elite strategy aimed at the maintenance of an upper-class-based network linking most of the state. More recently, the Aztec state and, more broadly, Postclassic Mesoamerica have been approached from the world-system-theory perspective (Smith and Berdan 2003a, 2003b). 10. The political and economic base of the conquered nobility was not only reduced by imperial tribute, but local elites had to give some of their lands to the conquerors. In addition, the Triple Alliance sometimes shifted the power structure within the region (Berdan and Smith 1996, 214–15). 31 32 INTRODUCTION 11. The situation, however, was more complex in composite altepetl, where multiple rulers and internal divisions both posed a considerable challenge to Spanish officials, spurring local political struggles and power shifts. In practice, the limits of the three new units (encomienda, parish, and town) coincided less than perfectly and sometimes principal moieties could become the base for two encomiendas. Thinking in terms of hierarchical, vertical relationships, Spaniards profoundly misunderstood the native mode of organization, identifying, for example, inner, urbanized calpolli with the cabecera, and outlying units with their sujetos, or “subjects” (Lockhart 1991, 24; 1992, 20, 29). 12. Accordingly, there was an immediate tendency to multiply the posts of alcaldes and regidores rotating among the calpolli in the fixed order, or their number increased until there was one for each major constituent part.