Nahua: The Saw by America The What Each Anahuac Somewhat Mi

CHAPTER IV.
THE TOLTEC PERIOD.
THE NAHUA OCCUPATION OF MEXICO IN THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH CEN

TURIES CONDITION OF ANAHUAC THE MIXCOHUAS AND CHICHI-
MEC CULHUAS THE TOLTECS AT TULANCINGO AND TOLLAN ESTAB
LISHMENT OF A MONARCHY AND CHOICE OF A KING, 710-720 A. D.
KINGDOMS OF CULHUACAN AND QUAUHTITLAN THE TEOAMOXTLI
PROPHECIES AND DEATH OF HUEMAN BIRTH OF QUETZALCOATL
FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE, 856, A. D. ALLIANCE BETWEEN CUL
HUACAN, OTOMPAN, AND TOLLAN REIGN OF TOPILTZIN CEACATL
QUETZALCOATL AT TOLLAN EXCESSES OF HUEMAC II., OR TECPAN-
CALTZIN XOCHITL, THE KING S MISTRESS FULFILLMENT OF THE
PROPHET S PREDICTIONS TOVEYO S ADVENTURES PLAGUES SENT
UPON THE TOLTECS FAMINE AND PESTILENCE REIGN OF ACXITL,
OR TOPILTZIN DEBAUCHERY OF KING, NOBLES, AND PRIESTS
TOKENS OF DIVINE WRATH FOREIGN INVADERS FINAL OVER
THROW OF THE TOLTEC EMPIRE.
The sixth and seventh centuries of our era saw the

Nahua power, represented by the various Toltec Chi-
chimec tribes, transferred from Central America to
the Mexican plateaux, with its centre about the lakes
of the valley. The general nature of this transfer we
may comprehend from what has been said in the pre
ceding chapter; of its details we know little or noth
ing. Each tribe that rose to national prominence
in Anahuac during the succeeding centuries, preserved
a somewhat vague traditional memory of its past his
tory, which took the form in every case of a long mi
gration from a distant land. In each of these records
238 THE TOLTEC PERIOD.
there probably an allusion to the original southern

is
empire, disruption, and the consequent tribal scat

its
tering; but at the same time most of the events thus

recorded relate apparently to the movements of par
ticular tribes in and about Anahuac at periods long
subsequent to the original migration and immediately
preceding the final establishment of each tribe. The
Toltec version of this common record has already been
given, down to the establishment of one of the many
exiled tribes the Toltecs proper -at Tulancingo
just north-east of the valley of Mexico. The annals
of other Nahua tribes, the Chichimecs, Nahuatlacas,
Tepanecs, Acolhuas, and Aztecs all of which may
be regarded to a great extent as different versions of
the same common record will be presented in a
future chapter with all their particulars, fabulous or
historical, so far as they have been preserved. The
migrations narrated may all be supposed to date back
to a common beginning, but are arranged by the
authorities chronologically according to the dates of
their termination.
Wehave seen the Olmec tribes established for
several centuries on the eastern plateaux, or in the
territory now constituting the states of Puebla and
Tlascala. Cholula was the Olmec capital, a flourish
ing city celebrated particularly for its lofty pyramid
crowned with a magnificent temple built in honor of
Quetzalcoatl. Teotihuacan within the valley of Ana
huac had long been as it long continued to be the re
ligious centre of all the Nahua nations. Here kings
and priests were elected, ordained, and buried. Hither
flocked pilgrims from every direction to consult the
oracles, to worship in the temples of the sun and moon,
and to place sacrificial offerings on the altars of their
deities. The sacred city was ruled by the long-haired
priests of the Sun, famous for their austerity and for
their wisdom. Through the hands of these priests, as
the Spanish writers tell us, yearly offerings were
made of the first fruits of all their fields; and each
ANAHUAC IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 239
year at harvest-time a solemn festival was celebrated,

not unattended by human sacrifice. It is true that
the Spanish authorities in their descriptions of Teoti-
huacan and the ceremonies there performed, refer for
the most part to the Toltec rather than the pre-Toltec
period; but it has been seen in the preceding chapter
that this city rose to its position as the religious centre
of the Nahuas in Mexico long before the appearance
of the Toltecs, and there is no evidence of any essen
tial change in its priesthood, or the nature of its theo
cratic rule.
1
No national name is applied in tradition
to the people that dwelt in Teotihuacan at this period,
although the Totonacs claim to have built the pyra
mids before they were driven eastward by Chichimec
tribes. .Tabasco, Vera Cruz, and Taniaulipas were
occupied by Xicalancas, Totonacs, and Huastecs, re
specting whom little more than their names is known.
Southward in Oajaca were already settled the Miztecs
and Zapotecs. The Otomis, a very numerous people,
whose primitive history is altogether unknown, occu
pied a large part of the valley of Mexico, and the sur
rounding mountains, particularly toward the north
and north-west. There were doubtless many other
tribes in Mexico when the later Nahua nations came,
particularly in the north and west, which tribes were
driven out, at least from the most desirable locations,
subjected, or converted and partially civilized by the
new-comers; but such tribes have left no traces in
2
history.
During the sixth and seventh centuries we must

1
Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., torn, i., pp. 247-50. Era servido de unos
Sacerdotes llamados Papahua Tlemacdzqae, que, a distincion de los demas,
tralan el cabello en melenas sueltas, y al acabarse el Cyclo Indiano, saca-
ban, y veiidianel Fuego Nuevo a los Pueblos vecinos. Boturini, Idea, p. 42.
Alii tambien se eiiterraban los principales y seiiores, sobre cuyas sepul-
turas se mandaban hacer tiimulos de tierra, que hoy se ven todavia. Sa-
hagun, Hist. Gen., torn, iii., lib. x., p. 141.
2 Brasseur cites
Torquemada and Duran as authorities for the existence
at this period of some remnants of the old Quinames, and of other savage
tribes whose names have been lost; but these authors in the chapters cited
say nothing to which such a meaning can fairly be attributed.
imagine Ansihuac and the adjoining territory on the

north and west, for a broad but unknown ^extent, as
being gradually occupied by numerous Nahua nations
of varying power and numbers and of varying de-
of civilization. Some were originally or soon
ecame in their new homes wild hunting tribes, pow
frees
erful but rude, the terror of their neighbors; others
settled in the fertile valleys, lived by agriculture, and
retained much of their original culture. The more
powerful nations, probably the most advanced in cult
ure as well, established themselves in and about the
valley of Mexico, where their capitals were soon flour
ishing cities, and where all branches of aboriginal art
received more attention than elsewhere and were cor
respondingly developed. These central peoples be
came known, perhaps at once, but more probably at a
later date, as Toltecs, a name which, whatever its
original derivation and signification, became synony
mous with all that is skillful and excellent in art. On
the other hand the outside Nahua nations, many of
which had lost in their new life something of the true
Nahua polish, and all of whom were regarded more
or less as barbarians by their more favored brothers
of the lake shores, were from this time known as
Chichimecs, whatever may have been the original
application of that name.
It has been remarked that little or nothing is
known of the events that occurred during these two
centuries, during which the whole western section of
the country came into possession of numerous Nahua
tribes, as the eastern section had done long before,
and as the whole country remained down to the
Spanish Conquest; for there is little evidence of any
subsequent migrations from or into Mexico. Ixtlil-
xochitl and the Spanish writers, Torquemada, Vetan-
curt, Clavigero, Daran, Veytia, and the rest, confine
their attention to the Toltecs proper, their migration
from Huehue Tlapallan to Tulancingo, which I have
already narrated, their subsequent removal to Tollan,
THE MIXCOHUAS. 241
the establishment of their monarchy, and the suc

cession of their kings. According to these authors, the
Toltecs met no opposition, Tollan had no rivals nor
allied capitals. Brasseur de Bourbourg, however,
3
finds in the Codex Chimalpopoca, already alluded to,
and the Memorial de Culhuacan* another similar
chronologic record in the Nahua language, a slight
account of some of the other nations that settled in
Anahuac at this period, even prior to the establish
ment of the Toltecs at Tollan. These two documents
are the chief authorities for the whole Toltec period,
and since neither of them has ever been published,
nothing remains but to accept the version given by
the abbe. 5 The Mixcohuas were the first of the new
tribes that came into notice in the annals. They
first appear at Chalchiuhapan, afterwards Tlascala,
but soon present themselves before the priests of
Teotihuacan to receive their sanction and become
vassals of the Sun. Faithless to the vows taken at
at the sacred city, the new-comers, instead of estab
lishing themselves peaceably in the land, proved at
first a torment to the older inhabitants and a source
of great anxiety to the priests who had encouraged
their coming; but the first bands of Mixcohuas were
finally subdued and forced to submit to the require
ments of the priests of the Sun by the aid of other
succeeding but kindred bands of Chichimecs. Thus
the first epoch of Nahua occupation was one of strife,
duringO which the name of Mixcohuatl, or Mixco-
1
huatl Mazatzin, the hunter, is most prominent,

3 See p. 192.
*
iBoturini, Catdlogo, p. 17, No. 12. Dife rentes Historias Originates
en lengua Nahuatl, y papel Europeo de los Reynos de Culhuacan, y Mex
ico, y de otras Provincias, el Autor de ellas dicho Don Domingo Chimalpain.
Empiezan desde la Gentilidad, y llegan a los afios.de- 1591. See also Bras
seur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. Ixxvi,
5 Hist. Nat. This author refers occasion
Civ., torn, i., p. 198, et seq.
ally in his foot-notes to the Spanish writers Torquemada, Duran, and oth
ers, but such citations when looked up rarely prove to have any bearing on
the matter in question, being for the most part only definitions of names
employed in the text. It is much to be regretted that there are no means
of testing Brasseur de Bourbourg s version of these important annals. See,
however, on this point, a future note of this .chapter.
VOL. V. 16
together with those of Xiuhnel and Mimich, who

defeat the Olrnecs at Huitzilapan. The united bands
under Mixcohuatl are known in the tradition as Chi-
chimec Culhuas, the founders of the city of Culhua-
cari on the lake shore, who in a period of sixteen
years from 670 to 686, according to the authorities

became masters of nearly the whole region south and
east of the lakes. 6 At about the same time the prov
ince of Quauhtitlan, land of forests, north-west of the
lakes, seems to have been occupied by another Chi-
chimec nation for all are known in the traditions as
Chichimecs whenever they are alluded to as coming
from without the valley, but become good Toltecs as
soon as they acquire a degree of power within its
limits. Chicon Tonatiuh, seven suns/ is named as
the leader of this nation, and the chief cities of the
province were Huehuetocan, city of old men/ and
Macuexhuacan, city of necklaces.
Meanwhile the exiles from Huehue Tlapallan were
tarrying at Tulancingo, where they had arrived to
ward the end of the seventh century, 7 and where con
trary to the advice of their prophet Hueman, if we
may credit the tradition weary with their long wan
derings, they lived from sixteen to twenty years in a
house which they built sufficiently large to accomo-
date them all. During their stay they sent out par
ties to make settlements in the adjoining territory, as
had been their custom wherever they had stopped
in their long migration. Finally they listened to the
counsels of the venerable Hueman, and, still under the
6 In addition to the two documents referred to. Camargo, Hist. Tlax.,

in NouvellesAnnales des Voy., 1843, torn, xcviii., p. 145, has the following,
which may refer to the migration of this earliest branch of the Nahua
peoples; according to their account, it was in five Tochtli that they ar
rived at the Seven Caves. Thence they went to Amaquetepec, then to
Tepenec, or Echo Mountain, where Mitmitzichi (Mimich) killed Izpapalotl
with his how and arrows. Next they passed to the province of Tomallan,
which they conquered after .a long war, to Culhuacan, to Teotla Cochoalco,
and to Teohuizuahuac wlrere they wished to shoot Cohuatlicue, queen of
that province; but they made peace with her. She married Mixcohuatl
Amacohtle and by him had a son Colchacovatl [probably Quetzalcoatl].
7 See note on
p. 213 for elates.
FOUNDATION OF TOLLAN. 243
command of their seven chiefs, transferred their home

to Xocotitlan on the river Quetzalatl, since called Tula,
Tullanatl, or Montezuma, where they founded the city
of Tollan, 8 where now stands the little village of Tula,
about thirty miles north-west of the city of Mexico.
According to Brasseur the Otomi city that stood here
before the coining of the Toltecs was called Mamheni.
It cannot be supposed that the Otonris yielded up
their fertile valley to the strangers without a struggle;
but the relation of this struggle like that of many a
subsequent one in which the Toltecs must have en
gaged in order to establish and maintain their power,
seems to have been intentionally omitted in the
native annals as recorded by the Spanish writers.
During the first six years of their stay in the
valley of the Quetzalatl, the Toltecs gave their
attention to the building of the new city, and the
careful cultivation of the surrounding lands; at least
such is the account given by Ixtlilxochitl and those
who have followed him; but, according to Brasseur s
interpretation, they spent the six years in the con
quest of the province and siege of the ancient city
which they re-named Tollan. Up to this time the
exiles from Huehue Tlapallan had lived under the
command of the rebel princes Chalcaltzin and Tla-
camihtzin with their five companions acting as chiefs
of the different families, 9 but all acting under the
directions of Hueman the prophet. The great age
attributed to both prophet and chiefs, who for over
a century at the least had directed the wanderings of
their people, does not, of course merit serious dis-
8 Also written Tula, Tulan, Tulla, Tullan, and Tnlha.

9
Chalcatzin, Tlacamilitzin, Checatl, Cohuatzon, Mazacoliuatl, Tlapal-
huitz, and Huitz. Veytia, torn, i., p. 207. Chalcatzin, Acatl, Eccatl,
Cohuatzin, Mazacohnatl Otzinhcohuatl, Tlapalhuiz, and Hnitz. Ixtlilxo
chitl, p. 303. Zaca, Chalcatzin, Ecatzin, Cohuazon, Tzilmacohnatl, Tla-
palmetzotzin, and Metzoltzin. Id., p. 450. Tlacomihna or Acatl, Chalchi-
uhmatz, Avecatl, Coatzon, Tziuhcoatl, Tlapalhuitz, and Hnitz. Id., pp.
206-7. Tzacatl, Chalcatzin, Ehecatzin, Cohuatzon, Tzihuac-Cohuatl, Tla-
palmetzotzin, and Metzotzin. Torquemada, torn, i., p. 37. Tzacatl, Tela-
calzin, Echecalzin, Cohualzon, Tezihuaccoahutl, Tlapalmezoltzin, and
Melzolzin. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., torn, iv., p. 230.
cussion, since it cannot be literally accepted. The

most natural, yet a purely conjectural, interpretation
of the tradition is that a line or family of chieftains
isrepresented by its founder or by its most famous
member; and that by Hueman is to be understood
the powerful priesthood that ruled the destinies of
the Toltecs, from the earliest days to the fall of their
empire. The government was a theocratic republic,
each chief directing the movements of his band in
war and, so far as such direction was needed, in
peace, but all yielding, through fear of the gods or
veneration for their representatives, implicit obedi
ence to the counsels of their spiritual leader in all
matters of national import. But in the seventh year
after their arrival in Tollan, when the republic was
yet in a state of peace and prosperity, undisturbed
by foreign or internal foes, the chiefs convened an
assembly of the heads of families and the leading
men. The object of the meeting was to effect a
change in the form of their government, and to
establish a monarchy. The motive of the leaders, as
represented by the tradition, was a fear of future dis
turbances in a commonwealth governed by so many
independent chieftains. They recommended the elec
tion of an absolute monarch, offering to surrender
their own power and submit to the rule of whatever
king the people might choose. The members of the
convention acquiesced in the views of the chieftains,
and approved the proposed change in their form of
government. An election being next in order, a
majority expressed their preference for one of the
seven chiefs to occupy the new throne.
At this stage of the proceedings Hueman ad
dresses the meeting; though entertaining the highest
opinion of the character, ability, and patriotism of the
candidates proposed, he deems it his duty to oppose
their election. He reminds the people that the main
object of the proposed change was to secure a peace
able and independent possession of their new country;
A MONARCHY ESTABLISHED. 245
that the Chichimecs had pursued and already caused

them much trouble; that much was to be feared from
their confirmed hostility; that their foes were not far
distant, and would very likely invade the country at
no very distant day. He recommended as the most
efficient means of avoiding future strife, that an em
bassy with rich presents be sent to the Chichimec

monarch, asking for a son or other near relative who
should be crowned king of the Toltecs. express An
stipulation must, however, be required on the part of
the Chichimec king that the Toltecs should ever be a
perfectly free and independent people, owing no allegi
ance whatever to the Chichimecs, although the two
powers would enter into an alliance for mutual defense
and assistance. The advice of the aged and venerated
counsellor was of course accepted without objection; in
fact, as pictured by the Spanish writers, Toltec history
is for the most
part but a record of sage counsels of
wise rulers cheerfully acquiesced in by an appreciative
and obliging people. Ambassadors of the highest
rank, laden with gifts of value, were dispatched by the
shortest routes to the court of Huehue Tlapallan
notwithstanding the implied vicinity of some Chichi
mec nations where Icauhtzin 10 occupied the throne.
The mission was entirely successful. The second son
of the king, still a young man, whose name in his own
country is unknown, was with the required stipula
tions, brought back by the embassy arid crowned at
Tollan under the name of Chalchiuh Tlatonac, 11 shin
ing precious stone.
The young king, by reason of his fine personal ap
pearance, his character, intelligence and amiability,
10
Ixtlilxochitl. Called also Achcauhtzin, Cabrera, Teatro, p. 95. Icoat-
zin, Veytia, torn, i., p. 301.
11
Torquemada, torn, i., p.
37; Clavigero, i., p. 127; Brasseur de
torn,
Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., Chalchiuhtlanetzin, or Chal-
i., p. 215.
torn,
chiuhtlatonac. Chalchiuhtlahuextzin, Ixtlil
Veytia, torn, i., pp. 233, 301.
xochitl, p. 393. Tlalchiuhtlanelzin. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., se"rie
iii., torn, iv., p. 230. Ixtlilxochitl seems to imply, in another part of his
writings, Hist. Chick., p. 207, that the king was chosen among the Toltecs
themselves. This Sr Pimentel, in Dice. Univ., torn, x., p. 611, deems
touch more probable than the course indicated in the other accounts.
seems to have greatly pleased from the first the people

over whom he was called to rule. The events related
above, the settlement at Tollan and the connection of
the first king, must be attributed to the first quarter
of the eighth century, between 710 and 720. 12 Im
mediately after the accession of the young monarch, a
law was established by him and his counsellors to the
effect that no king should reign more than fifty-two
years, but at the expiration of this term should ab

dicate in favor of his eldest son, 13 whom he might,
however, still serve as adviser. Should the king die
before the allotted time had elapsed, it was provided
that the state should be ruled during the unexpired
term by magistrates chosen by the people. In addi
tion to the inherent improbability of such extraordi
nary legislation, it should be noted that subsequent
events, even as related by Ixtlilxochitl, do not in all
cases agree with it. Its meaning can only be con
jectured; it is noticeable, however, that the time
allotted to each reign was exactly a cycle of fifty-two
years, and it is not altogether unlikely that a custom
prevailed of alluding in the pictured annals to each
cycle by the name of the most famous king whose
reign fell within the period. The next event, and the
only one particularly recorded in the reign of Chal-
chiuh Tlatonac, was his marriage. Realizing the
importance of providing for heirs that the dynasty
might be perpetuated, he left the choice of a wife en
much to their satisfaction, as in
tirely to his subjects,
dicating a desire on the part of royalty to please the
people. The choice fell upon a beautiful -daughter of
Acapichtzin. The latter had himself been a favorite
candidate for royal honors when a kingdom was first
proposed, and was thus rewarded by seeing his
daughter raised to the dignity of first Toltec queen.
12 503 or 510 or 509 or 556. Ixtlilxochitl. 700, et seq. Torquemada.
713-19. Veytia. Brasseur has 718. 670, et seq. Midler. All the authori
ties agree on 7 Acatl as the date of the establishment of the kingdom.
Clavigero interprets the date as 667.
13
See vol. ii., p. 140.
THE KINGDOM OF TOLLAN. 247
The Olmec, Xicalanca, and other Toltec nations had

voluntarily given their allegiance to the monarch of
Tollan, who reigned long and prosperously for fifty-
two years, when he died and was buried in the chief
14
temple in 7 Acatl, or about 771 A.D.
Thus in preserved by the Spanish
the record
writers, participation in the new monarchy by
all
other Chichimec Toltec tribes than those in and
about Tollan, is altogether
O ignored.
O The Olmecs and
other pre-Toltec nations are represented as having vol
untarily offered their allegiance, new towns founded
by colonists sent out from Tollan and Tulancingo
became of course tributary to the new kingdom, and
it is even admitted that powerful Chichimec nations
were established not far distant, and were regarded

with some anxiety in view of probable future events
until thedanger was averted by the selection of a
Chichimec prince as king, and the consequent trans
formation of their rivals into allies. The absence of
any further mention of these allied and friendly na
tions throughout the whole period of Toltec history
is certainly most extraordinary, and might be suffi-.
cient in itself to arouse a suspicion that in the records

from which this account was drawn the kingdom of
Tollan was given unmerited prominence, while its
allies and rivals were intentionally denied their share
in the glories of the Toltec empire. This suspicion
seems to be to a considerable extent confirmed by
14 608 A.
D., according to IxtZtlxochitl, p. 450. On the establishment of
the Toltecs in Tollan and the reign of the first king, see: Ixtlilxockitl, in
KingsborougKs Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 206-7, 322-5, 336, 392-3, 450,
458, 460; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., torn, i., pp. 221-39; Clavigero, Storia
Ant. del Messico, torn, i., pp. 126-7, torn, iv., pp. 46, 51; Sahagun, Hist.
Gen., torn, iii., lib.pp. 106-15, 145, lib. xi., p. 312; Torquemada,
x.,
Monarq. Lid., pp. 37, 254; Boturini, Idea, pp. 77, 139; Id., in
torn, i.,
Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., torn, iv., p. 230; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol, 299;
Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., torn, i., p. 5; Vetan-
cvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11; Cabrera, Teatro, p. 95; Arlcgui, Chron.
Zacatecas, p. 6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 209,
etseq. ; Orozco y Berra, Geografia, p. 138; Prescotfs Mex., vol. i., pp.
12-13; Midler, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 524; Mayer s Mex. Aztec,
etc., vol. i., p. 95; Chevalier, Mcxique, p. 55; Gondra, in Fresco tt, Hist.
Conq. Mex., torn, iii., p. 20; Schooler affs Arch., vol. v., p. 95; Waldeck,
Voy. Pitt., p. 46.; Pimentel, in Dice. Univ., torn, x., pp. 610-11.
15
the two Nahua documents already referred to.
These authorities relate substantially the same course
of events as the others, and refer them to approxi
mately the same date; they tell us of the original
theocratic republic ruled by independent chieftains
who were subordinate to a central sacerdotal power;
the determination finally reached to adopt a mon
archical form of government; and the choice of a
king, who does not seem to have been one of the
tribal chieftains. But they attribute these acts to
several more or less closely allied nations, of which
that established at Tollan was only one, and not the
chief. The sacerdotal supremacy attributed to the
priesthood of Tollan under the name of Hueman,
was really exercised by the priests of the sun at
Teotihuacan; there were the deliberations held; and
there probably did the first king receive the rites of
coronation. The leading nation in Anahuac at the
time was that of the Chichimec Culhuas under Mix-
cohuatl Mazatzin; those at Tollan and Quauhtitlan,
and perhaps others whose name has not been pre
served, having been less powerful allies. The choice
of the chiefs fell upon Nauhyotl, or Nauhyotzin, as
the first Toltec king, and having been crowned prob
ably at Teotihuacan, he established his capital at
Culhuacan, then, as for a long time after the me
tropolis of Anahuac, in 11 Calli, or 721 A.D. Of
Nauhyotl s family and previous rank nothing is
known. Whether he was a prince high in rank in
a foreign land, identical with the Chalchiuh Tlatonac
of Ixtlilxochitl, or, as Brasseur conjectures, sprung
from the union of a native princess of the pre-Toltec
tribes and a Chichimec Culhua chief, we have no
means of determining. He was the first, so far as
can be known, to assume the titles Tlatoani and
16
Topiltzin, both of which endured to the time of the
15 Codex Chimalpopoca, and Memorial de Culhuacan, as cited by Bras

seur de Bourboiirg.
16
Respecting these titles see vol. ii., pp. 186-7, 201, vol. iii., p. 434.
KINGDOM OF QUAUHTITLAN. 249
Conquest, the former signifying lord or monarch,

and implying the highest rank in matters temporal,
as the latter in matters spiritual, corresponding very
nearly with that of pope in Catholic countries.
The close connection between church and state in all
the Nahua nations has been frequently pointed out in
this work; as the Abbe Brasseur says, "the empire
and the priesthood were one, and the ritual was the
base of the throne. In order to firmly establish the
monarchy, and ensure the fruits of their conquests,
the Toltecs must rule not only the bodies but the con
science of their subjects. Where persuasion and the
imposing spectacle of religious ceremonies were of no
avail, violence and terror were resorted to, and insensi
bly the peoples of Mexico adopted the civilization of
17
their masters together with their superstitious rites."
In 725 Chicon Tonatiuh, assumed the title of Tla-

toani and became king of Quauhtitlan, probably in
some degree subordinate to the king at Culhuacan.
The first mention by these authorities of a king in
Tollan is to the effect that Mixcohuatl Mazatzin was
called to that throne in 752. Meantime one of Mix-
cohuatl s sons, named Texcatlipocatl, afterwards deified
as Tezcatlipoca, had founded the dominion of Tezcuco,
and another son, named like his father Mixcohuatl,
but better known and afterwards worshiped as Camax-
tli, had continued the conquests of the Mixcohuas on
the eastern plateau of Huitzilapan, or Tlascala. 18 In
753 Chicon Tonatiuh, who had died two years before,
was succeeded in Quauhtitlan by Xiuhnel; the new
king was murdered soon after by his subjects, or as
the tradition has it, was stabbed through the liver by
Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 225.
18 On
regarda aussi corame des dieux Camaxtle et Tezcatlipuca qui vin-
rent de 1 occident; mais ces pretendus dieux etaient sans doute des enchan-
teurs diaboliques et possedes du demon, qui pervertirent toutes ces nations.
Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, torn, xcviii.,
p. 146. Fueron grandes capitanes esforzados y entre ellos valerosos hom-
bres; los quales seiiorearon por grado 6 por fuerza aquellas Provincias de
Mexico, Tetzcuco y Tlaxcala, cuyos propios naturales a habitadores y abo-
rigenes eran las gentes que se Hainan Othomies. Las Casas, Hist. Apolo-
getica, MS., cap. 122.
a native woman in whose arms he was sleeping. A

revolt followed, by which the Toltec power in that
province was temporarily overthrown by the aboriginal
inhabitants,whoever they may have been. In 767
Nauhyotl, king at Culhuacan, died and was succeeded
by Totepeuh, identical with Mixcohua Camaxtli, also
known as Nonohualcatl, and whose father was at
the time reigning at Tollan. Early in the reign of
Totepeuh a wide-spread war is vaguely reported as
having been waged chiefly in the regions outside the
valley. In this war the original inhabitants of the
country, the Toltec tribes already settled there, and
newly arrived Chichimec bands are vaguely men
tioned as combattants; Xochitzin, a beautiful
the
princess possessed of supernatural powers, or at least
holding communication with the gods and regarded as
an oracle, was the prime mover in this war; Huactli
was the most prominent leader, in full sympathy ap
parently with the Toltec sovereign and at the end of ;
the strife Huactli married Xochitzin and became

king of the re-established dominion of Quauhtitlan in
804. Thirteen years later after a long reign Mixco-
huatl Mazatzin, king of Tollan, died. He had been
a very famous warrior, one of the most prominent of
all the Toltec chieftains in Anahuac, and was in after
19
years worshiped as one of the gods of war. His
successor was Huetzin, whom Brasseur conjectures to
have been a son of the late king and identical with
Tezcatlipoca.
Returning now to the other version of Toltec
history we learn that after the death of the first
king of Tollan, his son Ixtlilcuechahuac mounted the
throne. 20 His reign, like that of his predecessor, was
is See
vol. ii., pp. 335-6, 351-2, vol. iii., pp. 118, 403-6.
20
Ixtlilcuechahuac, otherwise called Tzacatecatl, Tlaltecatl, and Tla-
chinotzin, in 771 A. D. Veytia, torn, i., p. 231. 608. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 450.
Ixliuechahuexe or Tzacatcatl, 614. Id., p. 325. Ixtlilcuechanac or Tlalte
catl Huetzin. Id., p. 393. Tlilquechahuac Tlalchinoltzin, 572. Id., p. 207.
Tlilque Chaocatlahinoltzin. Id., p. 460. Aixtilcuechahuac. Vetancvrt,
Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11. 719 A. D. Clarigero, torn, i., p. 127. Was
reigning in 660. Boturini, Idea, p. 139. The preceding hardly confirms
THE TEOAMOXTLI, OR DIVINE BOOK. 251
peaceful and prosperous; but the only event recorded

was a meeting of all the sages under the direction of
the aged Hueman, which took place only a few years
before the end of the second king s term of office. At
this assembly there were brought forward all the Tol-
tec records reaching back to the earliest period of their
existence, and from these documents, after a long con
ference and the most careful study, the Teoamoxtli, or
1
book of God, was prepared. In its pages were in
scribed the Nahua annals from the time of the deluge,
or even from the creation; together with all their re
ligious rites, governmental system, laws and social
customs; their knowledge respecting agriculture and
all the arts and sciences, particular attention being
given to astrology; and a complete explanation of
their modes of reckoning time and interpreting the
hieroglyphics. To the divine book was added a chap
ter of prophecies respecting future events and the
signs by which it should be known when the time of
was drawing near.
their fulfillment
After the completion of the Teoamoxtli, Hueman,
now three hundred years old, announced his approach
O end and made known to the Toltecs their future.
ing
After ten cycles had elapsed from the time when they
left Huehue Tlapallan, they were to be ruled by a
king whose right to the royal power would not be un

disputed among his subjects. From his mother s
womb he would have certain personal peculiarities by
which he might be known; his curly hair would
assume the form of a mitre or tiara. The earlier
years of his reign were to be years of great prosperity ;
his rule would be wise, just, and able. In middle life

the king would abandon the ways of wisdom and
virtue, giving himself up to all manner of vice
leading infallibly to disaster; and worst of all his
subjects would imitate his vicious conduct and share
Brasseur s statement that toutes les Relations d lxtlilxochitl concordent

iciavec le Codex Chimalp., pour donner le nom de Huetziii au second roi
de Tollan. This is a pretty fair sample of the abbe s references.
in his misfortunes. Great calamities were to come

upon the Toltecs, sent by Tloque Nahuaque, the great
God, and like unto these with which their ancestors
were afflicted in the remote past. Finally the king
dom was to be destroyed by civil wars, and the king,
driven from his possession, after nearly all his sub
jects had perished, was to return to the ancient home
of their race, there in his later years to become once
more wise and discreet. Yet a sign was not denied
this fated people; for certain unnatural phenomena
were to announce their destruction as drawing nigh.
When the rabbit should have horns like a deer, and
the humming-bird be found with spurs, and stones
yield fruit when the priests of the temples should
;
forget their vows of chastity with noble ladies, pil

grims to the shrines of the god then might they
look for the fulfillment of Hueman s predictions; for
lightnings and hail and snow, for famine and pesti
lence and devouring insects, to be followed by desolat
ing wars. For such as escaped these disasters, or for
their descendants, another visitation of divine wrath
was reserved in the form of a foreign people from the
east, who ten cycles later were to take possession of
the country in fulfillment of the words of the ancient
prophet Quetzalcoatl. No further information is
given of Hueman s death or of Ixtlilcuechahuac s
rule.
Huetzin, the third king, was crowned, according
21
to Veytia s chronology, in 823, a date that very
nearly agrees with that given in the other version, or
22
817. Totepeuh, the fourth, elsewhere mentioned as
o at Culhuacan, took the throne from his
second kinof
father after fifty-two years; and handed it down after
a like period to his own son Nacaxoc, 23 the fifth mon-
666, or 613. Ixtlilxochitl, who also writes the name Huetzin Totepeuh
21
and Huitzin. 771. Clavigero.

22
Totepauh and Totepeuhque. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 326, 460; on p. 450 his
reign is ignored.
23
Nacazxoc. Torquemada, and Vetancvrt. Nacaxzoch, Nacalxur,
Nacaxoc Mitl, and Nacazxot. Ixtlilxochitl, who on pp. 450 and 393 calls
him the fourth king.
TOTEPEUH KING OF TOLLAN. 253
who was in turn succeeded by Mitl in

arch at Tollan,
2*
979. These reigns, the last of which lasted fifty-
nine years, were marked by the occurrence of no
event specially important, though in all great prog
ress was made, new towns founded, old cities beauti
fied, and new temples built, including one of great
magnificence at Quauhnahuac (Cuernavaca, possibly

Xochicalco) and another at Tollan intended to rival
that of the Sun at Teotihuacan, which city is inci
dentally admitted to have surpassed Tollan in extent
and magnificence. During this period the Toltec power
was firmly established over a broad territory, and
there were yet no tokens of approaching destruction. 25
In the annals of Culhuacan we left Totepeuh on

the throne. His first military expedition was di
rected towards the eastern plateau, where Chalchi-
uhapan, later Tlascala, seems to have been founded at
about this time, and where this king was afterwards
worshiped under his name of Camaxtli. In his next
expedition, to the province of Huitznahuac, he en
countered, defeated after many fruitless attempts,
and finally married a bold princess Chimalman, who
fought entirely naked at the head of a body of am-
azons. The conquest of Cuitlahuac next claimed his
attention, for this was the only city on the lakes that
had been able to withstand the power of his father
and predecessor. To this city and this period Bras-
seur traces back the foundation of the Nahual
Teteuctin, an order of chivalry, whence proceeded
the highest titles of learning and nobility, down to
the coming of the Spaniards. 26 Queen Chinial-
24
Veytia. 927 according to Clavic/ero. 822 or 768 according to Ixtlil-
xockitl, who calls pp. 207, 460, names him as fifth king
him Tlacomihua on
on p. 393, and ignores his reign on p. 450.
25 For the
annals of Tollan during this period see Ixtlilxochitt, pp. 207,
325-6, 393, 450, 460; Veytia, torn, i., pp. 239-58; Torquemada, torn, i., p.
37. Clavigero, torn, i., pp. 127-8; Sahagun, torn, iii., lib. x., p. 114; Botu-
rini, Idea, pp. 139-40; Vetancvrt, Tcatro Hex., p. 11; Miiller, Amerikan-
ishe Urreliyionen, p. 524.
26 Chief
among which titles was that of Tecuhtli, respecting which see
vol. ii., pp. 194-200.
man, becoming enceinte immediately after marriage,

dreamed that she bore in her bosom a chalchiuite, or
precious stone, and decided to name her son, pre
destined to a glorious career, Quetzalcoatl Chalchiuitl.
At his birth, which occurred nine months later, the
heir was named also Ceacatl, probably from the
day on which he was born. In addition to his
mother s dream and the auguries drawn from it, the
fact that Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl united in his veins
the noblest blood of the Toltecs and the pre-Toltec
peoples, gave special import to his birth, and the
event was celebrated with great pomp at Culhuacan,
and gifts of great value were sent from all direc
27
tions. 839 is the approximate date to which Ce
acatl Quetzalcoatl s birth is referred; his mother
died in childbed, and the child was entrusted to the
king s sister Cohuatl, a priestess of the temple, per
haps the same as Cihuacoatl, or Cioacoatl, after
wards deified as the goddess of childbirth. 28 In 845
King Totepeuh Nonohualcatl himself, now far ad
vanced in years, was murdered by conspiring nobles
under the leadership of Apanecatl, Zolton, and Cuil-
ton; he was succeeded by Yohuallatonac, and at the
same time Ihuitimal, a name that bears no resem
blance to that of Huetzin s successor according O to
1
the Spanish writers, took Huetzin s place on the

throne of Tollan. Brasseur believes that Huetzin left
O at Culhuacan, and that he was
Tollan to become kinsf *
the same as Yohuallatonac. It must be noted that

the confused state of the aboriginal annals is due not
only to the incompleteness of the native records many
having been destroyed and the errors of interpret
ers, but also largely to the unfortunate custom of
the Nahua peoples of giving many names to the same
person, and multiplying names apparently in propor-
27 On celebra de grandes f6tes a la naissance de Colchacovat. Camaroo,

Hist. Tlax., in NouveMes Annales des Voy., 1843, torn, xcviii., p. 146. See
also^nole of this chapter.
28 See vol.
ii., pp. 269, 434, 608, vol. iii., pp. 350, 363.
VENGEANCE OF QUETZALCOATL. 255
tion to fame and rank. It is recorded that Ceacatl,

while yet a boy, wreaked a terrible vengeance on the
the murderers of his father. The latter took refuge
in the fortress of Cuitlahuac on one of the lake
islands deemed impregnable, but by a subterranean
passage leading under the waters, the prince and his
followers gained access to fort and temple. The
leaders of the conspiracy were sprinkled with red
pepper after a preparatory flaying and mangling, and
dying in indescribable torture were sacrificed to the
memory of Totepeuh, the first of the many thousand
victims subsequently offered to the same divinity un
der his name of Camaxtli. From this time nothing
whatever is recorded of Ceacatl for about twenty
years, until he re- appears under his name of Quetzal
-
coatl as the most celebrated of the Toltec kings and

high-priests, afterwards deified like most heroes of
this early time.
The only event recorded before the re-appearance of
Quetzalcoatl is one of great importance, a convention
of the princes and wise men of Anahuac and vicinity.
At this assemblage the system of government and the
laws of succession were perfected and as may be sup
posed given substantially the form which they pre
served down to the Conquest; but the most important
act was the establishment of an alliance between the
crowns of Culhuacan, Otompan, and Tollan. Each
king was to be perfectly independent in the affairs of
his own domain; but in matters affecting the general
interests the three monarchs were to constitute a
council, in which the king of Culhuacan was to rank
first, assuming a title nearly equivalent to that of
Emperor. Otompan took the second place and Tollan
the third. This is the first mention of Otompan as a
capital, but since its domain seems to have included
the territory of Teotihuacan and Tezcuco, its promi
nent position in the league is not improbable. The
establishment of this alliance, or, as it may be more
conveniently termed, empire, is referred to the date

: )
1 Tecpatl, 856.
Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl re-appears in history, still fol
lowing the same authorities, about the year 870, and

succeeded Ihuitimal as king of Tollan, assuming the
30
title Topiltzin, on the death of that king in 873. All
altogether on the Codex Chimalpopoca and Mem.

29 This alliance rests
de Culhuacan. It is to be noted that Brasseur refers clearly to Torque-

mada, Monarq. Ind., lib. xi., cap. 18, as an authority, which chapter con
tains not a word bearing on the subject.
30
Torqnemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i., p. 37, relates the succession of
the Toltec kings at Tollan, agreeing substantially with the accounts of Ix-
tlilxochitl, Veytia, and the rest. It is to be noted, however, that on page
254 the same author gives another account, inextricably confused, totally
disagreeing with the preceding, but agreeing in most of its names, with
that derived by Brasseur from the two records in his possession. This
proves that the version of the Toltec traditions followed by the Spanish
writers, referring everything to Tollan and ignoring all other nations and
kings, was not the only one extant when the Spaniards came. It confirms
to a certain extent Brasseur s account of other Toltec nations and monarchs
besides those at Tollan, and is therefore important. I translate this ver
sion of the tradition from Torquemada, without any attempt to reconcile
its many inconsistencies with itself and the versions already presented. It
has the appearance of a successive interpretation of the records of distinct
kingdoms, or distinct periods, tacked together and referred vaguely to Toltec
history by a writer who did not suspect the existence of any other power than
that at Tollan. When the Mexicans arrived in this region of Tulla, it was
already settled by many people; because, according to the truth as found
in the most authentic histories of these nations, in 700 A. D., they began
to settle here. Their first captain, or leader, was named Totepeuh, who
lived a long and tranquil life, being a bold and famous chieftain. At his
death those of the province of Tulla raised to the throne another called
Topil [Topiltzin], who reigned fifty years and was succeeded by Huemac,
mentioned elsewhere in connection with the tricks of Quetzalcohuatl.
[These are among the very last rulers in Tollan by other accounts.] This
Huemac was a very powerful king, who was much feared and caused him
self to be worshiped as a god. He went out from Tulla to increase the ex
tent of his kingdom, occupying himself throughout his reign in gaining
new provinces, preferring the bustle of war to the quiet of peace. But
while he was engaged in wars abroad the Toltecs made Nanhyotzin king,
who was the second lord, and of Chichimec birth. He also left Tullaii and
marched towards this lake with a large number of people to conquer as
much as possible of the territory thereabouts. He reigned more than sixty
years, and at his death the kingdom was given to Quauhtexpetlatl, [a name
not appearing elsewhere] who in his tiirn was followed by Huetzin Nono-
hualcatl [according to Brasseur, Huetzin probably succeeded Nonohualcatl
at Culhuacan. All that follows probably belongs to the Chichimec period
much later, and relates to the kings of Culhuacan]. After him reigned
Achitometl, and, afterwards, Quauhtonal, and in the tenth year of his
reign the Mexicans arrived at Chapultepec; so that when the said Mexicans
were in the city or province of Tulla, this prince was neither its king or
lord (as Gomara says), but continuing the account and succession of these
Toltec kings, we say that the said Achitometl was succeeded by Mazatzin,
[and not by Quauhtonal as above. This is unintelligible. Mazatzin was,
CEACATL QUETZALCOATL. 257
the Spanish writers have much to say of Quetzalcoatl,

although none of them except Sahagun, who ex
31
presses himself very clearly on the subject seem to
have regarded him as one of the Toltec kings in the
regular order of succession to the throne; and their
accounts are inextricably confused by reason of their
having made no distinction between Quetzalcoatl the
original culture-hero, and Quetzalcoatl, the pontiff-
ruler of Tollan, applying indiscriminately to one per
son all the traditions in which the name occurred. I
will give first the regular Spanish version of these
traditions.
Mendieta records the tradition that he was the
son of Camaxtli and Chimalman, and also another
to the effect that Chimalman became pregnant by
swallowing a chalchiuite, which she found when
sweeping; but other authorities, without going back
to his birth, represent him as appearing on the east
ern coast, most of them agreeing on the region of
Panuco as the locality. He was tall, well formed,
with broad forehead and large eyes, of fair corn-
according to Brassenr, the first king at Tollan] and he by Quetzal. After
him came Chalchiuhtoua, and then Quauhtlix, then Yohuallatonac, fol
io wed by Tziuhtecatl. It is said that in the third year of this king"
reign
the Mexicans arrived where the city of Mexico now is. At TziiihtecatTs
death, Xiuhtemoctzin succeeded to the throne, and he was followed by
Coxcotzin. Then follows an account of the corning of Quetzalcoatl and
his companions, in which the author is evidently much confused between
the first and second of that name.
Gornara, Cong. Mex., fol. 301-2, gives a similar account, differing, how
ever, in orthography and in some of the successions. The order of suc
cession, according to this writer, is in substance as follows: 1st. Totepeuch,
in 721, who died over 100 years after their arrival. 2d. Topil, son of the for
mer, ruled about 50 years. An interregnum ensued of over 110 years; either
had no kings or their names are forgotten. 3d, 4th. Two rulers chosen,
Vemac and Nauhiocin, the latter a Chichimec. Both left Tollan with their
followers; the latter settled near the lake, and reigned over CO years. 5th.
Quauhtexpetlatl. 6th. Vccin. 7th. Nonoualcatl. [We have seen that
Torquemada unites these two names in one king.] 8th. Achitometl. 9th.
Quauhtonal, in the l()th year of whose reign came the Mexicans to Cha-
pultepec. 10th. Mazacin. llth. Queza. 12th. Chalchiuhtona. 13th.
Quauhtlix. 14th. lohuallatonac. 15th. Ciuhtetl. 16th. Xiuiltemoc. 17th.
Cuxcux, and so on with the Chichimec and Aztec kings of much later
periods. It is very evident that these writers had access to the same docu
ments which Brasseur uses, but did not comprehend their meaning.
31 En esta ciudad (Tollan) reino muchos afios uii rey llamado Quetzal-
coatl, gran nigromantico, e inventor de la nigromancia, etc. Bis*. Gen.,
torn, ii., lib. viii., p. 266.
VOL. V 17
32
plexion, with long" black hair and a full beard.
Bare as to his head and feet, he wore a long white
robe ornamented with black flowers, according to
Las Casas, or with black or red crosses, as other
writers say, supporting his steps with a staff. He
was austere in manner, but in character all that is
good, and gentle, disapproving all acts of violence
and blood, and withal most chaste, neither marrying
nor knowing women. With him was a large com
pany of artists and men learned in every branch of
science, whom some of the authors seem to consider
a colony from a foreign land. From Panuco Quetzal-
coatl,with his companions, came to Tollan after
having tarried for some time, as Camargo tells us, at
Tulancingo. He was at first received by the Toltecs
with much enthusiasm, and during his stay in Tollan
filled the position of high-priest or supreme spiritual
ruler. His rule was mild, but he insisted on a strict
performance of all religious duties, and subjected
himself to severe penances, such as the drawing of
blood from tongue and limbs by means of maguey-
thorns. He was not without supernatural powers,
since his announcements made by a crier from the
top of a neighboring mountain could be heard for a
distance of three hundred miles. He introduced
many new religious rites, including the practice of
fasting and the drawing of blood from their own
body by penitents, also according to some authorities,
the establishment of convents and nunneries, and the
sacrifice of birds and animals; to human sacrifices he
was ever opposed. He was a patron of all the arts
and sciences, which in his time reached their highest
33
state of development. Finally, Quetzalcoatl left
Tollan and went to Cholula, which city with others
32
Brasseur, torn, i., p. 255, misinterpreting Torquemada, torn, i., p.
255, him blonde; in another place, torn, ii., p. 48, Torquemada dis
calls
tinctly states that he has black hair.
33 The invention of the calendar
attributed to him by Mendieta, Hist.
Ecles., pp. 97-8, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vii., p. 264, and others,
should evidently be referred to the Quetzalcoatl of other times.
FLIGHT OF QUETZALCOATL. 259
on the eastern plateau, some authors still referring

to another Quetzalcoatl, and another epoch credit
him with having founded. There are many versions
of his motives for abandoning Tollan, most referring
to certain troubles between him and a rival Huemac
or Tezcatlipoca, Playing ball with Tezcatlipoca, the
latter assumed the form of a tiger, scared the specta
tors so that many fell over a precipice, and pursued
his opponent from town to town until he reached
Cholula; or he was driven away by the tricks of a
sorcerer named Titlacaaon, or Titlacahua, who ap
peared in the form of an old man. By dint of much
persuasion the magician induced Quetzalcoatl, who was
unwell, to drink a medicine which he had brought, re
commended to act as a narcotic. The medicine proved
to be pulque, the high-priest was soon intoxicated, and
in this condition was easily persuaded that by going to
the ancient country of Tlapallan he might regain his
youth. The other tricks of this sorcerer are many,
but they seem to belong to the final overthrow of the
Toltec empire rather than to Quetzalcoatl s time.
Many details are given of the high-priest s journey
towards Tlapallan, of the places through which he
passed, and the wonderful traces which he left. He
is
generally credited with having stopped a short
time at Quauhtitlan, and with having lived some
years at Cholula, where he was especially popular,
and where in after years his doctrines found their
most devoted followers. But his chief enemy, Hue-
mac, and the necromancers followed him even to
Cholula with their persecutions, and he was forced
to set out again on his journey towards Tlapallan.
He finally disappeared in the Goazacoalco region,
after predicting the future coming of bearded white
men from the east. I have given here only a brief
outline of the traditions respecting Quetzalcoatl, be
cause a full account has been presented in another
34
volume, to which the reader is referred.
34
See vol. iii., pp. 239-87; also Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej. y torn, i., pp.
The supposition that Quetzalcoatl was a member of

the Toltec royal family and reigned as a king at Tol-
lan, together with the evident confounding in the
traditions as recorded by the Spanish writers of two
35
distinct persons named Quetzalcoatl, remove most of
the difficulties connected with this famous personage,
the second of the name. It seems to me most prob
able that the traditions relating to Quetzalcoatl s
foreign origin or his long absence in distant parts of
the country, his arrival at Pdjmco, and his final dis
appearance in the south although these are all ac
cepted by Brasseur should be referred to the Quet
zalcoatl of primitive times. The young prince, unable
for some unrevealed reason, to obtain after his arrival
at years of discretion the crown of his murdered
father, retired to some city in or near Anahuac, prob
ably Tulancingo, where he first comes into notice, to
bide his time. Here he settled on his future policy
including some religious reforms, communicated with
powerful friends throughout Anahuac, and perfected
his plans for recovering his lost throne. Some crosses
and other relics seen by the Spaniards in the mountains
of Meztitlan, were attributed by native tradition to
36
Ceacatl s residence in Tulancingo. Such was the
force of his claim as son of Totepeuh, and such the in
fluence of the religious dogmas zealously promulgated
by him and his disciples, that at last on the death of
Ihuitimal, perhaps his brother, he was raised to the
throne of Tollan, as has been said, in 873, under the
title of Topiltzin Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl.
161-205; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 82-3, 92-3, 97-8; Torquemada, Mo-
narq. Ind., torn, i., pp. 255, 282, 380, torn, ii., pp. 20, 48-52, 79; Herrera,
Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii. Las Casas, Hist. Apologetica, MS.,
;
cap. 122, 173; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 243-8, 25-9; Cla-
mgero, dtoria Ant. del Mcssico, torn, ii., pp. 11-13; Gomara, Cong. Mex.,,
fol. 300; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., \i\Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, torn.
Tcrnaux-Compans, in Id., 1840, torn. Ixxxvi., pp. 16-20;

xcviii., p. 145;
Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., torn, iii., pp. 66-9; Tyler s Re
searches, pp. 154-5.
35
By calling them distinct persons it is not necessarily implied that the
first Quetzalcoatl ever had a real existence.
32
Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mcj., torn, i., pp. 171-2.
REIGN OF CEACATL. 261
There nothing in the Spanish version of the

is
Quetzalcoatl traditions by which to fix the epoch in

which he flourished. It is merely implied that Hue-
mac, his chief enemy, was temporal ruler at the same
time that he exercised the functions of high-priest,
and succeeded him in power. Huemac is identified
by Brasseur, not without some reason, with Nacaxoc,
the fifth king of the Spanish writers, whose reign is
represented by them as having been most peaceful
and uneventful. He is also known as Tezcatlipoca,
and was closely related Yohuallatonac, 37 the king of
Culhuacan. In the Codex Chimalpopoca he is called
both Huemac and Matlacxochitl.
After Quetzalcoatl had been about ten years on the
throne, opposition to his power, fomented by his ene
mies from the first, assumed serious proportions. Sev
eral causes are plausibly attributed by the records and
their interpreters to this opposition. The new pontiff-
king had effected many innovations in religious cere
monies. It does not appear that his doctrines differed
very materially from those entertained by his prede
cessors, but the changes introduced by him had been
so readily admitted by reason of the popularity and
zeal of their author and his subordinates, as to excite
jealousy among the ecclesiastical powers. Most prom
inent among his peculiar reforms, and the one that is
reported to have contributed most to his downfall, was-4
his unvarying opposition to human sacrifice. This (
sacrifice had prevailed from pre-Toltec times at Teoti-

huacan, and had been adopted more or less extensively
"
in Culhuacan and Tollan. By Quetzalcoatl it was

absolutely prohibited in the temples of the latter
capital, and thus the powerful priesthood of Otompan,
and Culhuacan was arrayed against him. Again it
is
thought that under Quetzalcoatl the spiritual power
always closely connected with the temporal in Nahua
governments, became so predominant as to excite the
jealousy and fears of the nobility in Tollan, who were
Probably, as has been said, the same as Huetzin and Texcaltepocatl.
37
2G2 THE TOLTEC PERIOD.
restive under a priestly restraint not imposed on their

brothers of corresponding rank in the other nations
of the empire. Finally, under the rule of Ceacatl,
Tollan had become the metropolis of the empire. It
does not appear that the terms of the alliance, accord
ing to which the monarch of Culhuacan outranked
the others, had been changed; but in the magnifi
cence of her palaces and temples, and the skill and
fame of her artists, if not in population, Tollan now
surpassed the cities of the valley, and thus naturally
was looked upon as a too successful rival. The dis
satisfied element at home was headed by Huemac, or
Tezcatlipoca, who had perhaps some well-founded

claim to the throne, and received the support of the
allied monarchs. The ensuing struggle is symbolized
in the record of the Spanish writers by the successive
tricks of the necromancers; and the religious strife
between rival sects was continued with more or less
bitterness down to the latest Aztec epoch. Such was
s
Quetzalcoatl repugnance to the shedding of human
blood, that he seems to have voluntarily abandoned
his throne against the wishes of his more warlike par
tisans, and after a brief stay in Quaubtitlan, to have
crossed to the eastern plateau of Huitzilapan in 895.
Huemac, Tezcatlipoca, or Nacaxoc succeeded imme
33
diately to the royal power in Tollan.
The teachings and influence of Quetzalcoatl had
preceded him among the Olmec nations of the east
ern region. His father, under the name of Camaxtli,
had done more than any other to bring these nations
under the Toltec power, had founded the city after
wards known as Tlascala, and was perhaps already
worshiped as a deity. Moreover the Quetzalcoatl of
old had traditionally introduced Nahua institutions in
this region, where he was still the object of supreme
veneration. Whether the city of Cholula was actually
founded at this time or by the first Quetzalcoatl, it is
38
875. Clavigero. 927. Veytia. 770 or 716. Ixllilxochitl.
CONQUEST OF CHOLULA. 263
39
impossible to determine, but the coming of Ceacatl
seems to have marked the beginning of a new era of
prosperity on the eastern plateau. Temples in honor
of Camaxtli were erected in Tlascala and Huexot-
zinco, while Cholula became the capital of what may
almost be termed a new Toltec monarchy. All the
southern and eastern provinces subject to the empire
during Ceacatl s reign at Tollan, gave in their adhe
sion to him at Cholula. Large numbers of his parti
sans also followed him from Tollan, and all the primi
tive peoples, among whom human sacrifice in pre-
Toltec times had been unknown, were glad to submit
to the royal high-priest. His reign in Cholula lasted
about ten years, 10 and during this time his doctrines
are thought to have been introduced by disciples dis
patched from Cholula into the southern regions of
Oajaca.
In 904 Yohuallatonac was succeeded in Culhuacan
by Quetzallacxoyatl, and Huemac, having subdued
by his strict and severe measures all open opposition
to his rule at home, but looking with much uneasi
ness on the prosperity of Ceacatl in his new capital,
and the constant emigration of his own subjects east
ward, resolved again to attack his former rival. At
the head of a large army he directed his march
towards Cholula. Quetzalcoatl as before, notwith
standing the remonstrance of his people, refused to
resist his progress, but departed before Huemac s
arrival for other lands as before related. Cholula,
with the neighboring cities and provinces fell an easy
prey to the valiant Huemac; but so long did he
remain absent in his insatiable desire to conquer new
territory, that his subjects revolted and with the
co-operation of the king of Culhuacan proclaimed
41
Nauhyotl king about the year 930. Huernac did
39 Los
que de esta ciudad (Tollan) huyeron, edificaron otra muy pros-
pera quc se llama CJiolnlla. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii., lib. viii., p. 207.
40 See references
already given on Quetzalcoatl, and also BrasacAi.r de
Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 205, ct seq.
41 This
king is called Mitl and Tlacomihua b y Veytia and the rest.
not yield without a struggle. Returning westward

to defend his throne he met Nauhyotl on the lake
shores; his army was routed and he was killed, or at
least disappeared. As Tezcatlipoca and under vari
ous other titles he ever after ranked among the high
42
est in the pantheon of Nahua divinities.
During the ensuing era of peace among the Toltecs
under Nauhyotl, or Mitl, and his allies, it seems that
Cholula regained its prosperity, re-established the
institutions and worship of Quetzalcoatl, and soon
rivaled in magnificence Tollan, Culhuacan, and Teoti-
huacan. Still remaining to a certain extent a part of
the Toltec empire, under the rule of the king at
Tollan, Cholula seems to have preferred from this
period a republican form of home rule, similar, if not
identical, to that in vogue on the eastern plateau at
the coming of the Spaniards. 43 Four of Quetzal-
coatl s chief disciples were charged with the estab
lishment of a permanent government, which they
entrusted to two supreme magistrates, one chosen
from the priesthood and exercising the functions of
high-priest under the title of Tlachiach or lord from
on high, and the other from the nobility being at
the head of the civil o government with the title
Aquiach.
44
The reign of Nauhyotl, or Mitl, at Tollan was
one of great prosperity and peace. The new king
devoted all his energies to promoting the glory of
his capital city, where he re-established nearly all
the reforms instituted by Ceacatl and partially abol-
Dates: 927. Clavigero. Veytia, torn, i., p. 252, has 779, which may be a
misprint for 979. 822 or 768. Ixtlilxocliitl. Huemac s expedition eastward,
and the crowning of Nauhyotl, or Nauhyotzin, during his absence is re
corded by Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i., p. 254, and Gomara, Conq.
Hex,, fol. 301, as quoted in note 30 of this chapter.
Respecting Tezcatlipoca, fables respecting his life on earth, and his
42
worship as a god, see vol. iii., pp. 199-248.

43 See vol.
ii., pp. 141-2.
44
Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 322, says that Ixtlilxochitl in
one place calls this king Nauhyotl. Although I have been unable to find
this statement in the works of the writer mentioned, yet there can be little
doubt of the two kings identity.
REIGN OF NAUHYOTL. 265
ished by Huemac. He is represented as having

looked with some uneasiness on the growing pros
perity of Cholula, and on the pilgrimages continually
undertaken by residents of Tollan to the eastern
shrines; but instead of resorting like his predecessor
to hostile measures, he determined to eclipse the
glory of Cholula by the erection of new and mag
nificent temples at home. The finest of these tem
ples was that built in honor of the Goddess of
5
Water/ or the Frog Goddess, to which was attached
a college of priests vowed to celibacy. Meantime
the worship of Camaxtli and Tlaloc were more firmly
established than before at Tlascala and Huexotzinco,
and grand temples were built in several Toltec prov
inces without Anahuac, particularly in the south, one
of the most famous being near Quaulmahuac, later
Cuernavaca, the ruins of which may be supposed with
some plausibility to be identical with those of Xochi-
16
calco. After having restored Tollan to the position
it had
occupied under Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, Nauhyotl
died after a reign of fifteen years in 945. 47
All the authorities agree that Nauhyotl was suc
ceeded at his death by his queen Xiuhtlaltzin, 48 who
reigned four years, showing great zeal and wisdom in
the management of public affairs, and dying
49
deeply
regretted by all her subjects. The Spanish writers
name Tecpancaltzin as the successor of the lamented
45
Chalchihuitlicue, Toci, Teteionan, etc. See vol. iii., p. 350, et seq.
p. 367, et seq.
4G For description of Xochicalco see vol. iv., pp. 483-94.
47 On
Nauhyotl s reign, see Ixtlilxochitl, in KingsborougKs Mex. Antiq.,
vol. ix., pp. 207, 326, 393, 450, 460; Veytia, Hist. Ant.
Mej., torn, i., pp.
255-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i., p. 37; Clavigero, Storia Ant.
del Messico, torn, i., p. 127; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11; Brasseur
de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 319-31. The date 945 is from
the Codex Chimalpopoca. The Spanish writers make his reign much
longer,
all except Clavigero representing him as
having reigned, by the consent of
his subjects, several years over the time prescribed law. 979-1035.
by
Veytia. 927-79. Clavigero. 822-80, or 768-826. Ixtlilxochitl. Torquemada
and Gomara, as quoted in note 30, state that this king also marched east
ward at the head of a large army to add to his domain by conquest.
48 Also
Xiuhquentzin, Xiuliquentzin, and Xiuhzaltzin, Ixtlilxochitl, and
Xiuhtzaltzin, Vetancvrt.
49 See references in note
47 and following pages of each authority.
queen, referring to his reign and to that of his suc

cessor the events which brought about the overthrow
of the Toltec empire. The Nahua records, however,
represent queen Xiuhtlaltzin as having been followed
by her son Matlaccoatl, who reigned from 949 to 973,
and who in his turn was succeeded by Tlilcoatzin,
ruling from 973 to 994, and preceding Tecpancaltzin,
respecting whose reign these records agree to a great
extent with the other authorities. have no We
record of any specific events that occurred during
O of the three sovereigns
the rekm. O last mentioned, save
that in Culhuacan Quetzallacxoyatl was succeeded
in 953 by Chalchiuh Tlatonac, and the latter in 985
50
by Totepeuh, the second of the name.
I come now to the last century of the period to

which this chapter is devoted, a century whose annals
from a continuous record of civil and religious strife
in Andhuac, invasions by powerful bands from the
adjoining regions on the north and north-west, pesti
lence and famine, resulting in the utter overthrow of
the Toltec empire. There is somewhat less contradic
tion among the two classes of authorities quoted re
specting the events of this century than in the case
of those preceding. The Spanish writers still speak
of Tollan, it is true, as if that city alone constituted
the empire; but the Nahua documents also ascribe
almost exclusively to Tollan the occurrences which
caused the destruction of the Toltec power. The
latter documents, however, still keep up the thread of
historical events at Culhuacan and in other provinces,
and they are doubtless much more reliable in the
matter of dates than the Spanish version, besides
narrating the invasions of foreign tribes, a disturbing
element in Toltec politics almost entirely ignored by
Ixtlilxochitl and his followers. Notwithstanding the
50 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 331, 336.
Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, torn, v., p. 181, speaks of an interregnum of
forty-eight years after the death of Queen Xiuhtlaltzin.
REIGN OF HUEMAC II. 267
general agreement of the authorities referred to,

it must be noted that the record is but a succession of
tales in which the marvelous and supernatural largely
predominate, conveying a tolerably accurate idea of
the general course of history during this period, but
throwing very little light on its details. In accord
ance with my plan already announced, I have but to
tell the tales as they are recorded; their general mean
ing is sufficiently apparent, and I shall offer but rarely

conjectures respecting the specific significance of each.
Huemac II., also known as Tecparicaltzin, 51 the eld
est son of Totepeuh II. of Culhuacan, mounted the
throne of Tollan in 994, at a time when that city in
52
respect of art and high culture was at the head of the

empire, although Culhuacan still retained her original
political supremacy, while both Teotihucan and Cho-
lula were rivals in the power and fame of their re
spective priesthood. There are no data for assigning
even approximately exact limits to the Toltec empire
at this period. It is probably, however, that while
the Toltec was less absolute and despotic than the
Aztec power in the sixteenth century, yet it was
exerted throughout fully as wide an extent of territory,
including Michoacan and a broad region in the north
west never altogether subjected to the Aztec kings.
The Toltec domain had been enlarged gradually by
the influence of the priesthood, particularly under
Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, until there were few provinces
from Tehuantepec to Zacatecas, from the North to the
South Sea, which did not render a voluntary allegi
ance to the allied monarchs of the central region.
And at the same time it cannot be believed that
foreign conquest by force of arms had so small a place
among the events of Toltec history as the records
51 Called also Yztaccaltzin. Ixtlilxochitl. Atecpanecatl and Iztac-
quauhtzin. Codex Chimalpopoca and Ixtlilxochitl, according to Brasseur.
32
1039, 830, 884, according to the Spanish writers. See note 47.
Clavigero ignores this king, while Torquemada, followed by Boturini in
Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., torn, iv., p. 230, and Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., p.
11, seems to identify him with his successor.
would imply. Huemac II., unlike the first of the

same name, belonged to the sect of Quetzalcoatl,
using his power to restrain the practice of human
sacrifice if not altogether abolishing it in the temples
of Tollan. He even seems to have added the name
of Quetzalcoatl to his other royal and pontifical titles,
or possibly had this title before his coronation, as
high-priest of the sect at Culhuacan. The application
of this title to Huemac, and that of Tezcatlipoca to
the high-priest of the rival sect, has been productive
of no little confusion in the record, since it is some
times impossible to decide whether certain events
should be attributed to this reign or to the time of
Ceacatl and Huemac I. The new king was endowed
with fine natural qualifications for his position, and
enjoyed to a remarkable degree the confidence and
esteem of the people. During the first year he ruled
with great wisdom, speaking but little, attending
most strictly to the performance of his religious duties,
and always prompt in the administration of justice to
his subjects of whatever station; but the old fire of
religious strife, though smouldering, was yet alive and
ready to he fanned into a conflagration which should
consume the whole Toltec structure. The leaders of
the rival sect, followers of the bloody Tezcatlipoca
and bitter enemies to all followers of Quetzalcoatl,
although now in the minority were constantly intrigu
ing for the fall of Huemac. But they well knew the
popularity of their hated foe. and bent all their ener
gies to the task of dragging him down from his lofty
pedestal of popular esteem, by tempting him into the
commission of acts unworthy of himself as high-priest,
king, and successor of the great Quetzalcoatl. A
scandal was to be created; wine and women were nat
urally the agents to be employed; the tale is a very
strange one.
Papantzin, a Toltec noble of high rank, presented
himself one day at court, together with his daughter,
THE KING S MISTRESS. 269
the beautiful Xochitl, 53 bearing with other gifts to the

king a kind of syrup and sugar made from ma
guey-juice by a process of which Papantzin was the
inventor. This syrup is generally spoken of as
pulque, but there seems to be little reason for making
a fermented liquor of miel prieta de maguey. 54
Whatever the nature of the syrup, it pleased the
royal palate, and the lovely face and form of the
young Xochitl were no less pleasing to the royal eye.
The king expressed his appreciation of the new in
vention, and his desire to receive additional samples
of the sweet preparation, at the same time telling
the father that he would be pleased to receive such
gifts at the hands of the daughter, who might visit
him for such a purpose unattended save by a servant.
Proud of the honor shown to his family, arid without
suspicion of evil intentions, Papantzin only a few
days later sent Xochitl, accompanied by an elderly
female attendant, with a new gift of maguey-syrup.
The attendant was directed to await her mistress in
a distant apartment of the palace, while Xochitl
was introduced alone to the presence of Huemac.
Bravely the maiden resisted the monarch s blandish
ments and protestations of ardent love, but by threats
and force was compelled to yield her person to his
embrace. She was then sent to the strongly-guarded
palace of Palpan near the capital, and there, cut off
from all communication with parents or friends, lived
as the king s mistress. Her parents were notified
that their daughter had been entrusted by Huemac
to the care of certain ladies who would perfect her
education and fit her for a prominent position among
Ixtlilxochitl, p. 208, calls the name Quetzalxochitzin, and makes her
53
the wife rather than the daughter of Papantzin.

54
Bustamente, in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 246, errone
ously charges Veytia with saying that Papantzin presented to the king a
vessel of pulque invented by Xochitl. Brasseur, for reasons not very intelli
gible, refers to this period Sahagun s account of the invention of pulque in
Olmec times (see pp. 207-8 of this volume), and also the efforts of the sor
cerers to make Qnetzalcoatl drink pulque that he might be induced to leave
Tollan. I have attributed these tales to the times of Ceacatl. See p. 259
of this volume, also vol. iii., p. 242, 253, 261.
the ladies of the court and for a brilliant marriage.

To Papantzin the royal manner of showing honor to
his family seemed at best novel and strange, but he
could suspect no evil intent on the part of the pious
representative of Quetzalcoatl. New favors were
subsequently shown the dishonored father, in the
shape of lands and titles and promises. For three
years Hueinac continued his guilty amour in secret,
55
and in the meantime, in 1002, a child was born,
named Meconetzin, child of the maguey, or at a
later period Acxitl. According to the Codex Chi-
malpopoca the king during these three years gave
himself up to the pleasures of the wine cup also,
yielding to the temptations placed before him by the
crafty followers of Tezcatlipoca, and during one of
his drunken orgies revealed the secret of his love;
but however this may have been, that secret was
finally suspected; Papantzin in the disguise of a
laborer visited the palace of Palpan, met his daughter
with the young Meconetzin in her arms, and listened
to the tale of her shame. The angry father seems
to have been quieted with the promise that his
daughter s son should be proclaimed heir to the
throne, since the queen had borne her husband only
daughters; but the scandal once suspected was spread
far and wide by the priesthood of Tezcatlipoca, and
the faith of the Toltecs in their saintly monarch was
shaken. The queen having died, Xochitl with her
young son was brought to the royal palace, and there
is some reason to
suppose that she was made Hue-
inac s legitimate queen by a regular marriage. Very
serious dissatisfaction, and even open hostility among
the princes of highest rank, were excited by the
king s actions, both on account of the shameful
nature of such acts, and also because their own
chance of future succession to the throne was de
stroyed by Huemac s avowed intention to make
Acxitl his heir. Everything presaged a revolution,
55 1051. Veytia 900. Ixtlilxochitl.
TOVEYO S ADVENTURES. 271
and the foes of Quetzalcoatl were cheered with hopes

of approaching triumph. Huemac s mind was filled
with trouble, which all the flattery of the court could
not wholly remove, and the prospects of his family
were not brightened by the fact that the young
Acxitl from his birth had the physical peculiarities
predicted by the prophet Hueman of olden time, in
connection with such wide-spread and fatal disasters.
Yet it was hoped that by careful instruction and
training, even the decrees of fate might be reversed
and impending disaster averted, especially as in child-
heod and youth prince Acxitl gave most cheering
56
promise of future goodness and ability.
Another event servedto increase the troubles that
began to gather about the throne. It appears that
Huemac by his first queen Maxio had three daught
ers, who were much sought in marriage, rather for
motives of political ambition, perhaps, than love, by
the Toltec nobles. One especially was greatly beloved
by her father and none of the many aspirants to her
hand found favor in her eyes. One day while walk
ing among the flowers in the royal gardens, she came
upon a man selling chile. Some of the traditions say
57
that the pepper-vender, Toveyo, was Tezcatlipoca
who had assumed the appearance of a plebeian; at
any rate he was entirely naked and awakened in the
bosom of the princess a love for which her Toltec
suitors had sighed in vain. So violent was her pas
sion as to bring on serious illness, the cause of which
was told by her maids to Huemac, and the indulgent
father, though very angry with Toveyo at first, finally,
as the onlymeans of restoring his daughter to health,
sought out the plebeian vender of pepper and forced
him, perhaps not very much against his will, to be
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 337-48.

51
Tobeyo. Sahagun. Tohueyo, our neighbor. Brasseur. It does not
seem to have been originally a proper name.
washed and dressed and to become the husband of the

love-sick princess. This marriage caused great dis
satisfaction and indignation
O O the Toltecs an in-
among- :
*
dignation that is easily understood, however the legend

be interpreted. In case a literal interpretation be ac
cepted, the upper classes in Tollan may naturally
have been shocked by the admission of a low-born
peasant to the royal family; on the other hand the
version given may have originated with the disap
pointed suitors, who gratified their spite by reviling
the successful Toveyo. It is also possible that the
legend symbolizes by this marriage the granting of
new privileges to the lower classes against the will of
the nobility; however this may be, the result was
wide-spread discontent ready to burst forth in open
58
revolt.
Among the disaffected lords who openly revolted

against Tollan, Cohuanacotzin, Huehuetzin, Xiuhte-
59
nancaltzin, and Mexoyotzin are mentioned, by Ixtlil-
xochitl as rulers of provinces on the Atlantic, by Vey-
tia as lords of regions extending from Quiahuiztlan
(according to Brasseur, Vera Cruz) northward along

the coast of the North Sea to a point beyond Jalisco.
Respecting the events of this revolution of Toltec pro
vinces thus vaguely located, we have only the contin
uation of Toveyo s adventures, which seems to belong
to this war. The tale runs that Huemac, somewhat
frightened at the storm of indignation which followed
his choice of a son-in-law, sent him out to fight in the
wars of Cacatepec and Coatepec, giving secret orders
that he should be so stationed in battle as to be inevi
tably killed. The main body of the Toltec army
yielded to the superior numbers of the foe and fled to
Tollan, leaving Toveyo and his followers to their fate ;
but the latter, either by his superior skill or by his

powers as a magician, notwithstanding the small force
58 For a fuller account of the tale of Toveyo, see vol. iii., pp. 243-4.
Also, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 247-9.
59
Cohuanacox, Huetzin, Xiuhtenan, and Mexoyotzin.
OMENS OF DESTRUCTION. 273
at his command, utterly routed the enemy and re

turned in triumph to the capital, where the king and
people received him with great honors and public de
monstrations of joy. For a time the kingdom seems
to have remained without disturbance, and fortune
once more smiled on Huemac. 60
As to the exact order in which occurred the sab-

sequent disasters by which the Toltec empire was
overthrown, the authorities differ somewhat, al
though agreeing tolerably well respecting their
nature. Many events ascribed by Brasseur to Hue-
mac s reign are by Yeytia and others described as
having happened in that of his successor. There
can, however, be but little hesitation in following the
chronology of the Nahua documents often referred
to, in preference to that of the Spanish writers. The
latter is certainly erroneous; the former at the worst
is only probably, so. With his returning prosperity
the king seems to have returned to his evil ways
while the partizans of Tezcatlipoca resumed their
intrigues
O against
O him. The sorcerer assembled a
mighty crowd near Tollan, and kept them dancing
to the music of his drum until midnight, when by
reason of the darkness and their intoxication they
crowded each other off a precipice into a deep ravine,
where they were turned to stone. stone bridge A
was also broken by the necromancer and crowds pre
61
cipitated into the river. Other wonderful acts of
the sorcerer against the well-being of the Toltecs as
60
Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 393;
Veytia, Hist. Ant Mej., torn, i., p. 271, etseq. ; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i.,
lib. iii., pp. 249-51. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 356-60, represents
Cohuanacox and Meyoxotzin as lords of Quiahuiztlan-Anahuac, or Vera
Cruz, but gives no farther details of their revolt. Huetzin, he calls the
Prince of Jalisco, stating that he marched at the head of a large army
against Huemac, but was defeated at Coatepec near Tollan by the bravery
of Toveyo, who drove him with great loss back to the frontiers of Jalisco.
For these facts he refers to no other authorities than those mentioned in
this note, and these contain no such information.
61
Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 251. Brasseur has no diffi
culty in interpreting this tale to indicate an earthquake.
VOL. V. 18
274: THE TOLTEC PERIOD.
related by Sahagun have been given

in another vol
ume. 62 From
one of the neighboring volcanoes a
flood of glowing lava poured, and in its lurid light
appeared frightful spectres threatening the capital.
A sacrifice of captives in honor of Tezcatlipoca, was
decided upon to appease the angry gods, a sacrifice
which Huemac was forced to sanction. But when a
young boy, chosen by lot as the first victim, was
placed upon the altar and the obsidian knife plunged
into his breast, no heart was found in his body, and
his veins were without blood. The fetid odor ex
haled from the corpse caused a pestilence involving
thousands of deaths. The struggles of the Toltecs
63
to get rid of the body have been elsewhere related.
Next the Tlaloc divinities appeared to Huemac as he
walked in the forest, and were implored by him not
to take from him his wealth and his royal splendor.
The gods were wroth at this petition, his apparent
selfishness, and want of penitence for past sins, and
they departed announcing their purpose to bring
plagues and suffering upon the proud Toltecs for six
years. The winter of 1018 was so cold that all
plants and seeds were killed by frost, and was fol
lowed by a hot summer, which parched the whole
surface of the country, dried up the streams, and
even calcined the solid rocks.
Here seem to belong the series of plagues described
by the Spanish writers, although attributed by them
to the following reign. 64 The plagues began with
heavy storms of rain, destroying the ripening crops,
flooding the streets of towns, continuing for a hundred
days, and causing great fear of a universal deluge.
Heavy gales followed, which leveled the finest build-
62 Seevol. iii., pp. 245-8.
"
63 Vol. iii., p. 247.

j
The other details, like the interview with the Tla-
loos, are from the Codex Cliimalpopoca.
64
Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborougtis Mcx. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207-8, 329-
30; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mcj., torn. i. p. 280, et seq.
, Dates, 1097, et seq.
Veytia. 984, et seq. Ixtlilxochitl. There is no agreement about the dura
tion of the plagues. They seem, however, to have been continuous for at
least five vears.
PLAGUES SENT UPON THE TOLTECS. 275
ings to the ground; and toads in immense numbers

covered the ground, consuming everything edible and
even penetrating the dwellings of the people. The
next year unprecedented heat and drought prevailed,
rendering useless all agricultural labor, and causing
much starvation. Next heavy frosts destroyed what
little the heat had spared, not even the hardy maguey
surviving; and then came upon the land great swarms

of birds and locusts and various insects. Lightning
and hail completed the work of devastation, and as a
result of all their afflictions Ixtlilxochitl informs us
that nine hundred of every thousand Toltecs perished.
Huemac and his followers were held responsible for
disasters that had come upon the people; a hungry
mob of citizens and strangers crowded the street of
Tollan and even invaded the palace of the nobles,
instigated and headed by the partizans of Tezcatlipoca;
and the king was even forced at one time to abandon
the city for a time. The Codex Chimalpopoca repre
sented the long rain already referred to as having
occurred at the end of six years drought and fam
ine, and to have inaugurated a new season of plenty.
Ixtlilxochitl refers to bloody wars as among the evils
of the time. All we may learn from the confused
accounts, is that the Toltec empire at that period
was afflicted with war, famine, and pestilence; and
that these afflictions were attributed to the, sins of
Huemac II., by his enemies and such of the people as
they could influence.
After the plagues were past, and prosperity had
again begun to smile upon the land, Huemac aban
doned his evil ways and gave his whole attention to
promoting the welfare of his people; but he still
clung with fatal obstinacy to his purpose of placing
.
his son on the throne, and determined to abdicate

immediately in favor of Acxitl.. His father, king of
Culhuacan, died in 1026, and the crown, to which
Huemac himself, as the eldest son would seem to
have been entitled, passed, to Totepeuh s second son,
Nauhyotl II. It is possible that Huemac consented

to this concession in consideration of the support of
the new king in his own projects at Tollan. After
thoroughly canvassing the sentiments of his vassal
lords, and conciliating the good will of the wavering
by a grant of new honors and possessions, he pub
licly announced his intention to place Acxitl on the
throne. The immediate consequence was a new re
volt, and from an unexpected source, since it was
abetted if not originated by the followers of Quetzal-
coatl, who deemed Acxitl, the child of adulterous

love, an unworthy successor of their great prophet.
Maxtlatzin was the most prominent of the many
nobles who espoused the rebel cause, and Quauhtli
was the choice of the malcontents for the rank of
high-priest of Quetzalcoatl. To such an extremity
was the cause of Huemac and his son reduced that
they were forced to a compromise with the two
leaders of the revolt, who consented to support the
cause of Acxitl on condition of beino* O themselves
raised to the highest rank after the son of Huemac,
and of forming with him a kind of triumvirate by which
the kingdom should be ruled. All the authorities
agree respecting this compromise, although only the
documents consulted by Brasseur speak of open re
volt as the cause which led to it. It is evident, how
ever, that nothing but the most imminent danger
could have induced the king of Tollan to have entered
into so humiliating an arrangement. Immediately
after the consummation of the new alliance, the child
l
of the maguey was crowned king and high-priest

with great ceremony in 1029, under the title of To-
piltzin Acxitl Quetzalcoatl. is the name
Topiltzin
by which he is usually called by the Spanish writers,
although it was in reality, like that of Quetzalcoatl,
a title held by several kings. Acxitl is the more
convenient name, as distinguishing him clearly from
his father and from Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl. Huemac
EXCESSES OF ACXITL. 277
and Queen Xochitl retired ostensibly from all con

nection with public affairs. 65
The three lords of distant provinces, Huelmetzin,
Xiuhtenancaltzin, and Cohuanacotzin, who had once
before rebelled against the king of Tollan, now refused
their allegiance to Acxitl; but at first they for some
reason, perhaps their own difficulties with the wild
tribes about them, engaged in no open hostilities.
The new monarch, then about forty years of age, just
ified the high promise of his youth, and guided by
the sage counsels of his reformed father, ruled most
wisely for several years, gradually gaining the confi
dence of his subjects. But the decrees of the gods
were infallible, and Acxitl, like his father before him,
yielded to temptation and plunged into all manner of
lasciviousness and riotous living. So low did he fall
as to make use of his position of high-priest to gratify
his evil passions. His inciters and agents were still
Tezcatlipoca and his crafty partisans, who persuaded
ladies of every rank that by yielding to the king s
embraces they would merit divine favor. The royal
example was followed by both nobles and priests.
High church dignitaries and priestesses of the temples
consecrated to life -long chastity forgot all their vows;
force was employed where persuasion failed. So
openly were the requirements of morality disregarded,
that the high-priestess of the Goddess of the Water,
a princess of royal blood, on a pilgrimage to the
temple of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula, lived openly with
the chief pontiff of that city and bore him a son, who
afterwards succeeded to the highest ecclesiastical rank.
Vice took complete possession of society in all its
classes, spreading to cities and provinces not under the
immediate authority of Tollan. Public affairs were
65 s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 329,

Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborougk
393,460. This authordates are 937 and 882.
s Veytia, Hist. Ant. Me/.,
torn,i., pp. 271-4. Date 1091. Date according to Clavigero, 1031. Codex
Chimalpopoca, in Brassenr de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat, Civ., torn, i., pp.
370-5; Maxtlatzin is called the prince or Xochimilco. According to the
Mem. de Culhuacan, in Id. Huemac died at this time.
,
left to be managed by unscrupulous royal favorites;

the prayers of the aged Huemac and Xochitl to the
gods, like their remonstrances with Acxitl, were un
availing; crimes of all kinds remained unpunished;
robbery and murder were of frequent occurrence; and
the king was justly held responsible for all.
But Acxitl was at last brought to his senses, and
his fears if not his conscience were thoroughly aroused.
Walking in his garden one morning, he saw a small
animal of peculiar appearance, with horns like a deer,
which, having been killed, proved to be a rabbit.
Shortly after he saw a huitzilin, or humming-bird,
with spurs, a most extraordinary thing. Topiltzin
Acxitl was familiar with the Teoamoxtli, or divine
book, and with Huemac s predictions; well he knew,
and was confirmed in his opinion by the sages and
priests who were consulted, that the phenomena ob
served were the tokens of final disaster. The king s
reformation was sudden and complete; the priests
held out hopes that the prodigies were warnings, and
that their consequences might possibly be averted by
prayer, sacrifice, and reform. The Spanish writers
introduce at this period the series of plagues, which I
have given under Huemac s
reign; and Brasseur adds
to the appearance of the rabbit and the humming
bird two or three of the wonderful events attributed
by Sahagun to the necromancer Titlacaaon, without
any reason that I know of for ascribing these occur
rences to this particular time. Such were the ap
pearance of a bird bearing an arrow in its claws and
menacingly soaring over the doomed capital; the fall
ing of a great stone of sacrifice near the present

locality of Chapultepec; and the coming of an old
woman selling paper flags which proved fatal to every
66
purchaser. These events occurred in 1036 and the
following years. The king was wholly unable to
check the torrent of vice which was flowing over the
land indeed, in his desire to atone for his past faults,
;
Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii, p. 254.

CHICHIMEC INVASION. 279
he seems to have resorted to such severe measures as

to have defeated his own aims, converting his former
friends and flatterers into bitter foes.
In the midst of other troubles came the news that
Huehuetzin was marching at the head of the rebel
forces towards Tollan, and was already most success
ful on the northern frontier. The other two lords
from the gulf coasts, who had refused to acknowledge
the power of Acxitl, were in league with Huehuet
zin. Unable to resist this formidable army, the Tol-
tec king was compelled to send ambassadors bearing
rich presents to sue for peace, according to the Span
ish writers at the capitals of the distant rebellious
provinces; but as Brasseur says to the headquarters
of the hostile army not very far from Tollan. The
presents were received, but no satisfactory agreement
seems to have been made at first. Veytia and Ixtlil-
xochitl speak vaguely of a truce that was concluded
as a result of this or a subsequent embassy, to the
effect riot be molested for ten
that the Toltecs should
years, an old military usage requiring that ten years
should always intervene between the declaration of
war and the commencement of hostilities; and the
latter states that the army was withdrawn in the
meantime, because sufficient supplies could not be ob
tained in the territory of the Toltecs. Brasseur,
without referring to any other authorities than those
named, tells us that after remaining a whole year near
Tollan, Huehuetzin was forced to return to his own
province to repel the invasions of hostile tribes, which
tribes, it is implied, were induced to come southward
and to harass the Toltec nations. 67
Taking advantage of the precarious condition of
many of the tribes even in and about
the Toltecs,
Anahuac shook off all allegiance to the empire, and
became altogether independent; and at the same
67
Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., torn, i., pp. 282-7; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kings-
borough s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 329-31; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist.
Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 376-85.
time numerous Chichimec tribes from abroad took

advantage of the favorable opportunity to secure
homes in the lake region. These foreign tribes are
all reported to have come from the north, but it is
extremely doubtful if any accurate information re
specting the invaders has been preserved. For the

conjecture that all or any of them came from the
distant north, from California, Utah, or the Missis
sippi Valley, there are absolutely no grounds; al
though it is of course impossible to prove that all
came from the region adjoining Andhuac. By far
the most reasonable conjecture is that the invaders
were the numerous Nahua bands who had settled in
the west and north-west, in Michoacan, Jalisco, and
Zacatecas, about the same time that the nations called
Toltecs had established themselves in and about
Anahuac. Brasseur finds in his authorities, the only
ones that give any particulars of the invaders, that
among the first Chichimec bands to arrive were the
Acxotecas and Eztlepictin, both constituting together
the Teotenancas. The
Eztlepictin settled in the
valley south
of Tenanco, of the lakes, while the
Acxotecas took possession of the fertile valleys about
Tollan. A
war between Nauhyotl II. of Culhuacan
and the king of Tollan is then vaguely recorded, in
which Acxitl was victorious, but is supposed to have
suffered from the constant hostility of Culhuacan
from that time forward, although that kingdom soon
had enough to do to defend her own possessions.
The Eztlepictin introduced a new divinity, and a
new worship, which Acxitl, as successor of Quetzal-
coatl made a desperate effort to overthrow. He
marched with allthe forces he could command to
Tenanco, but was defeated in every battle. What
was worse yet, during his absence on this campaign,
the Acxoteca branch of the invaders were admitted,
under their leader Xalliteuctli, by the partisans of
Tezcatlipoca into Tollan itself. Civil strife ensued
in the streets of the capital between the three rival
TOKENS OF DIVINE WRATH. 281
sects, until Tollan with her noble structures was

all
well-nigh in ruins. At
the same time wars were
waged between the three allied kingdoms, and pest
and famine came once more upon the land. These
events occurred between 1040 and 1047. 68
It was evident that the gods were very angry with
this unhappy people. To avert their wrath, as Tor-
a
quemada relates, meeting of all the wise men, priests,
and nobles, was convened at Teotihuacan, where the
gods from the most ancient times had been wont to
hear the prayers of men. In the midst of the propi
tiatory feasts and sacrifices a demon of gigantic pro
portions with long bony arms and fingers appeared
dancing in the court where the people were assembled.
Whirling through the crowd in every direction the
demon seized upon the Toltecs that came in his way
and dashed them lifeless at his feet. Multitudes
perished but none had the strength to fly. second A
time the giant appeared in a slightly different form
and again the Toltecs fell by hundreds in his grasp.
At his next appearance the demon assumed the form
of a white and beautiful child sitting on a rock and
gazing at the holy city from a neighboring hilltop.
As the people rushed in crowds to investigate the
new phenomena, it was discovered that the child s
head was a mass of corruption, exhaling a stench so
fatal that all who approached were stricken with sud
den death. Finally the devil or god appeared in a
form not recorded and warned the assembly that the
fate of the Toltecs in that country was sealed; the
gods would not listen to further petitions; the people
could escape total annihilation only by flight. The
assembly broke up, and the members returned to their
homes utterly disheartened. 69
Large numbers of the Toltec nobles had already
68 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ. torn. i. pp. 385-93. Veytia

, ,
and Ixtlilxochitl are occasionally referred to on these events, but the chap
ters referred to contain absolutely nothing on the subject.
69
Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i., pp. 37-8.
abandoned their country and departed for foreign

provinces, and this emigration was constantly on the
increase even before it was definitely determined by
the ruler to migrate. In the meantime, if Brasseur s
authorities may be credited, a new sect, the Ixcui-
names masked matrons/ introduced their rites,
or
including phallic worship and all manner of sorcery
and debauchery, into Tollan, thus adding a new ele
ment of discord in that fated city. The Ixcuinames
originated in the region of Pdnuco among the Huas-
70
tecs, and began to flourish in Tollan about 1058.
To civil and reliefO ious strife, with other internal
*
troubles, was now added the peril of foreign invasion.

According to the Spanish writers the ten years
truce concluded between Acxitl and his foes under
the command of Huehuetzin, was now about to ex
pire, and the rebel prince of the north appeared at
the head of an immense army, ready to submit his
differences with the Toltec kino-
O to the arbitration of
the battle-field. AccordingO to Brasseur, the Teo-
Chichimecs invaded the rest of Analiuac, while the
former foes of Huemac and his son, under Huehuet
zin, from the provinces of Quiahuiztlan and Jalisco,
threatened Tollan. I may remark here that I have
little faith in this author s division into tribes of the
hordes that invaded Anahuac at this period and in
the following years. We
know that many bands from
the surrounding region, particularly on the north, most
of them probably Nahua tribes, did take advantage
of internal dissensions among the Toltec nations to
invade the central region. For a period of many
years they warred unceasingly with the older nations
and among themselves; but to trace the fortunes of
particular through this maze of inter-tribal
tribes
which I shall not attempt.
conflict is a hopeless task
Many of these so-called Chichimec invading tribes

afterwards became great nations, and played a promi
nent part in the annals to be given in future chap-
70 Brasseur de Bourboiirg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 400-2.
CONQUEST OF AN AH U AC. .
283
ters; and while it is not improbable that some of

them, as the Teo-Chichimecs, Acolhuas, or Tepanecs,
were identical with the invading tribes which over
threw the Toltec empire, there is no sufficient au
thority for attempting so to identify any one of them.
Neither do I find any authority whatever for the
conjecture that the invaders were barbarian hordes
from the distant north, who broke through the belt
of Nahua nations which surrounded Anahuac, or
were instigated by those nations from jealousy of
Toltec power to undertake its overthrow. Yet it
would be rash to assume that none of the wild tribes
took part in the ensuing struggle; as allies, or under
Nahua leaders, they probably rendered efficient aid
to the Chichimec invaders, and afterwards in many
cases merged their tribal existence in that of the
Chichimec nations.
The other Toltec cities, Otompan, Tezcuco, Culhua-
can, seem to have fallen before the invaders even be
fore Tollan, although vaguely reported that after
it is
the destruction of Otompan the king of Culhuacan
formed a new alliance for defense with Azcapuzalco
and Coatlichan, excluding Tollan. All the cities
were sacked and burned as fast as conquered except
Culhuacan, which seems to have escaped destruction
by admitting the invaders within her gates and prob
ably becoming their allies or vassals. This was in
1060. 71 Meantime Huehuetzin s forces were threaten
ing Tollan. By strenuous efforts a large army had
been raised and equipped for the defense of the royal
cause. The princes Quauhtli and Maxtlatzin, lately
allied to the throne, brought all their forces to aid the
king against whom they had formerly rebelled. The
aged Huemac came out from his retirement and strove
with the ardor of youth to ward off the destruction
which he could but attribute to his indiscretions of many
years ago. Even Xochitl, the king s mother, is re
ported to have enlisted an army of amazons from the
71
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 402-5,
women of Tollan and to have placed herself at their

head. Acxitl formed his army into two divisions, one
of which, under a lord named Huehuetenuxcatl,
marched out to meet the enemy, while the other, com
manded by the king himself, was stationed within
intrenchments at Tultitlan. The advance army, after
one day s battle without decisive result, fell back and
determined to act on the defensive. Reinforced by
the division under Huemac, and by Xochitl s amazons,
who fought most bravely, General Huehuetenuxcatl
carried on the war for three years, but was at last
driven back to join the king. At Tultitlan a final
stand was made by Acxitl s orders. For many days
the battle raged here until the Toltecs were nearly
exterminated, and driven back step by step to Tollan,
Xaltocan, Teotihuacan, and Xochitlalpan successively.
Here Huemac and Xochitl were slain, also Quauhtli
and Maxtlatzin. Acxitl escaped by hiding in a cave
at Xico in Lake Chalco. In a final encounter Gen
eral Huehuetenuxcatl fell, and the small remnant of
the Toltec army was scattered in the mountains and
in the marshes of the lake shore. 72
From his place of concealment at Xico, Topiltzin
Acxitl secretly visited Culhuacan, gathered a few
faithful followers about him, announced his intention
of returning to Huehue Tlapallan, promised to inter
cede in their behalf with the.Chichimec emperor of
their old home, and having committed his two infant
72 Such is the account given by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia. Brasseur s
version, although founded on the same authorities, differs widely. Accord
ing to this version, Topiltzin Acxitl remained in Tollan; Quauhtli and
Maxtlatzin with the aged Huemac inarched to meet the foe. After a fierce
conflict near Tultitlan, lasting several days, the army was driven back to
Tollan. The king resolved to burn the city and leave the country. For
the burning of Tollan, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 255, is re
ferred to, where he says, hizo quemar todas las casas que tenia hechas de
plata y de concha, etc., referring to the departure of Quetzalcoatl for Tla
pallan. The Quetzalcoatl alluded to may be either Acxitl or Ceacatl.
Retreating to Xaltocan and then towards Teotihuacan, a final stand was
made by Huernac, Xochitl, Maxtlatzin, and Huehuemaxal (Huehue
tenuxcatl?) against the Chichimecs. The Toltecs were utterly defeated,
and of the leaders Xochitl and Quauhtli fell, Acxitl concealing himself for
several weeks in the caves of the island of Xico. Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i.,
pp. 405-9.
FLIGHT OF ACXITL 285
children Pochotl and Xilotzin to faithful guardians to

be brought up in ignorance of their royal birth, he
left the country in 1062.
73
He is supposed to have gone
southward accompanied by a few followers. Other
bodies of Toltecs had previously abandoned the country
and gone in the same direction, and large numbers are
reported to have remained in Culhuacan, Cholula,
Chapultepec and many other towns that are named.
Veytia, Ixtlilxochitl, Torquemada, and Clavigero tell
us that of these who fled some founded settlements
on the coasts of both oceans, from which came parties
at subsequent periods to re-establish themselves in
Anahuac. Others crossed the isthmus of Tehuante-
pec and passed into the southern lands. The other
authors also agree that of those who escaped destruc
tion part remained, and the rest were scattered in
various directions. None imply a general migration
en masse towards the south. 74 Lists are given of the
73
Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough s Mcx. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208, 331-3,
393, 450, 460. This author estimates the total loss of the Toltecs in the
final war at 3,200,000, and that of the enemy at 2,400,000. He states that
Topiltzin, before his departure, visited Allapan, a province on the South
Sea, and notified his few remaining subjects that after many centuries he
would return to punish his foes. He reached Tlapallan in safety and lived
to the age of 104 years greatly respected. He records a tradition among
the common people that Topiltzin remained in Xico, and many years after
was joined by Nezahualcoyotl, the Chichimec emperor, and others. This
author dates the final defeat of the Toltecs in 1011, 959, 958, and 1004.
Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., torn, i., pp. 287-304. This writer gives the date
as 1116; states that Topiltzin s youngest son, Xilotzin, was captured and
killed; gives 1612 as the number of Toltecs assembled in Culhuacan before
the king s departure. Topiltzin reached Oyome, the Chichimec capital, in
safety, and was kindly received by the emperor, Acauhtzin, who succeeded
to the throne in that year, to whom Topiltzin gave all his rights to the
kingdom of Tollan, on condition that he would punish the enemies of the
Toltecs. He died in 1155. According to Clavigero, Storia A nt. del Mes~
sico, torn, i., p. 131, the Toltec empire ended with Topiltzin s death in
1052. Most modern writers take the date from Clavigero. Brasseur, Hist.
Nat. Civ., torn, i., p. 410, says, Apres avoir donne a tons des conseils
remplis de sagesse sur la future restauration de la monarchic, il prit conge
d eux. II tra versa, sans etre connu, les provinces olmeques et alia prendre
la mer a Hueyapan, non loin des lieux oil le grand Quetzalcohuatl avait
disparu un siecle et demi auparavant. L histoire ajoute qu il gagna, avec
un grand nombre de Tolteques Emigrant comme lui, les contrees myste"-
rieuses de Tlapallan, ou apres avoir fonde un nouvel empire, ilmourut dans
une heureuse vieillesse.
74 On the Toltec
empire, see Prescotfs Mex., vol. i., pp. 11-14; Chevalier,
Mex. Ancien et Mod., pp. 48-52; Muller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp.
456, 522-5; Mayer s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 95; Schoolcraffs Arch.,
Toltec nobles that remained in Anahuac and of the

where they resided. The larger number were at
cities
Culhuacan, under Xiuhtemoc, to whom the king s chil

dren were confided. These remaining Toltecs were
afterwards called from the name of their city Cul-
huas. 75
Brasseur finds in his two Nahua records data for
certain events that took place after the flight of To-
piltzin Acxitl. Maxtlatzin, as he claims, escaped
from the final battle and intrenched himself in one of
the strong fortresses among the ruins of Toll an. The
Chichimecs soon took possession of the city in two
divisions known as Toltec Chichimecs and Nonohual-
cas. They even went through the forms of choosing
a successor to Acxitl, selecting a boy named Matlac-
xochitl, whom they crowned as Huemac III. To
him the chiefs rendered a kind of mock allegiance, but
stillheld the power in their own hands. Desperate
struggles ensued between the two Chichimec bands
led by Huehuetzin and Icxicohuatl, the followers of
Tezcatlipoca under Yaotl, and the forces of Maxtlat
zin in the fortress. The result was the murder of the
mock king about 1064, and the final abandonment of
Tollan soon after. It is claimed by the authorities
which record these events that Huemac II. survived
76
all these troubles and died at Chapultepec in 1070.
vol. v., pp. Orozco y Berra, Geografia, pp. 96-7, 138-40; Rios,
95-6;
Compend. Mex., pp. 5-6; Villa-Senor y Sanchez, Theatro, torn, i.,
Hist.
pp. 1-3; Helps Span. Conq., vol. i., p. 287; Muller, Reisen, torn, iii., pp.
32-41; Lacunza, in Museo Mex., torn, iv., p. 445; Granados y Galvez,
Tardes Amer., pp. 14-17; Riixton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850,
torn, cxxvi., pp. 38-40; Domcncch s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 39-40; Foster s
Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 341-4; Mayer s Observations, p. 6; Carbajal Espinosa,
Hist. Mex., torn, i., pp. 216-24.
75
Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mcj. , torn, ii., pp. 18-19; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kings-
borough s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 333-4, 393-4; Torquemada, Monarq.
Ind., torn, i., p. 37; Clavigero, StoriaAnt.del Messico, tom.i., p. 131; The
number of remaining Toltecs is estimated at 16,000, who were divided into
five parties, four of them settling on the coasts and islands, and the fifth
only remaining in Anahuac.
76 Brasseur de
Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i., pp. 410-23. I sup
pose that this information was taken from the Codex Gondra already
quoted see p. 230 of this volume and applied by the same author in an
other work, and with apparently better reasons, to the overthrow of the
great original Nahua empire in the south.
DOWNFALL OF THE EMPIRE. 287
It isnot difficult to form a tolerably clear idea of

the state of affairs in Anahuac at the downfall of the
Toltec empire, notwithstanding the confusion of the
records. There is, as we have seen, no evidence of a
migration southward or in any other direction,
t is true the records speak of a large majority of the
feneral
Toltecs as having migrated in different directions as a
result of their disasters, but it must be remembered
that in America, as elsewhere, historical annals of
early periods had to do with the deeds and fortunes of
priests and kings and noble families; the common
people were useful to fight and pay taxes, but were
altogether unworthy of a place in history. It is prob
able that the name Toltecs, a title of distinction
rather than a national name, was never applied at all
to the common people. When by civil strife and
foreign invasion their power was overthrown, many of
the leaders, spiritual and temporal, doubtless aban
doned the country, preferring to try their fortunes in
the southern provinces which seem to have suffered
less than those of the north from the Toltec disasters.
Their exiles took refuge in the Miztec and Zapotec
provinces of Oajaca, and some of them probably
crossed to Guatemala and Yucatan, where they were
not without influence in molding future political
events. The mass of the Toltec people remained in
Andhuac; some of them kept up a distinct national
existence for a while in Culhuacan, and perhaps in
Cholula; but most simply became subjects of the in
vading chiefs, whose language and institutions were
for themost part identical with those to which they
had been accustomed. The population had been con
siderably diminished naturally by the many years of
strife, famine, and pestilence; but this diminution was
greatly exaggerated in the records. The theory that

the population was reduced to a few thousands, most
of whom left the country, leaving a few chiefs with
their followers in a desolate and barren land, from
which even the invading hordes had retired immedi-
ately after their victory, is a very transparent absurd

ity. The Toltec downfall was the overthrow of a
dynasty, not the destruction of a people. The en
suing period was one of bitter strife between rival
bands for the power which had been wrested from
the Toltec kings. The annals of that period cannot
be followed; but history recommences with the suc
cess of some of the struggling factions, and their de
velopment into national powers.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE TOLTEC PERIOD.

THE NAHUA OCCUPATION OF MEXICO IN THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH CEN

The sixth and seventh centuries of our era saw the

there probably an allusion to the original southern

empire, disruption, and the consequent tribal scat

tering; but at the same time most of the events thus

year at harvest-time a solemn festival was celebrated,

During the sixth and seventh centuries we must

imagine Ansihuac and the adjoining territory on the

the establishment of their monarchy, and the suc

huatl Mazatzin, the hunter, is most prominent,

together with those of Xiuhnel and Mimich, who

years from 670 to 686, according to the authorities

6 In addition to the two documents referred to. Camargo, Hist. Tlax.,

command of their seven chiefs, transferred their home

8 Also written Tula, Tulan, Tulla, Tullan, and Tnlha.

cussion, since it cannot be literally accepted. The

that the Chichimecs had pursued and already caused

bassy with rich presents be sent to the Chichimec

seems to have greatly pleased from the first the people

years, but at the expiration of this term should ab

The Olmec, Xicalanca, and other Toltec nations had

were established not far distant, and were regarded

cient in itself to arouse a suspicion that in the records

15 Codex Chimalpopoca, and Memorial de Culhuacan, as cited by Bras

Conquest, the former signifying lord or monarch,

In 725 Chicon Tonatiuh, assumed the title of Tla-

a native woman in whose arms he was sleeping. A

the strife Huactli married Xochitzin and became

peaceful and prosperous; but the only event recorded

king whose right to the royal power would not be un

his rule would be wise, just, and able. In middle life

Brasseur s statement that toutes les Relations d lxtlilxochitl concordent

in his misfortunes. Great calamities were to come

forget their vows of chastity with noble ladies, pil

and Huitzin. 771. Clavigero.

who was in turn succeeded by Mitl in

magnificence at Quauhnahuac (Cuernavaca, possibly

In the annals of Culhuacan we left Totepeuh on

man, becoming enceinte immediately after marriage,

the Spanish writers, took Huetzin s place on the

the same as Yohuallatonac. It must be noted that

27 On celebra de grandes f6tes a la naissance de Colchacovat. Camaroo,

tion to fame and rank. It is recorded that Ceacatl,

coatl as the most celebrated of the Toltec kings and

conveniently termed, empire, is referred to the date

Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl re-appears in history, still fol

lowing the same authorities, about the year 870, and

altogether on the Codex Chimalpopoca and Mem.

de Culhuacan. It is to be noted that Brasseur refers clearly to Torque-

the Spanish writers have much to say of Quetzalcoatl,

on the eastern plateau, some authors still referring

The supposition that Quetzalcoatl was a member of

Tcrnaux-Compans, in Id., 1840, torn. Ixxxvi., pp. 16-20;

There nothing in the Spanish version of the

Quetzalcoatl traditions by which to fix the epoch in

sacrifice had prevailed from pre-Toltec times at Teoti-