Name Xicotencatl I Died 1522 | Children Xicotencatl II | |
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Xicotencatl I or Xicotencatl the Elder (c. 11 House (1425) – c. 4 Rabbit (1522)) was a long-lived tlatoani (ruler) of Tizatlan, a Nahua altepetl within the pre-Columbian confederacy of Tlaxcala, in what is now Mexico.
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Etymology
His Nahuatl name, pronounced [ʃiːkoʔˈteːŋkatɬ], is sometimes spelled Xicohtencatl. In 1519 he was baptized as Lorenzo Xicotencatl or Don Lorenzo de Vargas.
Biography
At the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico he was very old and of poor health. He was instrumental in aligning the Tlaxcala with Cortes' Spaniards.
Tlaxcalan historian Diego Muñoz Camargo wrote of him that he was more than 120 years old and that he could only see Cortés if he had someone lift his eyelids for him. He also writes that he had more than 500 wives and concubines and consequently a large number of children, including Xicotencatl II and the wife of Jorge de Alvarado - Doña Lucía.
When his son plotted to seize Tlascala in Chichimecatecle's absence during the Siege of Tenochtitlan, Xicontencatl I told Cortés that "his son was wicked and he would not vouch for him, and begging Cortés to kill him." This Cortés ordered and Xicotencatl II was hanged.
Poetry
One song or poem attributed to Xicotencatl is known. It is recorded in the Cantares mexicanos (fols. 57v.–58r.), a collection of Nahuatl songs probably compiled in the last third of the 16th century for Bernardino de Sahagún, and concerns the flower wars conducted between Tlaxcala and the states of the Aztec Triple Alliance.