Montezuma I

1398-1468

Aztec Emperor

Though he is not as well-known today as Montezuma II (r. 1502-20), last of the Aztec emperors, Montezuma I was among the greatest of the empire's rulers. It was under the reign of Montezuma I, who became noted for his conquests, that Aztec lands first extended to the Gulf of Mexico, or the "Sea of the Sky".

Like most Aztec rulers, Montezuma (sometimes rendered as Moctezuma) was born into the nobility, and rose to the empire's highest position not by means of a hereditary claim, but after winning an election among the nobles. After taking the throne in 1440, when he was 42 years old, he set about consolidating the gains of his predecessor, Itzcoatl (r. 1427-40), first to establish full Aztec control over the Valley of Mexico. In 1445, Montezuma led the Aztecs in their conquest of the neighboring state of Oaxaca.

Montezuma's reign was fraught with natural disasters. In 1446, an attack of locusts destroyed most of the crops in the Valley of Mexico. Three years later, the Aztec capital at Tenochtitlán was flooded. Then in 1450, the region experienced the first of four years of bad harvests caused by drought and early frost. The famine became so bad, it was said, that people sold themselves into slavery for a few ears of corn. When the cycle of bad harvests ended in 1454, the Aztecs took what they believed was the obvious lesson: the gods were unhappy because they had not sacrificed enough victims. Therefore the pace of human sacrifices increased dramatically.

From the Zapotec, founders of Oaxaca, the Aztecs had adopted a dual calendar system, with one calendar based on the 365-day year, and another on a 260-day religious cycle. Once every 52 years, the first days of both matched up, and that was a day of celebration for the renewal of the earth. The year 1455 marked the beginningof a new cycle, and thus despite the misfortunes they had suffered, the Aztecs took heart at what they considered a good sign from heaven.

In 1458, Montezuma led a new series of conquests, expanding the boundaries of the empire so that his people could call themselves "Neighbors of the Sea of the Sky." This title referred to their control over lands between the Valley of Mexico and what is today known as the Gulf of Mexico. It is believed that under Montezuma's reign, Aztec territories first extended to the Pacific Ocean as well.

Montezuma's court was plagued with the same sorts of intrigues that affected his counterparts in the Old World. His half-brother Tlacaelel may have opposed him for leadership in his early years, though some historians believe he was given an opportunity to take the throne and simply declined. In any case, he was happy to hold power from the sidelines, and after Montezuma's death in 1460, he took control over the empire.

Despite his quest for authority over many lands, Montezuma himself seems to have had doubts about the value of power. Aztec records quote him as saying, "Rulers of many peoples eat the bread of sorrow," and he encouraged his children to seek careers in the trades and crafts, far from the headaches of rulership. Yet after the death of Tlacaelel in 1469, Montezuma's son Axayacatl took the throne. Just fifty years later, under the reign of Montezuma's namesake Montezuma II, the splendid Aztec Empire came to an end.

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