50 Fun Facts About Montezuma II

Montezuma II was the ninth tlatoani, or ruler, of which Mesoamerican civilisation?

He reigned from about 1502 until 1520, and the empire reached its greatest size under him.

Which Spanish conquistador led the men who seized Montezuma's capital?

Alvarado was one of his captains, and Narváez was sent from Cuba to arrest him.

What was the name of the Aztec capital where Montezuma ruled?

Founded on an island in 1325, it fell to the Spanish and their allies on 13 August 1521, a year after Montezuma's death.

A Spanish soldier reported that when Montezuma dined he drank nothing but which beverage, served in a golden goblet?

He liked it flavoured with vanilla or chilli, and the habit helped make cacao famous in Europe.

'Montezuma's revenge' is a colloquial name for what?

It sits alongside 'Delhi belly' and 'Bali belly' as a nickname for the same affliction.

The opening line of the US Marines' Hymn, 'From the Halls of Montezuma', refers to which 1847 engagement?

Marines stormed Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City during the Mexican–American War of 1846–48.

Montezuma's name in the Aztec language combines a noun meaning 'lord' with a verb meaning what?

It is usually rendered 'he frowns like a lord' or 'he who is angry in a noble manner'.

The Aztecs called him Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin. What does Xocoyotzin mean?

It distinguished him from the first Moctezuma, called Ilhuicamina or 'Old Moctezuma'; the regnal numbers were added by later historians.

Montezuma II was the great-grandson of Moctezuma I and the son of which emperor?

His uncles Tízoc and Ahuitzotl were the two emperors before him, and his grandfather was the poet-king Nezahualcóyotl of Texcoco.

Before becoming emperor, Montezuma served as the main priest of the temple of which god?

He was also a famous warrior who held high military rank, and both careers helped him win election as tlatoani.

Most historians date Montezuma's coronation to which year?

Some argue for 1503, the date carved on the Stone of the Five Suns in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Montezuma's reign opened with a natural disaster in 1505. What was it?

It lasted three years, and some nobles sold their children as slaves for food until Montezuma ordered the children freed.

Montezuma widened the gap between nobles and commoners by banning commoners from doing what?

His predecessors had let commoners rise on merit; he replaced much of his court and demanded nobles live permanently in the capital.

Montezuma's palace included the Totocalli, a famous facility of what kind?

Its name means House of Birds, but it also held jaguars, wolves and snakes; Cortés admitted enjoying it before burning it in 1521.

What was the windowless, all-black room in Montezuma's palace used for?

Remains of the Casa Denegrida were uncovered in 2008 beneath modern Mexico City.

In 1506 Montezuma built an aqueduct to carry fresh water into his capital from which hill?

The Spanish destroyed it during the 1521 siege to cut off the city's water.

Through marriage to Queen Tlapalizquixochtzin, Montezuma was also king consort of which city-state?

According to Bernal Díaz, very few people in Mexico even knew he held the role.

Under Montezuma the empire expanded as far south as Xoconosco in which modern Mexican state?

He also incorporated the Zapotec and Yopi peoples and pushed to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Montezuma received the first reports of Europeans landing on his coast in 1518, from the expedition of whom?

Grijalva landed at San Juan de Ulúa, in Totonac territory under Aztec sway, a year before Cortés arrived.

On what date in 1519 did Montezuma meet Cortés on the causeway into his capital and exchange gifts?

Cortés later claimed the emperor immediately volunteered to cede his whole realm to Charles V, a claim historians treat with suspicion.

Some Aztec sources say Montezuma feared the Spaniards because he believed Cortés might be which returning god?

Scholars such as Anthony Pagden argue this 'returning god' story was elaborated after the conquest rather than being a pre-conquest tradition.

According to Cortés's own letters, Montezuma volunteered to cede his entire realm to which monarch?

Cortés also wrote that the palace was 'so marvelous that it seems to me impossible to describe its excellence'.

Why did Cortés leave the Aztec capital in 1520, the absence during which the situation collapsed?

Pánfilo de Narváez had landed with orders to arrest him; Cortés defeated Narváez and absorbed his men.

The Massacre in the Great Temple on 22 May 1520 took place during which Aztec festival?

Pedro de Alvarado, left in charge by Cortés, attacked the celebrating Mexica nobles, and Montezuma became a hostage to guarantee Spanish safety.

Which captain did Cortés leave in charge of the capital when he marched to confront Narváez?

His attack on the Toxcatl festival triggered the uprising that ended in Montezuma's death and La Noche Triste.

According to Bernal Díaz, how was Montezuma fatally injured while addressing his people from a rooftop?

Indigenous annals tell a different story: that the Aztecs found him strangled in his palace after the Spanish fled.

Some indigenous accounts say the Aztecs found Montezuma dead in his palace in what condition?

Spanish accounts blame the crowd's stones; who actually killed him remains disputed.

After the Aztecs renounced Montezuma, which brother of his was named tlatoani in his place?

He ruled only about 80 days before dying, probably of smallpox brought by a member of Narváez's expedition.

Roughly how long did Montezuma's brother and immediate successor reign before dying?

The smallpox that probably killed him was said to have arrived with an African member of Narváez's expedition.

Who was the last Aztec emperor, ruling from 1520 until the city fell in 1521?

The Spanish roasted the soles of his feet over coals to make him reveal hidden treasure, then hanged him in 1525 during an expedition to Honduras.

La Noche Triste, when the Spanish were driven out of the Aztec capital with heavy losses, is officially called what in Mexico?

Cortés's army broke out along the Tlacopan causeway on the night of 30 June to 1 July 1520, days after Montezuma's death.

The famous feather headdress attributed to Montezuma is held in a museum in which city, and Mexico wants it back?

Made of quetzal and other feathers with gold detailing, it has been in Austrian collections since the late 16th century.

Montezuma's headdress is made chiefly from the feathers of which bird?

Iridescent green quetzal tail feathers were among the most precious tribute goods in the empire.

Montezuma's daughter Tecuichpoch, baptised Isabel, was married how many times, to Aztec emperors and Spaniards alike?

Widowed five times, she was recognised as his legitimate heir and granted an encomienda by the Spanish.

Which Nahua woman served as Cortés's interpreter and bore him a son, Martín, one of the first mestizos?

Also called Malintzin or Doña Marina, she translated between Nahuatl, Maya and Spanish.

Which conquistador wrote The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, the eyewitness memoir describing Montezuma's court?

He wrote it late in life while serving as an encomendero and governor in Guatemala.

Which Baroque composer wrote the 1733 opera Motezuma about the Aztec emperor?

Graun, Mysliveček and Zingarelli followed with their own Montezuma operas later in the century.

After his coronation Montezuma reorganised the empire into how many additional provincial divisions to centralise control?

Bureaucrats backed by garrisons collected tax, enforced law and acted as local judges.

During a rebellion at Tlachquiauhco, Montezuma ordered the killing of all adults over what age, blaming them for the revolt?

The campaign marked the real start of his territorial expansion after the initial suppression of Nopala and Icpatepec.

Montezuma's coronation campaign against Nopala and Icpatepec reportedly involved a force of how many soldiers?

Around 5,100 prisoners were taken; some became slaves and the rest were sacrificed on the fourth day of the coronation.

Which lord of Texcoco is said by chronicler Diego Durán to have warned Montezuma that omens foretold the empire's destruction?

Reported omens included a comet, a burning temple and a ghostly weeping woman.

The 2005 opera La Conquista by Lorenzo Ferrero has Montezuma's part written in which language?

Roger Sessions had already written a modern opera called Montezuma in 1963.

On what date in 1519 did Tlaxcala decide to ally with Spain against Montezuma's empire?

A few battles had shown the Tlaxcalans that the newcomers could help them end the long war the Aztecs had waged against them.

On what date in 1521 did the Aztec Empire fall to the Spanish, a year after Montezuma's death?

Most of Montezuma's reforms died with the empire, as the new Spanish authorities replaced his political institutions with their own laws.

According to a Spanish chronicler, how many children had Montezuma fathered by the time he was taken captive?

The same account claimed fifty of his wives and concubines were pregnant at the time, an estimate that may well be exaggerated.

Which Spanish king brought Montezuma's grandson Diego Luis de Moctezuma to Spain?

His son became Count of Moctezuma in 1627, a title later raised to Grandee of Spain in 1766.

How many omens of disaster before the Spanish arrival does Sahagún list in Book 12 of the Florentine Codex?

They include a comet, a temple burning and a weeping ghostly woman; some scholars think the list was shaped after the fact.

Which composer wrote the 1963 dodecaphonic opera Montezuma?

The emperor also headlines 18th-century operas by Mysliveček, Graun and Zingarelli besides Vivaldi's Motezuma.

What killed Montezuma's brother and successor Cuitláhuac shortly after he took power?

His adolescent nephew Cuauhtémoc then took the throne and led the defence of Tenochtitlan until it fell.

Roughly how many living descendants of Montezuma were in Mexico as of 2020, according to a family historian?

Another 350 were said to be living in Spain, descended through lines including the Counts of Moctezuma de Tultengo.