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Concept
Nezahualcoyotl (tlatoani)
Summary
Nezahualcoyotl (Nezahualcoyōtl nesawalˈkojoːtɬ, ) (April 28, 1402 – June 4, 1472) was a scholar, philosopher (tlamatini), warrior, architect, poet and ruler (tlatoani) of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian era Mexico. Unlike other high-profile Mexican figures from the century preceding Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Nezahualcoyotl was not fully Mexica; his father's people were the Acolhua, another Nahuan people settled in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico, on the coast of Lake Texcoco. His mother, however, was the sister of Chimalpopoca, the Mexica king of Tenochtitlan.
He is best remembered for his poetry; for his Hamlet-like biography as a dethroned prince with a victorious return, leading to the fall of Azcapotzalco and the rise of the Aztec Triple Alliance; and for leading important infrastructure projects, both in Texcoco and Tenochtitlan. According to accounts by his descendants and biographers, Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl and Juan Bautista Pomar, he had an experience of an "Unknown, Unknowable Lord of Everywhere" to whom he built an entirely empty temple in which no blood sacrifices of any kind were allowed — not even those of animals. However, he allowed human sacrifices to continue in other temples.
The Nahuatl name Nezahualcoyotl is commonly translated as “hungry coyote” or “fasting coyote.” However, more accurately, it means "coyote with a fasting collar," from nezahualli, a collar made out of bands of paper twisted together. It was worn by those fasting to show others that they shouldn't be offered food.
Born Acolmiztli, he was the son of Ixtlilxochitl I and Matlalcihuatzin, the daughter of Huitzilihuitl. Though born heir to a throne, his youth was not marked by princely luxury. His father had set Texcoco against the powerful city of Azcapotzalco, ruled by the Tepanec. In 1418, when the young prince was fifteen, his father was assassinated.
The Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco, led by Tezozomoc, conquered Texcoco, and Acolmiztli had to flee into exile in Huexotzinco.
Official source
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