The tragic life of Montezuma II, the Aztec emperor who lost an empire to Spanish invaders

Montezuma II, known in Nahuatl as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was born around 1466 in the island city of Tenochtitlán.

He descended from a royal family that claimed the right to rule through earlier emperors, including his grandfather Montezuma I and his uncle Ahuitzotl.

His father, Axayacatl, had ruled as the sixth emperor, which ensured that Montezuma grew up surrounded by the authority and expectations of dynastic power. 

As a child, he received a strict education at the Calmecac, a school reserved for the sons of nobles, where teachers would have trained him in key elements of religion, history, star patterns, and military leadership.

In early adulthood, he apparently served both as a priest and as a general who impressed others with his battlefield prowess.

Following the death of Ahuitzotl in 1502, Montezuma accepted the role of tlatoani with the support of the elders and priests.

His appointment fulfilled showed a desire among the ruling class to restore spiritual focus and curb growing tensions in the outlying provinces.

At the time of his accession, the empire had reached its greatest growth in territory and maintained control over a wide population, including over 370 tributary city-states, as recorded in sources such as the Codex Mendoza. 

Montezuma was expected to be both a political leader and the main religious leader of the Aztec state.

He directed military operations, oversaw diplomacy, ensured tribute payments, and led the most sacred rituals of the annual calendar.

He claimed divine favour and used his priestly authority to justify his actions as emperor. 

Under his rule, the royal court became more formal and removed from ordinary affairs.

Those who entered his presence followed rigid ceremonial codes. Courtiers lowered their eyes, delivered messages through intermediaries, and never addressed the emperor directly.

These restrictions elevated his mystery and strengthened the idea that his authority came from the gods.

He restructured the court hierarchy, expanded the administration, and filled high-ranking positions with loyal nobles. 

In military affairs, he continued the policies of expansion of his predecessors.

Aztec armies marched into rebellious regions and returned with prisoners for sacrifice and goods for tribute.

Personally, Montezuma led campaigns against the Huastecs and other northern groups to help stamp Aztec authority on their region. 

In more distant provinces, resentment toward Aztec demands increased. Some of the defeated towns began to question their loyalty, particularly when forced to send more captives for religious rituals. 

During his later years, omens and unusual signs became a growing concern.

Reports recorded in later sources such as the Florentine Codex described a burning temple, a two-headed man, a woman weeping at night, and a strange light in the sky.

Montezuma asked his priests and fortune tellers to interpret these signs, as he feared that they warned of disaster.

Unfortunately, his advisors apparently struggled to offer reassurance. 

In the eyes of many nobles, Montezuma’s attention shifted from administration to prophecy.

He grew increasingly withdrawn, and his reliance on omens to guide decisions created uncertainty among his generals and governors.

At the same time, news of unfamiliar visitors on the eastern coast reached his court. 

In the spring of 1519, Hernán Cortés landed his ships near the coast of present-day Veracruz and began a move inland.

His forces included roughly 500 Spanish soldiers carrying horses, firearms, and steel, as well as hundreds of Indigenous allies who wanted revenge against the Aztecs.

The Totonacs and Tlaxcalans joined him eagerly, believing that his arrival offered a chance to break free from Aztec control. 

From the start, Montezuma received regular updates on their movements, but he responded with caution and uncertainty.

To impress and placate the strangers, he sent messengers bringing gifts of gold, feathered cloaks, and religious items.

He may have hoped to persuade them to remain near the coast or return to their ships. 

After reaching Cholula, Cortés ordered a massacre of local nobles, claiming they had plotted against him.

The harshness of the attack shocked nearby cities, yet it also secured a path to Tenochtitlán.

Montezuma, who fearing further destruction, decided to welcome the Spanish into the capital and house them within a palace near the ceremonial area. 

On 8 November 1519, the emperor met Cortés at one of the causeways leading into the city.

He greeted him and offered hospitality, hoping to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

The Spanish accepted his welcome but soon used it to their advantage. They placed the Aztec emperor under armed guard and demanded control over food stores, gold, and strategic positions in the city. 

Several accounts claimed that Montezuma believed Cortés to be the god Quetzalcoatl.

However, Nahua sources such as the Florentine Codex suggested that he suspected the Spaniards were human but feared their unfamiliar weapons and powerful allies.

Regardless, he continued to issue orders from captivity, though his voice no longer carried the same authority. 

Tensions rose quickly as the nobility resented his apparent obedience to the invaders, and the people of Tenochtitlán grew restless.

The delicate balance collapsed once violence erupted during a religious festival. 

In late May 1520, while Cortés was absent, his deputy Pedro de Alvarado led an attack on unarmed worshippers at the Toxcatl festival, a ceremony honouring the god Tezcatlipoca.

Spanish troops killed many nobles and priests, igniting fury throughout the city.

Warriors surrounded the palace and launched an attack against the Spanish and their allies. 

In response, Cortés returned and ordered Montezuma to calm the crowd. He stood on a balcony and addressed his subjects.

Instead of listening, they threw stones and darts. One struck the emperor on the head.

Spanish accounts, such as those by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, claimed the injury led to his death.

Other sources compiled by Sahagún accused the Spanish of killing him once he ceased to be useful. 

Shortly afterward, the Spanish attempted to flee the city. On the night of 30 June 1520, they tried to cross the western causeway under cover of darkness.

However, Aztec warriors attacked in full force. Many Spaniards drowned, others were captured, and contemporary sources claimed that more than 400 were killed alongside thousands of their Indigenous allies.

The survivors escaped only after abandoning their stolen treasure and many of their allies. 

In the weeks that followed, the Aztecs elected Cuitláhuac as their new emperor.

He organised the resistance, defeating several Spanish attempts to return.

However, a wave of smallpox broke out in late 1520, likely introduced by a Spanish slave from the Narváez expedition.

The disease killed thousands, including Cuitláhuac, and spread panic among the population. 

Eventually, Cortés regrouped and returned with a larger army that included thousands more Indigenous allies.

In May 1521, he began a siege of Tenochtitlán that lasted for three months. Food and water ran out, and entire neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble.

On 13 August 1521, the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtémoc, was captured while attempting to flee across Lake Texcoco.

He was later tortured by the Spanish to show where they had hidden the gold before being executed in early 1525 during Cortés's expedition to Honduras. 

Ultimately, Montezuma’s decisions during the crisis divided the empire and weakened its unity.

His efforts to manage the Spanish threat failed, and his reign ended with confusion, captivity, and collapse.