Are there any records of individual Aztec Jaguar/Eagle warriors?

by sickhouserat

European history is full of stories of famous knights, like Henry Percy, El Cid and Guesclin, but is there any recorded history of famous Aztec Jaguars or Eagles? The Jaguars and Eagles were one of the highest order of soldiers in Aztec society, even constituting a class of minor nobility almost exactly like a European knight, but do we even know any of their names?

400-Rabbits

Book 12 of the Florentine Codex contains a number of references to individual warriors. The clearest reference to Eagles and Jaguars comes in Chapter 38, where, in the midst of the Battle of Tenochtitlan, a number of non-Mexica groups stole into the city under cover of night to loot to the abandoned homes of the warzone. The Mexica, when they became aware of this plundering, sent a small flotilla to intercept.

As the Mexica canoes slipped close to the looters

two eagle warriors and two jaguar warriors rose up. The first eagle was Toantemoctzin and the second Tlacotzin. The first jaguar was Temilotzin, and the second Coyohuehuetzin.

The Eagles and Jaguars intercepted the looters, and though some were able to flee

the warriors cut off some of the enemy on the other side. When our enemies saw this, they tried to flee. Many died in the water, sinking and submerging, just pulling at one another as though they had lost their senses and were fainting. They seemed to fall splattering; when they tried to flee they just fell between the logs. When they were dragged out they were completely covered with mud, slimy with mud, entirely drowned. A great many drowned, there was a great abundance of deaths. (p.234)

There's actually another reference to Temilotzin and Coyohuehuetzin -- though we cannot be absolutely certain it was the same men -- in another passage. In this case, Temilotzin is called the "Tlacateccatl," which is sort of a high level general, and he is taking a stand at a place called Atliceuhyan against an amphibious assault by the Spanish and Xochimilca.

The real heroics, however, are done by Coyohuehuetzin

who had put on an eagle-jaguar device, eagle on one side and jaguar on the other... He came saying, "O warriors, up and at them, let's all get going!" Then they all ran to their boats. And when the Spaniards saw them, they retreated. The Mexica pursued them, coming straight to Atliceuhyan. Then the Spaniards withdrew their boats and stationed them at Amanlaco. And many people of Xochimilco died from arrows. And when they had chased them away, the Spaniards reformed, and then the warriors came pursuing them. Coyohuehuetzin took cover behind an altar platform. Then he turned them around and pushed them all the way to where the youths' house stood in Atliceuhyan. Again the Spaniards came back pursuing Coyohuehuetzin, making him jump in the water. And then again the youth of Otomi rank, Itzpapalotzin, let go; he too had put on a device. Then he chased them , rolling them up like mud, scattering them into the boats. Then they left and disappeared. (pp. 226-228)

Successful repulsion of a Spanish-Xochimilca invasion aside, the more interesting part from a historical/anthropological perspective is the fact that Coyohuehuetzin won the battle as a cuauhtlocelotl*, an "eagle-jaguar." Hassing, in his book, Aztec Warfare, notes "there appears to be no distinction between these types of warriors" (p. 45). Instead, the two military orders appear to act more like co-equal fraternities of elite warriors. We unfortunately don't know the specifics of what would lead an individual to join one or the other, but we can see from the above passage that the two groups were not exclusive. The fact that both groups, particularly by the later Imperial stage, were composed of the nobility (note the prevalence of -tzin suffixes, denoting nobility) who had the time and resources to devote themselves to warfare may have had something to do with the fraternal feelings, given the penchant of the Nahua nobility to intermarry.

Perhaps the most wellknown warrior described in glowing, heroic terms though, was one who, like Iztpaplotzin, was an Otomi. Now, in this case the term Otomi does not mean the actual ethnic group, but rather a Nahua military order named after the ethnic group the entry into which required an even higher bar than admittance into the Eagles and Jaguars. One such member of this order, Tzilacatzin, has an extended passage about his exploits. His appearance in the text comes when the Spanish were assaulting the district of Nonoalco:

When the Spaniards landed it fell silent; not one of the people came out. But then Tzilacatzin, who were a great warrior and very valorous, hurled three stones he was carrying, huge round stones, wall stones or white stones; he had one in his hand and two on his shield. Then he went pursuing the Spaniards, scattering them into the water. They went right into the water; those who went down in the water got thoroughly wetted.

This Tzilacatzin had the warrior rank of Otomi, for which reason he wore the Otomi hairstyle, so he looked down on his enemies, even though they be Spaniards, thinking nothing of them. He inspired general fear. When our enemies saw Tzilacatzin, they would hunch down. They strove greatly to kill him, whether shooting him with iron bolts or with guns. But Tzilacatzin disguised himself in order not to be recognized. Sometimes he would put on his own device, with his lip pendant and his golden earplugs, and he would put on his shell necklace. He would go with his head uncovered, showing that he was an Otomi. But sometimes he put on only cotton upper armor and covered his forehead with a little narrow cloth... (pp. 198-200)

Tzilacatzin is mentioned as part of a trio of warriors who distinguished themselves in the fighting at Nonoalco, along with Tzoyectzin and Temoctzin. He is mentioned again as repulsing a Spanish landing at Xocotitlan, where

Tzilacatzin and some other warriors who saw the Spaniards immediately came out to face them; they came running after them, throwing stones at them, and they scattered the Spaniards into the water. (p. 210)

So we have some mentions here and there of individual fighters, but the extant histories do tend to elide over individuals. Instead, the focus is more on the grander sweep of history (Duran's History the Indies) or on more genealogical histories (Ixtlilxochitl's Historia de la Nacion Chichimeca). The former are often more general histories (though they can be remarkably detailed) from Spanish authors writing for a European audience, while indigenous authors' focus on dynastic concerns was often tied into legalistic wrangling over titles and tribute. Either way, the more romantic aspects of bold and daring warrior clashing against their foes tends to be more motif than meticulous.


^(All quotes from Lockhart 1993 We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, which translates Book 12 of the Florentine Codex, among several other early texts)