What Kind of Aztec Hospitality Would Cortez & His Knights Have Experienced?

In order to understand the reception given to the Spanish as they traversed from the coast to Tenochtitlan, stopping at various courts and cities along the way, we have to understand the role of ostentatious giving. Elaborate and sumptuous hospitality was a political tool in Mesoamerica, providing an outlet of a ruler to display their wealth and, by extension, their ability to wield the power necessary to accrue such riches.

Political feasting was practiced across the social strata of the Aztecs, from neighborhood leaders to the Huey Tlatoani in Tenochtitlan. At the most basic level, hosting a feast solidified the power dynamic between two parties through a display of wealth, but also of reciprocal gift-giving. At the highest level of politics, these events essentially acted as formal treaties, reifying otherwise abstract relationships within the Aztec hegemony. Berdan (2016), notes that elites invited to Tenochtitlan could be given exquisite luxury goods, fashioned from the raw materials they provided as tribute. Providing a “cut” of the end product of tribute to local elites gave them a stake in the Aztec’s otherwise exploitative resource extraction.

In a more explicit, and mutually beneficial, exchange, the independent polity of Tetela routinely provided “gifts”of captives to the Aztecs. In the spirit of graciousness, the Aztecs provided weapons and armor back to Tetela, which was conveniently located on the border of the Aztec’s arch-rival, Tlaxcala, from whence they garnered the captives they sent along to Tenochtitlan. Other exchanges were basically an alternate tribute arrangement. Several towns along the border with the Tarascans were exempted from providing tribute… so long as they were kind enough to provision the local Aztec garrison (Smith 1996).

The most pertinent form of ostentatious generosity for understanding what the Spanish encountered was how foreign dignitaries were entertained. There was a certain sequence of events which typified receptions of elites, whether they were rivals or close allies. Nezahualpilli, for instance, was the ruler of Texcoco, one of the three core Aztec cities. Durán describes how he was received in Tenochtitlan for the dedication of the new temple to Huitzilopochtli in 1487:

Having arrived in Tenochtitlan, Nezahualpilli went to the royal palace, where he was received by King Ahuitzotlwith all the courtesy due to a fellow monarch and kinsman. He was lodged in the place called Tecalli, which means “Royal Palace.” He delivered his captives to King Ahuitzotl and spoke to him with elegants phrases, at the same time offering his goodwill and desire to serve the Aztec ruler. Water was then brought for his hands; this was a common custom among the Aztecs, to bring water for the hands of guests and travelers. After he had washed he was given the usual fare for royalty and a chocolate drink. Flowers and tobacco were given not only to him but also to his followers, great lords and chieftains, who were lodged in other chambers according to their rank. With great care and courtesy, they were given everything they desired.

All of the above was typical of the ritual of welcoming a ruler or other grandee. There were speeches and courtly grace, but also a shower of gifts given so blithely as to imply they were nothing but baubles to the giver. This was paired with an almost obsequious attitude towards ensuring the comfort of the guests. The totality of this avalanche of hospitality was to impress the visitor, but also overawe them. Durán goes on to note that visiting rulers, many rivals and enemies to the Aztecs, were present when the Aztec’s tributary subject brought forth their required goods in a seemingly endless flow of luxurious and expensive items. The goal was

to show Aztec grandeur and power to the enemies and guests and foreign people and fill them with bewilderment and fear. They saw that the Aztecs were masters of the world, their empire so wide and abundant that they had conquered all the nations and that all were their vassals. The guests, seeing such wealth and opulence and such authority and power, were filled with terror.

The reception the Spanish described is very much in line with the practices above. They were greeted with a mixture of sincere graciousness and forceful ostentatiousness, much in the way a foreign embassy might have been. As the Spanish were presenting themselves as official emissaries of the Spanish Crown, this makes sense.

From Cempohualla to Tlaxcala to Chollolan and on to Tenochtitlan, a certain pattern emerges in how those cities received the Spanish. The way Díaz feel Castillo detailed the events upon entering Tlaxcala is indicative. The Spanish force was met Outside the city by leading Tlaxcalan men, who performed the standard "kissing the earth" greeting -- pressing the hand too the dirt and then kissing the fingertips. The new arrivals were then showered in equal parts of flowery speeches, actual garlands of flowers, and copal. Upon entering the city, Cortés and his captains were "taken by the hand" and personally shown to rich quarters. During their stay, the Spanish were well-supplied with "poultry and maize bread" as well as gifts.

Notably, the Tlaxcalans bestowed fairly rudimentary presents upon the Spanish, complaining that the Aztecs had impoverished them. In contrast, the Mexica demonstrated a largesse the Spaniards were all too happy to take advantage of.

Also "given" to the Spanish were women, ostensibly as brides. Political marriages were a widespread part of Mesoamerican politics, used to form alliances between groups. The Spanish write that they coyly refused these women at first, insisting they could only marry Christian women. A quick baptism later though, and the Spanish were happy to "look upon [the Indigenous women] as their mistresses," even though they were promptly left behind so as to not burden the journey onward to Tenochtitlan.

The abandonment of proffered daughters might seem like it could have been a friction point between the Spanish and their erstwhile Indigenous allies, but the Spanish were actually not far off in describing these women as "mistresses." In the patriarchal politics of Mesoamerica, women were a commodity to be leveraged. A powerful elite man might have dozens of wives, with only a couple actually being considered fully in that role, the rest residing in something more like concubinage. Motecuhzoma Xocoyotl is speculated to have wives numbering in the hundreds.

There is a substantial amount of literature on the “sexual conquest” of the Americas by the Spanish, but much of it elides over the fact that, often, the Spanish were being inducted into a system of political marriages extant before their arrival. The Spanish absolutely exploited that system and introduced what was essentially a system of coerced sexual slavery. At one point, Díaz del Castillo reports the indignation of the Spanish troops after the surrender of Cuauhtemoc that the officers were co-opting all the beautiful women for themselves. This is above and beyond the practice of dynastic intermarriage which typified Mesoamerican politics into which the Spanish were inducted.

In summary, Cortés and his men were treated not much differently than envoys from any other foreign power. They were shown enormous generosity that was intended as much to win favor as it was to intimidate. Misconceptions around this system of ostentatious giving have played into narratives that the various Indigenous peoples were over-awed and intimidated by the Spanish, when the opposite was the intended effect.

Berdan and Smith 1996 Imperial Strategies and Core-Periphery Relations in Aztec Imperial Strategies eds. Berdan, Blanton, Boone, Hodge, Smith, & Umberger

Berdan 2016 Aztec Empire in The Encyclopedia of Empire (1st ed.), ed. MacKenzie

Brumfiel 1987 Consumption and Politics at Aztec Huexotla. American Anthropologist, 89(3)

Diaz del Castillo True History of the Conquest of New Spain 1928 ed. & trans. Maudsley

Duran History of the Indies of New Spain 1994 trans. Heyden

Smith ME 1996 The Strategic Provinces in Aztec Imperial Strategies eds. Berdan, Blanton, Boone, Hodge, Smith, & Umberger

Smith, Wharton, Olson 2003 Aztec Feasts, Rituals, and Markets: Political Use of Ceramic Vessels in a Commercial Economy in The Archaeology and Politics of Food and Feasting in Early States and Empires ed. Bray