La casa y hacienda de un señor mexica: Un estudio analítico de la “Información de doña Isabel de Moctezuma”

Abstract

The essay is dedicated to analysis of the “Información de doña Isabel de Moctezuma”, set of documents now belonging to the General Archive of Indies in Seville (Spain). This source is the detailed record of litigation initiated in 1546 by the conquistador Juan Cano de Saavedra on behalf of his wife, Tecuichpochtzin, the daughter of the last Prehispanic Mexica ruler Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin who after the baptism was called doña Isabel de Moctezuma. The objective of litigation was the restitution of vast land holdings, buildings and objects of value, claimed to be doña Isabel “patrimony” (patrimonio) that is the property which she was to inherit from her parents and grandparents, members of the royal dynasty of Tenochtitlan, outlost during the Spanish conquest. The richness of the historical data contained in “Información de doña Isabel de Moctezuma” makes it invaluable source for study of such important topics as the land tenure and matrimonial alliances of the Prehispanic Mexica nobility and subsequent response of their descendants to the challenge of the Colonial period.