Xicomecoatl, Chicomácatl, or as he was referred to as by the Spanish conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, "Cacique Gordo" (in Spanish, Fat Cacique), was the ruler of the city of Cempoala while it was under control of the Aztec Empire.
He was known for his alliance with the Spanish captain Hernán Cortés, formed in 15 July 1519, which made him one of the first allies of the Spaniards during the conquest of the Aztec Empire.
His political position as ruler of Cempoala made him a highly important person in the empire, as the city is sometimes referred to as "the capital of the Totonac Empire", due to its influence over other Totonac settlements.
Name and physical appearance
Bernal Díaz del Castillo refers to the ruler of Cempoala as "Fat Cacique" in his book Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (True history of the conquest of New Spain), due to his physical aspect. He was described as being overwhelmingly corpulent by the Spaniards, and was likely tall. Díaz del Castillo writes:
Let's stop joking around, and let's say how we got to the rooms, and the Fat Cacique came out to receive us next to the yard, and because he was very fat, that's how i'll call him [...]
The Spanish 16th-century historian Francisco López de Gómara writes:
These Indians were very different from the rest they had seen, because they had taller bodies, [...] because Cortés wished to be very informed about the land and that great king Moctezuma, and the sire was very tough, though fat, when demanding points and asking questions.
Historians commonly refer to him as Xicomecoatl (), but nobody knows for sure if this was his actual name. Chicomácatl () is also one of the names used to refer to him. The oldest known mention of this name used to refer to him was done by the New Spanish historian Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl. This name's origin is possibly from a plant used for medical purposes described in the Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis (in Latin, Little Book of the Medicinal Herbs of the Indians).
Alliance with Spain According to various chroniclers, Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (also known as Moctezuma II), tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, had forced the city of Cempoala into submission before making contact with the Europeans, and forced its people into paying large tributes for the tlatoani. Cortés wrote to emperor Carlos I of Spain in his second relation letter, dated 30 October 1520:
And I left that province of Cempoal along with all the towns in the mound, which might be up to fifty thousand warriors and fifty towns and fortresses, very safe, peaceful and loyal vassals of your majesty as so far they have been and are, because they were subjects of that sire Muteezuma , and according to what I was informed, they were forced into being so, and not too long ago.
Meeting Cortés Xicomecoatl met Cortés in 15 July 1519. Upon hearing about the news about the "towers" or "temples" that had arrived at the sea that were filled with strange foreign men who were now going to the capital, Xicomecoatl sent 12 ambassadors to meet these new people and welcome them into Cempoala. At first, Cortés asked some questions to make sure the arrival would be safe, supposedly asking:
"If your town was so close to us, why did it take that long to tell us about it?"
To this they responded that they wanted to make sure that "no Mexicans would enter, since they do much damage to their people".
They accepted the offer and went to the city the following day using the ambassadors to guide them into the city, sending half of them back into Cempoala to tell Xicomecoatl that they were going in peace. For the first time, the Spaniards were going to enter into territory within the borders of the empire.
When first arriving at the city, the Spaniards were amazed by its size, as it was the first city of high importance they had seen during their travels. Cortés and some of his soldiers decided to name this city after Seville, while others named it "Villa-viciosa" (Busy-town). Díaz del Castillo wrote:
And as we were entering between the houses, as we saw such a big city, because we haven't seen any bigger, we were very amazed about it, and as we saw how busy it was, filled with men and women in the streets coming out to see us, we praised God because of the lands we had discovered.
Xicomecoatl and Cortés finally met in the main square of Cempoala, outside the palace of the city. There, Cortés and Xicomecoatl hugged each other as a sign of friendship. Xicomecoatl offered them a large place to reside during their stay in the city. He offered them food, such a cornbread and "plums", as Díaz del Castillo wrote (possibly referring to prickly pear fruit?). They began to give each other gifts, such as jewelry, clothes and gold. Cortés, alongside his translators and interpreters, Doña Marina (also known as La Malinche) and Gerónimo de Aguilar, told the ruler that they would return the favor by helping them with whatever they wanted:
And Cortés told him, with Doña Marina and Aguilar, that we would pay him with favors, because we are vassals of a great sire, who is the emperor Don Carlos, who rules over many kingdoms and states, and he sent us to solve grievances, to punish the evil, and to stop the sacrifice of any more souls.
According to Díaz del Castillo, upon hearing these claims, Xicomecoatl began to complain about Moctezuma, claiming that his people used to live in peace and freedom before he forced them into submission, and now they had to pay tributes to him, and that he took almost all of the city's gold and jewelry, and there was nothing they could do about it because they feared that he would kill them all if they tried. Other members of the court described that all the lands around belonged to Moctezuma, and though most of them had their own ruler, they were all vassals of the tlatoani, and some were treated like slaves for him. Cortés stated that he understood the ruler perfectly, and they would do something to help.
Supposedly, after complaining, Xicomecoatl told Cortés about Moctezuma's allies and enemies, a simple description of how Tenochtitlan looked and where it was, and how the Republic of Tlaxcallan was the empire's worst enemy, alongside Huexotzinco and other places, and suggested that if he wanted to bring him down, he could try to make an alliance with those places. However, Díaz del Castillo claims that the idea of the rebellion against Moctezuma was not suggested until long after this meeting took place.
This meeting would begin an alliance between the Spanish Empire and Cempoala that would become a turning point in the conquest of the Aztec Empire, as Xicomecoatl saw the new alliance as an opportunity for the city to be liberated from Aztec oppression, though several historians have proposed the theory that the story of the oppression was actually a lie, that Cempoala was not as oppressed as Xicomecoatl claimed, and that he claimed this so other towns and regions friendly to him could get more allies and strength, and several of these historians even propose the theory that the alliance was made for religious reasons, but this is unlikely.
The alliance
Xicomecoatl showed himself to be very friendly to the Spaniards. The morning after the meeting took place, he gave them 400 workers, or tlamemehs, to help them with any tasks they desired, which surprised the Europeans.
Soon after the meeting, Cortés decided to go to the city of Quiahuiztlan (in modern-day State of Veracruz. Not to be confused with the Tlaxcallan polity). According to Francisco López de Gómara, he had planned to go to this city before he arrived at Cempoala, but he stayed in the city for 15 days. Díaz del Castillo claims this to be untrue, and that they actually went to Quiahuiztlan the day after receiving the tlamemehs from Cempoala. Whatever the case was, Cortés left Cempoala to get to Quiahuiztlan.
Initially, Cortés had his concerns about Quiahuiztlan due to the powerful fortifications of the city, but once they finally arrived, they found it to be completely empty. It took a while before Cortés finally got to see some people coming out. The first people who came to see Cortés were a group of 15 noblemen, who clarified that the city was empty because most people ran away from it upon receiving the news of the arrival of the Spaniards, and would not come back until they knew who they were. After the clarification, they asked for forgiveness for not welcoming them before and made a large welcoming ceremony for them. Cortés, again, explained that they were vassals of Carlos I of Spain and gave a few gifts and jewelry to the people of the city, to which they responded by giving them food.
Xicomecoatl decided to follow Cortés into the city soon after he had left Cempoala, despite not telling him about it. Cortés received the news of the incoming arrival of Xicomecoatl during the welcoming ceremony, as he was talking to the members of Quiahuiztlan's court. He arrived shortly after the Spaniards received the news, alongside many other members of Cempoala's court. Upon his arrival, he continued to show complaints about Moctezuma, to which the ruler and court of Quiahuiztlan joined in. Supposedly, the complaints were so many, Xicomecoatl actually began to tear up in anger as he was trying to speak. He claimed that Moctezuma would ask for children and young women to be sacrificed or enslaved as tribute each year, and that Moctezuma's tribute collectors would sometimes even rape their women if they found them too beautiful, according to Díaz del Castillo. Cortés attempted to calm him and the other sires down, claiming that he would make sure to protect them.
While the Spaniards and Totonacs from Cempoala and Quiahuiztlan were having a discussion, the news came that a group of Moctezuma's tribute collectors had arrived at Quiahuiztlan, to which the sires responded with fear. Cortés initially did not know who the men were and was confused because of the rather extreme reaction of the people upon seeing them. López de Gómara mentions 20 of them, while Díaz del Castillo mentions five, who were being escorted by people from other Totonac towns. Supposedly, they got so scared from the arrival of these men that they began to tremble. Immediately upon receiving the news, the rulers left Cortés alone and went as quickly as they could to the tribute collectors with the most valuable items they could get. Xicomecoatl and other rulers were then called upon by the collectors for an important meeting. Once they arrived to the place of the meeting, the collectors began to threaten him and the other rulers with Moctezuma's forces, claiming that Moctezuma would not accept the Spaniards being settled in his domains without his previous permission, and demanded for 20 people, men and women, to be given to them by the following morning, so they could be sacrificed to Huītzilōpōchtli, as punishment for allowing the Spaniards in without permission, according to Díaz del Castillo. Cortés decided to try to understand the situation, asking Malinche about what was going on. Once he understood, he called Xicomecoatl and the other rulers and told them that the tlatoani would not worry about him being in the territory because he was "friends with Moctezuma", and he would not be upset about the presence of the Spaniards.
Later, Cortés decided to demonstrate his loyalty to Xicomecoatl and the rest of the Totonacs by ordering the arrest of the collectors to let Moctezuma know that such behavior would not be tolerated. He told Xicomecoatl about his plans, but he was very worried that if he did so, Moctezuma would attack the city, but Cortés managed to convince him and the arrest was made. All five of the collectors were arrested and brought to the court of Cempoala. According to López de Gómara, Cortés told Xicomecoatl: